Below the Line

MediaWeek panelists weigh in on "Free"

As a follow-up to my post from yesterday about the UK launch of Chris Anderson's new book Free, I thought I'd share thoughts from the panelists: Stefano Hatfield, editor of thelondonpaper; Paul Brown, the UK MD of Spotify; and Rory Sutherland, Vice-Chairman of Ogilvy Group UK. All comments below are paraphrased.

MediaWeek: Who is making money out of "free"?

Brown: The general thought about music is that advertising is not the panacea. Radio has done very well with the free model. Pandora is projecting a turnover of $40 million this year. Licensing costs are high but there are successful free business models where there are paid and free elements. "Free" is a very powerful way of generating profit from high margin products. Spotify is only four months old but revenue is doubling month on month.

MediaWeek: How are free newspapers affecting consumers? Is the work of traditional journalists in jeopardy?

Hatfield: In the past three years, several jobs have been created at thelondonpaper and London Lite. But there aren't as many journalist jobs on each title. The Metro has about 100 people on staff. Fleet Street is going to have less journalists. It's a more dynamic and fast-moving process. When Michael Jackson died we did 24 pages in two hours.You have to be more creative when you can't spend 10 million pounds on a Madonna photo.

MediaWeek:Is there a down side to the "free" business model?

Sutherland: Jeremy Bullmore said some of the worst successful products in the world survived because they were free -- the metal coat hanger and the warm-air hand dryer. The end user had no say in it. White wine that is free is invariably worse than wine that you choose. 

Other comments:

• Free is not merely an extension of cheap.(Sutherland)
• Every time Craigslist makes a few cents, a few newspapers in Alabama go bust. (Sutherland)
• Volunteers do better than conscripts (employees), because they are passionate. (Anderson)
• Avocations were previously done privately, for free. Now they are done publicly. (Anderson)
• In the old days, "nutter letters" didn't get published. Now they do. They're called blogs. (Hatfield)
• A little bit of transaction (e.g. charging even one cent) places an amazing amount of friction.
• Once you're free, no one can undercut you.
• If something is born free and remains free, like Google, we don't think less of it. But the same doesn't hold true for things that become free, like The Village Voice. (Anderson)

Related Posts:
Free thoughts - the UK launch of Chris Anderson's new book
Digital serfdom: I want my UGC (an argument for fair compensation of content creators)
Trendy spotting: Spotify

Affiliate Links:
Free: The Future of a Radical Price
Long Tail, The Revised and Updated Edition: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More

Free thoughts - the UK launch of Chris Anderson's new book

Last week I attended the UK launch of Chris Anderson's new book Free. Anderson is the former editor of Wired magazine and author of The Long Tail.

The event, hosted by MediaWeek, featured free drinks (or was that payment-in-kind for some publicity?) and featured panelists Stefano Hatfield, editor of thelondonpaper; Paul Brown, the UK MD of Spotify; and the inimitable Rory Sutherland, Vice-Chairman of Ogilvy Group UK.

No such thing as a free lunch?
According to Anderson "free" used to be a "huckster's phrase" with offers such as "buy one get one free" and "free with purchase". Perhaps referring to advertisers as hucksters in a room full of people that work in the industry was not the best choice of words, but no one seemed to object. He gave examples of offerings based on "free" such as Jell-O giving away free recipe books to stimulate demand of a product no one had then heard of; King Gillette selling razors to banks who then gave away the razors with their "save and shave" program (customers then had to buy the blades); and mobile phone providers giving away the handsets for free in order to sell minutes.

He mentioned that advertising-based business models are also built on free -- a third party is subsidizing your free radio or TV programs. The internet has started with this "old media" model. "With a new media, you always adopt the old business model," Anderson explained.

Freemium - 21st Century Free
The new media model is freemium, where a company gives away 99% of its product/service/information for free and charges a premium for just 1%. This model is already in use by companies such as Spotify. Anderson's theory of the "radical new price" is based in part on the fact that "the cost of everything online falls by 50% every 18 months", a theory that is eloquently debated by Malcolm Gladwell in The New Yorker. (Anderson's response is here.)

