Reaching Teenage Boys with Advergaming

Let’s say your Pepsi or Coca-Cola, and you have a new product targeting 12-18 year old boys. Now, how do you reach them? You could try television advertising, but they will more than likely record the program with their DVR and flip right past your commercials. You could place an ad in the local newspaper, but they won’t even see it. What about radio? Maybe you could place the ad on the CHR station in your market. Surely they will be tuning in to hear “today’s new music”. I’m afraid not, a friend downloaded that song three months ago, and they have been listening to it ever since. As a matter of fact, their bored with it. You can try social sites, billboards, internet, phone books, and see very poor results. How can you possible reach these kids? All they do is go to school, play sports and most of all, play video games.

Ahh… yes… video games. There is the magic tool companies can use to effectively market the hard to reach male teenage audience. Advergaming has become one of the tools of choice for marketers trying to reach this target segment. Sometimes it’s just a sign or billboard in the game as the player is racing up and down streets trying to get the girl, the car, or another prize. In other cases, the car you are driving is actually the product being advertised. However, the product must relevant to the player for the advertising to be successful. If you are trying to market newest, fastest sports car on the new Tela Tubies video game, you won’t sell anything. Yet if the Mazda’s new car is the “hero” car in the game “Need for Speed”, the car will be noticed by the players.

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal explores Nissan’s use of only advergaming to introduce the new GT-R sports coupe. To expose the new GT-R to young males, Nissan partnered with both Sony Videogames and Electronics Arts (EA). Nissan worked with both companies to hold off on the unveiling of the actual model by covering the game models in black prior to the release. After the unveiling, players could download a game patch to see the actual model. Both companies also allowed users the chance to drive a prototype version of the unit to build up excitement prior to the unveiling. EA even “chose” the GT-R as this year’s hero car for their game “Pro-Streets”. In this game the player continues to advance in levels trying to reach the “Hero Car’.

But does advergaming really work? Do the players actually see those road signs and logos as they scream by during the race? Recent tests discussed in Advertising Age using eye catching technology did confirm that 80% of gamers noticed ads when playing a game. However, size didn’t matter. Rather it was placement that most increased noting scores. Eyes placed at “eye level” right in the action of the game are much more likely to be noticed than ads on the top of the screen above or below the action. But if you really want to promote your brand to this audience, one must take an interactive approach. Anytime the gamer interacts with the brand, they will develop a much better position in the consumer’s mind. Discovery Network pioneered these efforts through sponsorship of “extra Levels” of the XBOX game Gears of War”. Advergaming, while still relatively new is a great marketing communication channel. So, if you need to target teenage boys like my son, you better plan on learning about Halo 3, Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, Madden 2008 and others.

Branding Your business in a Digital World

Building your brand in an increasingly fragmented world is becoming more and more difficult with every passing day. When I was a teenager in the early 1980’s we had just three television channels, one local newspaper, three radio stations and one phone book. The local General Store in the small town where I lived advertised on two of the radio stations, in “the paper”, in the phone book, and every once in a while ran a few ads on TV. Their efforts kept people coming to the store to purchase everything from lumber to groceries. It was relatively easy for the owner to decide where to invest his advertising dollars.

Today in that same market there are 12 radio stations, two newspapers, three phone books, hundreds of television channels, two regional magazines, billboards, mobile marketing, direct mail, and the many digital opportunities associated with the internet. It’s no wonder businesses are finding it difficult to develop new brands. Which one of the many new digital venues will work best to develop a brand position in the minds of the consumer? Which medium or mediums will give me the largest “share of mind” that may be leveraged into market share?
This is the question facing all marketers today. We are all flooding to the new ground and the digital media, yet will we be able to build the brand? When was the last time any of you visited plumbing web site. There are hundreds if not thousands of plumbers on the web, yet I haven’t visited a single one. It seems that we don’t visit a web site until we have an interest in the product or service. So if a plumbing company places the majority of their budget on the web, and we aren’t aware of the brand, how will we know which of the many listed in a Google search will we call? Can we build a brand with just digital media?

At the same time another plumber uses three radio stations, one newspaper, and two phone books to position his business. He doesn’t feel the digital media will brand his business as well as the more “traditional” media. When his business fails to grow as quickly as he expects, he hires a marketing company to study his brand awareness. He finds out that only 8% of the market even knows about his business, yet he spent tens of thousands of dollars advertising his business. How can this be? The study also informs him that customers are searching the web when they need a plumber.

This is the scenario repeated daily in all levels of corporate America. How do we best develop or improve our brand’s image in today’s fragmented world? One must find a balance between both the new digital media world full of search engines, customer generated content, social networking, online video, etc... and the “traditional” media world with its large mass audiences and local content. It is a balance best obtained through a well developed marketing plan where the brand is the focus. In the past we were able to focus intently on the customer. Today we need to continue that focus, while we try to find the best media mix for our company.

