tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88978802628655565722024-02-20T09:37:23.073-05:00Marketing Crunchermaking sense of marketing data, numbers and trendsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17581621859288407730noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897880262865556572.post-15221562838459438282012-05-02T13:20:00.001-04:002012-05-02T13:21:17.078-04:00The Power of Online Video<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First, a few numbers for you to wrap your head around:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1 hour</b> of video is uploaded to YouTube <i>every second</i></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Over <b>3 billion hours</b> of video are watched on YouTube <i>each month</i></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Canadians are among the <i>most active viewers</i> in the world, watching an average of <b>303 videos per month</b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Canadians aged 25-34 watch <b>44 hours</b> of video <i>per month</i></span></li>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Sources: (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/t/press_statistics" target="_blank">YouTube Statistics</a>, <a href="http://www.comscoredatamine.com/2011/12/canadians-watch-most-online-videos/" target="_blank">comScore Data Mine</a>, <a href="http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Presentations_Whitepapers/2012/2012_Canada_Digital_Future_in_Focus" target="_blank">comScore 2012 Canada Digital Future in Focus</a>)</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Online video allows us to reach and engage with audiences like never before.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's a lot of video, to say the least.</span><br />
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Online videos are proving to be an impactful way to deliver a message to a wide audience.</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> How wide? In theory, they have the potential to reach the world's entire online population. Indeed, online video has propelled the likes of Justin Bieber and Rebecca Black into unprecedented levels of global fame (or notoriety).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />The rise of online video destinations, primarily YouTube, has empowered individuals to broadcast themselves to a previously inaccessible audience. The accessibility of today's video production technologies coupled with some ingenuity and talent has led to the proliferation of YouTube "celebrities" who have amassed sizable followings online. All of a sudden,</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> "viral video" became the holy grail of brand marketers seeking to emulate the far-reaching success of these online video stars.</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><br />Surely all these viral videos and YouTube celebrities have achieved some measure of success. But videos don't necessarily need to go viral to be deemed a success. The growth in online video has also allowed for the formation of communities around niche interests. For instance, the </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/MovementLifestyle" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Movement Lifestyle</a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> channel on YouTube may not have the most number of subscribers and not all their videos have reached a million views, but the channel has managed to build a vibrant community of people passionate about hip-hop dance culture who actively engage with their content.</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><br />In reality, the average YouTube video can only dream of having the reach of a Super Bowl broadcast. But that doesn't really matter much. I believe online video offers a much more compelling value proposition: greater accessibility to your audience with higher levels of engagement. A quick search on YouTube opens up worlds of possibilities for people to find and engage with content that they're interested in. Your audience is already out there actively looking for you. The question is, are you ready for your audience?</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17581621859288407730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897880262865556572.post-65735164564326879942012-04-15T00:37:00.000-04:002012-04-15T21:51:25.674-04:00The Weekly Stat: Media Switching Among Young Consumers<b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Digital Natives Switch Media 27 Times An Hour</span></b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Source: <a href="http://www.timeinc.com/pressroom/detail.php?id=releases/time_inc_study_digital_natives.php" target="_blank">Innerscope Research</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A recent study commissioned by Time Inc. and conducted by media research firm Innerscope Research found that "digital natives" (younger consumers who were basically born using digital technology) switch media venues about 27 times per nonworking hour. With only 30 participants, the study is by no means definitive but its results are interesting nonetheless. As a digital native myself, the results don't seem too far off from personal experience - I do find myself switching between my phone, laptop or iPad numerous times while watching an hour-long show on TV.<br /></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Digital natives switch frequently and seamlessly from one screen to another.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/foreverdigital/2240673803/" target="_blank">foreverdigital</a>.</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />What does this mean for marketers competing with consumers' incredibly short attention spans?</span><br />
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It should come as no surprise that the generation of consumers who were born into the world of iPods and smartphones would be such active and dynamic consumers of media. After all, the use of digital technology has become second nature for digital natives who transition between devices more easily than they change clothes.</span><br />
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The challenge for marketers targeting this generation is to capture the attention of consumers with impossibly short attention spans. In a world where information is condensed into 140-characters, it is becoming more difficult for marketers to convey complete and coherent messages that consumers would be receptive to. Even a traditional 30-second commercial becomes unbearable for consumers, especially when they simply want to watch a quick video on YouTube.</span><br />
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The solution? You could try to cut down your messaging into smaller chunks that are easier to digest as consumers switch from one screen to the next. This doesn't mean, however, that digital natives are completely adverse to lengthier content. A perfect example is the 30-minute Kony 2012 video that became a viral hit among young people who have a million different things competing for their attention.</span><br />
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How then should your messages be structured in the face of this media switching behavior? At the end of the day the success of any marketing message depends on relevance, which essentially means being at the right place at the right time. With the Kony 2012 campaign for example, a lot of young people eventually made their way to the lengthy YouTube video after the campaign gained traction on Twitter first. The typical teenager doesn't usually browse YouTube for videos related to Ugandan war criminals. But when the topic trends on Twitter, then it doesn't take much to get them to check the video out. What this means for marketers: know what types of content your audience is ready for and be ready when they are ready for you.</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17581621859288407730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897880262865556572.post-61723398888954031642012-03-27T21:17:00.000-04:002012-04-14T21:36:20.486-04:00Infographic: The Dynamics Between Organic and Paid Search Clicks<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">Google released an infographic </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">today </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">entitled the <a href="http://googleresearch.blogspot.ca/2012/03/impact-of-organic-ranking-on-ad-click.html" target="_blank">Impact of Organic Rank on Ad Click Incrementality</a>. It tells a pretty interesting story of how clicks generated by a search ad campaign are impacted by the site's ranking in Google's organic search results. While the numbers presented are averages and should be interpreted with caution, they point to an interesting trend.