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IMARKETING REPORT 03.25.02:
No more free-bes; Web ads work
>> intelligent internet marketing
Good morning execs,
As Enron/Anderson continues to do-
minate the world of finance, media
and advertising had it's own drama:
NBC changes mind on accepting li-
quor ads. Their pioneering decision
was supported by the industry, but
criticized by docs, pols, and moms.
So they caved. Was their change
of mind a result of too much pres-
sure or bad judgment by manage-
ment? As the economy soured, all
media companies did what they had
to do to survive. NBC was no ex-
ception. But you know what I think?
I believe that NBC made a strategic
error in caving in when they did. They
miscalculated and still don't understand
their consumer or their perception to
hard liquor on their airwaves. Case
in point: "the American Medical Assc.
ran a full-page ad in The New York
Times telling parents that NBC has
'let down America's children.' The
copy read: 'Warning: Watching NBC
may be hazardous to your children's
health." However, since NBC
doesn't have programming for kids,
that criticism shouldn't have had a
strong an impact as it did, prompting
NBC to hire a crisis management PR
firm. Folks, NBC wasn't selling out
by accepting the ads, it sold out by
stopping. What do these critics know
about what a media company has to
go through to stay profitable? And
why now, after decades of Bud &
Coors ads? Just wait a year or two
more, FOX will probably do it, seeing
as how their network is currently
having the most difficulties of the 4.
CONTENTS:
1. BRANDRESEARCH: TRENDS: will anything remain free?
2. BRANDRESEARCH: Forbes.com says execs respond to ads
3. THECONSUMER: COMMUNITY: bloggers are the internet
4. CONSUMERFOCUS: US ETHNICITIES: Latinos still hot
5. MEDIA/ADSALES: paid for editorial is the new trend
6. MANAGEMENT: TRENDS: everyone wants to analyze clicks
7. OPERATIONS: ETAILING: link your prices to your competitors
8. MUSIC&MOVIES: Mariah almost kills EMI & living with
mp3s.
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1. BRANDRESEARCH: TRENDS
I'm torn between agreeing and hating
what online companies strapped for
cash are resorting to to stay in business.
Lycos has developed "game packs"
which is essentially time-limited access
to the games on their sites, calling it
Games on Demand and Yahoo! is
now charging for it's once free, ex-
ternal access to it's email using POP.
Granted, these are very innovative
ways of monetizing their very large
audiences, and then resell their auds
to advertisers, but you have to wonder,
how much can they charge before they
loose their audiences?
BOTTOMLINE: staying in business is
important, but at who's expense? Yours
or your audiences'? How much can or
should you charge your members for
access before you begin loosing them?
How should you introduce fees into
your business model? Just slapping it
on really sucks and alienates your aud.
But surveying your aud for the right
price and services, periodic notification,
gradual institution of your fees, and
offering free alternatives within your
model will go a long way in helping you
preserve your audience.
READ MORE:
http://news.findlaw.com/ap/ht/1700/3-17-2002/200203171016393105.html
top
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2. BRANDRESEARCH: STATS&DEMOS
Well, we've found that audience that's
supposed to be responsive to every form
of ad ever made heralded by every
online publisher: business executives.
"Web advertising to senior executives
is working, according to research pre-
sented by Forbes.com" since they spend
16 hrs/wk online vs 8.6 hrs/wk w/TV.
73% prefer to find out about new products
online, 64% visit 8+ sites/mo.
BOTTOM LINE: With over 300MM
of your potential customers online, does
it really matter what only 300 execs have
to say about their online usage? Why am
I not impressed by this sort of data? The
sample is too small. Why am I such an
advocate of avg consumer research?
B/c my agency does it and believes
companies do not deploy their resources
properly to learn about their online
consumers. No, I'm not talking about
measuring clickstreams and CTRs. I'm
talking about asking them about what
makes them tick, in their preferred online
environment (chat rooms).
READ MORE:
http://www.forbes.com/research
http://www.emarketer.com/estatnews/estats/ebusiness/20020321_chief.html
top
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3. THECONSUMER: COMMUNITY
"The people who create Weblogs [blog-
gers] have an innate understanding of
the Web that most business leaders do
not," says [Rebecca Blood blogger of
rebeccablood.net]. "Bloggers look
to the Web first for information -- it's
their window on the world. So it was
the most natural thing in the world for
them to send people away from their
sites through links. That's what the
Web is good for: sharing information.
They understand that people will come
every day to a site that sends them to
other interesting places."
BOTTOM LINE: Bloggers are your
consumers. al berrios iMarketing under-
stands them. Do you? Nuff said.