At what cost free?
I would love to see a panel debate with those two, or a roundtable about the future of intellectual capital, creativity and investigative journalism. I briefly asked Sutherland after the event whether he thought the trend towards free resulted in creativity being devalued. After all, Ogilvy makes its money from creative ideas. He referred to former J Walter Thompson chair and Guardian columnist Jeremy Bullmore (who I find myself agreeing with more and more), who says that you should never write for free. But Sutherland added that writing for three hours per week is pleasurable, and people will do it for free, but any more than that and it becomes a job. And people want to get paid.

So are all of those people writing for free for three hours per week for online publications such as The Huffington Post who (unless there is more recent news) doesn't pay bloggers taking away jobs from people who are journalists by trade? This to me is where the debate gets interesting, but Anderson seemed to shrug off the notion that there would be a serious impact to journalism, giving an example of an exposé by a local blog about vegan restaurants selling products that were not, in fact, vegan. I doubt those same bloggers would volunteer to go to Iraq to determine whether the purported weapons of mass destruction were, in fact, weapons of mass destruction. Thank goodness we have the likes of Sean Penn for that. Hatfield did mention that we'd always have Reuters and the AP to cover those stories; however, isn't this consolidating information, power and influence on the some on the most important global issues - the issues that would most benefit from the opinions and investigations of trained journalists? But I digress. This is an issue for the intellectuals of our time to debate. At least, I hope they will.

More on "Free"
I will post comments from the panelists tomorrow.

Related Posts:
Digital serfdom: I want my UGC (an argument for fair compensation of content creators)
Trendy spotting: Spotify

Affiliate Links:
Free: The Future of a Radical Price
Long Tail, The Revised and Updated Edition: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More

Thanks go to David Quigg for the Gladwell links.

Paradise in Plasticine

At the risk of seeming obsessed with plasticine... I went to the Southbank Centre (London) a couple of weeks ago and saw this beautiful garden created entirely of plasticine.

Paradise in Plasticine is a "sculptured art installation, inspired by nature's variety, and framed in the guise of a mystical secret garden from the dreamscape of childhood."

So this joins Feel Good, American Express and The Tate as brands that are using playful plasticine to attract interest during the recession.

Plasticine dreams

Brands are getting playful! The Feel Good Drinks Company is the latest brand to use plasticine figurines in their campaign. The smiling plasticine gnomes are presumably their brand ambassadors, bringing a message of, well, feeling good.

American Express UK used plasticine in a campaign to promote their Platinum Cash Back Card to illustrate to customers that they'd have more money to play with.

Green Thing used plasticine for it's launch a couple of years ago (full disclosure - I worked on the launch). Green Thing is a not-for-profit public service that inspires people to lead a greener life using creativity (and a bit of fun).

Finally, this March a "flashmob" of nearly 200 plasticine figures gathered outside of the Tate Modern gallery in London as a tribute to British TV artist Tony Hart.

 

 

Perhaps some feel-good fun is another recession-marketing trend?

Trend spotting: Spotify

Last night I went to a Digital Lounge event with Spotify's UK Sales Director Jon Mitchell. Spotify is a streaming music service which was founded in Sweden in 2006 and has attracted one million users. The free service is also available in Norway, Finland, the UK, France and Spain. It's premium service is available elsewhere for £9.99 per month.

According to Mitchell, Spotify offers a "legal alternative to piracy". In fact, Mitchell boldly stated that their only real competition is music pirates, although The Independent has stated that they have "declared war in iTunes".

Spotify launched in the UK in October 2008; the UK has quickly become their biggest market with 10,000 people per day signing up for a free account. Unlike many "next big things", they have found that people who download Spotify use the service on an ongoing basis, with average user sessions of 60 minutes.

As a Spotify user and huge fan, I can say that main attractions for me are:

1. It's easy to set up and easy to use. The download is quick, especially as compared with the iTunes download which requires frequent updating and annoying prompts to download their preferred browser Safari. My view on new technology, as I've stated before on this blog, is that it must either be so simple that anyone can learn to do it, or so essential that everyone must learn to do it. Spotify is simple.
2. I can add as many tracks as I want, without hogging massive memory on my computer. Plus, there's no chance I'll lose the files.
3. People can easily share playlists on Spotify. With a few clicks via third party site ShareMyPlaylists, I added Rolling Stone's 500 greatest songs of all time. 
4. They have a great selection of music, having signed deals with all four major music labels.
5. I don't have to deal with iPods, which are not built to last and contribute to electronic landfill. 
6. The service is "smart" enough to not serve ads while you are working on PowerPoint or other documents.