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpKSv7BDTwnw8JkjVsrjK3-VgF6Ni7knHy2DtkERArgcKTaTFcbuN1cPIFTG8Ue7Yzk9D0rCxjexkwCzMFtw3_tkMUQEQ-QDOQwZwo_JXMvQatvBrKzMW3ATWE49JoOgeDEFln1TPhEzw/s1600/page0001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpKSv7BDTwnw8JkjVsrjK3-VgF6Ni7knHy2DtkERArgcKTaTFcbuN1cPIFTG8Ue7Yzk9D0rCxjexkwCzMFtw3_tkMUQEQ-QDOQwZwo_JXMvQatvBrKzMW3ATWE49JoOgeDEFln1TPhEzw/s640/page0001.jpg" width="492" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Google's research shows how much of your clicks are lost when you pause your search ads. <i>(Source: <a href="http://googleresearch.blogspot.ca/2012/03/impact-of-organic-ranking-on-ad-click.html" target="_blank">Google Research Blog</a>)</i></span></td></tr>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />So What?</span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Basically what the infographic above says is that marketers who are already on top of Google's search results are benefited significantly by the incremental impact of their paid search campaigns in terms of the number of clicks they get. Notably, as you go further down the organic search results page, the greater the impact of paid campaigns on your clicks. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why? Perhaps some people don't bother scrolling down anymore.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />According to Google, for sites that are 5th or below on the search results page, 96% of ad clicks are incremental (visits to these sites are not replaced by organic clicks if the campaigns are paused). This means that these sites would stand to lose a whole lot of clicks if they don't </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">simultaneously </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">run their related paid campaigns .</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />However, this doesn't automatically mean that marketers should always keep their campaigns on. The impact on conversions should be key in determining whether or not to continue the paid campaigns. Of course, the campaigns may not be worth it if the incremental clicks you're getting from your ads aren't resulting in conversions anyway. In this case, there might be something wrong with your ads.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17581621859288407730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897880262865556572.post-77213493302135153842012-03-15T15:18:00.001-04:002012-03-15T15:18:54.265-04:00The Language of Data Visualization<div>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In a previous post, I talked about how we're </span><a href="http://marketingcruncher.blogspot.com/2011/12/drowning-in-sea-of-big-data.html" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">drowning in a sea of big data</a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. In that post, I shared some thoughts about how marketers can maximize the value derived from </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">available </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">data. But knowing how to use the data is only half the battle. Knowing how to </span><i style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">communicate </i><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the value from that data is what takes you to the next level. Projects often break down because of </span><i style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">mis</i><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">communication. It's a tremendous waste when the most brilliant insights are lost because they aren't expressed in a way that makes sense to others, especially to those who are in a position to make use of them.</span><br />
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Enter data visualization.</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> In his TED Talk on the </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLqjQ55tz-U" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">beauty of data visualization</a>, <span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">David McCandless, a London-based author, writer and designer, talks about the impact that visualized data can have in solving the world's informational problems</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. Indeed, v</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">isualized data, if done right, can instantly display answers to some of the most complex questions.</span></div>
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What makes data visualization effective?<br /></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="220" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/infobeautiful2/billion_dollar_550n.gif" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The <i>Billion Dollar Gram</i> puts into perspective the billions of dollars spent by</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">different organizations around the world. (<i>Source: <a href="http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/the-billion-dollar-o-gram-2009/">informationisbeautiful.net</a></i>)</span></td></tr>
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first answer is that we're all lazy. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most of us would rather look at a nice graph than pore through an impossibly large spreadsheet of data.</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Add to that the fact that we simply don't have the time. But more</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> importantly, people are highly visual creatures. We're all so easily stimulated by what we see. We tend to gravitate towards things that are aesthetically pleasing and avoid things that don't look as pleasant. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And so, the most effective data visualizations are marked by simplicity and great design.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />An effective visualization of data delivers instant comprehension of data one might previously have had difficulty grasping. For instance, David McCandless's </span><i style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Billion Dollar Gram</i><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">puts the world's billion-dollar expenses side by side to give us a clear picture of their relative magnitude. (Check out the full graph <a href="http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/the-billion-dollar-o-gram-2009/">here</a>.) That box for the worldwide cost of the financial crisis does not look pretty.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Organizations are now recognizing the need that people have for communicating this way. This is why infographics have become all the rage in the marketing world. They've become great tools for marketing increasingly complex concepts. And with services like </span><a href="http://visual.ly/" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">visual.ly</a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, which allows you to create your own infographic, individuals are becoming empowered to communicate their own insights.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With so many different languages in the world, it's hard to stay on the same page. Languages don't only differ between nations or cultures. They </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">also</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">differ between industries and even between departments within the same organization. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Data visualization is a </span><i style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">lingua franca</i><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> of sorts. W</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">hen people who speak different languages are shown a beautifully designed data visualization, they come to understand each other.</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17581621859288407730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897880262865556572.post-70757642274891895492012-03-08T08:47:00.000-05:002012-03-12T21:29:31.869-04:00Digital Canada<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last week comScore released its </span><a href="http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Presentations_Whitepapers/2012/2012_Canada_Digital_Future_in_Focus" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">2012 Canada Digital Future in Focus</a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Report. Released annually, the report provides insights on prevailing trends in Canada's digital industry, including social media, online video and mobile.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">comScore's latest report details that state of digital in Canada (<i>Image courtesy of <a href="http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Presentations_Whitepapers/2012/2012_Canada_Digital_Future_in_Focus" target="_blank">comScore</a></i>)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Below are some of the most intriguing stats from the latest report.</span>