Today the little General Store is gone, not because of the advertising, rather a mall, and many focused big box stores in a town twenty miles away. The general store couldn’t compete with the aggressive pricing and marketing of the “big” stores. By trying to offer everything to everyone, the store soon meant nothing to anyone. Today’s digital world is changing and as marketers, we need to ensure that our clients don’t go the way of the General Store.

Use Your Cell Phone to Control Your Bar TV

You walk into your favorite club, take a seat, and select your favorite Gwen Stephanie video. But rather than walking up to video Jukebox, you just make your selection via your “remote control” cell phone. Suddenly your selection plays on the big screen TV above the bar. You also receive a text message stating “show this message to your server, and receive $100 off any appetizer or dessert”. You have just experienced another new media mobile marketing channel. Akoo, the company to introduce this unique technology was recently featured in an article in the New York Times.

While many companies are using digital signs to send mobile marketing messages to cell phones, Akoo is the only company offering two-way communication and interaction. The customer is allowed to choose the content they want on the digital advertising screens. In return the company has the opportunity to gather important marketing information about the customer while sending them a marketing message. A fourteen day trial at a McDonalds store resulted in a 17% increase in sales.

M-Venue, an IP Based digital media and marketing platform integrates with more than 2 billion mobile devices nationwide. The new marketing technology works especially well with modern smart phones such as Apple’s iPhone or Microsoft’s Mobile Windows devices such as the Motorola Q. Customers visiting the retail locations can play their favorite songs, videos, sport clips, weather, as well as pre-approved user generated content. M-Venue also allows customers to “tag” songs that they later can purchase via iTunes or other audio vendors. But wait, there’s more. M-Venue also includes a built in loyalty program. Customers build up loyalty points that are tracked via your cell phone that may be redeemed for premiums at the sponsoring business.

Akoo’s marketing potential has many advantages. The program allows marketing opportunities closest to the point of purchase, which will lead to increased sales and ticket value. It allows for a loyalty program that will entice return customers and brand loyalty. Akoo appears to be a great tool to leverage proliferate smart cell phones while maintaining the all important non-intrusiveness required of all good mobile marketing campaigns. One question posed by marketers is whether Akoo can keep the content fresh. If they fail, customers will become bored and ignore the product.

Google Searches Turn Up More than Frogs

Determining what comes up when you type in the name of a business into Google sometimes can be a marketing nightmare…or blessing. Take the case of Budweiser, no pun intended. When you Google Budweiser, you come up with a typical Budweiser logo or two, but you also come up with three very interestingly “dressed?” ladies. The famous Bud-Weis-er frogs painted on the chests of the three women may be a marketer’s nightmare or blessing.

In the case of Budweiser, I would think this a blessing. Their target audience of mature beer drinkers may get a real kick out of the picture. In fact I did. Then I immediately sent the picture to twenty or so male friends, many of whom may have consumed a “barley pop” in the past week. Yes Budweiser consciously or unconsciously used me to advertise their brand to many friends in my address book. I’m also sure that at least two of them passed them on to other friends as I ended up getting the pictures sent back to me later that day.

The viral affects of interactive media certainly can benefit or harm companies in a very short time. Budweiser may deny ever even knowing of the three girls in the photo. But they also may have been the ones who set it up in the first place. Either way, it’s helping beer sales. I’m drinking one now.

When you Google search most words you quickly receive the information you are seeking in just a text format. While only a few sites are designed to return search results as images, many more now also include videos from YouTube. These videos like the associated images may also help or harm the brand based on the content. A Google search for Mountain Dew displays a video of someone using Mountain Dew to make a homemade glow stick. Thousands of viewers who saw the video and attempted the process found out later that it was a spoof. In this case, Mountain Dew experienced additional exposure from the video, but in a negative way.

Images and video displayed from Google searches offer companies an opportunity to improve or worsen their brand image. Yet with very little control, companies need to be aware of problems that may arise out of these issues.

Out of Home Video

Most of us have seen it by now. You stop to fill up your car, and a TV turns on bringing you four-and-one-half minutes of local weather, traffic reports, sport scores, and news. Gas Station TV is just an example of one of the many new advertising media bombarding the public. Out of home video advertising can also be found in bathrooms, malls, buses, grocery store check-out lines, and of course on billboards. As people’s lives get busier, marketers need advertising opportunities that go with them. TV advertising has grown well beyond the evening newscasts and primetime programming. Today video is found everywhere.

The Out of Home Video Advertising Bureau works to assist “advertisers in making informed decisions regarding out-of-home media. The OVAB is the official resource for information on out-of-home video advertising, marketing, and media metrics.” Companies like ESPN, CBS, and The Wall Street Journal are just three of the companies recognizing the opportunities from this new medium. All three have committed video and resources to help this fledgling medium continue to establish itself in the already fragmented advertising world.

