Remember Super Bowls ads that were truly memorable? Like Apple's `1984' spot for the Macintosh? The Budweiser frogs? Monster.com's 'When I grow up'?
Continue reading "Betty White and Lindsay the Milkaholic: Memorable Super Bowl Ads" »
To say that marketing today is fast paced is an understatement. Consumers want information quickly and have little patience for slow-loading Web pages, interruptions in streaming videos and ads, or off-target marketing as they browse a brand's site. According to a December 2009 survey by Pew Internet & American Life Project, nearly three quarters (74 percent) of American adults use the Internet. This high Internet usage by everyday Americans further validates that consumers are tuning in online for information, product research, and an always-on connection with the brands and sites they rely on most.
Driving to work the other morning, I heard a news report about how Burberry PLC's third-quarter sales beat market expectations. Same-store sales from the company's own retail outlets, which generated two-thirds of Burberry's overall sales in the third quarter, were up 10% for the period.
What really caught my attention in the report was a comment about how the effectiveness of the company's Internet marketing efforts have helped this 154 year-old maker of trench coats and outerwear to drive additional sales traffic at its retail outlets.
Intrigued, I decided to do a little research.
Amid all of the excitement around new media and predictions that this will be "the year of" mobile, social media, or augmented reality, the reality is that most companies will still only spend a fraction of their marketing budgets on these new alternatives in 2010.
I have heard one consistent question that inhibits spending in new media: "Where's the scale?" It is a question that goes to the heart of how the basic model of marketing has fundamentally changed, and while there still is no answer to the scale question, I believe we are on the verge of shifting our approach in a way that will uncover opportunities for more meaningful results for both bottom lines and customers' lives.
As it becomes clear that social networks provide a real opportunity for performance advertisers, I'm nevertheless surprised about PepsiCo's announcement in December to sit out Super Bowl XLIV and not purchase an advertising spot, instead investing $20 million in a social marketing campaign.
Continue reading "Pepsi Watches Super Bowl From the Sidelines" »
