Boston-based full-service ad shop Fuseideas has been appointed North American agency of record for Bermuda Tourism after a review. The annual budget for the account is $13 million, according to the client. Wayne L. Furbert, Bermuda’s Minister of Business Development and Tourism, said the search committee was impressed with the agency’s proposal that included a mix of segmentation, media, technology, creative and social marketing, “all seamlessly brought together.” Furbert also cited the agency’s experience in the category, which includes work for the Maine Office of Tourism, Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism and Visit Florida. Dennis Franczak, founder and CEO of Fuseideas, said that campaign elements for Bermuda Tourism account would include creative across all channels, advanced mobile and Web technology, in-depth analytics and campaign optimization and social marketing integration. Fuseideas has annual billings of around $50 million. In addition to Boston, it has offices in Los Angeles, Portland, Maine, and Prague. Clients include Adidas, ESPN, HBO Latin America and Univision. New work for the Bermuda Tourism account is expected to break in May.
Four years after settling a federal antitrust suit against Nielsen, Frank Maggio is putting the patents he still owns for producing ratings based on digital set-tops and other devices up for auction. The auction, which will be conducted via a sealed bidding process, comes as the media and marketing research industry convenes at the Advertising Research Foundation’s annual conference in New York City. The auction, which originally was supposed to be public, was switched to the private bidding process, Maggio said, because a number of parties interested in bidding on the patent portfolio indicated they did not want their interests or identities known. The auction, which is being handled by the ICAP Patent Brokerage, includes a portfolio of eight patents and 119 claims broadly covering privacy compliant ratings generated from two sources: TV devices such as digital set-tops, DVRs and even mobile and broadband video players; and a second set of data derived from a “common characteristic” such as a zip code. When correlated, the two sets of data are the basis for generating the kind of TV ratings that Maggio’s erinMedia was trying to develop before it was shut down following its private settlement with Nielsen, the terms of which have never been disclosed. The patent portfolio has been cited by industry giants including Apple, Comcast, DirecTV, Microsoft, Yahoo, and even Nielsen, and Maggio says it is expected to generate a great deal of interest from potential bidders who may fall into one of three categories: companies looking to move aggressively into the media ratings business, companies looking to defend established positions in the media ratings business, or companies looking to profit by creating a market from an intellectual property that could disrupt the media ratings business. Dean Becker, CEO of ICAP Patent Brokerage, describes the portfolio as a “great package of properties,” but says it’s impossible to know what the interest will be in acquiring it until the bids come in. He says comparable patent portfolios have generated “tens of millions of dollars, or tens of thousands of dollars” in the past.
For the last 10 or 15 years the media agency business has been about scale, with a handful of global players dominating the sector. But according to David Doft, CFO at ad shop holding company MDC Partners, advances in technology and data analytics and greater client focus on performance enable smaller players to compete more effectively. “That’s where we have an opportunity to disrupt the media business,” said Doft, who explained his company’s emerging media strategy at a Goldman Sachs investor conference in New York Thursday. Doft made his comments just days after the company acquired a majority stake in New York independent agency TargetCast TCM and created a new division, Maxxcom, to manage some $2.2 billion of the company’s media assets. Steve Farella, CEO of TargetCast, was given the additional responsibility of running Maxxcom. The TargetCast acquisition followed MDC’s January purchase of another New York-based media shop, RJ Palmer. With those acquisitions, coupled with MDC's smaller digital, direct-response and analytics-focus media shops like Media Kitchen, Varick Media Management and Integrated Media Solutions, the company has enough scale “to effectively go after a significant presence in the media world,” Doft told conference attendees. Historically, he said, MDC’s media business has accounted for less than 5% of its revenues, versus the 25% or so that media has contributed to the coffers of holding-company competitors. Doft also said that bulking up in media is a “balance sheet friendly” move, because the company can effectively use payments that go through its financial system from clients to media sellers as a “working capital float that is favorable for our free cash generation ability.” But just days before MDC confirmed its stake in TargetCast, investment rating company Standard & Poor’s lowered its ratings outlook for the company from stable to negative, citing the company’s high debt level and lower-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA). Doft said the S&P action was not a huge surprise and that MDC is focused on lowering debt levels and boosting its EBITDA margin, which now stands at about 10%, to between 15% and 17% over the next five years. In part, that margin growth will be achieved from new accounts derived from the company’s efforts to be a bigger player on the media side of the business, Doft said. And despite the company’s recent media agency buying spree, Doft said that acquisitions would be “slowing down” in 2012. For one thing, conditions aren’t as favorable for purchasers as they were just a few years ago during the recession. Fewer acquisitions will also help MDC reduce its debt faster. The acquisition outlook for the rest of the year, he said, is “a deal or two, maybe.”
