Saturday, May 28, 2005

Google Suggest - Neat keyword tool.

This is a cool application in Beta that works as you type, Google will offer suggestions based on their indexed pages and provide the number of competing web pages. Don't get too excited, remember it only returns the pages it found, not how people are actually searching.

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Very Cool Example of Flash Configurator

Tahe a lok at how IKEA used flash on it's on the floor to increase sales.

Thursday, May 12, 2005

WCP Online: Creative Marketing: Creativity Defined

"Unlike art, creativity in advertising must have a destination in mind. Such a destination or goal falls under two major headings: image/brand building and immediate action. Under those headings we need to decide what that image/brand should be and/or what action do we want the audience to take.
Once we know our desired destination with a clearly defined communications goal, the creative process can begin. The best creative starts with brainstorming. Pack a room with half a dozen free thinking individuals and tell them where you want to go. Let them come up with dozens, if not hundreds of ideas and jot them all down. At the end, choose the one that best meets the stated goal along with being relevant, memorable and impactful.
We italicized free thinking because that is what makes one creative: having the ability to think outside the box. Where some people have a natural affinity to think that way, others can actually learn it by using the proper tools. Here's how.
Let's say that our message goal is "Chopped beef for 99 cents per lb. at Fred's Meat Market." There are nine techniques we can use to make that simple message creative. These techniques include: adaptation, exaggeration, comparison, elimination, demonstration, borrowed interest, slice of life, reversal and substitution.
Using exaggeration in this example could show a couple barbecuing in the back yard of their mansion when old friends arrive and are astounded at the opulence of their hosts' dwelling. The payoff comes when the man of the house reveals he can afford this lifestyle because he buys, "Chopped beef for 99 cent's per lb. at Fred's Meat Market." Add Ed and Trixie Norton as the hosts and Ralph and Alice Kramden as the guests and you've got borrowed interest.

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

New Firefox Viral Campaign Results

These are great results that needed to be shared...

THE FIRST-EVER FIREFOX AD CAMPAIGN launched last week with a set of viral spots created by French viral agency Pozz. The campaign, created for the Mozilla Foundation's European affiliate, was viewed more than 300,000 times over the weekend, according to Tristan Nitot, the co-founder of Mozilla Europe. Firefox, an open source browser available at no cost on Mozilla's Web site, has been edging upwards in market share, stealing users from Internet Explorer, the Web's dominant browser. By mid-April, Firefox had increased its market share to 10.28 percent from 4.23 percent, according to Janco Associates.
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=30054&Nid=13377&p=2815


To see them go to http://funnyfox.org I think the office the best viral campaign, it's also the most bizarre.
Segmenting Your Market Based on Customer Needs and Values
: "Ever wonder where companies come up with those catchy market segment names? Like "True Believers?" Or "Scornful Skeptics?"
Segments like these go beyond mere demographic or geographic similarities. Such groupings are based on more powerful emotional criteria-that is, how people view a product category and the needs they expect to have fulfilled.

In our previous article, "Taking the Hocus Pocus Out of Market Segmentation," we discussed the more straightforward approaches to segmenting a market using demographic, geographic, pyschographic and even behavioral characteristics. Those approaches are all examples of a priori segmentation, where the variables are selected before the segmentation analysis begins.

When segmenting a market based on customer needs and values, you don't know what the variables are until you first survey customers and identify the range of needs and values they have. This is known as post hoc segmentation, where segments are based on responses that are available only after a survey or study has been conducted."
Forrester Research: US Online Advertising And Marketing Forecast.: "The report includes data from an online survey of 99 leading marketers and four forecasts: US Online Advertising And Marketing Spending, US Search Marketing Spending, US Online Classifieds Advertising, and US Email Marketing Spending.
Key data points include:
Search engine marketing will grow by 33 percent in 2005, reaching $11.6 billion by 2010. Display advertising, which includes traditional banners and sponsorships, will grow at the average rate of 11 percent over the next five years to $8 billion by 2010.
New advertising channels will draw interest and spending from marketers. Sixty-four percent of respondents are interested in advertising on blogs, 57 percent through RSS, and 52 percent on mobile devices, including phones and PDAs.
Marketers are quickly losing confidence in the effectiveness of traditional advertising channels and feel that online channels will become more effective over the next three years. Seventy-eight percent of survey respondents said that they think search engine marketing will be more effective, compared with 53 percent of respondents who said TV advertising would become less effective.
The only nondigital advertising channel to reach the same level of confidence as online channels with marketers is product placement � only 8 percent of respondents believe that product placement will become less effective over the next three years."

Monday, May 09, 2005

CNN.com - Bloggers' conference emphasizes tools of reporting - May 9, 2005: "Right now, more than 8 million people write blogs, said Bob Cox, president of the Media Bloggers Association. Blogs, short for Web logs, are running commentaries on whatever their authors are interested in. Content often focuses on politics or media criticism and usually includes feedback from readers"

Thursday, May 05, 2005

What Clicks with Web Searchers?
What Clicks with Web Searchers

"While conventional search wisdom says advertising on topics produces lower ROI than advertising on brand names, a recent DoubleClick study has shown that 'buyers clearly favor generic terms early in the buying cycle,' according to Cam Balzer of Performics, DoubleClick's search marketing division. Further, searchers do a lot of research before buying, affording nearly five touch points on average. A majority of 70 to 80 percent of buyers searched on generic terms, with searches on brand names peaking immediately before purchase. "

"Brand managers take note: More than 92 percent of searchers never use brand names as search terms. "Generic keywords drive activity that later converts to brands," reported Balzer. Clearly, savvy online retailers will advertise on generic terms and place cookies for a minimum of 30 days on their shoppers to accurately track return on investment for purchases. "Short term cookies tell you nothing about long term return visitors," he said. "