They are the first streaming service to strike deals with all the majors, which took a major shift in the labels' attitudes. Mitchell said their initial response when asked if they'd provide their music for free was "F--- Off". It took two-and-a-half years to get them to change their minds. Spotify has also signed deals with CD Baby and independent music aggregator Merlin.

Freemium
Mitchell said the free model is not going away, as with some other services who are ending their free love. Instead, they will entice users to join their Premium service with unique offerings, such as access to U2's latest album one week before it was released. "We want users to have access to the free version so they can test it and see that it's easy to use and have the music they love," explained Mitchell.

Because of the ad-funded model for the free service, they "don't need 80% of their users to pay for the Premium service." However, Mitchell admitted that take-up of the Premium offering is currently low, but he expects it to improve as they educate people about upcoming features.

Demographics
Mitchell didn't go into too much detail about their demographics, but he did reveal that 20% of their audience is 45+. They can target ads based on age, gender and post code. This makes advertising on Spotify much more 1-to-1 than on traditional radio.

What's next for Spotify?

• Spotify announced this morning that the service will be available on the Google Android mobile. [Watch their video announcement.] Expect more mobile phone partnerships.
• They are doing some deals with radio stations so they can recommend playlists (and share in revenue). 
• Their web site states they are looking to work with "ISPs or mobile operators wanting to stand out in the crowd by adding a very comprehensive, legal all-you-can-eat music service to their current voice, TV and broadband services."
• Look for them to launch in other countries, with invite-only access or exclusively through tie-ups with telecomms companies. 

I'll be interested to see what else develops. I think there are opportunities for brands to use Spotify in unique ways, perhaps through mashups. Their founder also started affilliate marketing company TradeDoubler, so he certainly knows how to work with brands. Mitchell said he "can't wait to see what happens when brands and bigger companies get involved." I guess as the sales director, he has more than one reason to be excited about that.

I don't know if I've ever written such a glowing blog post about one company. I hope someone from Spotify sends me a t-shirt.

Crunch hunches about digital marketing agencies in London

The credit crunch is having an effect on most industries - digital agencies in London are no exception. The past five years have been fantastic for our industry, but during that time many agencies experienced high turnover and, as digital business grew, so too did the skills gap. Salaries for digital talent were on the rise as those in senior levels who stuck it out past the dot-com bust were in high demand. Here are a few hunches about how the crunch will impact digital marketing agencies in London:

Less job hopping: turnover in the past few years has been exceptionally high at many London agencies. There were more jobs than people and recruiters were making a good living by moving people around. One year in a role was considered adequate before jumping ship. Often freelancers would be at an agency longer than "permanent" staff. Unfortunately, this was a disservice to clients who lost out on the knowledge each individual accumulated, and had to suffer through the learning curves of many new people.

A slowdown of salary creep: there's been a definite shift to a buyer's market, so it will be harder for people to move around and make a big salary leap.

A new skills gap: After the dot com bust, a lot of people at the junior or mid-manager level pursued other career options. So during the recent boom, there was a gap between junior talent with just a few years' experience and senior talent with over 10 years' experience. Many of those junior people were able to move up in their organizations quickly, but I think many agencies struggled to get their staffing levels correct. For instance, I know of at least two agencies who didn't employ anyone below AD level. One was by design, the other by default. Either way, it's not great when clients are paying Account Director rates for Account Executive-level work. It's not too much fun for the AD, either! The difference this time around, is that the entire market is struggling, not just online industries. However, I think London agencies will be reticent to bring on permanent staff. They'll be more likely to use risk-free freelance talent who they can let go easily if their clients cut back on marketing spend. I see agencies hiring a freelance Account Manager before hiring a more junior permanent Account Executive. This means that in a few years' time, there will be another skills gap for experienced AMs.

What are your crunch hunches for agencies in your city?