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<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Canadians continue to lead the world in online engagement, spending an average of <b>45 </b>hours per month online (that's almost twice as much as the worldwide average)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On average, <b>5.3 billion</b> entertainment videos are viewed per month</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>271</b> YouTube videos were viewed per viewer in December 2011</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">P&G leads in display ad volume with over <b>7.5 billion</b> display ad impressions in 2011</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Social media sites delivered over <b>191.8 billion</b> display ad impressions in 2011</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In Q4 2011, <b>24%</b> of all online display ads were 'socially-published', while <b>7%</b> were 'socially-enabled'</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Digital advertising spend is expected to total $2.6 billion in 2011 (Source: IAB Canada)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Smartphone penetration is now at <b>45%</b> of the mobile market</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>51.9 billion </b>searches were made in 2011</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Over <b>27 million</b> items were purchased online in Q4 2011</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If there's one thing we can take away from all of these numbers, it's that </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Canadians remain one of the most digitally-engaged people in the world. Canadians are now more connected than ever, providing more opportunities to deliver value.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the full report, visit <a href="http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Presentations_Whitepapers/2012/2012_Canada_Digital_Future_in_Focus" target="_blank">comScore</a>.</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17581621859288407730noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897880262865556572.post-34004210258216121692012-03-03T23:50:00.000-05:002012-03-04T00:11:48.571-05:00Why You Can't Call Google+ A Ghost Town<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This past week, media outlets were abuzz over a recent bit of data from comScore that compares user engagement between "rival" social networks Facebook and Google+. According to the </span><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204653604577249341403742390.html" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">data</a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, during the period between September 2011 up until January 2012, users spent an average of about 3 minutes per month on Google+ compared to six to seven hours per month on Facebook (without taking into account mobile usage). This bit of data then became the basis for the Wall Street Journal to <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204653604577249341403742390.html" target="_blank">proclaim</a> Google+ a "virtual ghost town", a place where users sign up but end up not doing much.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://scm-l3.technorati.com/11/08/13/49476/google-plus-vs-facebook-logo.jpg?t=20110813221321" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="224" src="http://scm-l3.technorati.com/11/08/13/49476/google-plus-vs-facebook-logo.jpg?t=20110813221321" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Google's new social network has a lot of catching up to do. But is it a ghost town?</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Is Google+ <i>truly </i>a "virtual ghost town"?</span><br />
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sure, comScore's data may objectively be accurate, in terms of measuring the actual minutes logged by users on those sites <i>on average</i>. After all, comScore has been in the business of digital measurement for quite a while and has become a trusted source of information in the industry. But the <i>conclusions drawn from</i> comScore's data, such as the one drawn by the Wall Street Journal, may in fact be misleading.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mike Elgan, a Silicon Valley-based technology writer, provides a simple yet effective </span><a href="https://plus.google.com/113117251731252114390/posts/BxwQTbHLcC5" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">explanation</a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, incidentally posted on Google+'s ghost town, </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">as to why the statistic may result in misleading conclusions. (Note the number of +1's, shares and comments that this particular post received.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">His post boils down to two things:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Averages don't paint the whole picture.</b> As they're only a measure of central tendency, they don't measure the variance within a data set. There can be all sorts of combinations that add up to Google+ users collectively spending 3 minutes on the site <i>on average.</i> This number doesn't necessarily mean that there isn't a significant number of users who are actively engaged on the network.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>You can't compare apples to oranges. </b>Sure, both Google+ and Facebook are essentially social networks. But Facebook had a couple years head start. Facebook's engagement is what it is today because of all those years that it took for people to get familiar with it. I would even argue that they serve completely different purposes, but I'll save that for another blog post.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It can be very easy to cherry-pick the day's hottest statistics to your liking. While statistics can be highly useful tools to inform decisions, people must be very careful of the conclusions drawn from them.. It's important to take a step back and take these statistics in their proper context. Otherwise you risk not being able to see the cherry forest for the cherry trees. (All this talk about fruit is making me hungry.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I personally don't have as many people in my Google+ circles as I do in my Facebook friend lists but that doesn't make Google+ any less valuable to me. I, for one, spend a bit more than 3 minutes per month on it. I guess that makes me above average in this ghost town.</span></div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17581621859288407730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897880262865556572.post-25229599583462350992012-02-22T00:10:00.000-05:002012-04-15T00:56:13.740-04:00The Daily Stat: The Share of Search in Online Advertising<b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">41% of Canadian Online Advertising Revenues is Earned by Search</span></b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Source: <a href="http://www.iabcanada.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/IABCda_2010Act2011Bdg_ONLINEAdRevRpt_FINAL_Eng.pdf" target="_blank">IAB 2010 Canadian Online Advertising Revenue Survey</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">According to the 2010 Canadian Online Advertising Revenue Survey published by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), advertising on search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo takes the biggest share of online advertising revenues in Canada. In 2010, search advertising revenues amounted to $907 million or 41% of the $2.2 billion industry. Without a doubt, search has been a staple of online life because of its utility to users and its value as a </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">source</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> of </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">referral traffic to advertisers. But with the rise of alternative advertising channels namely, social media, will its lead remain?</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://searchenginemarketingpeople.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/search-engines.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://searchenginemarketingpeople.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/search-engines.