TuneIn, a digital audio service that makes online radio streams accessible via a range of digital platforms including mobile integration with auto dashboards, is getting access to programming from the Wall Street Journal Radio Network, including financial market updates, breaking news, business news, long-form reports, talk, and almost two dozen podcasts. The TuneIn deal makes WSJ content available to TuneIn’s 30 million listeners. WSJ Radio Network content accessible via TuneIn includes programs like The Wall Street Journal this Morning, The Daily Wrap with Michael Castner and The Wall Street Journal Your Money Matters. The WSJ Radio Network currently counts over 450 affiliates around the country. For its part, TuneIn (formerly RadioTime) offers over 50,000 streaming audio stations, and powers several other online audio platforms, including Sonos and Squeezebox. The digital radio scene has been heating up with multiple new deals, strategic partnerships, and distribution agreements. Most recently, Spotify introduced a number of new apps which allow record labels and distributors to showcase their music, including Sony Legacy and the Warner Music Group. Spotify also revealed that it’s trying to raise a new round of funding that values the company at $3.5 billion. Pandora continues to push its distribution through deals with big carmakers, although it faces competition from other online audio services. In November, Ford made Slacker available in new cars via the Ford Sync AppLink, which allows drivers to import various online apps, including media content, via a smartphone connection.
Continuing to position itself for a big election year, Cox Digital Solutions has reached an exclusive ad sales agreement with The Weather Channel. Per the deal, Cox Digital becomes the exclusive seller of political advertising across The Weather Channel’s crown jewel, Weather.com. Part of a larger ad strategy, The Weather Channel pact closely follows a similar partnership between Cox Digital and Yahoo. The two properties, however, offer distinct advantages to Cox, according to Steve Shaw, president of Cox Digital Solutions. “What Yahoo brings to the ballot in reach and scale, The Weather Channel brings in breadth and depth among local audiences,” said Shaw. The Weather Channel is the top weather property and the fourth-largest news and information property online, according to comScore. To Shaw’s point, because Weather.com’s 60 million monthly Web consumers must enter ZIP code information to access accurate local weather forecasts, news and information, the site is inherently conducive to delivering highly targeted local political campaign messages. With these partnerships, Cox Digital is hoping to offer political advertisers scalable options. “Local reach is The Weather Channel’s sweet spot,” said Beth Lawrence, EVP of ad sales and media solutions for The Weather Channel. “Political advertising is Cox Digital Solutions’ area of expertise.” Cox recently expanded its online ad targeting options to include advertising segmented by congressional district, and opened a Washington, D.C. office. Its targeting efforts combine IP address-mapping with proprietary data to find voters that an advertiser is trying to reach within a given district. Spending on political advertising overall in 2012 is expected to hit $4 billion -- up 30% from four years ago, according to a recent estimate by MediaVest. While TV will continue to attract the bulk of ad dollars, spending will be spread across a broader range of media, including social media.
Turner Sports, which has had three networks carry March Madness games, has a deal that extends the involvement of NCAA tournament sponsors off-air and into event marketing. AT&T, Coke and Capital One will sponsor a three-day concert festival in New Orleans in conjunction with the Final Four in New Orleans, a city known for music. The free “Big Dance” event, co-produced by Turner and the NCAA, will feature diverse acts such as Jimmy Buffett, KISS and the Black Keys. It takes place in a park not far from the Final Four site starting March 30. The event in Houston last year pulled in 140,000 fans, Turner said. The Final Four games will be on CBS, which shares March Madness sponsorship revenue with Turner under a massive tournament rights deal. Coke’s link to the music festival includes a “Coke Zero Countdown” with the Black Keys, currently on tour, while CapitalOne will back an appearance by Buffett. As Coke CFO Gary Fayard said this week, 30-second spots in live events remain a strong marketing vehicle, since they are effectively DVR-proof, although they cannot stand alone and must be accompanied by digital and social media initiatives. Live events would offer a similar addition in an integrated campaign. Coke also counts on music and sports as two worldwide passions that it looks to link its marketing with.
