Jeff Bezos video to Zappos employees – worth watching

Filed under: Information , Consumers, Marketing, Online, Partnerships, Technology, VC, Video

Quotes in BusinessWeek

Peter Sorgenfrei was quoted in this BusinessWeek column by Ben Kunz:

Viralsourcing: Let Crowds Create Your Ad Message – Not only are fans spreading the word about products—they’re now helping to design and build marketing campaigns from the get-go.

Full Article

Filed under: Marketing , Advertising, Consumer, Crowdbands, Entertainment, ideas, Marketing, Music, Network, Online

What teens want: No they are not too busy twittering to listen

Don’t get too caught up in the hype of digital media usage. That is a key message of “How Teens Use Media,” a new research report by the Nielsen Company.

“The notion that teens are too busy texting and Twittering to be engaged with traditional media is exciting, but false,” according to the executive summary. Instead of replacing traditional media with new media consumption, teens are simply making time for both, it concludes.

Other myths that the report debunks are that teenagers’ preferences differ vastly from adults, that teens’ media and entertainment spending is insulated from the recession (they actually reduce it, with out-of-home entertainment more affected than in-home) and that traditional advertising can’t resonate with teens (once ads break through the clutter, teens like them more).

The leading type of media use among teens is still television, with the average teenager watching 3 hours and 20 minutes per day, debunking the myth of YouTube as the lead medium. Actually, Nielsen says that teens watch more TV than ever, with usage up 6% over the past five years in the U.S.

In comparison, a typical teen only watches about 11 minutes of online video per day, Nielsen found, or an average of about 3 hours per month. That is much less than adults ages 18-24 who watch 5 hours and 35 minutes per month and even less than adults ages 35-44 who watch 3 hours and 30 minutes per month, according to the study, which compiled data from across Nielsen’s media measurement businesses and its biannual global survey of consumers across 50 countries.

“Teens watch less online video than most adults, but the ads are highly engaging to them,” the summary of the Nielsen report says. “Teens spend 35% less time watching online video than adults 25-34, but recall ads better when watching TV shows online than they do on television.”

More

Filed under: Market Research, Marketing, Networks , Advertising, Consumers, Marketing, Networks, Online, Research, Teens, TV, Twitter, Video

Brand Perception on Twitter

Last year in November we ran a survey with @warrenss among Twitter users about their perception of Brands using Twitter.

We just launched the follow-up study, so please take 2 minutes to complete these 11 questions.

Much appreciated:

Survey

Filed under: Market Research , Market Research, Online, Research

Online advertising less effective than perceived?

According to a recent study by McPheters & Company comparing the effectiveness of ads on television, in magazines, and on the internet magazines effectively delivered more than twice the number of ad impressions as TV and more than 6 times those delivered online within a half hour time frame spent with the medium.

Furthermore:
Though TV doesn’t deliver as many ads per half hour as do magazines, net recall of TV ads was almost twice that of magazine ads; magazines in turn had ad recall almost three times that of Internet banner ads

85% of Internet ads served appeared on-screen and could be identified by brand

Among web users, 63% of banner ads were not seen. Respondents’ eyes passed over 37% of the Internet ads and stopped on slightly less than a third

For Internet ads, almost all net recall could be attributed to ads that were seen

Internet video ads appeared much less frequently than banner ads, and their exposure skewed heavily towards young men. When they did appear they were twice as likely to be seen as banner ads.

Filed under: Information, Market Research, Marketing , Advertising, Consumers, Online, Research

Ads get noticed – Gen Y’s just don’t care much

From MarketingVox:

84% of Millennial users notice ads on social networks, with a whopping 74% clicking infrequently on them, according to research from The Participatory Marketing Network and Pace University’s Lubin School of Business’ Interactive and Direct Marketing Lab.

Even so, only 19% of surveyed Gen-Yers find social networking ads relevant; 36% claim they never to click on the ads.

A corroborating report from IDC, released in December, found social network ads are less effective than other forms of online marketing.

But that isn’t to say this medium lacks merit for brands hoping to harness the Zeitgeist’s power. 62% of Millennials admitted they’ve visited a brand or fan page on a social network; 48% actually joined.

Top reasons to join a brand group or fan page included:

• Getting news or product updates (67%)
• Having access to promotions (64%)
• Viewing or downloading music or videos (41%)
• Submitting opinions (36%)
• Connecting with other consumers (33%)

“More work must be done to understand what drives participation and engagement within social networks,” said Co-Founder/ Executive Chairman Michael Della Penna of The Participatory Marketing Network.

“Many [advertisers] are still waiting for proof that increasing investment in this burgeoning ‘channel’ will yield measurable benefits.”

