When reports emerged last Friday that Facebook had begun running ads on Zynga’s Web site, it instantly touched off speculation that the social network was planning to launch its own ad network to compete with Google’s AdSense. Now people playing games at Zynga.com who log in with their Facebook accounts are being shown banners and Sponsored Story ads targeted to them, based on information they share on Facebook. For the record, Facebook issued a statement Friday acknowledging the ads running on Zynga’s site, but saying “it will not be showing ads on other sites at this time.” Given the pressure the company is now facing from Wall Street to deliver high revenue growth on a quarterly basis, the expansion of Facebook-powered advertising to other sites integrated with it isn’t hard to imagine. In a research note today, Pivotal Research senior analyst Brian Wieser said the extension of Facebook ads to Zynga signals the company’s continuing effort to monetize its user base of nearly 1 billion worldwide. The news comes on the heels of Facebook announcing plans to launch a real-time-bid ad exchange allowing marketers to retarget ads to people on Facebook, based on their Web browsing history. “This initiative will capitalize on the Facebook Connect platform by which Facebook is already integrating with publishers across the Internet, and may further accelerate Facebook’s ability to extend e-commerce/payment initiatives further," wrote Wieser. The latest step would put Facebook in competition with networks in general -- especially AdSense -- rather than trying to take ad revenue from just premium Web publishers like Yahoo and AOL, he added. Pivotal has already forecast that Facebook will increase its share of the online display and lead-generation market from 14.4% to 16.5% this year. Wieser is also sticking with his revenue estimates of $4.1 billion and $5.3 billion for Facebook in 2012 and 2013, respectively. For their part, agency executives are already warming to the idea of a Facebook ad network. “The promise of using FB data to target off the site is intriguing,” said Adam Kasper, EVP, digital investments at Havas Digital. “I’m certain many advertisers would love to try this." Likewise, Blake Cahill, president of social media agency Banyan Branch, said Facebook’s wealth of social data for targeting ads could give it an advantage over other ad networks. “Advertisers would have improved targeting gleaned from Facebook user data than what existing advertising networks provide when selling online inventory,” he said. Still, the use of member data beyond Facebook is likely to raise further privacy questions for a company with a history of overstepping its boundaries in that regard (see latest example here), as many things data and Facebook-related tend to do,” said Kasper. “What level of data will FB allow to be used here? That will likely define how it works and ultimately how successful the effort is.” While Facebook has been tight-lipped about its plans, a company spokesperson told the L.A. Times on Friday it hasn’t shared any information about people or advertisers with Zynga, and that advertisers don’t have access to targeting criteria. That Facebook would begin testing such a venture with Zynga isn’t surprising, given the long symbiotic relationship of the two companies. Facebook’s share of virtual sales through Zynga games like "FarmVille" and "CityVille" accounted for 12% of the social network’s $3.7 billion in 2011 revenue.
Gizmodo Australia reports seeing the Google training document around its long-rumored branded tablet device, and the “Nexus 7” aspires to be more of a Kindle Fire killer than an iPad contender. The 7-inch device is expected to be unveiled at Google’s I/O conference this week. It will be priced at $199 for an 8GB model and $249 for 16GB and will have speedy process and graphics chops. Asus is responsible for building the hardware for Google. Most notably, the Nexus 7 will have built-in NFC (near-field communication) technology so that it can run Google’s Wallet m-payment solution. This helps Google expand the reach of its struggling m-payment solution, although it is unclear that consumers really want to carry and yank out their tablet to make payments at in-store terminals. Gizmodo Australia says the leaked document shows the new tablet running the next generation of Android, dubbed “Jelly Bean.” Google taking aim at Amazon makes sense, given Amazon’s relative success in leveraging a forked version of Android on its Kindle Fire. Amazon is the first tablet maker to break through the clutter of Android-based tablets, to secure 54% of devices on this platform, according to comScore. For now at least, chasing the iPad for market share in the larger-screen tablet segment is daunting. Recent projections suggest that the Apple share of the tablet market will only grow this year, even as Android-based competitors flood the market. While Amazon made a splash last holiday with its Fire, selling an estimated 4 million to 5 million units, analysts see demand waning quickly this year. Nevertheless, more contenders are coming. Microsoft announced its forthcoming Surface tablets running versions of Windows 8 and competing directly with the iPad. There are also continued rumors that Amazon will release a new version of the smaller Kindle Fire model, and eventually a larger-scale model.