The biggest name in out of home video advertising is the Wall Street Journal Office Network (WSJON). WSJON is an office building based communication network being rolled into the top markets in the U.S. The 42” televisions placed in the most influential office buildings in the largest cities offer many unique opportunities for marketing managers. The 39 year old professionals with household incomes of $147,143 and home values of $539,908 (Claritas) can be a very lucrative target audience, especially if you are Porsche or Mercedes. WSJON rotates fifteen second “journal briefs” covering the four sections of the Wall Street Journal, What’s News, Marketplace, Money & Investing and Personal or Weekend Journal. These segments are rotated throughout the business day from 6am to 9pm, updated every five minutes.

Not looking for the influential crowd found in the most prestigious office buildings? Then look no further than a retail store. You will find out of home video at Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Costco, Circuit city and even your local grocery store. More than 250 million viewers are exposed to internal and external advertising messages as the walk through or check out of retail outlets. With CPM rates as low as just $2.25, PRN can offer effective affordable advertising options specifically tailored to certain stores and departments. Maybelline commercials can introduce their newest product directly to customers in the health and beauty section. PRN retailers and advertisers target their customer right before they purchase. You can influence a customer as he is reaching for your competitor’s product. While still relatively new, Out of Home video offers many unique opportunities for both retailers and advertisers.

You Will soon Hear Commercials on Satellite Radio

Do you listen to satellite radio to avoid all of the commercials you hear on broadcast radio, well get ready to change the dial. According to a recent article in Radio and Records magazine, Sirius Radio CEO Mell Karmazin wants to increase the amount of commercials aired during Howard Stern's radio program. Sirius also plans to increase the amount of commercial inventory sold on the NFL channels as well.

It's no wonder the struggling Satellite radio industry is working to increase the amount of advertising sold on it's service. According to a recent article in the Washington Post, Sirius lost $562 million in 2007. While XM Radio posted losses for 2007 as well. To add to their problems, the FCC still hasn't agreed to allow the proposed merger of the two companies. To summarize the company's financial status, neither has made a profit since they were formed.

To marketing managers interested in reaching a national audience of 17 million listeners, satellite radio will offer new opportunities in advertising. Satellite radio offers advertisers some unique opportunities not available elsewhere. For example, The Home Depot may want to leverage its sponsorship of Tony Stewart's NASCAR team by advertising their brand on Sirius' NASCAR channel. Its a great way to reach NASCAR's most loyal fans that invest in Sirius radio to avoid missing a race. These listeners are more likely to shop at businesses associated with NASCAR.

Quadrant One

Local newspapers are still a reliable source for local news about the region, state, and nation you live in. Explore it up and you’ll find local high school, college, and professional sports scores along with local, regional, state and national news. You can check the TV listings, see who died, look for a job and check your local grocery ad for sale prices. Of course I’m speaking about your local newspaper’s web site.

The paper version of the newspaper is changing every day. Paid subscriptions of nearly every paper across the U.S. are declining while the population in most of the towns is rising. The Minneapolis Tribune is just one example. Since 2002, the paper has seen a 10% decline in paid subscriptions while the population in the newspaper designated area has risen approximately 6.4%. Thus we combine these two into a 16.4% loss in market share since 2002. Due to similar losses in market share, newspapers across the nation are relying more and more on their web sites for new revenue.

This week four of the biggest newspapers companies in the U.S. combined forces to create a new company devoted to selling advertising on newspaper web sites owned by these four companies. The company will be able to offer clients advertising on more than 120 newspaper web sites that reach more than 50 million unique visitors monthly. Robert MacMillan’s article in the Wall Street Journal describes how Hearst, The New York Times, Tribune company and Gannet have come together to form the first ever newspaper online ad network called QuadrantOne.

QuadrantOne will offer online advertisers a variety of new media options to include pop-up and banner ads, video and audio advertising as well as contextual advertising opportunities. It will be very interesting to see how this partnership will pan out. Newspaper web sites are becoming more and more popular each day due to their combination of local and national content, yet there was no vehicle to offer a national advertising buy. With this combination QuadrantOne may soon give advertising giants Google and Yahoo a run for their money.

Mobile Marketing to Emerging Markets

Call any of your Hispanic friends at home and there is a good chance you’ll be calling them on their cell phone. A recent study by the National Center for Health Statistics shows that the Hispanic population is more likely than any other population to have dropped their traditional “land line” phone in favor of a cell phone. At the end of December 2006, 15.6% of Hispanics had a cell phone as their primary phone. This was a 125% increase over the previous year. If that trend continues land line phones will be basically non-existent in the Hispanic population in less than 10 years. 11.6% of the Asian population now uses a cell phone as their primary phone. However, their rate of growth is even higher than Hispanics at 151% from 2005 to 2006.

Mobile Marketing managers must see this as a great opportunity. Marketing to emerging markets is very difficult, especially with current language barriers. Young Hispanic and Asian populations may speak English as their primary language, while migrant workers may speak only their native language. Therefore, where do we advertise? On Spanish speaking TV or radio stations? What about local Spanish newspapers? Mobile marketing may have the answer.

