McDonald's' summer "Toast Your Town" campaign marks its first use of Foursquare in the New York metro area. The campaign promoting McCafé beverages, from agency Arnold Worldwide, also spans Twitter, online and traditional media. Residents of nine metro areas -- Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Fairfield County, Conn., Long Island, New Jersey and the Westchester/Hudson Valley region -- are being encouraged to celebrate their hometowns and engage in a friendly competition to win McCafé "parties" (beverage giveaways at McDonald's restaurants). The campaign kicked off with a Twitter "Live Toast" event, in which people were invited to use a McCafé beverage to toast what makes their hometowns the best place to live. Consumer tweets were tracked with a #toastyourtown hashtag, and tweets went live on the campaign's microsite (toastyyourtown.com) each day between noon and 2 p.m. This 14-day promotion increased Twitter followers of @McDNYTriState from 900 to 7,423, reports Arnold. Those two efforts helped build awareness for the main phase of the campaign: three Foursquare competitions inviting people to check in at participating McDonald's restaurants for chances to win one of the McCafé parties. The region logging the most check-ins wins. Live tallies of check-ins by region are being posted on the microsite during each competition. New Jersey won the first competition, and Manhattan the second. As a result, New Jersey McDonald's restaurants offered giveaways of free, small McCafé beverages on July 7, and Manhattan McDonald's' units will offer the same on Aug. 4, between 2 and 4 p.m. The third competition starts Aug. 8. The campaign also includes use of mobile banners. The banners encourage participation in the Foursquare competitions and also redirect users to a mobile site with information on McCafé beverages and a tool to vote for their favorite variety. At summer's end, those votes will determine which beverage is the "Toast of the Summer." Through Sept. 1, radio, out-of-home and in-store merchandising are also being employed to promote the beverages and the Foursquare competition. In addition to building regional awareness of McCafé offerings, the campaign is serving to provide McDonald's with platforms for engaging with New York metro area consumers, and with insights about regional variety/product preferences, noted McDonald's marketing manager Jennifer Nagy.
Mobile gaming revenues, which are expected to be just under $5 billion worldwide this year, are expected to more than triple to $16 billion by 2016, according to a new study from ABI Research. "[That estimate] is a bit on the conservative side," ABI senior analyst Aapo Markkanen tells Marketing Daily. "There's a large pool of potential users that will be using [mobile games] in the near future." This development is spurred by the explosive growth in touchscreen smartphones as a gaming platform, coupled with the innovation among developers to create games that are simple to understand and play. "Developers have finally figured out what makes a good mobile game," Markkanen says. "It's inclusive, accessible, and a player can have a meaningful gaming experience in short bursts." Much of the revenue growth, however, won't come from the sales of games themselves, but rather from in-game purchases, such as buying access to additional levels or accessories within the game. In 2011, these in-game purchases account for a third of the total revenue base, Markkanen says. By 2016, they'll account for half of the total. In-game advertising will also increase considerably as more marketers view casual mobile gaming as a mass media. "It's a serious mass medium for the future," he says. "The [advertising] market will double in the near future." Still, the rise of mobile gaming is not "inevitable," Markkanen warns. As consumers get more content (particularly video) through their mobile devices, there could be encroachment on the stranglehold mobile games have in quick, simple entertainment. "The games have got something of a head start," he says. "But once the other segment develops, it may provide some serious competition for mobile games."
Following other cable operators, Time Warner Cable continues to see growth in Internet and voice customers -- while it loses older video consumers. This comes as Time Warner Cable, the second-largest U.S. cable operator, shows a strong earnings rise in its second-quarter 2011 -- a 23% rise to $420 million in net profits from $342 million in the second quarter of 2010. These results beat Wall Street estimates. Revenues also moved higher: 4.4% to $4.94 billion. Advertising revenues -- locally sold through its cable systems -- grew 4.2% to $225 million from $216 million. Time Warner Cable Internet customers gained 67,000, up 8.5%; voice customers added 45,000, 4.4% higher than the previous period; and traditional video customers slipped 128,000 -- down 0.1%. To combat traditional losses in video consumers, cable operators have made gains with new digital video services. Also, many are experimenting with controversial mobile apps, which can deliver similar TV set live programming to mobile devices. TV content providers that already have deals with cable operators say those deals do not extend free of charge to cable operators when it comes to mobile applications. Time Warner executives continue to express the ongoing importance of Internet services to the growth of the company. While Time Warner has strong results, investors -- at least in the short term -- are seeing a different story. Midday trading of the stock was down nearly 3% to $74.80.