Big data, big clients -- and someday soon, big mobile. Those are just a few of the items high on the priority list of Antony Young, who joined Mindshare as North American CEO nearly nine months ago. Young also says the agency needs to do more work in the area of “discovery-based” communications, such as search and social. With a new platform emerging almost daily, he said, clients are hungry for advice on how to use them to best advantage. “It’s really about choices,” said Young. Because most clients don’t have a need for -- nor can they afford to use -- all the media channels that are available, media selection is key, and meshing it all together in the most efficient way for individual clients is critical, he adds. One of the “big bets” that Mindshare is making is that data management technology will help clients find answers quickly about consumer needs, behavior and the kinds of relationships they want to have with marketers. Ultimately, having that knowledge should boost client profits, which is what agencies are being increasingly called upon to do, Young said. Just last week, Mindshare launched a new tech platform that it believes will advance clients’ ability to aggregate and massage massive amounts of data in ways that will sharply improve strategic planning and integrated communication capabilities. Called Core, the platform was created with the help of a number of outside data and market research firms, including Acxiom and Nielsen. It’s an open-source, “always on” system that crunches media, pricing, consumer and client data including sales, supply chain and CRM stats. According to Young, that platform and other data-related capability enhancements the shop is undertaking are “probably the most important piece of the puzzle for clients." It contains all of the information required to finding links to improved results. “That’s huge,” he said. “That syncing up and marrying of media, consumer and business data can unlock a lot of business value for clients.” Agency-client relationships are another key focus at the agency, said Young, who notes that in the time he has been at Mindshare, the CMOs or top-ranking marketing executives at 16 clients have changed. Keeping up with the new strategies and agendas of the shifting players is crucial. Young made several reorganizational moves recently to ensure that the agency is keenly focused on clients and potential new business. In May, Lee Doyle, a GroupM veteran and former CEO at sibling agency MEC, was appointed president of client development at Mindshare, a new position at the agency. Doyle will focus on multinational clients and seeing that the agency has the right resources and strategies in place at client teams. Doyle’s appointment, said Young, is a signal that “we really want to be engaged with clients at a more senior level and earlier in the planning stages.” Staying “constantly fluid is a really important part of that,” added Young. “Especially when you look at the [management] changes at clients and shifting priorities as their own businesses change.” In a related bid to stengthen client ties, the shop promoted Michael Epstein to president, strategic resources and client services. He is responsible for the management of new business, corporate communications, digital, multicultural and promotions. Epstein previously served as the lead on a number of key client accounts, including Unilever. The potential of mobile is no longer a subject of debate, says Young. He believes society is headed toward a “mobile-dominated media world,” where tablets will almost supplant PCs. While he says agencies and clients alike probably aren’t moving fast enough to prepare for that eventuality, the agency made a move last week, forming a joint venture with Google, called “Mobile Garage.” It’s designed to educate companies about mobile technology and expedite their use of the medium in their marketing plans. “Everyone is trying to catch up,” in the mobile sector, said Young, noting that 15% of Amazon.com transactions are now done via mobile, as are 20% of Google searches. “To me, that’s a pretty sharp signal that marketers and agencies are behind the eight ball and we need to get ahead of it.”
Mobile devices -- tablets in particular -- are gaining quick acceptance among consumers as the place to watch video content. According to J.D. Power and Associates' 2012 U.S. Residential Pay-to-View Study, nearly a fifth (18%) of pay-to-view customers (such as Netflix and Hulu Plus subscribers, as well as Blockbuster/Blockbuster Express, Redbox and Apple TV) use their tablets for viewing content, up from 11% in the previous year. Viewing on wireless phones also increased to 16% from 14%, while viewing on PC’s and Macs declined to 39% from 45%. “It started out as a novelty, but actually watching paid content on a mobile device was a new idea,” Frank Perazzini, director of telecommunications at J.D. Power, tells Marketing Daily. “But the iPad and Kindle Fire have changed the game in this area. … [The tablet] is much easier to hold and a better viewing experience.” Meanwhile, overall satisfaction with pay-to-view video services remained high with an average of 750 on a 1,000-point index scale. (The score from 2011 was 743.) A major factor in the increase of overall satisfaction came from Baby Boomers, whose average score was 748 (up 18 points from 2011). (Conversely, satisfaction for Generation Y decreased 18 points to 752, a drop Perazzini attributed to youth searching for the next big thing and balking at increasing costs and customer service. More members of Gen Y cited mobility as a major factor in selecting a service provider than Baby Boomers, as well.) Elsewhere in the study, gaming consoles continue to prove their central place in a home’s entertainment hub. While only about a quarter of customers viewed paid content through a gaming console, those who did watched more (6.3 hours) than those who did so on a PC/Mac (5.3 hours), phone (4.9 hours) or tablet (4.4 hours). At the same time, the study found significant overlap in consumers watching programming both through subscription services and through video providers such as cable companies, Perazzini says. Cord-cutting of those switching to an Internet-only play remains in the low-single-digit percentage rates, he says. “[Streaming video] is a great complementary service, and it ingrains them on the family for entertainment,” Perazzini says. “We could see gaming consoles replace converter boxes in some ways. We see a lot of VOD and over-the-[Internet] viewing as being complementary.”
