VideoEgg

New Study: Advertisers Biggest Losers of TV Strike; Madison Ave. Reacts with Major Changes

When the Financial Times asked NBC's Jeff Zucker about the upfronts, the yearly ritual of networks throwing lavish parties to showcase their upcoming shows to media planners, he showed his disdain for the state of the television industry by stating that, "Things like that are all vestiges of an era that’s gone by and won’t return." It is easy to understand why he is frustrated. Thirty-five perecent of American's have changed their TV viewing habits as a result of the strike according to a new study conducted by new media consultancy group, Interpret LLC. That has a significant impact on advertisers, who Interpret refers to in their study as "the biggest losers in the TV strike."

The viewers aren't the only ones making changes as a result of the strike. I recently learned that Madison Ave is making some some huge changes that underscore Zucker's point that the TV industry will never be the same. OMD, the largest arm of Omnicom, in the next few months will train ALL of their TV buyers how to buy digital media. Think about that for a second - the world's largest media buying/planning agency has a mandate to train all their TV buyers to learn to buy digital because they can no longer reach the audience they need from TV buys alone.

Those of us that work in digital media can only hope that with the retraining, TV buyers will not only ween themselves free of their dependency on TV's reach, but also see that digital media has far superior engagement, tracking, and performance than TV.

Post by Eric Klotz
Director of Creative Development

0 Comment(s) | Permalink | By blog_editor on Jan. 21 2008

Sneak Peek @ The Engagement Debate '08

The word "engagement" has been abused by our digital marketing industry long enough, and dammit, we're not gonna sit by and watch this word be abused anymore! I think most people can agree that "engagement" is a buzz word that gets thrown around a lot, but it remains abstract because it has a different meaning depending on who is using it. That is a shame because our good friend engagement can actually have a real value. So we decided to set up a no-holds-barred event to debate about it and elevate it to be more than just the marketing term du juor.

We're holding an event in NYC on 2/20/08 called The Engagement Debate '08. We'll hear perspectives from media agency executives, from C-levels to Group Directors (because even their opinions vary), and we'll also hear from brand marketers, publishers, and researchers. People will be challenged and people will be put on the spot, but dare I say, it will actually be entertaining. Check back on the VideoEgg website next week for more details.

Don't worry, engagement, help is on the way.

Post by Eric Klotz
Director of Creative Development

0 Comment(s) | Permalink | By blog_editor on Jan. 09 2008

We Are All Still Learning Social Media: The Sony Snow Globe App Example

I read two posts yesterday about how Sony failed miserably with their attempt to make a branded Facebook Application. The first post was on FaceReviews.com, and the other was a slightly different take on Valleywag. Basically Sony created an application that allows users to make Sony branded Christmas snow globes, and less than 500 downloaded it in the course of a month. I'll agree that those numbers aren't flattering, but I don't completely agree with the roasting Sony got from the aforementioned sites.

Rodney Rumford, a consultant who runs FaceReviews.com and Gravitational Media, is a smart and nice guy - I've met him on a couple of occasions. He critiqued Sony's Facebook custom application attempt showcasing several flaws, including:

* No tabbed navigation
* No clear way to invite friends (I can’t believe they missed that!)
* It does not remember that I created a globe (very frustrating)
* After I create and send a globe I can’t navigate anywhere else (like to make a new one)
* No way to see which snowglobes my friends have created
* Text instructions are too long.
* Only allows for Christmas snowglobes. Too short of a product life cycle window

Well, Rodney is right about those things, but he looks at it from a different perspective than me, and most likely, Sony. We don't know Sony's self-created success metrics, but it is pretty evident that this was a test. Nearly all bigger brands have test budgets, often referred to as emerging media budgets. Now I'm not proposing that Sony purposefully didn't include a way to invite friends, but I'd be willing to bet that with such a basic application (and so many flaws), they are glad less than 500 downloaded it.