There's a mobile device for every age group. New findings from media research firm Affinity suggest the growing range of connected gadgets entering the mainstream are attracting distinct audiences. The way it breaks down: E-readers are for baby boomers, PC tablets for Gen Xers, and smartphones for millennials. Affinity's American Magazine Study, surveying more than 60,000 consumers annually across print and digital channels, found that 12% of U.S. adults overall currently own an e-reader. That mirrors recent data on e-reader adoption recently released by the Pew Research Center. In terms of gender, the profile of e-reader owners skews female (54%) versus male (46%). Some 8.2 million of the 58.6 million boomers have e-readers, making them 19% more likely to have a Kindle, Nook or similar device than the average consumer, according to Affinity. What's more, 10 million plan to buy an e-reader in the next six months. More than 9 out of 10 boomers (92%) use the device at home, 13% at work, and 36% power up their e-readers on the go. Affinity defines boomers as those about 50 to 64 years of age. Tablets, meanwhile, are the domain of Gen Xers, those who are roughly between 30 and 49 years of age. They're 16% more likely to buy the devices than average. More than 9% of Gen Xers currently own a tablet PC, while 24% -- or almost 21 million -- plan to purchase one. Overall, 8% of U.S. consumers own tablets. Unlike e-reader users, men are more likely to be tablet owners than women, 52% to 48%. Among Gen Xers, those with household incomes of $100,000 or more are 63% more likely to buy a tablet than their generational peers. But more than half (56%) say they actively share their devices with others, according to the study. Millennials are the most likely to be carrying a smartphone. The under-30 crowd, also known as "echo boomers," are 28% more likely to own a smartphone than average. More than half (54%) of the 25 million millennials have a high-end phone and 18% plan to buy one in the next six months. Just to be clear, there may be more boomers who own smartphones than millennials, but the propensity of millennials to have smartphones is higher than other groups compared to the general population. Other data points: -63% of millennials use their smartphones at work, while 95% report they are the sole users of the device. -Millennials who have graduated college are 23% more likely to own a smartphone than others in their category. Tom Robinson, managing director at Affinity, said he was struck by the expected adoption rates for devices. "What was a bit surprising was the extent to which consumers report that they are planning to purchase each of the different devices, especially tablet PCs, which is a testament to how quickly these digital platforms are being adopted in the marketplace," he said. The Pew study in June found that e-readers have been growing faster than tablets this year. The number of U.S. adults owning an e-reader has doubled from 6% to 12% between November 2010 and May 2011, while tablet penetration during that period increased only from 5% to 8%. Still, IDC earlier this month raised its forecast for tablet computer sales by 6% to 53 million units on the strength of demand for the iPad and competing Android-based devices.
A merger between AT&T and T-Mobile could "undermine" Net neutrality, Sen. Al Franken warns in a letter to the Federal Communications Commission and U.S. Department of Justice. Franken, who is asking the government to block the proposed $39 billion merger, says the deal would create an effective duopoly with AT&T and Verizon controlling a combined 82% of the wireless market. The result is that consumers would be left with fewer alternatives if their wireless carriers start discriminating against competitors, he says. "As a result of the limited regulation of Net neutrality in the wireless market, consumers are extremely dependent on competitive market forces to provide an open network," Franken (D-Minn.) argues in a 24-page letter opposing the merger. The FCC late last year voted to require broadband carriers to follow open Internet rules, but imposed less stringent requirements on wireless carriers than wireline providers. The FCC's neutrality order bans all broadband providers -- wireline and wireless -- from blocking or degrading sites or applications. But the order only prohibits wireline providers from engaging in "unreasonable discrimination," which can include giving certain types of content preferential, fast-lane treatment. Wireless providers appear free to create fast lanes for companies that pay extra. "The FCC has opted to apply only very limited Net neutrality rules to mobile devices," Franken writes. "One of the primary reasons why the FCC found it unnecessary to apply the broader set of protections to wireless broadband is that 'consumers have more choices for mobile broadband than for fixed (particularly fixed wire line) broadband.'" He adds that AT&T and Verizon historically lobbied against neutrality rules, and that Verizon filed suit in an attempt to block them. That lawsuit was dismissed as premature, but observers expect Verizon and other providers to sue again as soon as the rules are published in the Federal Register. "After a merger, AT&T and Verizon will have less incentive to cater to consumers, and we can expect that they will make more blatant attempts to monitor and discriminate against certain content, Web sites, or applications in order to further their own financial interests," Franken notes. The senator argues that allowing the merger to go through will result in price hikes, job losses and diminished innovation. "T-Mobile has consistently remained competitive by innovating. T-Mobile was the first provider to offer the BlackBerry, the Sidekick and the Android operating system," he writes. T-Mobile's Tom Sugrue, senior vice president of government affairs, stated that Franken's analysis "is just wrong. ... We are confident that a thorough review of the record will demonstrate the transaction advances the public interest."