Mobext, the mobile marketing arm of Havas Digital, has launched its own text-messaging service to make it easier for clients to run messaging campaigns across multiple markets globally. The technology, dubbed “Simplified Automated Messaging” (SAM), is designed to roll out mobile text campaigns quickly across regions, especially where SMS remains a key marketing vehicle because of broad use of feature phones. The platform includes various features such as the ability to send personalized, highly targeted SMS to an opt-in mobile database and power two-way text campaigns, which might include polling, voting, contests and coupons. The main benefit, according to Phuc Truong, managing director of Mobext U.S.: The technology hooks into local country messaging aggregators so the agency can launch coordinated, multi-country campaigns at once. To that end, SAM is already live in the Philippines (called the world’s SMS capital), India and Argentina, with plans to launch it before year’s end in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, UK, Poland, Portugal, Spain, France, the U.S. and Canada. In addition to India and the Philippines, the platform in Asia will be launched in Indonesia, China and Singapore. Arthur Policarpio, Asia-Pacific head of Mobext and CEO of Mobext Philippines, said most third-party SMS solutions are overly complex and lack a global scale. “It is an extremely complicated process to secure short codes, as well as push SMS pipelines on a per-country basis. SAM simplifies all this,” he said, through a user-friendly Web-based platform. A report released by Denmark-based research firm Strand Consult suggested alternate messaging services from Facebook and other companies is eroding carriers’ revenue from SMS globally. Still, even in countries with high smartphone penetration like the U.S., text messaging remains the most common non-voice activity. “Mobile messaging is often overlooked due to mobile rich media, smartphones and tablets, but we feel it is a critically efficient element,” said Rob Griffin, global director of product development for Havas Digital. Mobext didn’t specify the clients using its new messaging service, but its client roster includes P&G, Citroen, Kmart, Spanair, Telcel and Toyota.
Brands may now have to pay for quality mobile calls that were previously not billed by providers. The quality of a lead call will become more important as voice inquiries from ads on smartphones, tablets and even desktop computers rise. Telmetrics CEO Bill Dinan wants stricter local mobile pay-per-call industry guidelines and category benchmarks to start billing. He is rallying service providers to eliminate telemarketer calls, initiate category-specific benchmarks, stop discounting basic information calls, recognize existing customers' new sales opportunities, and consider local integrated voice response (IVR) drop off rates. Some pay-per-call advertising providers only bill for 25% of calls; Telmetrics says a minimum of 60% of all calls generated are billable, high-quality leads. That could put money on the table for companies supporting those calls. Using the identical call durations across all product and service categories to bill clients has become one of the biggest mistakes companies make in pay-per-call billing, Dinan said. Call durations are a reliable indicator of call quality, but what call durations indicate is that a viable lead depends on the type of business. Run a stop watch, Dinan suggests. "Think about what it takes to ask: Do you have the Michelin XX tire in stock? OK, give me an appointment and I'll be right over,'" he said. "I've asked for inventory, showed intent, and committed to the stock, all within about 15 seconds." Categories such as restaurants, auto service, nail salons and pizza delivery could have a large number of billable calls that last between 15 seconds and 30 seconds, Dinan said. Most pay-per-call providers don't charge for these calls. Advertising providers need to review the category-specific sales processes to determine call lengths that are considered leads and get advertiser buy-in to avoid subjectivity around lead quality. Categories that deal with inventory-type products and categories in the service industry should have a shorter benchmark compared with those related to personal services, like attorneys and doctors. Telmetrics provides data to clients, but doesn't bill for the calls; it uses call-tracking numbers to measure the ad-driven calls across all media channels. The platform reveals what type of caller activity and leads an ad program delivers.