Since persons have to opt-in to most mobile marketing campaigns, the customer can be categorized somewhat by their initial response. Those opting into a campaign in Spanish will receive all of their communication in Spanish. The same holds true for English, Japanese, German or any other language. The customers just need to realize they can opt-in using their native language to receive custom marketing messages. The messages can also be altered to address the lifestyle of the customer. A Middle Eastern person is more likely to react to a message about Ramadan, rather than Christmas. Mobile marketing will offer us this opportunity while traditional broadcast media cannot adjust their messages based on customer response and interaction.

Mobile Marketing also solves one of the other problems associated with marketing to new emerging media. A study from OMD Worldwide states that when marketing to “multicultural audiences, one must be relevant”, and “doing it wrong is worse than doing nothing at all”. Ethnic populations “respond more positively to “multicultural cues such as ethnic characters, phrases and values, than ads that are generally just translations of general market ads”. Simply put, you write and produce the ad based on your target audience, not just the general public. Since mobile marketing has the ability to alter the message being sent to customers depending on their opt-in choices, it is a good choice for marketing to minorities.

Google Ad Sense for Video

In the past couple of years we’ve seen Google jump into audio, TV, and newspaper advertising. Yet these three currently account for only a small fraction of Google’s 21 billion dollars in advertising sales. Rather Google generates nearly all of its ad revenue from the small text ads that appear beside searches performed on Google. Yet the internet giant has recently taken another giant step in online advertising.

Google will now be offering Ad Sense for video. Ad sense for video will be set up as a contextual marketing channel, meaning that the commercials that appear within the video will be relative to the content of the web site or the video. For example, Garmin Outdoors newest portable GPS and fish finder unit may appear in a fishing video. However, unlike most advertising for videos that play before the feature, Google’s newest endeavor will place the ads within the video as either text or a smaller video. Google feels this imbedded advertising will lead to improved ROI.

Google has partnered with more than 20 web sites including aggregator sites like Blip TV and Revver as well as video sites YuMe and Brightcove. These partnerships along with Google owned UTube will provide substantial opportunities for companies wanting to advertise on this new medium. UTube is already demonstrating the effectiveness of internet video advertising. Following the Superbowl, most advertisers placed their commercials on different video web site including UTube. These web sites have experienced millions of impressions since the ads were placed. This demonstrates that internet video is in high demand. Content providers just need to develop entertaining video and there will be an opportunity to include textual or video ads within the programming.

Contextual Marketing

Imagine you Google the word Orlando and a banner ad for American Express pops up saying “Earn Points for a Free Trip to Disneyworld”. Below that is a second banner ad that states “Visit Universal; Studios, SeaWorld, and Busch Gardens for as little as $99”. These are just two examples of Contextual Marketing on the internet. Contextual marketing can be defined as marketing your product in context to the interests of the customers.

The concept of Contextual marketing is not new. It has been used in traditional advertising for many years, but is truly being perfected through the internet. NASCAR advertisements on radio and television have some great examples of contextual advertising. NASCAR race broadcasts are a great place to advertise NASCAR tickets, raceway hotel accommodations and even special NASCAR airline tickets. Yet the internet, especially Google, has taken contextual marketing to its next chapter.

Google’s Contextual marketing tool Ad Words allow users to reach up to 75% of the world’s unique internet users. Companies wanting to advertise to people using Google search engines select key words that are relevant to their business. For example, Continental Airlines may want their “Direct Flights to Orlando from 52 Cities” banner ad displayed on Google’s site when someone does a search for “Disneyworld”. Contextual advertising in this manner is highly targeted with very little marketing waste. Continental may also want the same ad placed on the site for Orlando’s SeaWorld which Google may have permission to place.

Contextual Marketing costs are normally based on (CPC) cost per click basis. The more people that click on your banner ad, the more your business will be charged. The cost of a click varies greatly from as little as $.10 to as much as $2.00 per click. Companies use AdWords to bid to establish the position and placement of their ad on the website. Therefore both Continental and U.S. Airways may bid for top placement on SeaWorld’s web site through AdWords. This unique way of establishing costs allows advertisers a unique way to track advertising results while providing the necessary metrics needed to insure a good ROI.

Podcasting, Is it working?

Being in the radio business, Andrew Hampp’s a recent article in Advertising Age caught my eye. The article, “Marketers and Content Providers Tune into Podcasting’s Potential” explores the marketing potential of podcasting. With radio advertising sales flat during the past few years, any new revenue streams are now being quickly capitalized. This was not the case just a few years ago. Radio was threatened by the thoughts of listeners downloading podcasts and not listening to the radio. Yet radio was the perfect entity to partner with this new media. Radio already had the content as well as the ability to easily produce podcasts, yet they steered away from it with only a few companies dabbling into the new medium. What they failed to realize was that podcasting offers one feature radio has always been criticized for; listeners can’t control the timing of programs. Now those same listeners can download a podcast and play it back at their leisure.