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The top 3 search engines in Canada</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The search industry will soon approach maturity. <a href="http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Presentations_Whitepapers/2011/2010_Canada_Digital_Year_in_Review" target="_blank">According to comScore</a>, consumer growth is no longer driving the market in Canada. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Growth in the industry overall will come mostly from getting the remaining businesses in Canada to go online and spend on ads. <a href="http://www.canada.com/story_print.html?id=1a1f2bf1-cbe5-485b-8d0e-ae874359f234&sponsor=" target="_blank">Google estimates</a> that over half of Canada's 2.2 million small businesses have yet to establish a web presence.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Moving forward, search engines will be unable to offer any radical innovations to their product that will be of substantially more value to advertisers to cause them to spend more money in general. Perhaps the final frontier in search innovation lies in mobile and location-based search. After this, I'm guessing any further innovations will be marginal, resulting in only slight increases in search budgets overall.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Display ads on the other hand will continue to grow in the long-run, driven by ongoing innovation in consumer interaction that you simply can't do with search ads. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With that said, I expect search to remain an important part of the online marketing mix and continue to be a major presence with a substantial share of online revenues. I simply don't see people's need for search disappearing anytime soon.</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17581621859288407730noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897880262865556572.post-71898098504706295012012-02-14T23:40:00.000-05:002012-04-15T00:55:46.602-04:00The Daily Stat: Online Consumer Trust<span style="font-size: large;"><b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">70% of online </b><b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">consumers trust virtual strangers</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Source: <a href="http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/consumer/global-advertising-consumers-trust-real-friends-and-virtual-strangers-the-most/" target="_blank">Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In their 2009 <i>Global Online Consumer Survey</i> of internet consumers from around the world, Nielsen reveals that 70% of consumers have some degree of trust in customer opinions posted online. According to Nielsen, these consumers trusted "completely" or "somewhat" recommendations in the form of ratings or reviews from people they didn't necessarily know. What does this mean for marketers in the e-commerce field?</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/trust_in_advertising.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="350" src="http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/trust_in_advertising.png" width="466" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Source: Nielsen Global Consumer Survey 2009</span></td></tr>
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<b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />So What?</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At first glance, that seems like a whole lot of "trust" placed on complete strangers. As counter-intuitive as it seems, a lot of us have, in fact, relied on the wisdom of reviews to help us decide whether to buy a certain product, especially for those big ticket items. Why? Because we consumers are basically all the same. Sure, we might have varying tastes and preferences but we are all united by the same fundamental goal of finding products and services that simply <i>deliver what they promise</i>. Since consumers don't really have much incentive to post an untruthful review of a product, we tend to regard reviews as authentic.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Okay, so consumers trust reviews. But do marketers really <i>need</i> to incorporate them in their plans? After all, according to the same survey, brand websites elicit just as much trust as customer opinions anyway. Outside the confines of the brand website however, the picture isn't so pretty. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From an online advertising standpoint, that marketers aren't able to rely solely on their own copy to sell their products. In the survey, online ads ranked poorly on the trust scale. Online banner ads, for example, elicit trust from only 33% of the respondents. From the chart above, you can see that online ads are perceived to be less credible than their traditional counterparts. Perhaps it's the wealth of spam that circulates the web that brings down the credibility of online marketers overall. Whatever the reason, the fact is that marketers are losing a lot of money in ads that don't lead to conversions.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />To solve this credibility issue, marketers may need to look no further than the consumers themselves. Some key players in the industry are already beginning to innovate in this space, finding ways to incorporate consumer generated content into advertisements. Microsoft Advertising, for example, introduced <i><a href="http://community.microsoftadvertising.com/blogs/advertising/archive/2012/02/15/people-powered-stories-social-advertising.aspx" target="_blank">People Powered Solutions</a></i> today at Social Media Week in New York. The product would allow advertisers to show actual consumers' reviews and ratings of a particular product into rich display ads that appear on Microsoft's media network.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />The initial tests look promising. According to Microsoft, their early testing of the product showed some uplift in key marketing metrics. Moving towards giving consumers a greater role in developing the brand message is definitely an interesting direction for the online advertising industry to take. Marketers, watch this space.</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17581621859288407730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897880262865556572.post-46025197079246569092012-02-03T13:28:00.002-05:002012-02-03T13:28:40.829-05:00The Daily Graph: Cost of a Super Bowl Ad<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's the most wonderful time of the year... for whichever network is airing the Super Bowl. This year, that would be NBC, which <a href="http://articles.businessinsider.com/2012-01-26/news/30665762_1_business-insider-super-bowl-ad-prices-advertising" target="_blank">sold its 30-second ad spots</a> for an average of </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">$ 3.5 million each.</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> The top price that the network managed to get for a spot in Sunday's game was a whopping $ 4 million.</span><br />
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Here's a </span><a href="http://articles.businessinsider.com/2012-01-26/news/30665762_1_business-insider-super-bowl-ad-prices-advertising" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">graph</a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">from </span><i style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Business Insider</i><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> that shows just how much the cost of Super Bowl advertising has skyrocketed in real terms since the event was first held in 1967.</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So What?</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Although the prices slightly dip during recessions, the cost of a Super Bowl ad has steadily risen since the very beginning. In 1967, the first Super Bowl ads cost just $ 40,000. Comparing that to this year's hefty $ 4 million price tag, the compound annual growth rate of the price of Super Bowl ads for the last 45 years is 10.78%. That's a lot higher than the historical rate of inflation in the US.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />This just goes to show the increasing power that the Super Bowl has over American advertisers in its ability to demand substantially higher prices for its ads year after year. Indeed there is something to be said about the 111 million viewers who tuned in to last year's Super Bowl, a number that marks the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/feb/08/super-bowl-highest-ever-audience" target="_blank">highest ever audience</a> for a US TV show.