Some interesting research from PayPal:
mobile phones are now ubiquitous, yet many remain baffled by their features. The majority, almost two thirds (61%), use only four features on their mobile phone - calls, text messages, alarm clock and camera - while two fifths don't even know if their mobile phone has a camera function.
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John Lowery, the Executive Planning Director of Grey London, on the rise of UGC and the future of agencies:
If we continue doing what we’re doing, we’re going to get seriously marginalised. And fast. Our already dwindling revenues will shrink further, as marketing monies get diverted into [UGC] and, as everyone’s already recognised, ever more esoteric forms of ['advertising'] that we have no capability to deliver. Before very long we’ll reach a tipping point, where our capacity to provide something useful to our clients will dwindle to the negligible and, to the extent that we still have one, our seat at the top table will vanish. 10% commission, or equivalent, will then start to look like nirvana.This maybe overly simplistic, but I think you could say we presently stand at a fork in the road. One direction leads to us further and further diversifying our offering; perhaps under one roof, maybe above one bottom line, possibly with some brand continuity (Grey Advertising, iGrey, Grey Arts and the like) or, more likely some hybridised version of all this. As I write, we, and most other agencies, are progressing along this path.The alternative fork, which gives its sentiment to the title of this post, assumes that the problems identified by these questions are ultimately insurmountable. This path imagines that, perhaps, we should be reducing our executional capabilities not increasing them. Perhaps we should jettison the creative department (or maybe they should jettison us). Perhaps we should outsource the executional part of our offering completely. Perhaps we should re-create ourselves as genuinely neutral brand consultants who draw in the ‘executors’ only when necessary.
If we continue doing what we’re doing, we’re going to get seriously marginalised. And fast. Our already dwindling revenues will shrink further, as marketing monies get diverted into [UGC] and, as everyone’s already recognised, ever more esoteric forms of ['advertising'] that we have no capability to deliver. Before very long we’ll reach a tipping point, where our capacity to provide something useful to our clients will dwindle to the negligible and, to the extent that we still have one, our seat at the top table will vanish. 10% commission, or equivalent, will then start to look like nirvana.
This maybe overly simplistic, but I think you could say we presently stand at a fork in the road. One direction leads to us further and further diversifying our offering; perhaps under one roof, maybe above one bottom line, possibly with some brand continuity (Grey Advertising, iGrey, Grey Arts and the like) or, more likely some hybridised version of all this. As I write, we, and most other agencies, are progressing along this path.
The alternative fork, which gives its sentiment to the title of this post, assumes that the problems identified by these questions are ultimately insurmountable. This path imagines that, perhaps, we should be reducing our executional capabilities not increasing them. Perhaps we should jettison the creative department (or maybe they should jettison us). Perhaps we should outsource the executional part of our offering completely. Perhaps we should re-create ourselves as genuinely neutral brand consultants who draw in the ‘executors’ only when necessary.
Richard Huntington, Planning Director of United London:
I had a terrible premonition the other day. I was waiting for a meeting at a prestigious London media agency. Their reception was wonderfully swanky, all extreme sports on the telly, big bowls of sweeties on the coffee table and agency propaganda smeared all over the walls. And I clicked.We, the so called 'creative agencies', are not future of advertising, they are.
I had a terrible premonition the other day.
I was waiting for a meeting at a prestigious London media agency. Their reception was wonderfully swanky, all extreme sports on the telly, big bowls of sweeties on the coffee table and agency propaganda smeared all over the walls. And I clicked.
We, the so called 'creative agencies', are not future of advertising, they are.
We thought that when the historic schism took place and media was amputated from our full service offerings, that the mantle of the 'advertising agency' stayed with us. All that had happened was that the sixth floor had been sliced off and multiply merged to provide enormous buying points for clients. It really had nothing much to do with us.But things have gone very wrong and we have barely noticed.For starters we forgot that the media companies were the original advertising agencies, providing creative services as an added value offering to clients that placed their advertising budget with the agency. Secondly, we allowed ourselves to be saddled with the 'creative' agency monica rather than defending the advertising agency label with our lives. There is something oh so demeaning about being labelled the 'creative' agency, talk about being damned with feint praise.Thirdly, as our receptions got more grungy and 'transparent', showing that we no longer believed in the division of public and private space, theirs got ever more spectacular consuming more and more of the UK's production of chrome. These days media companies even look more like advertising agencies than we do.But this is no accident, pissed off at years of bringing up the rear in pitch presentations, the media boys and girls are out for blood.They desperately want the primary client relationship because as the 'creative' agencies we clearly have no interest in sales or even advertising effectiveness whereas they are the custodians of the client's budget - sensible and cautious as you would be with such an onerous responsibility.They are, even as we speak, maneuvering behind our backs while we re-arrange the magic markers in colour order.We have already witnessed their acquisition of digital capabilities, the next step will be to buy up small creative shops so at long last they have some creative people they can boss about.And that of course will be the last straw - when the buggers can do their own ads. Full service will have come full circle.