Currently companies like Acura, Toyota, and MasterCard are purchasing advertisements within National Public Radio and ESPN Radio podcasts. During a poorly attended seminar at the National Association of Broadcaster’s Radio Only Conference, the person in charge of NPR’s podcasting provided a bright outlook for a partnership between radio and podcasting. Many in the room questioned the young man’s theories insinuating he was siding with the enemy. Yet today those same naysayers are watching NPR and a few others capitalize on the marketing opportunities of podcasting while trying to play “catch-up”.

Podcasting is a very viable marketing opportunity for business for many reasons, mainly due to the ease of podcasting. Just a few years ago one had to manually download podcasts as MP3 files. Today these files are downloaded automatically with the help of ITunes and the newest versions of Windows Media Player. This allows listeners the opportunity to listen to the files on their computer, portable MP3 player, cell phone in their cars, at the office or at home when they have the time. Downloads of their favorite audio programs with one or more advertiser’s marketing message included is a one of the many new digital advertising opportunities available today. In 2002, NPR was able to sell 18 million dollars in total podcasting ad revenue. Today that number exceeds 46 million.

Podcasting as a viable marketing medium is growing faster than anyone expected, especially “mainstream” media like radio and television expected. This growth will only expand more quickly as smart phones such as apples IPhone storms the market. No longer do you have to sync up your portable player with your computer to download your podcasts. These Wi-Fi enabled wireless phones already have the ability to download and save your favorite podcasts. You don’t have to do anything. They are ready for you to play when you want them. This includes not only audio podcasts, but video as well. This unprecedented opportunity for marketing will quickly change the way we look at podcasts and their ability to reach a targeted audience. It also creates new opportunities for radio and television stations yet will the embrace it?

Blogging for Pay

A good newspaper writer or reporter is paid a salary based usually on their years of experience, stories they’ve covered, headlines they’ve scooped, and their ability to drive newspaper readership. In most cases, it takes reporters years moving from smaller to progressively larger paychecks and papers to reach the top of the ladder.

Now take that same reporter and allow them to start a blog. Now every time someone clicks on their blog, they receive compensation. Rather than waiting years at a newspaper for “the big check”, today’s writers can be earning a substantial compensation in a few months or years. Several years ago this would have been unheard of. Blogging was originally designed as a form of individual expression. Individuals basically kept an online journal that they shared with family and friends. How quickly those times have changed. Today there are hundreds of thousands of blogs on nearly any topic you can think of, and advertisers are taking advantage of the traffic by marketing their products to blog readers.

A recent article in Advertising Age (January 14, pg. 16) explores the world of paying bloggers based on the number of click-throughs made to their blog. Why? Because the more people that click on a blog, the more likely it is that readers will see and respond to the paid advertisement on the blog. Advertisers pay companies like Blogger for the amount of time readers spend at a site as well as the number of click-throughs the site receives. Good writers who are able to draw a large audience of readers are compensated for their abilities, while poor writers receive much less.

Paying blog writers based on their ability to gather and retain an audience brings accountability to this digital media. It gives the blogging companies as well as marketing managers an analytical tool they can use to justify marketing expenditures with blog companies like Blogger or Gawker Media. This in turn will help grow blogs as an accountable advertising medium. So while many in the blogging world are upset with the idea of paid clicks and ads on blogs, I feel it is this commercialization that will lead to their continued improvement and success as a medium. Your thoughts?

Roadblocks to Marketing with SMS

Traditional mass media like newspaper, radio, and television are struggling to maintain their share of the marketing budget. Meanwhile, new media marketing budgets are growing by leaps and bounds. Marketing via SMS (Short Message Service) is currently one of the fastest growing forms of marketing communication in the United States. Yet companies embracing SMS are encountering road blocks as they attempt to expand their services and offerings.

Last year during American Idol, 74 million Americans voted for their favorite artist via their mobile media and SMS. Yet many in the U.S. who tried to vote via SMS short codes found that their cellular company did not recognize the short codes. Therefore, millions of potential marketing messages were drawn to the wayside due to message roadblocks.

It seems hard to believe, but every SMS short codes needs to be "approved" by individual cellular providers before their cellular network will be able to receive the short code from a mobile user. This process can take anywhere from six to 12 weeks. The company providing these services is called a cellular aggregator or mobile transaction network. MBlox, the largest aggregator in the United States and Canada, has aggregated agreements between thousands of SMS content providers and more than 500 mobile operators in 180 countries.

Yet often the aggregators are a roadblock to successful SMS marketing campaigns. Take MSnap Interactive for example. MSnap is a mobile marketing technology company that enables traditional media and advertisers to engage consumers in an interactive dialogue. Founded in 2006, MSnap's mobile ad delivery and management platform utilizes the largest national network of affiliate radio stations - with the potential to reach more than 100 million listeners per week. Yet MSnap’s short code will not work with the cellular provider Unicell. While relatively small, Unicell still has nearly a million customers. Those same customers cannot join the reality TV crowd in voting for their favorite American Idol, Big Brother Choice, or even to the latest CNN poll.