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />But I think there's something more to it. </span><a href="http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/consumer/the-super-bowl-investment-ad-spend-trends-over-the-past-five-super-bowls/" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">According to Nielsen</a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, the Super Bowl is economically resilient, remaining relatively stable despite the fluctuation in the prices of primetime TV spots in the same quarter. I think the biggest reason for this is that the Super Bowl is in fact an American cultural institution. It has become such a monolithic presence in the American way of life - a yearly ritual that demands the attention of every American. To miss it would be a sin.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Consequently, some of the most successful Super Bowl ads are ones that truly resonate with the American way of life, so much so that the ads themselves become ingrained into the culture.</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17581621859288407730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897880262865556572.post-5495126056599193962012-01-28T22:33:00.000-05:002012-04-15T00:57:26.870-04:00The Daily Stat: 1 in 4<b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Number of internet users who access unlicensed music</span></b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Source: <a href="http://www.ifpi.org/content/section_resources/dmr2012.html" target="_blank">IFPI Digital Music Report 2012</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In their newly published <i>Digital Music Report</i>, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) announced that 28% - roughly 1 in 4 - of active internet users globally use unauthorized services to access unlicensed music. According to the report, free music (unsurprisingly) continues to be an "irresistible magnet for consumers... undermining the incentive to obtain music using legitimate paid models". How can the industry continue to effectively market its products in the face of unfairly competing free products?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The recording industry for the past few years has been</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">in a state of flux. As such it</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> presents an interesting </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">case study for marketers in industries that are facing disruptive change. In the past decade, the recording industry has relentlessly been waging war against piracy with little success. It seems that for every Limewire and Megaupload that is shut down, even more unauthorized sites spring up in their place. To make things worse, even governments with the best intentions are often ill-equipped to pass truly effective legislation that addresses piracy in the context of the complexities of the internet-age.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Perhaps the recording industry should stop looking towards legislation for its salvation. The above statistic suggests that 1 in 4 internet users don't find any value in music that's worth paying for. Read differently, those people simply don't want to have to pay to be able to listen to a song they like. This should serve as a wake up call for recording companies to </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">start rethinking their business models. To extend this thought, perhaps they should start</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">rethinking the products they're selling.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The demands of music consumers today are expanding to more than simply 'listening to a song they like'. Consumers are now seeing value in obtaining richer musical experiences. Today things like being able to seamlessly access your entire music library wherever you go, instantaneously syncing your music library across all your devices, easily discovering new music, sharing your favorite music across your social networks, building playlists conveniently and getting access to exclusive content from your favorite artists are becoming more valuable to consumers. Valuable enough, perhaps, to be worth paying for.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This has driven companies like Google and Amazon to launch cloud-based music services in recent months. This is what has led to the success of iTunes and what continues to drive the growth of services like Spotify, Pandora and Slacker. The common thread? The use of technology to deliver richer musical experiences. Recording companies should realize that their products are, in fact, <i>musical experiences</i> and not just <i>songs</i>. Anyone can download mp3 files for free but I'll bet most people will be willing to pay for well-crafted musical experiences, as long as the price is right. To achieve this, the recording industry must learn to fully embrace technology (and not be intimidated by it) and leverage partnerships with service providers to deliver truly valuable music.</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17581621859288407730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897880262865556572.post-19784663101770395822012-01-20T22:50:00.000-05:002012-04-15T00:58:42.892-04:00The Daily Stat: 5 million<b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Number of LinkedIn members in Canada</span></b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Source: <a href="http://ca.press.linkedin.com/node/1078" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In a press release published yesterday, professional networking site LinkedIn announced that its Canadian membership has surpassed the 5 million mark. The site has shown remarkable growth, amassing 2 million members just in the last year.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This milestone helps establish LinkedIn as a legitimate channel for marketers. As LinkedIn's membership grows, the site's network effects strengthen. The increasing number of people actively engaged on the site provides more valuable marketing opportunities for companies, especially those in the B2B field (or B2C companies targeting educated and affluent individuals). Indeed, a number of Canadian companies have been taking advantage of the networking site's host of unique marketing alternatives that have proven to be quite <a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/social-media-b2b-marketing_b16252" target="_blank">effective at generating leads</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With that said, although</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> LinkedIn's growth in Canada is impressive, there's still a lot of room to grow, considering that <a href="http://www40.statcan.gc.ca/l01/cst01/labor07a-eng.htm" target="_blank">Canada's labour force</a> currently sits at about 18.7 million people. </span></div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17581621859288407730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897880262865556572.post-20540821506839382082011-12-13T19:39:00.000-05:002011-12-13T19:39:27.735-05:00Infographic: Thanks for Sharing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's an interesting infographic on the <a href="http://www.addthis.com/blog/2011/12/13/sharing-trends-in-2011/#.TufilWMk67s" target="_blank">state of online sharing in 2011</a> produced by the folks at Clearspring, makers of the social sharing platform AddThis. With the AddThis platform installed on more than 11 million domains and reaching over 1.2 billion users, the data below show some compelling insights on how we shared content across the web this year.</span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So What?</span></b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here are two marketing insights to consider from the infographic above as we approach the beginning of a new year:</span><br />
<i style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />1. People share where their network is</i><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With its 800 million+ user base i</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">t's no surprise that Facebook dominates the realm of online sharing, raking up over half of all sharing done on the web. Sure, Twitter and Tumblr have remarkable growth rates, but that's more likely because they had smaller bases to begin with. Not until a social networking site gains the user base comparable to Facebook, will it be able to match Facebook's scale of sharing. That's not to say that shares on networks other than Facebook are any less valuable. But if you want to get your word out to the most number of people, you'll have to send that message out to the most populated sites.</span><br />