We thought that when the historic schism took place and media was amputated from our full service offerings, that the mantle of the 'advertising agency' stayed with us. All that had happened was that the sixth floor had been sliced off and multiply merged to provide enormous buying points for clients. It really had nothing much to do with us.
But things have gone very wrong and we have barely noticed.
For starters we forgot that the media companies were the original advertising agencies, providing creative services as an added value offering to clients that placed their advertising budget with the agency.
Secondly, we allowed ourselves to be saddled with the 'creative' agency monica rather than defending the advertising agency label with our lives. There is something oh so demeaning about being labelled the 'creative' agency, talk about being damned with feint praise.
Thirdly, as our receptions got more grungy and 'transparent', showing that we no longer believed in the division of public and private space, theirs got ever more spectacular consuming more and more of the UK's production of chrome. These days media companies even look more like advertising agencies than we do.
But this is no accident, pissed off at years of bringing up the rear in pitch presentations, the media boys and girls are out for blood.
They desperately want the primary client relationship because as the 'creative' agencies we clearly have no interest in sales or even advertising effectiveness whereas they are the custodians of the client's budget - sensible and cautious as you would be with such an onerous responsibility.
They are, even as we speak, maneuvering behind our backs while we re-arrange the magic markers in colour order.
We have already witnessed their acquisition of digital capabilities, the next step will be to buy up small creative shops so at long last they have some creative people they can boss about.
And that of course will be the last straw - when the buggers can do their own ads.
Full service will have come full circle.
NSFW. To quote Nick Emmel:
A two minute gem to explain just why brands shouldn't be playing in Second Life
Leo Benedictus, in today's Guardian, charts the rise of 'stealth' and 'buzz' marketing.
They're catching up...
Graham Charlton:
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has predicted that growing uptake of online video content and broadband TV will revolutionise viewing habits within the next five years.The ability of web-based TV services to offer users what they want to watch, when they want to watch it, rather than being slaves to TV schedules, will make all the difference, Gates told the World Economic Forum in Davos.He warned the changes will be bad news for those television companies which fail to adapt.The lines between TV and the web will become increasingly blurred over the next few years. The key of course, other than suitable broadband speeds, will be enabling internet connectivity with TV hardware. After all, people like to watch TV from the comfort of their favourite armchair - unlike 'the internet', TV is not a lean-forward medium.Delivering TV via broadband will be made easier with initiatives such as BT Vision as well as Microsoft's next Xbox service, which will double-up as a set-top box. Hardware manufacturers like Phillips have been working in this space for years, so TV sets with integrated connectivity are also on the horizon.
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has predicted that growing uptake of online video content and broadband TV will revolutionise viewing habits within the next five years.
The ability of web-based TV services to offer users what they want to watch, when they want to watch it, rather than being slaves to TV schedules, will make all the difference, Gates told the World Economic Forum in Davos.
He warned the changes will be bad news for those television companies which fail to adapt.
The lines between TV and the web will become increasingly blurred over the next few years. The key of course, other than suitable broadband speeds, will be enabling internet connectivity with TV hardware. After all, people like to watch TV from the comfort of their favourite armchair - unlike 'the internet', TV is not a lean-forward medium.
Delivering TV via broadband will be made easier with initiatives such as BT Vision as well as Microsoft's next Xbox service, which will double-up as a set-top box. Hardware manufacturers like Phillips have been working in this space for years, so TV sets with integrated connectivity are also on the horizon.
As yet there is no clear winner in the battle for the living room, though Gates is clearly watching this space very closely and Microsoft's success with Xbox makes it a contender. Microsoft has done extremely well with establishing Xbox Live, which is infinitely more joined up than Sony's online efforts. It is a small step to think of the Xbox - essentially an entertainment platform - as a set-top box.
