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IMARKETING REPORT 04.01.02:
Oscars as online brand, TV ads suck
>> we review 400 e-newsletters per week, so you don't have to.
Good morning execs,
Anderson seems to be spiraling down
the crapper faster than anyone thought;
HP/Compaq merger gets nastier with
lawsuits; Enron keeps bringing up uglier
news, with discoveries of how they
bullied investment banks into firing
anyone in their ranks that bad-mouthed
them; Columbia U finds that "just an
hour of TV a day leads to increased
violence in adolescent boys"; Primedia
has fired off dozens of staffers in an
attempt close down Inside.com, one of
their best niche, and least profitable, units.
Folks, if you have money in this company,
take it out now - their management has
no clue what they're doing; Oprah says
"no thanks" when asked by the Bush
admin "to join a delegation to tour Af-
ghanistan's schools", proving once again
that anything with Oprah's seal of approval
is as good as a seal of approval from
the country's women; In a sign that
Playboy is feeling the pinch from Maxim,
and Stuff, they run this
article: "Why
is Playboy better than those other men's
magazines? Because we show you
what they can't! We take a look at
some of our competitors' articles that
feature Playmates and Playboy models,
and then take off their clothes."
READ MORE:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-0203290235mar29.story?coll=chi%2Dnews%2Dhed
http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=34325
http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=healthnews&StoryID=753357
CONTENTS:
1. BRANDS: The Oscars Didn't Work Online. Why?
2. BRANDRESEARCH: TV Ads Suck
3. THECONSUMER: The Success of... Junkmail?
4. CONSUMERFOCUS: Move Your Links, Increase ROI
5. MEDIA/ADSALES: Viacom Buys Univision?
6. MANAGEMENT: Innovate or Die... Like Never Before
7. OPERATIONS: Results From Yahoo!'s Big 3-Day Sale
8. MUSIC&MOVIES: AOL Makes Movie About AOL
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1. BRANDS: The Oscars Didn't Work Online. Why?
Last week's Oscar popularity didn't
translate over to the internet. Why?
And what does this show for future
attempts at monetizing the Oscars
online? Can the brand be translated
online in the future at all? Could it be
that some content is simply meant for
one medium while others aren't? Super-
bowl and Olympics both experienced
success online. Even NCAAs March
Madness worked online. But it seems
the people need to see their celebs as
they're presenting and accepting their
prizes, in large screens.
BOTTOM LINE: I believe that success
for the Oscars online was measured
incorrectly. I think that pre-Oscars was
the most successful time online, with
fans digging around to see if their fave
actors/actresses stand a chance, not
after. Afterwards, people already knew
everything they wanted to know (except
why maybe Halle won.) The failure of
the post-Oscars to capture significant
traffic online could also mean the event
was more popular with the other half of
the country that isn't online yet. I mean,
did you watch the Oscars? I didn't.
It's not niche in a niche society.
READ MORE:
http://www1.internetwire.com/iwire/release_html_b1?release_id=39890
top
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2. BRANDRESEARCH: TV Ads Suck
Did you know that there was an Inter-
media Advertising Group representing
TV broadcasters and they claim
that "only half of the [TV aud] ever
sees the ads. Only 20% of those who
see the ads can recall the ad, if prompted.
Less than 10% understand the ad's
message." There's also an Interactive
Advertising Bureau that claims "...online
advertising may result in increased...
brand awareness,... and purchase intent,
higher online frequency boosts branding
effectiveness, & online is generally more
cost-efficient [than TV] in terms of brand-
ing increases from the pre-campaign level."
BOTTOM LINE: With this sort of data
available to the public, including media
buyers and other advertisers, is it any
wonder that mostly TV is b!tching about
an ad recession?
READ MORE:
http://www.btobonline.com/daily
top
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3. THECONSUMER: The Success of... Junkmail?
"A study by StopTheJunkMail.com
found that 87% of the surveyed consu-
mers said they get rid of too much un-
solicited mail, with 65% of the respon-
dents throwing out their mail immediately."
In response to this and the threat of email,
direct marketers wonder: "Will [email]
replace a mail piece or catalog? Doubt-
ful. By 2005, Gartner said, e-mail ad
revenue will reach $1.5 billion. Yet that
is just a fraction of last year's direct mail
market: $196.8 billion, a 3.6% increase
over 2000. And that was during a reces-
sion, Sept. 11 and anthrax." Perhaps it's
the cost of production and measuring ROI?
BOTTOM LINE: In the last year, we have
witnessed how stubborn almost every industry
is when it comes to change. The direct
marketers making the claim about the
longevity of the industry are also the ones
that said to email your consumers to let
them know they're about the receive your
junk mail during the anthrax scare. My
suggestion to direct marketers is to
re-evaluate your use of this discipline
because as we've seen with the case of
the Oscars, not every brand is suited for
every medium, and perhaps, the money
you're wasting on direct could be put to
better use in another medium, like online.