<i style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />2. People share on the go</i><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The rapid growth of smartphone and tablet adoption is redefining how people consume information. This in turn has implications on the most effective means for disseminating information. On an increasing number of occasions, people will likely turn to their mobile devices <i>first </i>to seek out information and they will feel the need to <i>instantaneously </i>share that information. When they do, you will have to be ready to provide that information and make the sharing process as convenient as possible.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17581621859288407730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897880262865556572.post-9498626255646653412011-12-07T23:15:00.001-05:002011-12-08T11:50:49.757-05:00The Daily Stat: 1 million<b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Total number of mobile apps available across the major smartphone platforms</span></b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Source: <a href="http://www.mobilewalla.com/Desktop/AppIntel_AppCount.htm?filterDevicePlatform=2" target="_blank">Mobilewalla</a></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"The growth of apps is the fastest growing consumer segment in the history of commerce." </span></span> </blockquote>
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- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Anindya Datta, founder of Mobilewalla </span></blockquote>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mobilewalla, a firm that specializes in mobile app analytics and provides real-time tracking, announced today that the total number of apps available from the 4 major smartphone platforms (Apple iOS, Google Android, Blackberry OS and Windows Phone) has surpassed the 1 million mark.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The app market is growing remarkably, to say the least. Apple and Google are leading the pack with Google notable catching up to Apple. Indeed, Google's Android platform is gaining much momentum with its recent announcement of having surpassed <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/10-billion-android-market-downloads-and.html" target="_blank">10 billion downloads</a>. As the <a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mobile-apps-approaching-major-milestone-of-1-million-apps-in-marketplace-mobilewalla-134891433.html" target="_blank">fastest growing consumer segment</a> in the history of commerce, mobile apps cannot be ignored. There are a lot of opportunities for businesses of all types to extend their marketing initiatives into the mobile app world, from in-app advertising to developing your own app to facilitate mobile transactions. Certainly, a number of considerations come into play when building the business case for going mobile. Perhaps the single greatest consideration among these is the choice of platform. The substantial numbers coming from Apple and Google suggest a healthy ecosystem among developers, which means that these platforms are likely here to stay for the long haul. While Blackberry and Windows are trailing now, only time will tell if the upcoming updates to their respective platforms will prove to be game changers. With that said, once an ecosystem is established, it will take something monumental to disrupt it.</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17581621859288407730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897880262865556572.post-10327384894144916012011-12-05T13:51:00.000-05:002011-12-05T15:35:31.607-05:00Drowning in the Sea of Big Data<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To say that we are now swimming in enormous amounts of data is in itself an enormous understatement. To get an idea, this </span><a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/11/big-data-0" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">video</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> from <i>The Economist </i>says we'll be creating <b>2,720 exabytes</b> of data in 2012</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. With the sheer number of <i>numbers </i>being tossed around, it's no wonder why <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/patrickspenner/2011/11/09/beware-the-big-data-hype/" target="_blank">Big Data keeps CMOs up at night</a>. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As a result, we're now seeing a proliferation of research/analytics/datasolutions companies that aim to make sense out of Big Data for us. But will investing in Big Data really generate value for marketers?</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I do believe the best choices are informed choices. However, the incoming data deluge is making it more and more challenging for marketers to make those informed choices. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Utilizing Big Data can involve substantial investments and so misusing it can turn out to be more costly than beneficial. Nevertheless, the rewards of knowing how to use it properly will be substantial. Here are some things that I think will be key in maximizing value from big data:</span><br />
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<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Optimizing the Process </b>- Just as supply chains are carefully designed to efficiently transform raw materials into products to be delivered to the end consumer, organizations as well should be carefully designed to efficiently transform data into action. With a lot of new metrics especially in the digital age now being used to measure pretty much everything, it can be hard to keep track. Establishing new (or even revamping existing) organizational processes to facilitate the efficient collection, utilization and dissemination of data will be crucial. This involves not only being equipped with appropriate tools (e.g. software) to process data but also organizing people who have a stake in the data in a way that makes the most sense. For instance, this might require bridging gaps of communication with other departments that the marketing team doesn't typically work with.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Knowing the limits</b> - </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sometimes, the costs of incorporating data (in terms of time or actual dollars spent) into marketing initiatives might outweigh its benefits. It might turn out, for example, that a highly personalized product designed from granular customer information isn't something that the customer really wants or becomes too costly to produce. Marketers should know when to stop and keep the focus on the specific data that generate the most value.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Taking it with a grain of salt</b> - </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even w</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ith all my belief in hard numbers, there are still just some things that are unquantifiable. For instance, try as they may, social networking sites can't tell you how many "friends" any single person <i>truly </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">has. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the end of the day, people will be making the decisions, not numbers. Data should work with and not replace sound judgment based on intuition and experience.</span></li>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Big Data can be intimidating for any marketer. And the fact of the matter is that there still is a lot to learn in this realm. With some proper footing however, I do think that organizations can rise above the current and transform Big Data into a source of sustainable competitive advantage.</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17581621859288407730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897880262865556572.post-5444120961485948032011-11-29T12:20:00.000-05:002011-12-05T08:38:48.365-05:00The Daily Stat: 18%<b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">% of Canadians planning to shop in the US for the holidays</span></b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Source: <a href="http://newsroom.bmo.com/press-releases/bmo-report-more-canadians-will-do-their-shopping--tsx-bmo-201111180746038001" target="_blank">BMO</a></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />A survey conducted by the Bank of Montreal reveals that 18% of Canadians have plans to shop south of the border this holiday season. The percentage is up from 13% last year despite the slightly weaker Canadian dollar, currently hovering around US$0.95.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It certainly does seem tempting to shop south of the border, especially as Canadians are now paying an average of <a href="http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20111102/mark-carney-us-canada-prices-senate-committee-111102/20111102/?hub=BritishColumbiaHome" target="_blank">11% more for the same goods</a> than Americans are, according to Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of Canada. Is it really such a big problem for Canadian retailers though?