The Power of Influence

Tom Fishburne Rocks

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ZenithOptimeda says Word of Mouth leads the pack

Word-of-mouth--especially from family and friends--leads the pack in terms of influence on brand choice, but marketers still face a major challenge making it scalable, according to new data from media network ZenithOptimedia. As powerful as it may be, "we as an industry are not doing as good a job as we could do in generating it," says Bruce Goerlich, ZenithOptimedia's president of strategic resources, North America.

Consumer touchpoints were each given a "contact clout factor"--a number on a scale of 1 to 100 that indicates relative influence on purchasing. Recommendations from family and friends led the pack with an average score of 84. TV ads and Internet search were next, with an average score of 69 and 67, followed by magazine ads at 60, newspaper ads at 55, outdoor ads at 45, radio ads at 42, and Internet banner ads at 41.

The ROI tracker also measures brand association, or the percentage of consumers who say they have seen or heard of a brand though a touchpoint in recent months. TV is still king in this category with 22% of consumers recalling an ad. Story here

Spend Online to overtake TV in UK next year

LONDON (Reuters) - The Internet will usurp television as the biggest advertising medium in Britain by the end of 2009, according to a report published on Monday.

Britain has the most developed online advertising market in the world which the report by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), PricewaterhouseCoopers and the World Advertising Research Centre said was worth 2.8 billion pounds ($5.6 billion) in 2007.

It said last year's 38 percent online ad growth was driven by the rising number of people online, the introduction of cheap laptops and the growing popularity of catch-up TV on the Internet through services such as Channel 4's 4oD.

"With broadband speeds on the up and consumers spending more time on more sites, the outlook for online advertising is rosy -- in fact we expect it to overtake TV in 2009 when it will become the UK's biggest medium," IAB chief executive Guy Phillipson said in a statement.

The report said the Internet was the biggest driver of overall advertising growth in 2007, with the entire sector in Britain experiencing 4.3 percent growth to 18.4 billion pounds.

Online ad spend had a market share of 15.3 percent, up from 11.4 percent in 2006, but behind display press advertising at 19.9 percent and TV at 21.8 percent.

Blogg yourself to death

Full-time bloggers, who are often given incentives based on the number of page views they generate or the number of stories they write, put their health at risk due to the 24-hour demands of the profession. Being first to a story can generate a page view boon. Hence, bloggers rarely sleep, are addicted to coffee, are constantly connected to their computers.

It uses the examples of tech bloggers Russell Shaw, who died of a heart attack two weeks ago, Marc Orchant, who died of a massive coronary, Om Malik, who nearly died of a heart attack in December, and TechCrunch creator Michael Arrington, who says: "At some point, I'll have a nervous breakdown and be admitted to the hospital, or something else will happen. This is not sustainable."

See full story

Get permission stupid - dont interrupt

Is it that it is just easier to thrown marketing at a wall and see what sticks or is there another reason that marketers are so stuck on interruption advertising.

It might work – but what’s the cost?

Although this is a US perspective – I am sure to a greater degree it is equally true in most countries.

Not so long ago telemarketing was the “hot new thing” …. Marketers discovered that you could fine tune the process just enough to make it worthwhile to have armies of people ringing their way through a list, interrupting them to make a sales pitch.

Technologies like predictive diallers appeared – which dialed the next number on the list BEFORE there was an agent ready to speak to someone. Their algorithms gambled that by the time you answered the phone there would be an agent ready.  This shaved seconds off the process and boosted ROI.

Except that they forgot about the customer on the other end, who not only got interrupted but then often had to wait on hold till the agent was ready to pitch to them.

Because the negative impact of the experience to the customer was not costed in – the ROI looked positive.

Clearly that was not the accurate picture – because the customers lobbied and had a D0-NOT-CALL registry enacted into law.

 
A similar thing happened with eMail with the US CAN-SPAM legislation with most countries following with similar initiatives – Singapore passed theirs in 07.

Now marketers are doing again with Direct Mail – in the US - advertising circulars, catalogues, fundraising appeals --actually grew to 104 billion pieces in 2007 from 101 billion in 2005 as first -class volume dropped. The explosion has not gone unnoticed by consumers. Many are asking lawmakers for a national "do not mail" registry similar to the telemarketing Do Not Call phone registry, where advertisers would have to stop mailing catalogs and other unwanted mail to anyone on the list.  19 states in the US have this legislation pending.(see here)

So to all those brand managers who defend using “mass direct” tactics with the argument “it works” – my response is ...  you are measuring the wrong thing.

