AutoTrader.com is launching a national ad push this week to announce that it is expanding from pre-owned vehicles to new cars and trucks, and to show how its new service is different--and better--than the competition's. Clark Wood, VP/marketing, says the new campaign--which includes TV ads, interactive elements, product integration, and sponsorship-based promotions--is the realization of a trend that began over a year ago: dealers who have sold used cars through AutoTrader had also begun selling their new cars that way. "We have been loading new-car inventory on the system for a year and a half," he says. Wood says AutoTrader differs from new-car comparison sites like those run by MSN and Yahoo because it lets consumers sift, compare and examine actual cars and trucks on dealer lots, bypassing the need to configure a vehicle, and then see which dealer responds with a car or truck that matches that description or comes close. "Most of the sites that have new-car information don't have actual new-car inventory in their systems," says Wood. "Consumers want to compare real inventory on dealers' lots. And [they] don't want to go to a dealership if the actual car they want isn't there." The campaign, via Doner, Detroit, illustrates this with an eight-story-tall guy called "Big Guy," who walks around town picking up cars from different dealer lots and comparing them side by side as if they were toys. Actor Christian Slater provides voiceover in the spot, which starts May 5. The ad hits 19 channels--including Adult Swim, A&E, Comedy Central, Discovery, Discovery HD, E!, FX, HGTV, MTV, Spike!, and TNT. A product-integration deal demonstrates the AutoTrader new-vehicle shopping process on Comedy Central's "Friday Night Standup" and SpikeTV's "PowerBlock." For the latter, "PowerBlock" star Courtney Hansen shops for a new Ford Mustang with AutoTrader. E! is also creating a series of AutoTrader.com-branded features entitled "Celebs and Cars" in which celebrities talk about their rides. Radio spots will air in over 20 markets. AutoTrader, which is involved in NBA pro hoops through sponsorship of "Top Off Show" on TNT, NBA TV, and NBA.com, will use that association to tout the program via an online fantasy league. The promo dangles $25,000 toward the purchase of any new vehicle on AutoTrader.com. Messaging will run on NBA mobile alerts and NBA.com promotions. "One thing that sports does for us real well is to get to the key neighborhood influencers--car experts," says Wood. A trade effort aimed at dealers will accompany the campaign. "We have about 20,000 dealers participating in the business today. And I would say out of that, over 10,000 are new-car franchises."
Don't look now, but high vacancy rates are forcing the local mall to turn lemons into lemonade. Property managers are converting vacant store windows into high-tech digital ad displays, creating a new ad medium that's considerably less depressing than soap-covered windows or "This space could be yours!" banners. The economy has been especially punishing for retailers, with such chains as The Sharper Image and Levitz filing for bankruptcy, others like Linens 'n' Things teetering on the edge, and dozens more -- including Zales, Ann Taylor, and Talbots -- shuttering underperforming units. In the first quarter of this year, the International Council of Shopping Centers says that of the 28 retail chains it tracks, there have been 2,122 store closings, with 38% in apparel, followed by 30% in home entertainment. So WindowGain, a start-up based in Newton, Mass., has pounced on store vacancies as a new ad medium, with five displays currently running in Boston and eight in the UK. "We have our in-house staff securing high-traffic and high-demographic locations," says COO Prem Hira and then selling the ads to marketers, typically in four-week flights. But given the softness in retailing, "we also offer incentives for longer-term contracts. To date, our longest campaign is 16 months." The business model is like any other out-of-home advertising company, he says. "We sell advertising time on our digital displays, and we compensate the real estate owners with a fixed monthly fee or a revenue share." "We all know that traditional advertising is shrinking, and that alternative - including digital and out-of-home-advertising is growing," says Marc Feldman, VP/new business development at Developers Diversified Realty (DDR), a Beachwood, Ohio-based commercial real-estate company that has just entered an agreement to bring window displays to about 75 properties in the next 15 months. "Companies need to reach people where they are. People are spending more and more time at the mall, and our traffic numbers show that," he says. "So this is an innovative way to reach them. When people look in windows, they expect to see things." Feldman says the technology is especially appealing for marketers with creative that has plenty of movement. "It looks really great when you see fish swimming or balls bouncing," he says. Boston sites have featured sea monsters (from the New England Aquarium), twirling cell phones (Verizon) and even windows (the Museum of Fine Arts Boston recently had an Edward Hopper exhibit, and its display used a moving version of what may be the most famous storefront art ever-the artist's 1942 "Nighthawks.") Right now, DDR, with about 740 properties throughout the U.S. and internationally, is rolling new ads out in its Atlanta properties. "Ground-floor digital displays are ideal for just about any brand that wants to reach people on the go," adds Hira. Benefits specific to digital displays include real-time information. For example, the Boston.com spots actually pull news, weather, etc. from the boston.com web site. The economy's loss may well be a boon for companies like WindowGain. The International Council of Shopping Centers predicts that store closings may total 6,500 for 2008, or about 1% of existing stores, which would be the highest since 2001.