</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's not <i>that </i>big of deal. Not unless you're mainly based in BC, Ontario or the Atlantic provinces, which BMO says are where customers are the most likely to cross-border shop. And even then, the chances are slimmer if you're not sitting too close to the border. Ultimately, the effect is actually quite minimal with cross-border shopping accounting for only 2% of retail sales, according to </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Carney.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nevertheless, that's still potential revenue lost. Although Canadian retailers can't necessarily compete with American prices, the competition for holiday revenues is also a race against <u>time</u>. With Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals reminding consumers that they've only got one month left to shop for gifts, retailers on both sides of the border should also focus on reaching shoppers well before their wallets run dry.</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17581621859288407730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897880262865556572.post-77843224972730736402011-11-25T15:45:00.000-05:002011-12-05T08:40:42.202-05:00Infographic: What to Expect On Black Friday<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px;">♫ </span>It's the most wonderful time of the year... for retailers!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's Black Friday once again which marks the start of the holiday shopping season - retailers' favorite time of the year. Here's a neat infographic from <a href="http://mashwork.com/blog/?p=1285" target="_blank">Mashwork</a>, a social media analytics firm, on what you can expect at this year's Black Friday.</span></div>
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<a href="http://mashwork.com/files/mashwork_blackfriday_infographic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="2307" src="http://mashwork.com/files/mashwork_blackfriday_infographic.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nothing too surprising among the data here. However, there is one stat that stands out to me:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"69% of shoppers stated that they trust the Internet for information on products and services"</i></span></blockquote>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>So What?</b><br />This just goes to show that more and more people are now taking to the internet for pre-shopping research. This reinforces the importance of Google's widely touted <a href="http://www.zeromomentoftruth.com/" target="_blank">Zero Moment of Truth</a> (ZMOT), that critical moment online when consumers learn about your brand. For retailers and most other businesses as well, the internet is the new storefront, open 24/7/365 <i>and </i>with a billion other stores right next door. In this day and age, you've got to be ready even for when a consumer comes knocking on your digital door at 1am on a Tuesday.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There's still one more question though. Will these people <i>actually</i> do what they tweet? I guess we'll find out soon enough.</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17581621859288407730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897880262865556572.post-87551404450556137932011-11-24T19:39:00.001-05:002011-12-05T08:41:16.451-05:00The Daily Graph: How Do People Use Mobile Apps?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The exponential growth in the audience for mobile apps presents the next frontier in advertising.</b></span></div>
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<a name='more'></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In a </span><a href="http://blog.flurry.com/bid/73992/iOS-Android-Apps-Prime-time-All-the-Time" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;" target="_blank">recent report</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">, Flurry, a mobile analytics company, reveals how people use different media throughout the day. The chart above compares the relative percentage of the total user base that is reached by each medium at a given time of the day (with prime time highlighted in grey). Unsurprisingly, TV attracts the largest relative percentage of audience share during prime time. More notable is the fact that relative mobile app usage isn't too far off, and that it's got higher usage levels earlier in the day. Moreover, mobile app usage is relatively higher than internet usage throughout the day.</span><br />
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So What?</b></div>
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<b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">If you're looking for new ways to </span><u style="font-weight: normal;">maximize the reach</u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">of your advertising campaigns, mobile apps present huge opportunities. To put into perspective, as of June 2011, there are </span><a href="http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2011/8/comScore_Reports_June_2011_U.S._Mobile_Subscriber_Market_Share" style="font-weight: normal;" target="_blank">52.4 million subscribers in the US</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> with iOS and Android smartphones, according to comScore. Following the chart above, that means a whopping 15.7 million iOS and Android subscribers use mobile apps at 10:00am everyday (and even more come prime time). That's probably about the number of Americans who tune into </span><i style="font-weight: normal;">American Idol</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">.</span></b><br />
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While advertising on mobile apps might not deliver quite the same emotional response that traditional TV ads do, it does provide considerable </span><u style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">targeting opportunities</u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and </span><u style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">measurability</u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> at a fraction of the price. Sounds like a wake-up call. There's an app for that too.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> </span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17581621859288407730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897880262865556572.post-57915739806136372482011-11-23T09:00:00.000-05:002011-12-05T08:42:07.665-05:00The Daily Stat: 34%<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>% of social media users who 'follow' brands to get deals</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Source: <a href="http://www.nmincite.com/?p=5738" target="_blank">Nielsen Global Online Survey (Q1, 2011)</a></span><br />
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A study conducted by Nielsen reveals that most people 'follow' or 'like' a brand page on social networking sites are primarily looking out for the next hot deal.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/social-media-for-coupons-v2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/social-media-for-coupons-v2.JPG" /></a></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>So What?</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nielsen says advertisers should consider 'leveraging social media to offer consumers incentives', that is to say offer sales promotions on their brand pages. After all, they do tend to work, according to their <a href="http://www.nmincite.com/?p=5738" target="_blank">research</a>.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sure, online deals can drive purchases. However, s</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ales promotions shouldn't be the main purpose of a brand page just because deal seekers make up the majority of their 'fans' online. As the graph above indicates, those who primarily want to 'show support for the brand' are still notably the second largest group among people who follow brand pages globally. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For a lot of businesses, fan pages have become online hubs that reinforce <i>brand communities</i>. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Harley-Davidson does a great job in supporting its brand community through a <a href="http://www.facebook.com/harley-davidson">Facebook page</a> that puts the spotlight on their fans.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Deal seekers may come and go on a whim but the members of the brand community are in it for the long-haul. If your business has an existing brand community, your online brand pages should be more than just a place to get coupons. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You'll want to keep the focus of your brand page towards engaging your most loyal customers. They're ultimately more valuable to you in the long run.</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17581621859288407730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897880262865556572.post-84894563712959422912011-11-22T09:15:00.000-05:002011-12-05T08:43:29.689-05:00The Daily Stat: 40 million +<b style="color: #666666;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Google+ users so far</span></b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Source: <a href="http://investor.google.com/earnings/2011/Q3_google_earnings.html" target="_blank">Google Q3 Earnings Press Release</a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />In last month's quarterly earnings call Google CEO, Larry Page announced that Google+ now has over 40 million users with people flocking into the company's new social network at an "incredible rate".</span><br />
