Marketing in the Digital Age

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We owe it to the over 55's
2007-05-30 12:24:00
My previous post about MOSAIC types and DM was inspired by Hitwise who observed that the over 55's are about to become the largest group of Internet users. This is not altogether surprising when we consider that this age group measures 15.5m (2001 UK Census) and is the largest single reported age group in UK marketing terms. It does intrigue me that we as a marketing community still refer to all 15.5m over 55's as one basic bracket. The over 55's segment offers huge diversity and can be segmented in a number of different directions. Any age group that spans 30 years in range is bound to offer a wealth of surprises and opportunities. If we assume that many people are remaining generally fit and active to age 75 then we're talking about 11.15m active over 55's. 6.2m of them (more than 55% of the under 75's) are still of working age. More broadly, many over 55's have assets that exceed liabilities by a long margin. Many are outright property owners. Many travel extensively, own ...

Good to see Hitwise using MOSAIC and good to see important MOSAIC groups us
2007-05-28 16:50:00
It's my view that the online marketing community can gain much from traditional direct marketers. It's also my view that direct marketers are being too slow to adopt online media. So for me at least, it's always great to see any evidence of convergence between traditional direct marketing and online direct marketing. Such convergence is evident in the Hitwise Analysts Blog which has been reporting the changing demographic profile of web users through MOSAIC - a traditional segmentation tool of direct mail marketers. And it shows up some interesting findings. Most notably, Heather Hopkins, Hitwise UK's Director of Research, reports that 'Symbols of Success' and 'Urban Intelligence' are among the most active MOSAIC groups online. Now anyone who's sat in a meeting discussing MOSAIC targeting of any "ABC1" product or service will be aware of the commercial attractiveness of both 'Symbols of Success' and 'Urban Intelligence'. They are highly desirable from many marketing pe...
More About: Mosaic , Good , Groups

MySpace Media Choice
2007-05-04 14:11:00
Just been down to my local cash machine where two interesting things happened. Firstly I took out cash directly after (Dr, Sir) Jonathan Miller, neurologist, theatre and opera director, television presenter, humorist and sculptor (Wik.) and secondly, I had this beautifully succinct myspace ad. literally thrust under my nose as I started keying in my request for cash. Clients often ask how they can use Web 2.0 sites like myspace and youtube etc. Strictly from an advertiser's perspective I view these sites as an online version of a call centre fulfillment pack. The key point is that you have to be directed there as a route to finding out more information about a topic - just as Dan Bowskill has done. If you go to Dan's space there's real value; music for downloading, pics and information. When considering these types of web 2.0 options, advertisers and their agencies have to ask themselves a Seth Godin style permission/value contract question: Will the prospects I'm directing ther...
More About: Media , Myspace , Choice

Google's secret recipie
2007-05-02 20:56:00
These are MI5 products. They're are both produced using "secret recipes". Employees involved in their manufacture probably sign a commercial equivalent of the Official Secret s Act with their contract and are sworn never to divulge the ingredients and techniques used in the making of these products. And now of course, we have a 21st century online equivalent of these culinary mysteries; the search algorithms used by Google to sift and rank the world's websites.Seas of SEO consultants claim to be able to "beat Google" and increase your site's page rank. They too have their own SEO recipes; buy more back links, get listed in big web directories, optimise your HTML, don't use java or pictures and remember that meta tags are passe. For some, 'beating' Google is an interesting intellectual puzzle. For others, it's a chance to fleece the unwary. So what is Google's secret recipe and is it really possible for an SEO consultant to beat it? My guess is that Google runs what is, in ...
More About: Reci

Ogilvy's garden
2007-04-12 12:58:00
Whilst David Ogilvy might be proud of how Martin Sorrell is developing as a direct marketer (see last post), he would surely be bursting with delight at how his wife Herta has embraced the Internet to market the gardens at the Chateau Touffou, his home until his death in 1999.This screen grab from the Tourism Poitou web site carries copy beginning "Labelled as a "Remarkable Garde n ", here you can stroll through three gardens set around this lovely château overlooking the Vienne River...." There's a nice inviting pic and a phone, fax and email response mechanic. A strong "ticket on the meat" headline may improve things.I really am forced to wonder just how an advertising giant like Ogilvy would have viewed the Internet landscape - and especially Web 2.0 - in 2007. Would he be admonishing it as the place where brands are mercilessly commoditised by over-rational consumers or a platform for the ultimate 1-1 brand-consumer dialogue? I suspect that the man who predicted that "One day, al...
More About: Arden