I seem to have been writing this same story for the last decade. I wonder if it turns out differently this time. It always begins with advertisers hoping to trade ad views by consumers for fun, discounts or prizes. Whether it is the early Web scheme of crediting Web surfers with redeemable points for the ad banners they viewed or more recent attempts at offering rewards for viewing video spots at companies like beezag, the basic premise always seems appealing. Users are supposed to trade a small chunk of their attention and consciousness to a marketer in exchange for something of tangible value. This notion that our attention is a commodity that the consumer herself can barter for value is appealing on many levels. It is a more transparent way for the century-old ad-supported media ecosystem to work. These models just make more explicit a value exchange that has always been there in the triangle of media, marketer and consumer. And potentially by putting the consumer more in control and exercising greater choice, the model engages the user in the marketing process, makes them a player in the game and generally a more receptive and qualified target. The problem with a lot of these systems, of course, is that they need to hook the user into an ongoing process of view, redeem, repeat that is itself tedious. Aside from the obsessive coupon-clipper and pro-am shopper, not many of us want to tend discount programs. The era of Green Stamp saving and redeeming is long over. Who wants to remember to go back to a Web site, manage their points, and for what? A paltry return? And so I bring us to Loffles at loffles.com on your mobile browser, a mix of spiritual support and ongoing skepticism. This attempt at making the model more seamless, a bit more entertaining, and mobile is intriguing because it addresses at least some of the perennial weaknesses of attention-swap model. The mobile site lets you login via Facebook Connect or a unique ID. Once inside, the raffle begins. The system recommends a series of six product raffles for you to enter, from Kilpsch ear buds to a copy of "Call of Duty." Choose one and you get a brief plug for the product and are prompted to enter the raffle and watch the video for an advertiser. In the case of my Call of Duty choice I got a spot for American Red Cross. I will refrain from commenting on this odd juxtaposition of a product that simulates carnage and an advertiser grounded in compassion and relief. Then comes the dumb quiz, and the questions generally reinforce the branding message and nominally guarantee you actually watched the video. One wrong answer and you are prompted to watch the video again. Beezag does something similar to this. Then you can allocate the 30 or so "loffles" points you earned to the raffle. This is not fully explained, but I gather you are increasing your chances of winning a given item by allocating more points. You can also bank points to use in the loffles store of real goods (t-shirts and coffee mugs) or to apply to a later raffle. Loffles says that they personalize the experience with recommended offers filtered according to your demographic profile, but I was never asked a profiling question. Still, the user can control the experience by filtering in different offer categories. There are irritating aspects to the process. One wishes the entire experience were explained more fully at the front door. Some of the buttons in the post-ad quizzes are too small for accurate smartphone tapping. And generally there are a few too many taps to get into the video itself. This could be more streamlined. Also the raffle process is a bit obscure. I couldn't tell when they were being held. Loffles is trying to turn the process of trading ad views for consumer value into play. The creators are expecting that the mobile user will drop into loffles in much the same way they drop into a mobile game during a few minutes of dead time. The idea is pretty solid. If the process of managing your raffle entries and gaining new points can be made engaging and seamless enough, then the line between game and marketing scheme blurs enough to be irrelevant to the consumer. But like the basic model of swapping our attention for tangible value, the concept here is still stronger than the execution. Ultimately, it just isn't entertaining enough. A raffle countdown might be a compelling addition to bring me back for more. Making the ad viewing experience more varied and entertaining I think is the best bet. Bonomo Turkish Taffy is an advertiser in the system, and they use an ancient ad from my childhood as their spot. This was the most interesting part of the loffles experience and made me wonder why the advertisers couldn't be more creative in the ad units they put into the system. Here's the real problem -- and why this old story still has the same ending it has had for the last decade. The basic attention swap model here and elsewhere sets up ad creative as a hurdle, a chore, an obligation between the user and the reward. It changes one aspect of the marketer/consumer relationship by putting the consumer a bit more in control. But it doesn't make the fundamental change we need most: to entertain, not just pitch the viewer. Giving users more control of the marketing experience, and offering them a fair exchange is only half the project. What you really have to do is make the ads a better experience that themselves reward the viewer for the time spent.