Fifteen years ago, members of Gen X were perceived as slackers stuck in dead-end McJobs with a cynical view of the future. Of course, time marches on, and now they are pursuing careers, having children and thinking about retirement. "As [members of Gen X] have grown older, they are more willing to get started and less cynical than you'd think," says Ilkay Can, director of acquisition for Charles Schwab. "They know they want to focus on their finances, and they know they need to get started saving--they just need a little help." Accordingly, the San Francisco-based investment firm has launched a new Web site targeting the members of Gen X, with resources such as investment calculators and a peer-comparison tool that helps users understand how their financial situations and monetary attitudes shape up against their peers. The site is intended to address the specific financial issues facing people 25-40, which is how Schwab defines Gen X. "We're trying to cater to these guys in ways that no one's catered to them before," Can tells Marketing Daily. "No one's talked to them about the future; [other companies' messages are] mostly about savings and checking." The peer comparison tool is based on a Schwab survey of more than 5,000 between the ages of 25 and 40. The survey broke Gen Xers down into six distinct mindsets: paycheck to paycheck (the largest group at 25%); spend now, pay laters (17%); confident and risk-tolerants (15%); no money, no worries (15%); cautious savers (14%) and overwhelmed but optimistic (13%). After users complete their answers and determine their mindset, they have a printable snapshot of their answers compared with the generation average. The printout also includes suggestions about how to improve their financial picture, which Can says appeals to the generation's "checklist mentality." "They want to be told not what they need to do, but what they need to consider," Can says. "We want to give them an education in what it takes to get started and make it specific." The site, schwabmoneyandmore.com, is part of an overall effort to make investing easier for younger investors, who may not make as much money as older, high-net-worth investors who are targeted by other companies. In addition to the site, Schwab has also launched a high-yield, no-minimum checking account and lowered minimums for basic investment accounts. "It's a common misconception among Gen Xers that you need hundreds of thousands of dollars to invest," Can says. "We know they're at a life stage where they run into financial hurdles. They've got back-to-back financial needs that most other age groups don't have." Those needs include buying a new home, having children, and perhaps most importantly, planning for retirement. "These guys are dealing with challenges that generations before them haven't faced," Can says. "A lot think Social Security isn't going to be around when they retire. They have to rely on themselves." Charles Schwab is promoting the site through Gen X-targeted public relations efforts and looking for some spillover from its "Talk to Chuck" advertising campaign, Can says.