Sidenote on UK Account Management titles:
I know titles differ in the UK and the US, so here's a quick hierarchy of agency titles for American readers:
Client Services Director
Group Account Director
Account Director
Account Manager
Account Executive

Related Posts:
Account Management Basics

Is this the end of free love?

Will the recession mark the end of the free love trend? In the age of web 2.0, we've come to expect web content for free. But many content providers haven't found a workable business model based on giving things away. The promise of online ad revenues hasn't always delivered; for instance, the struggling newspaper industry is looking at ways to charge for online content to help them stay (or get) in the black.

Kodak Gallery recently changed their terms of service to require a minimum annual purchase in exchange for online photo storage. It will be interesting to see what other brands begin charging for things that they've been giving away for free or for a nominal cost.

When Kodak announced the new charges, they must have received a lot of customer feedback. Below is a response from the Gallery's General Manager. (Click to enlarge.)

Built to last -- a recession marketing trend?

iPods don’t take a licking. A few months back, my iPod stopped working. I got the dreaded “sad iPod” icon. I tried the suggested solutions on the Apple support page to no avail and was ready to try the controversial “6th” solution: ramming it on a pad of paper. I asked some people about how long their iPods lasted and no one seemed to mind that these things crap out regularly. (A sign of greenetically incorrect eliteness, if you ask me.) Although iPods, according to their own report, and other electronic items, according to The New York Times, are supposedly built to last for three years, the reality is that many break down before this.

I hate having to replace something that should have lasted a lot longer. It’s a waste of money and generates needless landfill. Can you imagine if Sony Walkmans broke down so easily 25 years ago? Why are we so permissive of non-durability? While in recent years, brands have been focusing on the “fluffy” stuff like inspiration, now that we’re in a recession, I predict durability will again become a selling point.

Which brands will deliver campaigns like The Energizer Bunny, Timex’s “Takes a licking but keeps on ticking” or Built Ford Tough? (The former two are on Ad Age’s list of the Top 100 Advertising Campaigns of the Century.)

Sites like eBay, Gumtree and Craigslist are establishing a re-sale value for every imaginable item. Will any brands follow the lead of the auto industry and promote a high re-sale value in their marketing communications?  

Certainly, luxury brands with high-quality craftsmanship are in a prime position to respond to the current economic climate by positioning their product as an investment, something Patek Phillipe has done for awhile now with their ad campaign focusing on buying “for the next generation”.

A much smaller (and more affordable) example is our client ShopCurious which sells unique and designer vintage items. They have been encouraging customers to eschew a slavish addiction to high street trends and disposable fashion in favor of quality items which will last. The value in buying quality is that if you buy something classic that you really like, you can keep it for a long time and it will always look good and function well, i.e. they are “built to last”. 

If this company selling trash cans can use "built to last" as their key selling point, any brand with a quality product can.

Kate Stendahl contributed to this blog post.

You're invited!

My in box has been awash with invitations lately - from brands, that is. It seems many companies are eager to invite me to spend money. Some invite e-mails work better than others. Here are some examples.

Pizza Express has "invited" me to buy two pizzas for the price of one. Pizza Express has been running this two-for-one offer fairly regularly for at least 18 months, so it doesn't exactly feel like a special invitation. It would have worked better if they carried it through in the copy a bit more and made a more direct link with to having the recipient invite a friend out for dinner.

What's on Stage sent me an "exclusive invitation" to save £10 on theatre tickets. I don't know what could possibly be considered exclusive about this. I'm sure I signed up for their e-mail list at some point, but I didn't join any special group and I have no elite status with them, so I can only assume that everyone on their e-mail list has "exclusively" been invited. In the early days of e-mail marketing, sending an e-mail offer could be called exclusive because (at least for bricks-and-mortar businesses) the majority of their customers weren't on the e-mail list. It was a way of driving e-mail sign ups. What's on Stage, as far as I know, does not send any direct mail or any other form of customer communication, so their e-mail offer is not exclusive.

Northwest Airlines sent me two invite e-mails, a week apart. This suggests that the first one achieved a good response rate, or at least a good open rate. The first was an invite to apply for a credit card and the second was an invite to join a program called e-Miles. The latter feels more like a genuine invitation.