Rumors are swirling that Research in Motion is ready to put an end to its relentless downward spiral in the smartphone market and sell off the handset business. The Sunday Times reported that RIM is considering the move after having hired JP Morgan and RBC Capital to help it consider strategic options. RIM is denying the story, by the way -- and insists that it has a turnaround strategy, not a surrender strategy. For reasons that are not altogether clear because they are not attributed even to unnamed sources, Facebook and Amazon are possible buyers. Because who wouldn’t want to buy a BlackBerry at this point? True or not, the rumor is only worth raising because of the persistent stories around both Amazon and Facebook working on their own phone devices. Because who wouldn’t want a Facebook phone? Will it be a sky blue rectangle with a white F brand on the back so that the whole phone looks like an app icon? Would an Amazon device just have that big smile-like swirl that identifies the torrent of incoming boxes to my home? I have just four letters for the brand acolytes within Facebook and Amazon who may be thinking that the world really needs one of their phones: MVNO. Anyone who has been in the mobile field long enough to recall when we called it “wireless” will recall the mid-2000s explosion of interest around this hot, hot category. Everyone was planning to release their own phones and service plans by leasing the existing mobile networks already built by Sprint, Verizon and AT&T (then Cingular). A Walmart phone was supposed to be coming "any day now," for a year or so. At one time I had a list somewhere of scores of MVNOs that had been announced. The MVNO craze did in fact result in some bad misfires. Somewhere in my basement boxes I still have an Amp’d phone. It was a mobile network dedicated to video, rich game downloads and exclusive mobile programming. Ahead of its time? Well, the content may have been, but the carrier model wasn’t. By the way, I also have a Google G1 first-gen Android device, probably in the same box. Perhaps the most memorable MVNO crash-and-burn was ESPN Mobile. Believing that it its audience represented one of the most mobile-hungry segments, ESPN had a branded phone, with its own special interface that featured ESPN and other partnered media. The platform was among the first mobile content systems to experiment with personalization. It seemed like a smart idea at the time, at least insofar as the plan focused on a lucrative niche that had intense content needs. But, wait -- no one really wants an ESPN phone. The fact of the matter is that no matter how big a single content or commerce brand may feel to the digerati and the brand’s internal marketing folks, ordinary people are way more sensible. Even the most dedicated Facebook user, Amazon book junkie (that would be me) and even ESPN user understands what a small sliver of their mindshare and heart-share these brands occupy. Identifying such brands with something as personal, multifunctional and ever-present as our cell phone feels a bit creepy, really. But I have a box in my basement that is always hungry for more.
According to The Media Comparisons Study, from TVB with Knowledge Networks, consumers credit TV ads as most influential in making a purchase decision. Television reaches more people, and people spend significantly more time with television each day than they do with radio, newspapers, magazines, the internet, and mobile, and TV commercials drive viewers to go online to find out more. Media Time Spent Per Day (Hours; Persons 18+) MediumDaily Time Spent (Hours) Television 5.2 Internet 3.0 Radio 1.4 Mobile phone 0.7 Newspaper 0.4 Tablet 0.3 Magazines 0.2 Source: TVB/Knowledge Networks, June 2012 When it comes to the advertising medium they find most influential in making a purchase decision, American adults are far more likely to point to TV (37.2%) than any other, including newspapers, the internet, and magazines. Influential Ad Media in Making Purchase DecisionMost Influential Medium% of Respondents (18+) Television 37.2% Newspapers 10.6 Radio 1.8 Magazines 4.4 Internet 5.6 Mobile 0.8 Outdoor billboards 0.2 Don’t know 39.5 Source: TVB/Knowledge Networks, June 2012 It’s interesting to note, however, the social network impact on consumer purchase decisions. 