Boxing ain't baseball. Budweiser and Everlast notwithstanding, brands have generally been wary about associating with a sport with poor reputation among the general market, and questionable promotional value because of bad fights and meaningless titles. They may be changing. With the booming interest in the fight game among Hispanic consumers, and with the first Mexican-American-run fight promotion company founded by a star who transcends the sport, at least one brand--Cerveza Tecate, imported by Heineken USA--is boosting its presence in boxing. The company will launch a promotional multi-platform effort supporting fighter and Golden Boy Promotions founder Oscar de la Hoya's bout in L.A. versus Steve Forbes. Saturday's fight--widely seen as a tune-up for de la Hoya's maybe-rematch against the best pound-for-pound welterweight fighter in the world, Floyd Mayweather, Jr.--is being touted as de la Hoya's "homecoming" since he hasn't fought in his hometown for seven years. Per Tecate, 35,000 are expected to attend the fight, and it will be broadcast on HBO. Tecate's involvement ties Cinco de Mayo to the event with programs like a commemorative 24-ounce can of Tecate available in 36 U.S. markets that features pictures of de la Hoya and Forbes, party booklets and a $20 discount on a two-month HBO subscription. The company will also tout the fight on Spanish-language (and some English-language) TV and outdoor advertising in key markets. In the general market, interest in the sweet science has waned over the years, partly because of a confusing, meaningless array of international sanctioning bodies leading to an alphabet soup of meaningless belts and titles; the decline of the heavyweight division post-Tyson and Lewis; and also because of the rise of ultimate fighting/mixed martial arts. Not so among fans in Latin America and among Hispanic-Americans, for whom boxing is the second-most-popular sport after football (soccer). Says Arturo Vargas, events and sponsorships manager for Tecate: "The numbers are really close and getting closer between soccer and boxing." Why? Credit a group of Mexican fighters past and present--Antonio Marco Barrera, Eric Morales, Manuel Marquez, and of course Julio Cesar Chavez--and at least two current non-Mexicans--Brit Ricky Hatton and Filipino Manny Pacquiao--with generating pay-per-views and sold-out fights with aggressive ring styles. They have also moved the center of gravity from the moribund heavyweight category to the lighter divisions. "I think the Hispanic fan base grew because of Chavez; he was one that really got everyone interested in boxing again, and from there I think everyone started watching," Vargas says. "And Oscar has a big following among Hispanics in U.S." Tecate, which inked a six-fight deal with Golden Boy last year, is also title sponsor of Solo Boxeo Tecate, a 50-week sponsorship of Telefutura's Friday night boxing program. Vargas says the company renewed its contract with Golden Boy this year for two years. Starting this week, Tecate grassroots promotions in SoCal include autograph sessions with Golden Boy's stable of fighters, inflatable boxing rings where consumers can square off, and a bevy of ring-card girls, Chicas Tecate. Tecate will also run an event this weekend called "Noche de Boxeo y Musica" that mixes boxing matches with music.
Guidelines for mobile video and TV that will be added to the Mobile Marketing Association's other recently released advertising guidelines are expected to be finished by October. Revisions for display and messaging, which recommends aspect ratios and banner dimensions, maximum file sizes and file formats among other specs, took six months to revise and refine. The MMA hopes to update all guidelines every six months. Consensus came fairly easy for the mobile web banner and the text messaging guidelines, but deciding on downloadable content and multimedia messaging service (MMS) took more time and patience to hash out, says MMA president Laura Marriott. "I think that's because we see higher adoption rates and broader consumer reach for web banners and text messages," she says. "We had more debate around downloadable content and MMS because of regional differences." The downloadable guidelines include graphic file formats for advertising in video games. The MMA recommends that, where the consumer is disrupted by a click-through, ads for applications and games should display before the launch or exit of the application, be queued until the end of the application experience, or avoided altogether. With guidelines in place consumers, can expect to see more advertisements on mobile phones. Worldwide spending on mobile advertising reached nearly $2.7 billion last year and should hit $4.6 billion in 2008, rising to $19.1 billion by 2012, according to eMarketer. The research firm estimates messaging will account for more than $14 billion of the total $19 billion spent on mobile campaigns by 2012. The United States remains the largest market for mobile advertising, although it lags both Europe and Asia in terms of cell phone sales and use. EMarketer estimates the total U.S. market for mobile advertising will reach $6.5 billion by 2012, up from nearly $1.7 billion this year. As for the MMA, the 70-member company committee comprising publishers, mobile content providers and agencies is chaired by Madhouse in Asia, Nokia and Vodafone in Europe, and Verizon Wireless and Yahoo in the US. The MMA has a global mobile advertising committee with five working groups: mobile web, downloadable, text, MMS, and video and television. The group also released a white paper that explains the options and how to buy mobile advertising in order to help companies understand the metrics and available resources.