Valleywag and FaceReviews.com also pointed out that active users for Sony's app are extremely low. Well, so are the vast majority of apps on Facebook. In the image below you'll see Sony's Snow Globe app growth rate as well as Mountain Dew's DewMocracy app, an app that Rumford did consulting work with - and could just have easily been the subject of both scathing posts. You'll notice both have 1% active users and unimpressive numbers for downloads.

I'd like to point out that the DewMocracy app is a much better app than the Sony one, and had Mountain Dew put more dollars into promoting it, Rumford's consulting would have paid off on a much larger scale - but he can't force them to spend money on promotion. That is why the real #1 rule to making successful apps (if downloads is your success metric) is to promote through other applications. In other words, no free lunch - you have to make a media buy to promote your application otherwise no amount of smart consulting can help you. That is step one, but if active users is what your going for, then you'd better make a reason for them to come back after you get them to download. In this case, it looks likes the DewMocracy app isn't necessarily concerned with users returning after the vote, so you can't look at that 1% as a failure, and same for Sony's Snow Globe.

Having worked on Madison Ave myself, I think it is great to see brands willing to take a risk at all. The more risks they take and testing they do, the more they will understand, and everyone working in digital media will benefit from it.

Post by Eric Klotz
Director of Creative Development

1 Comment(s) | Permalink | By blog_editor on Jan. 03 2008

2008 Ushers in the Next Generation of Virtual Worlds

Some people call them virtual worlds, others call them virtual playgrounds, but whatever you call them, sites where avatars and alter egos run wild are in the middle of an extreme popularity growth period. While this subject isn't brand new, the New York Times published a piece this week highlighting the number of new virtual worlds that are slated to launch in 2008, and quoted one media analyst warning, "get ready for total inundation." Most marketing experts agree that marketing in first generation virtual worlds was more about hype than value, but now there is a new crop of sites about to open 2008 that could have significantly better success for marketers.

First generation virtual worlds such as Second Life offered a blank canvas for creative marketers to play with. Because these worlds aren't real, brands can deviate from their standard practices and do things that they would otherwise never be able to do, for example Nissan let anyone virtually test drive their Sentra. On the other hand, who are they are marketing to? Is it an extension or augmentation or someone's real-life identity, or is it their alter-ego? I assure you that my alter ego wouldn't go into VideoEgg everyday and have a sloppy roommate known as "Guns n' Roses Mike."

The issue of who marketers reach in first generation virtual worlds is an issue that the Electric Sheep Company didn't consider carefully enough. Their company helps marketers advertise in virtual worlds and they recently laid off 1/3 of their staff (just before Xmas to boot). And I haven't seen any third-party studies showing that ad recall or, more importantly, purchase intent in virtual worlds is worth the price; also keep in mind that it isn't just a media buy, there are considerable creative costs involved to make that weird pixelated image that is not even close to looking as good print or video.

There is an alternative to marketing within first generation virtual worlds, and that is creating your own fully-branded virtual world. This is where the market seems to be heading. There are fewer general sites like Second Life and There.com opening up, and more sites like Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean and Mattel's virtual Lego Land. Unlike a fully branded micro-site that has a short shelf-life, these new virtual worlds are intended to change with whatever the brand is pushing at the moment. I can see how these could be a massively successful marketing tool that could pick up where DVD sales level-off for media brands, and increase sales of toys and games for others. The major consideration, however, is value. Nickelodeon is said to be investing a staggering $100 million into creating several of these virtual worlds.

I don't doubt that for brands like Nickelodeon that cater to a very young demographic, creating these virtual worlds could end up being a success. They already have a vehicle to drive membership and they have plenty of things to sell and cross promote. But brands that are trying to reach a teen and young adult demo may have a more difficult time attracting active members to their branded worlds - and there is a very significant cost risk. My money is still on social networking sites as the best opportunities to engage teens, but with the possibilities that branded worlds bring to marketers, and their ability to eat up major part of marketing budgets, I will be carefully following their performance this year.

Post by Eric Klotz
Director of Creative Development

2 Comment(s) | Permalink | By blog_editor on Jan. 02 2008