Sorrell may not be an adman, but he could be a direct marketer
2007-04-11 17:39:00
?Start experimenting with mobile, test, refine, repeat,? was the advice offered by Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive at WPP, at the Mobile Entertainment and Advertising Summit held by the GSM Association.Well there you have it; 'experiment, test, refine, repeat'. Ogilvy and Sorrell may not have seen eye to eye when the new boy was buying up O&M, but D.O. may be very proud to see how the young lad Sorrell has come along. Ogilvy himself was a big proponent of testing - a habit he picked up from Claude Hopkins (see post below). In case anyone is wondering, Ogilvy too was a direct marketer before he was an adman. He referred to DM as, "my first love, and later, my secret weapon."
More About: Direct , Dire , Marketer , Rect

Payment by results for creatives?
2007-04-11 09:32:00
Mark Hancock recently posed the rather interesting question: "What would happen if the creative department remuneration was allied to sales?" Well in the early days of advertising, copywriters were often paid by results. And some of them made big money. In the 1920's Claude Hopkins at Lord and Thomas (ancestor of FCB) was earning $100,000 per year - and yes, that's in 1920's money. Moving to payment by results may have some interesting effects in agencies. It would change the nature of advertising creativity, it would mean more businesslike creatives would flourish, it would mean much closer working relationship between creative and other departments - because creatives would be big stakeholders in sales success and, last but not least, it would mean that advertising becomes far less of an art form and far more of a business tool. The closer working relationship bit is interesting. Over the years creatives have become more of an isolated and protected species within agencies. T...
More About: Results , Payment

How can brands use MySpace and YouTube?
2007-03-29 11:06:00
Looks like the election campaign of a young Liberal Democrat candidate has nosedived after pictures of him drunk out of his mind were posted onto his MySpace and Bebo sites by his 'mates' ....and then picked up by a local Scottish newspaper. Curtains too for the biker who filmed himself doing 170 mph and pulling wheelies on the A1 with a bike mounted camera and posted his antics on YouTube. Unluckily for him, he's been identified by police and faces prison for reckless driving. No doubt if the 'Angel Tube Skier' (pic) is identified, he'll get six points on his Oyster card.While all this is going on, brands aspire to get their message out onto social media sites like YouTube and MySpace. Just as building a meaningless brand website was all the rage in the late 1990's, so it seems a presence on YouTube is now de-rigeur - or worse still - "cool" and "in touch" with young web users. Recently, I took a look at the YouTube channel of a reasonably well known FMCG drinks brand. It ...
More About: Youtube , Myspace , Brands

Google tests Pay per Action
2007-03-23 10:35:00
Google is running a beta test to trial 'Pay per Action ' advertising. To date, many advertisers will associate Google with the pay per click (PPC) model. Pay per click was in itself a big advancement on the traditional CPM (paying for audience eyeballs, rather than response), but paying for an advertiser-nominated action is a mighty breakthrough for direct selling advertisers.The traditional advertising model run by TV, radio, press and outdoor, as well as direct mail is based around buying what is in effect a viewing by the target audience. But nothing more. The risk beyond that lies entirely with the advertiser. What's amazing about pay per click this that you don't pay simply for the privilege of being seen, you pay when people act upon your message and click through to your site. Google* shares the risk of getting a response with the advertiser. Google's Pay per Action model takes this sentiment even further, you don't pay to be seen and you don't even pay to get a click t...
More About: Google , Tests

It's probably too late for ITV, despite Grade's talents
2007-03-07 18:37:00
So profits are down, ad revenue is down, and the ad market is "challenging" according to Michael Grade. The ink had scarcely dried on my "So, are people watching more or less TV?" post yesterday when ITV announced its figures. The key media soundbites were focussed on the profit drop, but the ITV revenue drop was the other big story; because revenue is driven by viewing figures and they reflect the size and quality of audiences being delivered. And the size and quality of the audiences in turn reflect the quality of the programmes being made and transmitted.In my view both the BBC and ITV have produced some dire programming over the last few years. Reality TV has been a short term fix; it costs very little to produce (compared to real drama) and delivers reasonably good audiences - in other words it's a highly profitable genre of programming. Now whilst reality TV may be profitable, profitable programming does not build and maintain audiences. That's the job of quality programming...
More About: Talents , Late , Lent , Probably