READ MORE:
http://www.dmnews.com/cgi-bin/artcategory.cgi?category_id=6&a=19801
http://dmnews.com/cgi-bin/artprevbot.cgi?article_id=19792
top
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4. CONSUMERFOCUS: Move Your Links, Increase ROI
First it was all about acquiring new
customers. Then it was all about re-
taining your old ones. Now they're
saying retention isn't enough and that
you have to focus on slight changes in
your customers buying patterns in order
to keep them happy. What the...?
This is the sort of malarkey that justifies
the existence for pricey consultants
like the ones that produced this research,
and yet, there does appear to be some
truth to these findings. Wal-Mart has
been keeping tabs on receipt line-item
purchases of their 100 MM weekly
customers just to keep them happy.
BOTTOM LINE: I once read that Wal-
Mart will go as far as moving unrelated
items closer to each other to effectively
increase sale-through for that one item
because they noticed that customers in
a particular store always bought them
both together anyway. And you know
what happened? It worked. The item,
some funky food, increased it's volume
in that store since shoppers didn't have
to remember to look around for it. Track
traffic to your top links. Move them to
diff places on your website. See results.
Now you have valuable data to help you
increase your site's ROI.
top
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5. MEDIA/ADSALES: Viacom Buys Univision?
Will Univision, the fastest growing TV
network today, sell to Viacom, Disney,
or AOLTW? "For
many observers,
NBC's acquisition of Telemundo re-
presented a realisation by the media
establishment that the Hispanic market
could no longer be ignored. The demo-
graphics are compelling: there are more
than 35m Hispanics in the US, repre-
senting 13% of the total population, and
Hispanics are expected to become the
largest minority group in the country
within the next decade."
BOTTOM LINE: Like I said last week,
almost every week, there's something
in the news about this market. In the
TV world, it's the only bright spot for
the future. With news anchor people
moving around or retiring soon, fave
programs ending, new good programming
too costly and not popular enough to carry
networks into the next decade, the
only thing left are to cater to Latinos.
My money is on VIACOM will buy
Univision, since they've set the standard
for buying minority networks for what
they're really worth. Upsets: NBC or
Vivendi steps in.
top
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6. MANAGEMENT: Innovate or Die... Like Never Before
Need a reason to mark up your consulting
business even more? Claim you help
your client be more innovative. Every-
where you look, that appears to be the
new strategy. Gartner claims that
"Innovation is an emerging core com-
petency". If you're not down, then you're
obsolete. Even Accenture claims it
"delivers innovations that help clients
across all industries quickly realize their
visions. "
BOTTOM LINE: Just think about all
of the businesses that have failed, the
supposed state of the economy, and the
lack growing concern that tomorrow's
workforce that just ain't cut out for serious
business and you'll understand for business
demand in innovatoin. Major consulting
businesses recognize that the bigger the
company, the less the innovation and
are rebranding their biggest contribution
is their ability to help your business
innovate and succeed above the rest.
I agree with this strategy, and think it
is the right move.
top
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7. OPERATIONS: Results From Yahoo!'s Big 3-Day Sale
Yahoo! had a 3-day sale about two weeks
ago. Some of the participating merchants
claim their sales increased nearly 500%,
and overall sales increase an average
of 25%. So now, e-commerce folks
feel they've found a great new way to
boost sales. Yes, using Yahoo's access
to over 125 MM people works, but what
I find interesting is consumers' reaction
to only buying now, when the sale is on.
BOTTOM LINE: For months, I have
been claiming that the ideal and future
model for all online commerce will be
eBay. Buyers buy at the prices they
want, sellers sell at the prices they want.
No one carries inventory, and marketing
is a self-perpetuating animal. To me,
this Yahoo! sale and the boost in traffic
just confirms the inevitable. If you don't
own eBay, get in now, while it's still
cheap at $57.
READ MORE:
http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=34317
top
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8. MUSIC&MOVIES: AOL Makes Movie About AOL
AOLTW takes synergy to a whole new
level this week by announcing that their
HBO subsidiary "is making a movie based
on the memoir of a news producer at AOL
Time Warner sibling CNN." In addition,
the movie will get ads across it's media
properties, (on which AOL advertises
it's other brands at least 50% of the time.)
But what does all this synergy really
amount to? "Pundits are saying Time
Warner shareholders would have been
better off if they hadn't sold to AOL"
and that it was such a bad deal that
"the company... would take a charge of
up to $60 billion to reflect [its] reduced value."
BOTTOM LINE: Is bigger better? In
the ad world, agencies have consolidated
so big, many argue that creativity and clients
suffer. In the media business, consolidation
was supposed to counteract agency conso-
lidation, but as we see with AOL, it may
not prove to be the best model for media
companies. Niche content suffers, profit-
ability wins over quality, and one cannot
subside on ad revenue alone. The future
of media is here, and it is called niche.
Focus on catering to the needs of a very
specific audience and you will succeed.
READ MORE:
http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/business/cnn/#cnnhbo
http://www.nydailynews.com/2002-03-25/News_and_Views/Media_and_Business/a-145455.asp
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/26/business/media/26PLAC.html
top
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