January research from Netpop found the typical social network user addresses 110 people per week on average; s/he also spends about $101 online per month.

And these aren’t merely Millennials. Pew observes that social networking profiles quadrupled among US adults between 2005 and 2008. 35% are on one; the percentages lower with each older generation.

Filed under: Information, Market Research, Marketing , Advertising, Market Research, Marketing, Online

Reaching automotive consumers online

We recently completed a study on how automotive dealers reach consumers online.

After looking at 2,400 search results from 148 different website builders in 20 markets across 12 brands, we discovered two companies performed significantly better than their competitors with over a third of the top placement results being from their clients. This is significant since 42% of all clicks on a Google search page is on the first listed result.

Download the report here

Filed under: Automotive, Market Research , Automotive, Consumers, Online

Personal health records online

We have written about this topic before here. This now from Manhattan Research:

Consumer demand for accessing personal health records (PHR) online is now at more than 70 million Americans, according to Cybercitizen Health™ v8.0, the latest consumer study and strategic advisory service from pharmaceutical and healthcare market research company Manhattan Research. Despite significant interest in this type of service, only 7 million U.S. adults actually use PHRs.

Compelling offerings from vendors ranging from Google, WebMD, and Microsoft to multiple insurers and employers have sparked buzz around PHR in the past year. But for average consumers not motivated by a serious illness, significant barriers such as privacy concerns, lack of understanding, and doubts to PHR efficiency hinder adoption.

“Despite the rapidly increasing supply of PHR platforms, consumer adoption of PHRs is unlikely to show significant growth in the absence of major physician participation,” said Erika S. Fishman, Director of Research at Manhattan Research. “Education and awareness building will be critical in establishing the need for a PHR in the mind of American consumers. In a time when our country has not made health IT and electronic medical records a priority, it is understandable why consumers may not see the value in putting in the effort to keep a PHR on their own, unless they are highly motivated to do so because of an illness.”

Filed under: Information, Innovation , Consumer, Health, Online, Tools

Most manufacturing brands are missing the mark online

Competition among manufacturing brands is fierce. Televisions, kitchen appliances, flooring, electronics, automotive — each category is a crowded market. And in a climate where it’s unclear whether there’s enough to go around, most manufacturers are missing out on a prime opportunity to get ahead in the game: the digital channel.

Digital marketing is the most powerful connector in the business-to-consumer toolkit. The sentiment is there. The conditions are right. In many cases, the money is being allocated. And yet, the branded manufacturing industry continues to lag behind retail and consumer packaged goods in connecting with the all-important web-empowered consumer.

In 2007 Resource Interactive published its findings in a year-long study of branded manufacturers online. Focused on those brands marketing high-ticket items to consumers (greater than $100), more than half of the sites audited made no attempt to establish their brand online. With 81% of web-goers using the internet to research a product before purchase, according to Pew Internet & American Life Project, and 71% of online shoppers reading reviews, according to Forrester, it’s more critical than ever a brand use the web to empower purchase decisions in its favor. Full Article

Filed under: Information, Market Research, Marketing , Advertising, Brands, Marketing, Online

Importance of video for style related online retailers

In a recent survey nearly half of respondents say manufacturer Web sites have some or significant influence on their jewelry or watch purchase, and 43.4 percent say the same about jeweler or retailer Web sites.

Consumers also cited online video as an influence in their recent purchases, the majority of which are younger male watch buyers.

Online video is fast becoming an increasingly popular advertising vehicle, especially for marketers of style products. Many videos found online for watches resemble mini-movies more than commercials. The study finds that for one in five male jewelry/watch buyers 18 to 24, online video does more than entertain; it impacts what they buy or where they buy it.

Other key findings from the survey:

• 50.9 percent of U.S. adults 25-34 say they bought jewelry or a watch recently.
• Nearly 84 percent of consumers prefer to buy jewelry/watches in a store as opposed to online.
• The store experience is important: 63.5 percent rate store reputation and 65.9 percent rate the sales staff as important factors in their purchases.
• 47.9 percent of recent jewelry/watch purchasers were influenced by information or advertising from newspapers. Magazines, television, and direct mail were also among the most influential traditional media.
• More than 20 percent of respondents consider cause and/or charity support by a manufacturer or store to be somewhat or very important. That number goes up to 25 percent for African-American consumers.

The results highlight the need for local jewelry and watch retailers to have a strong Web site that showcases their products visually, provides product availability information and reviews or comments from previous customers. Pre-roll video advertising on other Web sites may also be an effective option for jewelry/watch marketers.

Filed under: Market Research, Marketing , Fashion, Online, Retail, Video