I also received an invite to a shopping party at Liberty. Although their objective is clearly to get me to spend money, I like this execution. It's an actual event, so an invite is appropriate. They've done several things right:

• The 15% in-store discount starts the day of the event they've invited me to, and is only on for a few days
• They require invitees to present the invite in order to gain admittance to the event
• They suggest inviting friends and family - by having them sign up for the loyalty program

Overall, it's a strong execution that fits with their brand.

Finally, I received an invite from LinkedIn to their "private beta" release of some new features. My guess is that I was selected because I am a fairly regular user. Although they've told me I'm one of the "specially selected members", it would probably mean more to me if I know how I was selected. Nevertheless, I think this is a good execution: simple and to the point.

These brands ain't afraid of no ghosts

It looks like Ghostbusters is making a comeback - at least in the advertising world. 118 118 used the Ghostbusters theme song in their latest ad, even hiring Ray Parker Jr to sing updated lyrics such as "I ain't afraid of no goats".

Citroën has incorporated the tune in the latest ad from Euro RSCG.

If you look closely at the Justin Lee Collins Show ads, you'll spot an unmistakeable Stay Puft Marshmallow Man t-shirt. He's already tried to "bring back" Fame, Dallas and The A-Team. Can a Ghostbusters reunion be far behind?

Are women's groups going bust?

Are women's networking groups becoming obsolete? I noticed that a few women’s networks, both online and offline, recently closed shop and I wondered if it was a trend.

Will online networks replace offline groups?
In London, the Women Writers Network was a group of women – many of whom were successful, published authors making a living from writing – who got together once per month to listen to a guest speaker and meet other writers. Although they tried to make a move into the online space, their ill-fated attempt may have actually contributed to their downfall. The usability on their web site was so bad, it rendered the site useless for the majority of members who could not actually access the forum. They also seemed unable to make the move from a costly printed bi-monthly newsletter, to a more frequent (and more useful) e-mail newsletter. While they were stuck in the past, the writers were getting their needs met elsewhere. In London alone, there are several web sites and groups that cater to writers, and send e-mails with tips, opportunities, etc. – for free. So it became less appealing for new members to pay an annual fee to see an occasional speaker.

But more importantly, the WWN stopped actively recruiting new members. For instance, they did not use free resources such as the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain’s weekly e-newsletter, to let people know about their group and events.

With the changing environment around them, the WWN needed to reassess their USP and energize the organization with new members.

Women’s groups – that men can join, too!
Remember that store called “Just Jeans”? I think they had a tagline at one point which was something to the effect of “we sell more than just jeans”. Really? Then don’t call yourselves Just Jeans!

I felt the same way when Chicago Women in Technology became about not just technology, but about, well, everything, and not a women’s network but, well, for everyone. “ChicWIT” started as a listserv (remember those?) and quickly expanded to 80 cities around the world. At first members would ask questions related to technology, but soon the e-mails were filled with people wanting to find an apartment, get a babysitter or ask for restaurant recommendations. The group then moved online and the site had columns from women and men bloggers. Although they had a member base of over 40,000, founder Liz Ryan was unable to convert this to cash and closed the site down. If she had stuck to her core proposition of women in technology or at least one of the two, she should have been able to sell rights to her web site for a tidy profit. Now it has gone the way of 404 Not Found.

Women’s group The Executives’ Council recently folded after 19 years. Leanne Hoagland-Smith, a past president of the group, said that over the years the group changed from executives to entrepreneurs. “The entrepreneurs wanted more quality content while some of the other members wanted more socializing.” She said it was difficult to make two different groups happy.

Fresh blood
It seems the most important thing for any group to stay vital, online or offline, is to engage with new members. Stevie Wilson, of LA-Story.com, has participated in several women's forums launches. She says "the sites that have folded are because of lack of advertising and fresh blood. You can't have the same people day after day. Sites need to evolve with open minds about what readers want to see."

That sentiment was echoed by Paige Gold, who was on the board of L.A. List, an offline women's group dedicated to increasing campaign contributions to pro-choice women running for local, nonpartisan offices within L.A. County. "After a while," she said, "it became apparent that the only people writing checks were board members."