The frequency of branded entertainment on TV apparently has a promising future. "It's as far as the viewer will allow you to go," says Linda Yaccarino, EVP/GM of Turner Entertainment Advertising Sales and Marketing, speaking at a branded entertainment panel at MediaPost's Outfront conference last week in New York. "Viewers have a certain level of tolerance." She says such acceptance applies to any new brand entertainment efforts Turner puts on its networks, including on-screen lower promotional messages, such as one for TBS' "The Bill Engvall Show," sponsored by Miracle Whip. These messages run during TBS shows. Indeed, findings from IAG Research, which is used by media companies to measure branded-entertainment effectiveness, indicate there is little to no negative feedback when it comes to branded-entertainment efforts. No wonder that some companies want to raise the bar. Bravo, for example, wants to take up 20% of the TV screen with something it calls the "L Bar." Placing marketers' information on the bottom and the side of the screen--thus making an L--Bravo hopes to expand what it can offer advertisers. "We're an advertising network--we are not a pay TV service," says Kevin McAuliffe, SVP/branded-entertainment group for NBC Universal Television Group. But it isn't just advertising. "There is going to be a content play here. There is going to be a balance." Bravo is not the first network to alter the screen; sports channels have been adding marketing content to TV screens for some time. ESPN's "SportsCenter," for example, runs content and marketing on the sides of its screen. One would think there are limitations, but it depends on a viewers' involvement with a show. "The passionate fan of any show can't get enough," says Bill Morningstar, EVP/advertising sales for the CW, who has worked on a host of new initiatives. NBC's McAuliffe is honest to call branded entertainment what it is. "Brand entertainment is a disruptive technology," he says, one that brings no end of potential ideas. "We don't have enough time to have all the conversations." "At some point, it becomes all clutter," warns Laura Caraccioli-Davis, EVP/entertainment director for Starcom USA. "We have to be really careful." Major differences exist for branded entertainment with different media platforms. Cable networks do seem to do more deals. "They are more apt to shill their shows, says Caraccioli-Davis. "Maybe cable networks are not all that protective of [their programs]." Standard measuring tools for branded deals? Calculating effectiveness of branded entertainment is still examined on a marketer-by-marketer basis. "No two deals are alike," says Morningstar. "We treat our shows like the marketers do--as brands. What we are looking for is whether there is a natural connection."