That happened pretty fast. Just a couple of years ago I recall speaking with online video providers who were starting to distribute via emerging set-top boxes and laptop-to-TV interfaces like Boxee. Although they found the Web-to-TV path for online video promising, generally less than 2% of their clips were being viewed on TVs. Nielsen's latest study of how people are viewing Hulu and Netflix is remarkable in demonstrating how quickly a popular service can drive adoption of new distribution paths. We have covered elsewhere today at Mediapost the differences between what Hulu and Netflix viewers are watching. Not surprisingly, TV episodes are the main draw of the former and film for the latter. Here let's focus on the uptake of different devices. Netflix's distribute anywhere and everywhere approach appears to have been enormously effective. More than half of Netflix viewing is occurring on a TV screen, now, according to Nielsen's survey involving 12,000 online interviews in March. Remarkably, the low-res Wii is responsible for 25% of Netflix viewing, with 14% coming from PCs connected to the TV, 13% from the PS3, 12% from Xbox and 11% from connected Blu-ray players. In the horse race for OTT dominance, it is important to note the fair showing for Roku Box for Netflix (5%) relative to both Google TV and Apple TV, which are lagging the field. I must count myself in the minority in that I tend to watch Netflix via both Google TV and Apple TV because I am already on these devices to access other material. In my usage, there is greater value in integrating the service with the dominant viewing experience, and I will often opt for Netflix on whatever device I am already on even if a higher quality alternative input is available. Given the installed base of game boxes and their longevity in the market, it is not surprising to see that so much Netflix content is coursing through these venues, but the surprising early strength of BD players and Internet-enabled TVs suggests to me at least that we will see these categories increase considerably in the next year. Don't underestimate the tedium most regular TV viewers associate with having to switch out inputs on their TV. In my house, my wife is already on the edge of despair over the complexity of our home viewing rig. The mere mention of "change the input" is met with that special kind of whining groan most associated with asking your teenager to take out the trash.
I finally got my hands on Nintendo's 3DS last week, and it leaves me in pretty much the same place I have been regarding this fascinating company. It is forever dancing around the edges of the mainstream media and marketing ecosystem as it evolves in mobile and even in gaming. It innovates bravely in ways that would make other companies blanche (think touchscreen gaming on the DS, and motion controllers on low-res consoles in the Wii). It has been counted out and outmoded too many times to count in the past few decades. And yet even when it hits home runs in gaming technology, it keeps to itself. While Microsoft Xbox and Sony Playstation aspired to be home media centers, Nintendo's Wii barely playedin the game of streaming media other than in its own. The arrival of a video channel on the Wii and eventually on Netflix saw it dabbling only with media partnerships. The notion of putting marketing messages other than its own into the gaming media stream on the Wii or the DS platforms just didn't seem to interest Nintendo. With the 3DS, things open up just a tad more. Consigned by principle and biology to remain monocular and strictly 2D in my media consumption, I have to leave it to others to comment on the no-glasses 3D effect the 3DS brings to the table. I will say that, as a hunk of gaming hardware, the new handheld from Nintendo is as frustrating as it is fascinating. The battery performance is just awful compared to previous units, and the $250 price is very hard to justify. But being able to play the magnificent classic "Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time" on a handheld is a great treat. The most interesting thing about the 3DS is its much enhanced mobile store and video capabilities. First, we get Netflix, which brings the 3DS into the same playing field as the iPhone and select Androids. The Nintendo version makes interesting use of the two-screen real estate. You can tap across the library's familiar categories ("Recently Watched," "New Arrivals," etc.) in the bottom touch screen, and the top wider screen pops up video details. While the film plays in the top screen, you can navigate in the bottom display. Netflix retains its great scene scrubber fast forward convention in this version. Video on the 3DS suffers a few problems, however. The resolution is far from peerless, certainly compared to the Retina Display on the iPhone 4. In many respects it seems fuzzy. Also, none of the DS series I have used ever had strong WiFi performance and this is no exception. Even sitting on top of a router the video cover art from Netflix was amazingly sluggish. The stream itself ran fine, but in basic navigation and responsiveness, most Internet content delivery was not as snappy as one would expect from most modern smartphones. But, in addition to the Netflix partnership, Nintendo is nudging its way into the general video ecosystem via an alliance with CollegeHumor, which is supplying some videos for a Nintendo Video channel that downloads clips regularly to the device. To its credit Nintendo has much improved its own game merchandising. The eStore now includes multiple full screen images from upcoming games and streaming trailers. The most noteworthy piece of the new 3DS system for mobilistas may be the augmented reality experiments. The 3DS comes with a short stack of AR cards with various exercises in interacting with characters and game play. In many cases the player has to rotate around a foe to hit targets in virtual space, adding a new dimension to mobile game play. I can only imagine how AR might be deployed as a tool in virtualized battle among physical players near one another. The experience of seeing a dragon pop up from your desktop is exciting. Even better are the ways in which some of these AR experiments actually take the photographed scene and morph it. When your desktop turns to rubber and starts bounding like a trampoline, then you know technology is approaching that holy grail of ex-hippies - tripping without drugs. But Nintendo has always had a handle on hallucinatory experiences. Pretty much any good Mario platform game feels laced with Windowpane. While a bit of a half-miss in terms of price, longevity and overall technical prowess, the 3DS gives Nintendo's usual teasing glimpse of the next stage.