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<a name='more'></a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>So What?</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Having launched only a few months ago, no one can deny that Google+ is growing fast. Real fast. With the recent launch of Google+ Pages, a lot of marketers are now keen on getting their businesses on Google's hot new social network. However as with a lot of other statistics, this number should be taken with a grain of salt. Here are a few points of consideration before jumping on a Google+ Page:</span><br />
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<li><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">40 million users </span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">≠ 40 million active </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>users</i> Ask any average user and they'll tell you that they're not seeing a whole lot of activity on Google+. It's because only a handful of their friends have joined so far. As a result, the average user isn't visiting Google+ as frequently as they would Facebook. Unless you've already got a huge established brand, you're not likely to get a whole lot of engagement just yet. But t</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">here are some promising signs. Hitwise reports that the number of <a href="http://weblogs.hitwise.com/heather-dougherty/2011/11/google_records_3rd_biggest_wee_1.html" target="_blank">US visits to Google+ for the week ending November 12 was its 3rd highest since its launch</a>.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>The average Google+ user </i>The Google+ user base isn't very diverse. In particular, the network's <a href="http://mashable.com/2011/11/09/google-plus-gender-ratio/" target="_blank">users are still mostly male techies</a>. If you're targeting a specific market segment other than young male techies, it's probably best to wait a bit or you'll find yourself broadcasting to an audience that isn't there.</span></li>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This doesn't mean that I don't think Google+ will make for a great marketing channel. I absolutely think it has the potential, especially with its great set of features that allow for deep engagement, as long as it manages to get more people on board quickly.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17581621859288407730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897880262865556572.post-19978280928690841402011-11-21T13:30:00.000-05:002011-12-05T08:43:57.733-05:00The Daily Stat: 7 billion<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>The (estimated) world population</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Source: </span></span><a href="http://www.un.org/esa/population/" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>According to the UN, the world population reached the 7 billion mark on October 31, 2011.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><br />For all the hype surrounding it, the reality is that the number</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">is only an estimate (nobody can know the exact number for sure due to the practical challenges in gathering data).</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> And yet it certainly is a compelling one. Our population is growing at such unprecedented rates, considering we've only just passed the 6 billion mark in 1998. In 13 short years, we now have 1 billion more mouths to feed on this planet. The next billion isn't that far off either - we're expected to reach the 8 billion mark by 2025.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This demographic phenomenon obviously has far-reaching social, political and economic implications that would make for great debates but what does this mean specifically for marketers?</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><br />Here are two of the biggest challenges that international marketers face as the population grows:</span><br />
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<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Product Development:</i> World resources aren't growing as fast as the population is. Marketers, in partnership with R&D, will need to figure out ways to <u>make the most out of what's available</u> in developing products to meet the increasing needs of a growing population. Think <a href="http://www.unilever.com/investorrelations/annual_reports/AnnualReportandAccounts2010/SustainableLivingPlan.aspx" target="_blank">Unilever's fabric conditioner</a> that uses a third of the amount of water typically needed for every wash.</span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="color: #666666;">Distribution: </i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">With more people competing for scarce resources, marketers will need to find new ways to provide greater </span><u style="color: #666666;">access</u> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">to their products. Think <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/1734931/global-corporate-social-responsibility-how-you-can-profit-and-kick-poverty-out" target="_blank">Danone's unique approach to selling yogurt in Bangladesh</a>.</span></span></li>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7 billion can be an intimidating number. But with the right mindset, the challenges of a growing population also come with opportunities.</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17581621859288407730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897880262865556572.post-91408363459237936962011-11-21T13:00:00.000-05:002011-12-05T08:44:58.297-05:00Welcome to the Marketing Cruncher<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hello marketing community!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />There are a lot of marketing blogs out in the blogosphere today, all with lots of great content about marketing's hot topics. This is </span><i style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">not </i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">your typical marketing blog. This is one written by a numbers geek, which is to say one written with a unique perspective on <b>data</b>.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As with any other decision in life (generally), the best marketing decisions are </span><i style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">informed</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> decisions.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><br />Fortunately, we now have access to<i> </i>a whole lot of information thanks to the</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> internet (read: Google). On the flip side, sometimes there can be simply too much information out there and it becomes just a bit overwhelming. Fi</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">nding the data that really matters to you can be tricky.<br /></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />That's where Marketing Cruncher comes in. This blog will feature posts that contain nuggets (or slices) of data and trends on all sorts of things as they relate to the marketing world with the aim of providing useful insights into marketing strategy.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><br />Feel free to share your comments and feedback or even to suggest topics you'd like to see. Also feel free to share my posts with fellow number crunchers and marketers!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><br /><br />Happy crunching,</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><br />Jeric</span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17581621859288407730noreply@blogger.com0