Before SMS marketing becomes truly mainstream, these roadblocks must be overcome. Everyone in the U.S. must be able to send short codes and SMS texts without problem. If people do continue to experience problems after numerous attempts, they will just assume “it doesn’t work” and give up. This will certainly slow the development of SMS and mobile marketing as a whole throughout the U.S.

Event Marketing Using New Media

Imagine you are waiting for the concert to start. Half the crowd is down front close to the stage, while the other half rests on lawn chairs or hay bales. It's an outdoor rock festival Somewhereville USA.

The Jumbo-Tron next to the stage suddenly displays text saying "text the word "concert" to 1-2-3-4 for your chance to win V.I.P. passes to next year's event. You know you have as good of chance as anyone else, so you send the text. Within minutes a reply comes back letting you know you are entered into this contest brought to you by your favorite local beer company.

The second half of the message states "turn on Bluetooth and set it to "find me" to receive a free ring tone from tonight's headline band "Zoey and the Shapshifters". You figure why not, I've got nothing else to do, so you turn on Bluetooth and set it to be found and immediately you are connected. Next comes the message asking you if you want to connect to the concert. You say yes and see a menu allowing you to download ring tones, video from last night's concert, download a coupon for your favorite beer company. You can even surf the web and check email via your cell phone without using the cellular provider’s slow system.

You download a video and ringtone from your favorite brand, pick up a beer coupon, and check your email right from the concert via Bluetooth. All you need now is to ad in local radio station commercials reminding listeners about the contest, promotion from the stage announcer, and some hand outs, and you have a marketing strategy that will impress any sponsor. This is the future of event marketing, but its here now. This summer you will see this or a similar scenario played out many times throughout the U.S. as new media continue to come to market.

From Party Lines to Cell Phones to Who Knows?

If you are forty or older, you may recall something called a “party line”. On a party line, users in a neighborhood shared one phone line. Whether the call was for you depended on the number of rings. Maybe your house was one long ring followed by two shorts. With party lines, as many as twenty people would share one phone line which seems crazy today. Party lines were also not very private as you could pick up the phone and listen to your neighbor’s conversation.

Party lines however did have one unique feature, the General Call. In most communities, the general call was 5 long rings. This meant that everyone was to pick up their phone and listen while the operator addressed the entire community. This was how the community was alerted of fires, school closings, town meetings and more.

Needless to say, phone systems have certainly advanced in the past 50 years. Call waiting, caller I.D., teleconferencing, private lines, VOIP, and many more features have been introduced in the past couple of decades. Yet the biggest advance in the phone industry, the cell phone may lead to the death of traditional phones as we know them. Mobile Only Going Mainstream seems to be the trend today. A recent report from the Department of Health and Human Services states that homes with wireless only households have been rising steadily since 2005. In the first six months of 2007, one out of every eight adults lived in wireless only households. One year before, that number was one in 10.

It’s not uncommon today for every member of a family to have their own cell phone. Text messaging, ring tones, SMS, MMS, email, phone books, web capable phones, camera phones, Bluetooth and more are now standard on most phones. Yet ten years ago, none of these features were found. In fact, go back twenty years, and we had no cell phones.

Just as we laugh at the thought of a party line today, will our grandchildren be laughing at the cell phone as something they couldn’t imagine having to use? What will they be holding forty years from now? It certainly won’t be what we have in our hands today.

Further Reading:

Cell Phone Spending Surpasses Landlines

Think twice before you cut the cord

WiMAX Will Change The Way We Live

Imagine having high speed internet connections everywhere you go. The possibilities are endless. In your car you have a new wireless device called the ICar, sorry Apple. The Icar allows users to:

· surf the web
· make calls
· download and play movies
· listen to “radio”
· get up to the second traffic reports
· receive a text or email from your spouse
· get directions anywhere
· receive a coupon for the billboard you just passed
· watch “TV”
· view pictures
· pay for gas
· You name it….

Now, what if the Icar was available in 18 months, this would be a treat. Now imagine all those same features available in a portable unit called the Iphone…sorry, already taken. All of this is a very real possibility with WiMAX. WiMAX is a new type of wireless communication platform currently undergoing testing.

The technology is similar to current WiFi, but much more powerful. While the range of WiFi is around 100 meters, WiMax has a range of 7-10 Kilometers. But wait, there’s more! WiMAX has bandwidth similar to cable or DSL. With a range like that it will be very easy to provide wireless communication to an entire city.

But wait, there’s more. In the very near future, WiMAX will be mobile as well. Then we will be able to have all of the features described above in your car. Yet this is not a dream, its reality. WiMAX rollouts are already taking place overseas with plans to begin integration into the United States next year. More than 500 businesses are currently developing the products and infrastructure to make it work.

