eMarketer Data

eMarketer posted these data points on getting through to the teen market (Link Here).  I have a BIG issue with this data. As presented the data completely fails to point out that advertising is no longer just about mass broadcast.  When the Teens respond that “Social Networking”, “Video Games” and “Texts” are not great ways to advertise to them they are thinking about traditional advertising — mass media broadcasts.  Of course they would score low — kids don’t want to be interrupted by advertising when playing video games, socializing with their Facebook friends, or texting.

Don’t discount these channels based on this data.  Instead, understand how to use these channels to ADD VALUE to the conversation.  Advergaming is a very effective way to engage consumers in a way that they wouldn’t consider “advertising”.  Applications that truly add value like the Kraft’s iPhone application is not considered “advertising” buy the consumer.  Texting in your American Idol vote is not considered an AT&T ad.  These are examples of ADDING VALUE — not broadcasting an ad.  To gain future generations attention marketers need to stop thinking about the “ad” and start thinking about adding the value.

My article titled “The Optimistic Marketer’s Guide to Recession Success“  was selected as a post on BigThink.com.  Check it out at:

http://bigthink.com/robwalker/the-optimistic-marketers-guide-to-recession-success

Thanks for checking it out!

Check out this example of Augmented Reality from a current Papa John campaign.  Augmented Reality (AR) has come up a lot in the last month.  And there has been some interesting uses — so far my favorite is Lego’s use of AR with an instore kiosk.  Hold a Lego box up to the kiosk and see what the Lego set build in 3D.

I’m not sure that AR is the novelity dejur or here to stay.  If it is here to stay it needs better execution than this example from Papa John.  There’s something interesting to the technology — it will be interesting to see it develop.  Keep an eye on this space to see if it is a potential tactic for a promotional campaign or online/offline product.

Hulu.com is a fairly simple concept.  In 2007 NBC and FOX created Hulu.com to broadcast television content over the internet.   In April of 2009 Disney’s ABC unit bought into the joint venture with a 27% stake.  The concept is pretty simple – push TV shows over the Internet.  But the reason why these historic competitors would work together and the ramifications it will have on both the television industry and the Internet are profound.  Let’s dig in a bit.

The first thing we have to understand is who the players are and how they make money.  I’ve created this over simplified chart to help illustrate:

Major Players

Cable Companies, Internet Service Providers, and Cell Phone companies make their money by selling subscriptions to consumers to gain access to content.  These companies have saturated the US market — essentially everyone has cable, cell phones, and internet access.  The market is not going to grow.  So the only way they can grow is to add new services to their offering.  But there is only so much the consumer is willing to pay.

Content Producers like Disney and Fox make their money by selling advertising placement on their content.  (This is oversimplified but provides the picture we need to understand what’s going on).  The more content they get in front of the consumer the more money they make.  The bigger the audience the more they can charge for the advertising spots.

Hulu brings that content directly to the consumer through the internet.  Allowing NBC, FOX, and Disney to create a bigger audeince for their content.  But since the Internet providers charge a flat rate for internet they don’t make any more money.  In fact, since the Cable companies are also the Internet providers they are concerned that consumers could cancel their Cable subscriptions and just watch TV over their internet connection — reducing the consumers monthly subscription fee.  AND THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN AND WHY HULU IS A HUGE PARADIGM SHIFT!

Once you can watch TV over the internet and once your TV is connected to the internet you don’t need cable anymore.  How does this effect the players…

Content Providers love this!  In the short run they are now growing their audience by providing content on the Internet and Cable TV.  Which increases their revenues.  Plus they can launch new shows on the internet to test them before going to big budget main stream distribution.  In the long run they get to add functionality to their content that only the internet brings — like instant product purchase, sampling, coupons, and promotions.

Cable Companies are scared to death.  How do they justify selling two services to consumers when the consumer only needs Internet in the future.

Internet Service Providers need to figure this out.  For the most part they are also the Cable Company.  But more importantly, they need to figure out a model that charges consumers for usage — not just flat rates.  The news is full of stories right now about ISPs capping the amount of data you can download.  There is a future where the more Internet you use the more your bill will be — and TV over the internet uses a lot of bandwidth.

So, why is Hulu important?  According to Neilson:

“Hulu ranks #2 (online video outlet behind YouTube) as it continues on a steep growth trajectory, increasing 490% in total streams year-over-year (YoY), from 63.2 million in April 2008 to 373.3 million in April 2009,” (Link here to full article).

People are ready for TV content over the internet.  The Content Creators will be the winners.  The Content distributors need to figure this new model out.  Marketers will have innovative new ways to communication their message to consumers.  And consumers will end up paying more — but will be getting a lot more content and functionality for their money.

Walt Disney World

Last week I took my seven year old son and three year old daughter down to Disney World for the week.  We had a great time — my daughter is a huge Princess fan and was in awe the entire time.  While exploring all that Disney has to offer I started to think about how the magic they pull off in the parks translates to Internet Marketing.  Here are five things that I think Disney does that can be applied to online campaigns:

1. Make your audience feel special. As soon as we walked onto Main Street USA a Disney cast member approached us and asked if we’d like to meet someone special.  We followed her behind some curtains for a private meeting with Cinderella.  The Disney cast member just grabbed us off the street and provided us with an experience that we will never forget.  When developing online campaigns look for opportunities to reward influencers or brand fans in ways that make them feel as though they are getting access to something that is not available to everyone.
2. Immerse your Audience in the Story. Wherever you are in any Disney park you are surrounded with the specific experience.  If you are in Animal Kingdom’s Asia zone all you see is 360 degrees of Asia.  If you’re in line for Mt. Everest you’re surrounded with the Yeti story.  Disney goes to great lengths to ensure that the audience is immersed in the story.  All lines of sights are carefully planned to ensure that there is nothing to take you out of the experience.  We can apply this tactic when developing online experiences and campaigns — when creating a campaign how can we ensure all the touch points reinforce the core message.
3. Anticipation and Reveal. As you take the ferry across the lagoon into the Magic Kingdom you slowly make an arched approached that hides Cinderella’s castle building up the anticipation until almost the end of the trip.  The same build up and reveal is done with Animal Kingdom’s tree of life.  We can create a sense of tension and release with online campaigns by drawing our audience into the message, letting the audience explore or hunt for a solution, then providing the reveal.
4. Let your audience participate. My favorite part of our trip was taking my daughter to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique in Cinderella’s Castle.  For the price of a small car my three year old had her hair done up as one of the Disney princesses.  She was living the fantasy.  When developing online campaigns look for opportunities that allow your audience to participate in the message.  We’ve seen a lot of this in the Social Networking space and Advergaming but I believe it is a tactic that can be further expanded upon.
5. Make it convenient to buy. The kids are pretty much asking to buy stuff every time they pass a strategically placed kiosk, push cart, or store.  But you don’t want to be lugging around the Mickey snowglobe and Pirate musket all day — no problem!  Disney will have any purchase sent directly to your hotel room.  Can’t get that great family photo — no problem!  Disney photographers will follow you around taking the perfect picture that you can pick up on your way out.  (I’m pretty sure that all of the Disney lighting has some secret element that makes your pictures look like crap while the professional photos look perfect).  For us marketers the message here is that the close is the most important part of the sales process — look for every opportunity to take away reasons for losing the sale.