The small matter of the bill
For any group to survive, they need a business model that works. In the online world, there are many ways to connect online at no cost these days (Facebook, LinkedIn, NING, etc.). Therefore, the only requirement is that some members dedicate some time to doing the admin for the group. But you can’t put up a forum or group page and hope people will join. It’s promote or perish.

In the offline world, there are often still costs involved – renting space, refreshments, speaker fees, etc. That means managing cash flow and ensuring there is a way for the group to have incoming revenue.

Penny Haynes, of the Commercial Creation Center said her favorite online women's group folded because the owner wasn't making any money from it. “[She] went another direction and started another group which she thought would be more relevant (and would make more money). Many of us paid for lifetime memberships in the first group, and therefore she wasn't getting any continual income from us.”

Lessons

• Actively reach out to get others involved, and interact with the people who do take an interest.
• If you’re starting a forum or online group, you can't just put it up and expect people to come.
• Use technology to keep costs down, and make sure it is usable and accessible.
• Know your USP and stick to it. Be aware of changing factors around you, and don’t be afraid to change with the times.

So are women’s groups going bust?
I know there are still many thriving women’s groups. Are men’s groups having the same issues? Have your say – leave a comment or e-mail me.

I am who I am because of Google

I've noticed a new call to action: "search online for". For instance, the radio ads promoting Orange's "I am" campaign in the UK close with "search online for 'I am'" and Channel 4 TV ads simply display a search symbol with the text "search for Channel 4".

This is a departure from giving customers a web address to remember, or certainly giving them a toll-free number to call. It is also recognition that search is the thing. Most web surfing experiences these days begin with a search engine - so why not make your call to action relevant to the user experience?

There are a few side benefits of this approach. You can, to some extent, control what your customers and prospects are searching for. This means you'll be more likely to connect with those people, i.e. they won't get led astray by other competitors and unrelated companies who show up for your keywords, or keywords you haven't anticipated. It also means that you have a better chance of controlling your pay per click (PPC) costs. You don't have to guess what keywords your customers are most likely to use. You do, however, have to make sure that you show up on page one of all search engines. 

Another benefit is that you can separate out campaign traffic from general brand traffic. Customers searching for their nearest Orange store could search for "Orange," "Orange mobile phones" or "Orange Chelsea", while customers searching for the campaign can do as they've been instructed and search for "I am".

It also means that you can use less attractive URLs. The "I am" URL is www.i-am-everyone.co.uk. So on the radio, it would be "visit us online at 'I dash am dash everyone dot co dot uk'." It doesn't make for very punch ad copy.

Finally, using "search for" as a call to action aids in a brand being able to "own" a word or phrase. If Orange wants its customers to associate the brand with "I am", telling them (on the radio) or showing them (in print or on TV) is not nearly as powerful as getting them to type the message into their web browser - this helps fix the term in their mind as being associated with that brand.

Below are the search results for "I am" across Google, Yahoo!, MSN and Ask. As you can see, not only does Orange have two PPC ads per search engine, they are in the top 10 natural search results for each. (Click on the image to see the details.)

Interestingly, Channel 4 did not run PPC ads; their number one natural search result must have given them confidence. Things change fast in search, however; I hope they are checking their search rankings frequently.

Discover the better e-mail copy

Going through my e-mail in box, I discovered something unusual: two e-mails, from two travel companies, sent within hours of each other, both with “discover” in the subject line. So which is better? Here’s a quick analysis.

Hilton’s subject line is “Discover Eastern Europe, USA shopping bargains plus new Luton Garden Inn”. It’s hardly inspiring. Unless you have a predisposition to visit Eastern Europe or the U.S. (or LUTON – seriously!), it doesn’t give you much of a reason to open the e-mail. Speaking of inspiration, instead of carrying through the discover theme into the body of the e-mail, they lead with last year’s inspiration theme. The word “discover” is not used once in their copy.

Expedia’s subject line is “Discover the friendliest place in the world”. Where is the friendliest place in the world, you wonder? There is only one way to find out – open the e-mail. The theme is then continued with a reiteration of the headline and an immediate payoff in the copy: “Lonely Planet voted Ireland the Friendliest Destination 2008.”