If what you do causes your customers to get a law passed to stop you – HOW CAN IT BE THE RIGHT THING FOR YOUR BRAND?

"The World Has Changed" says Motorola

The New Your Times carries a story “Hoping to Make Phone Buyers Flip” which leads on the hyper competitive cell phone handset market, the quickening pace of innovation and the capricious nature of the market.

At stake are millions of dollars in profits and the fortunes of entire companies. Like fashion or entertainment, the cellphone industry is increasingly hit-driven, and new models that do not fly off the shelves within weeks of their debut are considered duds. The most gadget-conscious shoppers buy new phones every nine months, twice as fast as they did a few years ago. And teenagers, one of the fastest-growing markets, are especially quick to dump a brand if it loses popular appeal.

In it are some note-worthy quotes about how handset manufacturers are also changing in the their attitude to the marketing process.

The world has changed,” said Jeremy Dale, who is in charge of marketing for mobile devices at Motorola, where fortunes tumbled with the decline of its once popular Razr. “There is more relevance in what other consumers say than what the company is saying.”

“The strongest marketing tool is the first 20,000 people who buy the device,” Mr. Dale of Motorola said. “If they like it, they will tell their friends.”

Yep Dale .. could not agree more!

Microsoft Recommends WoM

Thank you for using a small part of your massive marketing budget to put this together.

Interview with the founder of Baby Einstein Julie Clark on how she markets her products.

Thank You Microsoft for puting this together

Defying Logic

Ok, this officially blows me away. Get this.

The Association of National Advertisers (US) does a survey about TV & Technology and its impact on advertising.

The study was conducted in January 2008 and is based on a survey of 78 leading advertisers, across all major industries and categories. The goal of the study was to measure the attitudes of national advertisers toward television and the impact of technology.

Among the major findings of the fourth biennial TV & Technology study:

• 62% of marketers say TV advertising has become less effective in the past two years.
• 87% of respondents say they intend to spend more on web advertising this year.

Ok, no surprise so far. Then this one

• Over 50% of marketers report that when half of all TV households use DVRs, they will cut spending on TV advertising by 12%.

Ok .. let me think about that one …

The audience for your TVC halves – and marketers cut spend by 12%

Incomprehensible

Could not say it better ....

Found this gem hidden away on the WOMMA website and realised I could not say it better than this...

1. Happy, interested people will say good things about you.
   It’s doesn’t take much more than that. Understand this concept, devote yourself to it, and you will be a successful word of mouth marketer.



2. Honest, genuine opinion is our medium.
   We don't tell people what to say or how to say it. We fundamentally believe that people should be free to form their own opinions and share them in their own words. While supporting the natural conversation, we take great care to ensure that we do not distort it.



3. We start, support, and simplify the sharing.
   Word of mouth marketers use creative techniques to encourage communications. We make it easier for people to talk to each other, we create interesting things to talk about, we create communities to share ideas, and we work to find the right people who should know about what we do. Traditional advertising pushes ideas on consumers. We help naturally occurring good ideas move around.



4. Word of mouth cannot be faked.
   Deception, infiltration, dishonesty, shilling, and other attempts to manipulate consumers or the conversation are bad. Honest marketers do not do this, will not do this, and will get caught if they try. Sleazy behavior will be exposed by the public and backfire horribly on anyone who attempts it.



5. Word of mouth marketing empowers the consumer.
   Consumers have control, and they dictate the terms of a new, healthier relationship between marketers and the people who use their products. Consumers demand satisfaction, respect, and great products and services. When companies deliver, people will tell their friends. Word of mouth marketers work to accelerate this process, replacing aggressive advertising with customer-centric service, support, and open communications.

'We Can't Keep Our Money In TV'

Media buyers told the NY Times last week that they were sticking with TV despite the strike and ratings declines. The standard rationale: There really aren't good alternatives to the tube for mass marketers.

Well, the Times didn't talk to MediaVest. The Publicis-owned media agency told Adage it is in talks to move $100 million out of TV .

"The bottom line is that the ratings erosion hasn't stopped," MediaVest president Donna Speciale said. "We are really looking to take a proactive approach and say, 'You know what? We can't keep our money in TV."

How true :-)