61% of adults 18+ are members of a social networking website, 6.8% of social network members made a purchase decision based on the information from a social network, yielding 4.0% of total adults 18+ based consumer purchase decision on social network. The study indicates that a plurality of respondents across all age groups believe that TV influences their purchase decisions the most. 18-34-year-olds are the most likely to report this (40.8%), with TV’s influence declining with age, to 36.5% of 35-64-year-olds and 32.7% of those aged 65 and older. In contrast, the influence of newspapers rises with age. While just 3.2% of 18-34-year-olds responding to the TVB survey say that newspapers hold the greatest sway over their purchase decisions, that proportion rises to 12.3% among 35-64-year-olds, and 18.5% among those 65 and older. The influence of ads served online is far more prevalent among 18-34-year-olds than the oldest group (7.4% vs. 2.9%). Purchase Decision Influence by Age Group (% of Respondents; Rounded) Age Group (% of Respondents)Medium13-1718+18-3418-4925-4925-5435-6465+ Television 36 37 41 40 40 40 37 33 Newspapers .9 11 3 6 6 7 12 19 Radio .8 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 Magazines 5 4 3 3 3 4 5 5 Internet 12 6 7 6 6 6 5 3 Source: TVB/Knowledge Networks, June 2012 The survey finds that not only does TV serve as a purchase influence, it is also a key source of information about products. 39.8% of the respondents said that TV is the source they are most likely to learn from about products and brands they would like to try or buy. The internet was next, followed by newspapers and magazines. Almost one-quarter of the respondents were unsure. More People Learn About Products They Would Like to Try or Buy From TV CommercialsSource Most Likely to Learn% of Respondents (18+) Television 39.8% Newspapers 8.0 Radio 2.9 Magazines 6.8 Internet 8.7 Mobile 0.4 Outdoor billboards 0.4 Other 9.4 Don’t know 23.6 Source: TVB/Knowledge Networks, June 2012 Considering the impact of Television, the study reports that it reaches more people per day than any other medium. Daily Medium Reach (% of Adults Reached Each Day) Medium% of Adults Reached Previous Day Television 88.3 Internet 73.1 Radio 55.8 Newspaper 36.1 Mobile phone 27.8 Magazines 24.8 Tablet 11.7 Source: TVB/Knowledge Networks, June 2012 And when considering the value of the TV reach, its most significant (by HH income) is the upscale market. Media Reach by Household Income (% Respondents Reached) HH Income Level (Thousand $; % Reached)Medium< $25K25-5050-7575+100+ Television 83.7% 85.2 87.7 90.4 90.5 Newspapers 29.9 34.8 37.7 34.7 35.1 Radio 47.8 55.5 64.3 63.3 66.1 Magazines 18.9 23.5 25.6 28.8 29.7 Internet 62.4 68.3 72.3 82.0 83.4 Mobile phone 16.2 23.4 33.1 32.4 35.8 Tablet 3.5 5.9 15.5 18.6 23.8 Source: TVB/Knowledge Networks, June 2012 Finally, women are found to be the longer TV users per day than men. Time Spent With Media by Gender (Average Hours Daily) Daily Time Spent (Hours Previous Day)MediumWomen 18+Men 18+ Television 5.42 4.97 Internet 3.26 2.75 Radio 1.41 1.39 Mobile phone 0.84 0.51 Newspaper 0.38 0.42 Tablet 0.36 0.25 Magazines 0.30 0.18 Source: TVB/Knowledge Networks, June 2012 For more information about the Media Comparisons Study, please visit TVB here.
By the end of this week, advertisers will think smartphones passé after the Google Nexus 7 tablet with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean debut at the I/O conference. No confirmation from Google, but Gizmodo Australia allegedly got its hands on the details of the device from what it calls a "training document." After acquiring Motorola Mobility, Google can feel comfortable about producing a quality tablet. The 7-inch, Nexus-branded tablet built by Asus will likely sell through the Google Play Store and will run the latest Android operating system and sport a 1.3Ghz quad-core Tegra 3 processor, GeForce 12-core GPU and 1GB of RAM with either a 8GB or 16GB option for storage. Complete with Wi-Fi, Google Wallet, and near field communication (NFC) technology, the document notes the tablet will cost between $199 and $249. While the news blog cautions that the document could all "be an elaborate fake," at least one analyst reports similar specs. "The tablet will have a 1280x800 resolution 7-inch display and production is slated for April," CNET reports, citing NPD DisplaySearch analyst Richard Shim. "The initial production run is between 1.5 million to 2 million units." The Google tablet will support ad targeting services for paid-search and display. Last week, the Mountain View, Calif. company announced new search ads in Google Maps for mobile, claiming that initial tests show the redesign increased click-through rates by 100% through several improvements in features like "get directions" and "click to call." Google said a new hyperlocal marker shows users how close they are to an advertiser's business location, and clicking on the ad now takes the mobile user to an advertiser's Web site from within the app. Google already owns more then 60% of the search ad market. Will a device supported by a Web company with access to mobile patents from Motorola give advertisers more confidence to increase mobile ad budgets? Mobile devices act as my 411 assistant whether in the office or on the road to location information or location about a store. Mobile will help to drive paid-search growth and lower overall cost per click. Publicis Groupe company ZenithOptimedia estimates Mobile paid-search spend sits at 15% of all paid-search spend, up from 5% in April 2011.