READ MORE:
http://www.fastcompany.com/feature/02/blood.html
top
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4. CONSUMERFOCUS: US ETHNICITIES
It seems that corporate America can't
get enough Latino content. Scripps is
launching
a Hispanic television network.
Scripps owns Food Network, Home &
Garden Television, and recently launched
Fine Living Network.
BOTTOM LINE: If you even think you
have a Latino demographic as part of
your audience, and you're not exploiting
it, just quit. Quit your job as manager,
sales guy, or exec, 'cause you just haven't
caught on to one of the hottest things in
the ad world - Latinos. I'm not speaking
with bias, I'm stating the simple truth.
There's new content trying to reach
Latinos on a weekly basis now, and
all because the next ad dollar will
be coming from advertisers trying to
reach them.
top
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5. MEDIA/ADSALES
NYTimes, WSJ, Financial
Times, all
have one thing in common that in this
day and age, doesn't even make any
sense to have - stock tables. And they're
finally deciding to get rid of them to
free up some valuable ad space. (Think
about it, have you ever lots of ads on
stock tables? Do you even check out
the tables with the internet keeping you
updated in real time?) Well, these days,
publishers, online or off, are doing what-
ever it takes to stay profitable. Other
than charging for everything, they're
even modifying their editorial approach
enough to accommodate more ads.
BOTTOM LINE: Maxim magazine has
even gone as far as making 13 different
magazines naming 13 diff. cities No. 1.
It's an interesting trend happening in all
media companies, more and more con-
tent is being tailored or modified to suit
advertisers. Rather than an evolution of
media, we're seeing a devolution to the
early days of media, when advertisers
paid for all programming. My opinion is
that after all this time, content publishers
should leave creative to the agencies, and
agencies should leave the content to the
content pubs.
READ MORE:
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/0,,SB1016409186811393160,00.html
http://www.freep.com/news/metro/maxim21_20020321.htm
top
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6. MANAGEMENT: TRENDS
Web analytics is big business. Every-
one is getting into it, from the established
players to new startups. Even companies
that aren't research outfits have given
up other businesses to focus on it. Why?
BOTTOM LINE: With billions invested
on sites and tech, advertisers want to
understand their online consumer better
before continuing significant investments
in them. Now, everyone is entering this
area because they don't want to loose
the clients they already have that are
demanding more insight. And since there
are no set standards to getting this insight,
anyone can deliver it. I can't make any
assertions about any player or tech out
there, but wouldn't you agree that it's
better to ask your consumer what they
want, rather than follow them around
analyzing their click-trails?
READ MORE:
http://www.internetnews.com/IAR/article/0,,12_995011,00.html
top
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7. OPERATIONS: ETAILING
"A recent report from BizRate finds that
43% of US online shoppers say that they
sometimes use comparison shopping bots
when shopping online and 34% say they
use the bots most of the time. One-half
of respondents, however, say that most
of the time they comparison shop by
searching site-to-site".
BOTTOM LINE: Don't be scared to post
your competitors prices on your site. Your
customers are going to find it anyway, might
as well give it to them right on your site so
they don't have to leave it. The fact that
consumers are such bargain hunters just
re-enforces the future of ecommerce
looking more and more like the eBay model,
rather than the Amazon model. Offer
people choices, and they will love you
for it.
READ MORE:
http://www.emarketer.com/estatnews/estats/ecommerce_b2c/20020319_bizrt.html
top
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8. MUSIC&MOVIES
I find it hysterical that as a result of
Mariah
Carey's sucky career in the
last few years, EMI had to lay off
1,800 people, cast off over 400 of their
other artists, reduce their payments
to investors by 50%, and ring up over
$340MM in charges, just to get things
back to normal. But what is normal in
the music industry? I recently received
an email offer from Listen.com's new
music download service Rhapsody, a
$9.95/mo subscription service that'll
let me download over a 100,000 songs,
but can't share or burn them.
BOTTOM LINE: There are at least 8
different p2p programs that allow you
to download mp3s, movies, pics, programs,
anything you dream of, from any year,
from any record, movie, or porn company.
There is no way that I, nor any of the 50
MM people that currently use one of these
p2p, would pay $120/yr to access a very
limited catalogue. So, I suppose the ques-
tion is, can EMI, or any other record label,
ever make money again? Yes, but only
when their business model changes to one
that embraces the net and consumer shift
in perception of the value of content.
READ MORE:
http://www.variety.com/story.asp?l=story&a=VR1117864249&c=10
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