For more information on the progress being made in this wireless arena, direct your browser to http://www.wimaxforum.org/.

Bluetooth and Proximity Marketing

You and your spouse are on your way home, stuck in traffic and starving as usual. You look to the right only to see a billboard for Olive Garden, which makes you even hungrier. Near the bottom of the sign you notice a sentence that says “Set your Bluetooth to ‘find me’ now to receive a free appetizer”. Since traffic is at a standstill, you decide to give it a try. As soon as you do, a message pops up asking you if you want to pair with “Olive Garden”. You agree and instantly a message is sent to your phone. You download the message only to see a coupon for the appetizer you were promised. You are also sent a second message that gives you directions to the nearest Olive Garden. You decide to go there for dinner.

You have just experienced one of marketing’s newest forms of marketing communication. While the story above is fiction, Olive Garden may soon be joining other businesses in marketing via Bluetooth. Companies like Proximity marketing http://proximitymedia.com/home.htm as well as Bluevibe http://www.bluevibe.gr/?gclid=CJighbOplJECFQ2aOAodUHyUOQ are bringing the technology to the U.S.

Bluetooth marketing while still in its infancy in the U.S., is exploding throughout Europe and Japan. Signs in subways, at events, or just along the street ask customers to turn on their Bluetooth to receive some benefit. Maybe its sports scores, weather forecasts, traffic reports, movie trailers, free ringtones, free games, or just information about a product. All contain some form of marketing communication. The possibilities are endless.

A car dealer can set up a Bluetooth marketing system to list the features and benefits of every car on his lot, and send a message to a sales person that he would like to test drive the vehicle. The same dealer could integrate all of his marketing by offering a sales list from his most recent newspaper ad. He could offer the customer an opportunity to watch a video or commercial for a car they are interested in. He could list current safety ratings. He would even be able to direct customers to a message board with comments from current owners of the same model and their feelings toward the car. In all, proximity marketing is a great tool to integrate all marketing communication.

In all, Bluetooth or other forms of proximity marketing via the cell phone may soon be the marketer’s choice for onsite communication.

Mobile Coupons are the Future

We've all done it. We've cut out or printed off a coupon for a product only to lose it before having the opportunity for redemption. This may be part of the reason coupon redemption has fallen off so drastically in the past twenty years. (a topic for future blogs) Yet coupons continue to be an important integrated form of marketing communication. It is estimated that 300 billion coupons are delivered annually in the U.S. With an average redemption rate of just 1.5%, there are still approximately 4.5 billion coupons redeemed annually, or more than 12 million coupons redeemed daily.

There lies the problem. Coupons experience very low redemption rates, yet shoppers still redeem 12 million per day. What if we were able to double the redemption rates of coupons? What would it be worth to companies and their marketing managers, billions of dollars? Yet this is a real possibility with the advent of mobile marketing and mobile coupons. A mobile coupon is an "electronic ticket solicited and/or delivered to a mobile device or mobile phone that can be exchanged for a financial discount or rebate when purchasing a product." (mobile Marketing Association) Since very few people leave home without their cell phones today, mobile coupons would always be available where and when you want them.

Mobile coupons may be delivered many ways. The user may act to "pull" in the coupons, or the company may "push" the coupons on the customer. Customers may type in a short code and receive the coupon code through SMS (short message service), MMS(multimedia messaging), or through Bluetooth services. Cell phone users voting for their favorite ____________ may receive a coupon from a sponsor. They may also receive sponsor coupons when answering trivia questions, receiving traffic or weather reports, stock updates, directions, or any other information via SMS. A good resource that demonstrates the marketing capabilities of mobile marketing is www.msnap.com. You will be able to see and experience an interactive demonstration of SMS messaging as well as marketing opportunities. While mobile couponing is still in its infancy, expect it to explode on the scenes within the next few years.

The Mobile Marketing Association has a very informative educational piece on the "introduction to Mobile Coupons" at http://mmaglobal.com/mobilecoupons.pdf. The pamphlet describes the mobile coupon, their use in marketing, the redemption process, a best practices section as well as the newest UPC codes designed for most mobile marketing applications. If you are interested in mobile coupons, this resource is a great place to start.

What Effects Will New Media Have On Radio

Managing four radio stations brings this week’s topic near and dear to my heart. Therefore, I will explore radio’s future. Radio has seen a decrease in advertising sales since 2002. It has also lost some of its audience during this same period. Many in marketing feel this is due to satellite radio. Yet, satellite radio garnishes less than three percent of the entire radio audience nationwide. In fact XM and Sirius are currently scrambling to merge as neither business model can survive and prosper in their current state. Rather, radio’s real threat comes in the form of “true” new media not a different broadcast channel of an old media.