Expedia is a clear winner on copy alone. Design is another matter.

Might as well jump

The creative minds behind Adam Carolla's The Man Show must have been let loose on the advertising world. Trampolining seems to be the latest advertising trend. At least three brands have "jumped" on the trampoline bandwagon: Maltesers, Muller Light and Fiat Grande Punto.

Does anyone else think that using a trampoline after eating yogurt is a bad idea?

Online Marketing and Media: seven easy lessons for sharper online marketing

As I mentioned in my last post, I recently attended the Online Media and Marketing conference in London. I attended a seminar held by Alex Burmaster, a European Business Analyst from Nielsen Online. Here are some of the “lessons” he was offering:

1. Understand the bigger picture. You are probably a small part of someone’s online experience. While in previous years, there was room for every online business to grow, now you need to steal market share.

People are becoming more habitual and are visiting 10% fewer sites than they did last year. Some exceptions are coupon/reward sites – these have seen their audiences grow by 70% in the UK.

2. Know thy audience. There are twice as many people online who are over 50 versus under 18. According to Nielsen, this is how internet usage in the UK stacks up by age:

• 2 - 17 years old - 4.2 million
• 18 - 24 years old - 4.2 million
• 25 - 34 years old - 7 million
• 35 - 49 years old - 9.6 million
• 50 + years old - 9.2 million

It was also interesting to see where those with the highest incomes were spending time online. These are the top 10 sites visited by people with a household income of £50K+ in the UK:

1. Holiday rentals
2. Home web sites
3. Toptable
4. View London
5. Bank of Scotland
6. Companies House
7. LinkedIn
8. Monarch Airlines
9. Hilton
10. Inter Continental Hotels Group

3. Harness the power of video. Every product you have should have a demo video. Videos are viral, engaging, digestible and search friendly.

4. Harness the third screen – mobile. The average uplift for campaigns using mobile is 13%. For B2B, it’s 4%. Location-based GPS has an audience of 1,273,000 in the UK, and 2% of UK mobile subscribers.

5. Listen to what consumer-generated media tells you. It’s worth noting that 54% of people posting opinions about a brand first attempted to contact the brand by e-mail – so get your customer service right!

6. Act on it. Give people a chance to tell you what they think directly. Have a link on your site for customer testimonials.

7. Go the distance.

I Don't Feel Like Dancin'

Is creating a brand dance a new trend? Here are three examples of companies who have tried to get customers engaged with their brand through dance. Just think what would happen if they combined their brand dance with a brand scent!

Lambrini

Becks

Comfort

Comfort has even released the single to this song on iTunes and was given to club DJs to incorporate into their live sets.

Greenetically Incorrect: the Green Team

Well, it's happened faster than I thought. In a previous post, I predicted a new micro trend called Greenetically Incorrect. I wrote that the trend would evolve in these stages:

1. Pro-green targeting (already happening)
2. Green crescendo (in progress)
3. Green parody
4. Non-Green targeting (e.g. Greencoat, Green Neutral and Greenetically Incorrect)

So here's a lovely video from Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly showing that we've moved on to stage 3. Be warned, it's R rated.

Increase your Carbon Footprint: leave your mark on the world (the new microtrend)

Though “microtrend” is becoming a buzzword, those of us in the direct marketing industry know that dividing people into small segments (and targeting them accordingly) is nothing new. In fact, The Clustering of America, first published in 1988, was an antecedent to current bestseller Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow’s Big Changes.

The green movement, which started as a microtrend, has been undeniably upgraded to macro trend. With Al Gore recently winning a Nobel Prize to add to his Oscar and other accolades, this trend is now at its apex. So I want to be the first to predict a new microtrend: greenetically incorrect.

When “political correctness” became trendy in the early 90’s, it didn’t take long for parodies to appear. Books like The Official Politically Correct Dictionary and Handbook appeared, along with mainstream comedic satire, and of course Bill Maher’s infamous TV show “Politically Incorrect”.

Green is ripe for a ribbing. I think because many comedians and entertainers have a tendency to be left leaning, it could take a little time, but it will happen eventually – give it four to six months.