Netimperitve reports:
Around four percent of U.K. mobile users have uploaded content created on their mobile phones to social networking sites, video and picture sharing sites, blogs and personal web pages.Although uploading from mobile is not yet a mainstream activity, it is already ranking close to watching mobile video in popularity, and the fact that users are finding ways to send their content even to sites that do not yet offer a facility to upload direct from mobiles suggests strong latent demand for mobile to be integrated into the social networking world. Telephia’s research in the U.K. suggests that MySpace is the site receiving content from the highest number of mobile consumers, with 21 percent of mobile uploaders saying that they have sent content there.
Around four percent of U.K. mobile users have uploaded content created on their mobile phones to social networking sites, video and picture sharing sites, blogs and personal web pages.
Although uploading from mobile is not yet a mainstream activity, it is already ranking close to watching mobile video in popularity, and the fact that users are finding ways to send their content even to sites that do not yet offer a facility to upload direct from mobiles suggests strong latent demand for mobile to be integrated into the social networking world.
Telephia’s research in the U.K. suggests that MySpace is the site receiving content from the highest number of mobile consumers, with 21 percent of mobile uploaders saying that they have sent content there.
Windows Live Spaces, which launched a mobile version in 2006, is close behind at 19 percent. Video-sharing site YouTube and social networking site Bebo are in joint third place at 9 percent. Mobile uploading is particularly popular with younger consumers. 15–24 year olds are almost twice as likely to be doing it as other age groups.In the U.S., where a mobile version of MySpace is available both on the Cingular network and the data-centric Helio service, six percent of mobile users are uploading content to sites from their phones. Social networking sites dominate here also, with 32 percent of mobile uploaders putting content onto MySpace (see Table 2).In the U.S. as in the U.K., uploading content from the phone is most popular with younger consumers, with 15-24 year olds being the most likely group to be doing it and MySpace receiving the dominant share of their uploads.Reza Chady, Telephia’s managing director for Europe, said: "Social networking sites have taken the web by storm. Eighty-five percent of U.K. consumers are using text messaging to stay connected to their peers at all times and more than 80 percent of new phones sold are camera phones. Put this together with Vodafone and O2’s declared interest in offering mobile services from MySpace and Bebo, and you can see why social networking in the U.K. will spread from the PC to the street in 2007 and beyond."
Windows Live Spaces, which launched a mobile version in 2006, is close behind at 19 percent. Video-sharing site YouTube and social networking site Bebo are in joint third place at 9 percent. Mobile uploading is particularly popular with younger consumers. 15–24 year olds are almost twice as likely to be doing it as other age groups.
In the U.S., where a mobile version of MySpace is available both on the Cingular network and the data-centric Helio service, six percent of mobile users are uploading content to sites from their phones. Social networking sites dominate here also, with 32 percent of mobile uploaders putting content onto MySpace (see Table 2).
In the U.S. as in the U.K., uploading content from the phone is most popular with younger consumers, with 15-24 year olds being the most likely group to be doing it and MySpace receiving the dominant share of their uploads.
Reza Chady, Telephia’s managing director for Europe, said: "Social networking sites have taken the web by storm. Eighty-five percent of U.K. consumers are using text messaging to stay connected to their peers at all times and more than 80 percent of new phones sold are camera phones. Put this together with Vodafone and O2’s declared interest in offering mobile services from MySpace and Bebo, and you can see why social networking in the U.K. will spread from the PC to the street in 2007 and beyond."
Update: MySpace strikes mobile partnership with Vodafone:
MySpace has teamed up with Vodafone to bring the social network to the mobile operator’s subscribers. Launching first in the UK, the partnership will let Vodafone customers access MySpace Mobile, allowing them to edit their own MySpace profiles, find and add friends, post photos and blogs and send and receive MySpace messages while on the move.MySpace Mobile will be pre-loaded on future, selected Vodafone handsets and available for download from Vodafone live!.
MySpace has teamed up with Vodafone to bring the social network to the mobile operator’s subscribers. Launching first in the UK, the partnership will let Vodafone customers access MySpace Mobile, allowing them to edit their own MySpace profiles, find and add friends, post photos and blogs and send and receive MySpace messages while on the move.
MySpace Mobile will be pre-loaded on future, selected Vodafone handsets and available for download from Vodafone live!.