Many new media allow the user more control and access to the product when they wish rather than when the radio station provides the content. If you like a certain “radio” show, you used to have to listen when the show was aired. Yet today podcasting offers the same show any time the consumer wants. Web sites offer any user with limited knowledge the ability to create his or her own streaming radio station, and while they may not be as “professional” as commercial stations they can be localized and personalized for a specific group of people, thus eroding radio’s time spent listening.

Other new media that are eroding radio’s time spent listening are MP3 players, games, web surfing, blogs & vlogs, social networking, mobile media, and podcasting. Each of these new media erode radio’s ability to capture a larger audience as people spend less time with radio and more time with new media. Truth be told, radio has not yet lost a large amount of listenership. In fact, radio’s nationwide TSL is 93% of what it was in 1995. The real problem is that radio’s market share of advertising has remained flat or decreased since 2002. Most of this share has been transferred to new media and the web.

In the very near future everyone in the U.S. will have the ability to surf the web, watch TV, download their favorite podcast, listen to their favorite radio station, check their email, chat, receive traffic and weather reports, navigate to a location, find the closest restaurant or gas station and much more via hybrid “cell phones”. Then add in Wi-Max or X-Max and we will have all of these same products available to us in any vehicle or home. These “phones” will be much more like mobile computers and much less the phones we know today. At this point we will have no need for radio’s 100,000 watt transmitters. AM and FM will be replaced with streaming audio sources.

Yet there is one question that still remains unanswered. Who will provide quality audio content. It is this content that will determine whether radio lives or dies in the next fifty years. People don’t care about the media channel providing the content, they only care about the audio and whether or not they enjoy it. If your favorite morning show moved from one station to the next with no change in program, you would move your radio dial position as well. The same thing goes for different mediums. Radio will continue to prosper only if we can provide the quality programming required by our listening base. While I don’t feel radio will be as strong of an advertising source in fifty years, I think it will be there in some form or another.

It’s just a short matter of time before these “hybrid phones” and “mobile computer” services will be available to everyone. When that happens all media will go through a drastic change. Ten years ago no one had a camera on their cell phone, yet today it’s difficult to find one without. Twenty years ago no one even had a cellular phone. What new media will IMC students be exploring in 20 years. Will mobile marketing be threatened by it?

Mobile Marketing is Helping Radio

The past four years have been lean times in radio. Advertising budgets across the nation have been trimmed as marketing dollars are moved into trade marketing, sales promotions and new media. Radio, newspaper and TV have all experienced a decrease or flat sales due to these advertising cuts. The decreases in advertising have affected large, medium and small markets alike. To combat this loss in advertising sales, radio is looking to other sources of revenue. One area currently being developed by radio stations is mobile marketing. Mobile Marketing uses a mobile device such as a cellular phone or pda as a channel to deliver marketing communication either to the masses or an individual person. The most common type of mobile marketing is SMS (Short Message Service). SMS normally runs off a 5 or 6 digit short code that allows one way or two way communication and interaction depending on the setup.

Radio stations are using SMS to set up listener clubs, contesting, voting, and more. The focus of radio station SMS programs is to allow interaction between the announcer, station and the listener. Let’s say a station wants to know what their listeners think of three new songs being released. They can play pieces of the new songs and then ask listeners to text the word "song" to 68683 for their chance to vote for their favorite. The station can then decide what song to add based on listener votes.

Radio stations can also hold combination on-air/SMS contests. The radio station may promote an upcoming concert by playing a song from that artist. Next they will ask listeners to name the song for a chance to win a pair of tickets to the concert. Listeners are told to text in the word "concert" to a short code. Within moments they will receive a message reply from the station asking them to choose the song name from the four choices. The listener then chooses the correct answer from the four choices and clicks "send". Within moments the listener will receive a second message from the radio station letting him know if their answer was correct. Everyone getting the answer correct will have their name entered into a drawing for the tickets to be given away at the end of the show.

Winners and losers alike will both receive "thank-you" messages from the station as well as a message from a sponsor. The sponsor message may or may not include a premium or sales offer. If McDonalds is a sponsor of the concert they may want to offer all contestants an opportunity to redeem their phone message for a free burger or fries. Your phone becomes the coupon. Just bring it in and show McDonalds the message. New technology is currently being developed to offer UPC "coupon" codes that will make redemption of offers, prizes and premiums much easier.

Radio stations may also develop sponsorable "clubs” where participating members may receive sports scores, weather updates, cancellations, club member premiums, traffic updates, local news, and more. SMS also allows listeners an opportunity to find out the title and artist of the current song airing on the station as well as the next two songs coming up. All of these messages would include a short sponsor message or identification giving radio stations new revenue sources.

Radio stations can no longer rely on traditional advertising sales for revenue. They must develop new revenue streams including SMS, Bluetooth, MMS, and in-game marketing that can all be promoted and partnered with the stations off-air service. It is a true partnership of old and new media coming together to provide integrated marketing and advertising opportunities for business.