Fox's big marketing push for "Touch" came in pretty much as expected -- a decent time period debut on the back of "American Idol." "Touch," a major worldwide international effort for Fox, pulled in with a healthy Nielsen preliminary 3.2 rating/9 share among 18-49 viewers. This is down from the January start -- running the same episode as this Thursday -- which earned a 3.7 rating. Although down over 10% from a week before, "American Idol" still earned the best numbers on this late March Thursday, with a 4.0/13. Overall, Fox easily won the night. But this wasn't a usual programming Thursday. CBS was in NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament mode, and from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m., ABC was in repeats with "Grey's Anatomy" and "Private Practice." For three hours worth of college basketball, CBS has earned a preliminary average 2.3 rating/6 share. Those numbers should rise, earning CBS second place for the night. In the wake of a tough 8 p.m. time period, the second week of ABC's new show "Missing" struggled a bit, down over 20% to land at a 1.6/5. NBC had some mixed results. "Community" was down from its premiere a week before to a 1.7 rating/6 share from a 2.2. It was the network's best effort on Thursday. An hour's worth of "30 Rock" earned a 1.5/4. "Up All Night" at 9:30 p.m. climbed to a 1.4/4. NBC's midseason drama "Awake" continued to lose viewers week-to-week, down 25% to 1.2/3. CW had some good news to talk about with its strong show "The Vampire Diaries," up a bit to a 1.3/4 adults 18-49 rating; "The Secret Circle" was the same with a 0.7/2. CW's "Diaries" also continued strong among its key viewer group, women 18-34. The show was up 5% to a 2.0 rating/7 share.
Most savvy TV news media viewers understand the political tendencies of certain cable TV news networks. But what about specific state influences? It is not always clear. Fox News Channel, home to Republican party supporters, according to analysts -- and still the leading cable TV network in terms of viewership -- might look like what is expected of the network. It has the most influence in Montana, Texas and Mississippi, viewed as predominantly "red states." But MSNBC, seen as a news channel that Democrat supporters watch, per analysts, does well in Hawaii, Idaho, North Dakota and Iowa. CNN, also mostly Democratic-leaning, is tops in South Dakota. For MSNBC and CNN, many states may not follow any preconceived notion. For many pollsters, Idaho, North Dakota, and South Dakota are considered safe Republican strongholds. The data results come from a new Forbes study of America's news organizations released late last week. The research looked at news sources and individual articles/stories that were unusually popular in certain states compared to national averages. Many news organizations had influence across regional lines: The New York Times was strong among states in the Northeast; The Los Angeles Times was tops in its home state California; and The Washington Post was solid in Virginia, Maryland and Kentucky. USA Today had the most influence in the middle of the country, especially Western states: Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Arizona and Nevada. ABC News was strong in the Midwest and Eastern states, especially in Arkansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma -- and in Pennsylvania and Texas. Forbes says NPR is popular in Oregon and Minnesota; "The Onion" has influence in Wisconsin; Al Jazeera did well in Vermont, Oregon, New Mexico and Texas; and The Huffington Post is big in the Appalachian region.
Here’s a statistic that should grab the attention of every marketer and merchant: According to an IBM study, 72% of consumers will act on a call to action in a marketing message if they receive it while in sight of the retailer. That’s a huge potential conversion rate, but how can marketers ensure prospective customers get the right message at the right place to make the sale? Another statistic may hold the key: More than 1 billion people worldwide now use mobile phones. That’s why proximity marketing is changing the rules in retail -- and delivering value to retailers and customers alike. The connection is clear: Marketers that can reach the customer at the point of sale can harness the enormous potential of proximity marketing. Thanks to a pervasive mobile culture in which consumers use smartphones as portable windows to the world, marketers have the power to deliver the right message at the right place when they combine mobile messaging capabilities with digital signage tools. These tools allow them to deliver rich media, permission-based messages that engage consumers on a personal level-- all at a fraction of the cost of a traditional marketing campaign. It works by using digital signage networks to detect smartphones within range and broadcast marketing messages. Consumers opt-in to receive offers; their privacy is protected, and there is no charge to consumers for the message. What they get in return for their opt-in is relevant, targeted offers on items of interest and an opportunity to receive point-of-sale discounts on goods and services within sight while they’re already engaged in enjoyable activities. Merchants using proximity marketing strategies have the opportunity to reach customers when they’re most likely to buy. Plus, they receive unparalleled insights into consumer behavior. Effective proximity marketing tools deliver business intelligence and real-time metrics that enable retailers to gauge interest and response rates and dynamically adjust messaging to generate ROI. Because of these natural advantages, proximity marketing is rapidly changing the rules in retail, and marketers that adopt proximity tools early will gain a competitive advantage. Bolstered by association with a mature digital signage industry and new mobile media messaging capabilities that speak to consumers in the interactive language they prefer, proximity marketing is poised to profoundly transform the retail landscape.