Eric Alterman paints a grim picture for the future of printed newspapers in his article, "The News Business, Out of Print," in the March 31 issue of The New Yorker. "Newspaper companies are losing advertisers, readers, market value, and, in some cases, their sense of mission at a pace that would have been barely imaginable just four years ago," he writes. "...(T)rends in circulation and advertising--the rise of the Internet, which has made the daily newspaper look slow and unresponsive; the advent of Craigslist, which is wiping out classified advertising--have created a palpable sense of doom." For many, that "palpable sense of doom" extends to all of print. The new generation works, reads and plays on the Internet, the common wisdom goes. As they displace retiring Baby Boomers, print, too, will be retired. Yet research on the appeal and effectiveness of print and electronic media reveals a storyline at odds with this prevailing wisdom. It shows that print continues to play a vibrant, even critical role in Internet Age marketing, and that it remains the most trusted - and sometimes preferred- medium for many purposes. To promote print in the face of the Internet's ever-growing influence, an alliance of print industry leaders known as The Print Council has charged Rochester Institute of Technology and six other universities to methodically collect and summarize the best of recent research on all types of media, on the Print in the Mix Web site, www.printinthemix.com. Visit the site - the source of much of the data in this article - and you will see plenty of reasons why print should remain part of your media mix. Giving Direct Mail Its Due Consider direct mail. It's projected to grow by 4.5% this year to account for the largest advertising spend in the United States, 21.6% of the $294.4 billion total, according to the December 2007 Insider's Report. Yet the medium is widely disrespected as junk mail that isn't read, but goes directly to landfill. The research reveals a dirty little secret: 80% of people read or skim their direct mail, and 38% find it interesting, according to a 2006 U.S. Postal Services study. The landfill issue also is misrepresented. Nearly 85% of respondents to a 2007 DM News survey believe that direct mail counted for more than a third to a half of municipal waste. But the Environmental Protection Agency puts the figure at 2%. Furthermore, in 2007, an all-time high of 56% of the paper consumed in the United States was recovered for recycling - five years ahead of the industry's schedule for that milestone, according to the American Forest & Paper Association. When forced to choose among media formats, people tend to give direct mail its due. For example, among unsolicited email, Internet banner ads, sales calls to the home, text message ads and direct mail, 75% of consumers say they are most likely to pay attention to and act upon direct mail, according to a 2005 survey by the Envelope Manufacturers Association Foundation. This preference is corroborated in response-rate studies. Catalogs and direct mail generate the second- and third-highest response rates after telemarketing in the Direct Marketing Association's 2007 Response Rate Report, but deeply personalized color direct mail has them all beat. It generated a 6.5% response rate in an InfoTrends/CAP Ventures study, more than twice rate of the top DMA study responses (telemarketing - 2.53%, catalogs - 2.24%% and direct mail - 2.15%.) Mixing Media Boosts Results As marketers know, the nature of direct mail and direct marketing is changing. Personalized digital printing gives us the power to strip the "junk" out of our mail by making pieces relevant to each individual recipient, boosting reader interest and response rates. Orchestrating a marketing message across multiple media further boosts results by increasing the likelihood that you'll reach customers in their preferred medium and by reinforcing the message, working synergistically to drive results. Sixty-seven percent of the online population is driven by offline messages to search online for information on a company, service or product, according to a survey of the Ipsos U.S. online consumer panel. Thirty-nine percent of them then make a purchase. Similarly, consumers who received a printed catalog from a retailer were twice as likely to buy online from that retailer as consumers who didn't receive the catalog, according to a 2007 U.S. Postal Services study. Eighty-four percent said online shopping was easier when they had a catalog. Pantone, Inc. used this knowledge to its advantage in orchestrating a cross-media campaign for a new color monitor calibration device. The effort generated an 81% increase in sales over those for a similar product supported by traditional direct mail. Elements included digitally printed, personalized postcards and direct mail, personalized Web sites, email and telemarketing. This synergistic relationship is one reason why the Internet's effect on print often is complementary. Print In The Marketing Mix Research data shows that print brings advantages to many other applications, as well. Many senior executives express a preference for print. Fifty-nine percent trust printed magazines, journals and newspapers over online sources for information, and 60% turn to print when they want in-depth analysis, according to a Doremus/Financial Times survey. The No. 1 influencers of buying decisions also come from the world of print. A 2006 survey sponsored by Vertis Communications found that advertising inserts and circulars are the media that most influence buying decisions, affecting 31% of adults, compared to 18% for television and only 6% for the Internet. And during the 2007 holiday season, coupons and newspaper inserts were the top two media influences on holiday shopping, according to a BIGresearch survey. Coupons influenced 35.2% of holiday shoppers, followed by newspaper inserts (30.4%), word of mouth (22.7%), TV/broadcast (21.3%) and direct mail (16.1%). Marketing in the Internet Age is a dynamic endeavor, but fortunately, more actionable data is available than ever before to help chart your path. The current research says that keeping print in the mix is a winning strategy.