A great piece in today's Media Guardian describing the marketing campaign behind the upcoming launch of the Playstation 3, with some choice prose:
The aim of all of this is to create a "digital echo" or ripple effect, according to Rana Reeves, a director of brand consultancy Shine Communications which developed the digital strategy with Sony."We set out to find the Lily Allens of the arts, design and fashion worlds - people already out there effectively self-promoting themselves through blogs, social networking sites, websites, and virally," he explains."Traditionally, brand communication with consumers has been channelled via an ad agency. The explosion of social networks and blogging, however, has created a seismic shift. Brands wanting to enter this world have to be prepared to trust consumers to talk about them whether the comment is good or bad."Sony's advertising agency TBWA was not directly involved in rolling out this digital strategy. It is, however, creating an advertising campaign which is due to launch in early March. This will involve TV advertising as well as online content which Duncan stresses will "go far further" than simply sticking a 60-second TV commercial on YouTube."TBWA's role has certainly changed," he admits. "But the role of advertising agencies generally in the digital world has changed too. The focus now is more on strategy and planning, and creating a sense of identity and what a brand stands for. Traditional ad campaigns, however, still have their place."For the time being, at least.
The aim of all of this is to create a "digital echo" or ripple effect, according to Rana Reeves, a director of brand consultancy Shine Communications which developed the digital strategy with Sony.
"We set out to find the Lily Allens of the arts, design and fashion worlds - people already out there effectively self-promoting themselves through blogs, social networking sites, websites, and virally," he explains.
"Traditionally, brand communication with consumers has been channelled via an ad agency. The explosion of social networks and blogging, however, has created a seismic shift. Brands wanting to enter this world have to be prepared to trust consumers to talk about them whether the comment is good or bad."
Sony's advertising agency TBWA was not directly involved in rolling out this digital strategy. It is, however, creating an advertising campaign which is due to launch in early March. This will involve TV advertising as well as online content which Duncan stresses will "go far further" than simply sticking a 60-second TV commercial on YouTube.
"TBWA's role has certainly changed," he admits. "But the role of advertising agencies generally in the digital world has changed too. The focus now is more on strategy and planning, and creating a sense of identity and what a brand stands for. Traditional ad campaigns, however, still have their place."
For the time being, at least.
Helen Keegan on a recent bluecasting campaign that achieved a 7% response rate and has generated a lot of debate.
Russel Davies articulates what we all already knew:
Consumer Edited Content is a better description of what most regular folk usefully do online; they point at the good stuff. They take the streams of garbage out there, from real people or mainstream media, and they help us sieve through it for the nuggets. They do it with tags, blogs or email or simply by allowing their own behaviour to be logged and shared through services like last.fm. And most interestingly, we're not far from seeing that phenomenon impact the way we watch TV. The Big Brother racism imbroglio was a form of Consumer Edited Content, it was the complaints and outrage of viewers (with digitally enhanced complaining technology like email and blogging) which led the charge, not the professional opinionaters. But if you thought that storm was quick, global and loud, wait until Joost has 10 million users ... Channel 4 were palpably rubbish at reacting to the mediastorm they created with regular telly but will you be any better when your ad or your content gets talked about and edited out in a live, distributed context like Joost?
Blogging is a lot about putting together compilations of secondary material relevant and valuable to a specific group of readers. It's not so much about citizen journalism as it is about citizen editing. The bigger force is not consumer-generated content, it's consumer-edited content. The mass editing phenomenon of the blogosphere will migrate to other media. It's already happening in online radio and to an extent in online video as well. It will come to the living-room TV, too. People are moving from passing around magazine articles or recipes or VHS tapes to emailed video clips and eventually entire TV schedules. This will be the next big thing after cable; millions of channels put together and shared by citizen editors with 1% being the most popular.
Last night it was the IAB's Creative Showcase Awards Grand Prix.
Online creative campaign of the year was won by AKQA for Yell.com, Results for Real Life (which I talked about last year) and the Agency of the Year title went to Glue.
Charlene Li of Forrester has some thoughts on how to calculate the ROI of blogging.
Faris Yacob collates the answers to the question "What is Account Planning?"
Return Path’s third annual Holiday Email Survey looks into the responses of 2,400 US and Canadian consumers in November and December 2006.
Influences on opening an email - the biggest influencers behind the decision to read an email are knowledge and trust of the company who sent it, as well as a previous, positive experience with the sender's emails:
Subject lines were all important – 41.1% of respondents open an email because the subject line caught their eye, 53.7% read the subject line first, then opened the email.
The best subject lines:
Consumers savvier in management of inboxes – Most respondents believed that email levels had risen over the holiday season.
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