Is this bad for the green agenda? Actually, I think it’ll be a positive sign, kind of the way you know you’ve made it in the entertainment business if you get made fun of on Saturday Night Live. They’re not writing sketches about Z-list celebrities… or issues. Green is now firmly in the A list.

Here’s what I see happening in the greenetically incorrect microtrend:

·         Rise of popular greenetically incorrect blog(s) and/or web site(s)

·         “Breakthrough” comedian gets noticed through controversial greenetically incorrect comments or material in his/her act

·         Greenetically incorrect clusters begin getting recognized by marketers

The greenetically incorrect clusters could include:

·         Green Coats: those that want to appear green to their peers, but take no individual green actions

·         Green Neutrals: those that don’t care about green issues at all

·         Greenetically Incorrect: those that flaunt their non-green behaviors – Land Rovers, private jets and short-haul flights, one-block taxi rides, etc. Their “I’m above being green” attitude is a social currency with peers.

Marketers will target the greenetically incorrect for luxury brands, as these Carbon-intensive activities indicate wealth.

While this may seem cynical, direct marketers are practical and results driven – we are there to analyze behavior and target accordingly, not judge it. For instance the marketing campaign around one major charitable initiative that launched last year to support a global A-list celebrity’s cause was all based on targeting consumers who the agency labeled something akin to “Cappuccino Committors”. According to the agency, the ideal target for this new brand was people who care about the cause and want to do something to help… as long as it fit into their normal behaviors, didn’t interfere with their lives and didn’t cost extra.

So to recap, this is how I see this trend evolving:

1.       Pro-green targeting (already happening)

2.       Green crescendo (in progress)

3.       Green parody

4.       Non-Green targeting (e.g. Greencoat, Green Neutral and Greenetically Incorrect)

Micro Social Networking

While MySpace currently dominates social networking in the U.S. and Facebook dominates in the UK, many wonder how long they’ll cling to their user bases. The online audience can be fickle, as Friendster can attest. I think they’ll be around for awhile because many users have already “invested” in the sites by creating customized profiles in MySpace and adding copious applications on their Facebook pages. It’s hard to imagine another major player overtaking these sites any time soon (in the online space, let’s call that six months).

A trend I’m seeing is smaller social networks around particular interest groups or areas, e.g. CafeMom and Green Thing (a site I’ve just helped to launch). While these sites won’t be the next Facebook, they will attract users and engage them with relevant content. Brands often aim to increase their “share of wallet” – what they’ll be facing online is a challenge to increase their “share of week” and the micro social networks may be the real threat to the current behemoths.

Originality 2.0

We've all heard of Web 2.0. It's a clever term which reflects the latest wave of the internet's evolution. But now, everyone wants to be a "2.0". I recently read an article about a P.R. firm that supposedly coined the phrase P.R. 2.0. Today, I received an e-mail inviting me to a webinar called Acquisition 2.0. If these companies want to capture my attention -- and my imagination -- they should brand their message, product, service or philosophy in an original way which crystallizes the issues, trends and current state of their own discipline rather than genericizing a pre-existing term. This is especially true for companies in the business of communicating.

Well, enough of that rant. I need to turn off my TV 2.0 and call the Dog Walker 2.0 before I visit my Nephew 2.0.

Robot Invasion

 

Should actors start worrying about becoming obsolete? Honda, IKEA and GM have all recently used robots in their advertising campaigns – Honda and IKEA did not feature any human actors at all. Certainly one benefit of this is not having to pay robots any royalties or international usage fees. Someone should alert Equity and the Screen Actors Guild!

It’s another interesting trend. Is it because technology is so integrated into our everyday lives that these companies think we can relate to robots?

Inspiration is Everywhere

I've noticed a trend in advertising over the past few months: Inspiration. Companies  want to inspire you with ideas on how to decorate your home (Ikea), where to travel (Expedia) or what to buy for Valentine's Day (Amazon). If you don't feel inspired enough, how about Inspiration the perfume (Lacoste)? I was even surprised to see HMV jumping on the bandwagon, with an apparently irrelevant use of the term – "Be Inspired" by watching 24?

It's a reflection of a strong economy. The message is inspiration and aspiration rather than saving money or improving quality as have been the trend in the past.