Apple announced Monday that 3 million iPad minis and fourth-generation iPads were sold this weekend after going on sale Friday in 34 countries. Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement that the iPad mini “practically sold out” but the company didn’t break out sales of the smaller iPad model compared to the iPad 4. Only the WiFi-only versions of both models were available at launch, with versions offering cellular connectivity to reach stores in the U.S. by the end of the month and other countries later this year. The combined 3 million total was the same as the number of iPad 3s sold in that device’s first weekend in March, but the iPad 3 release included both WiFi and cellular versions at launch.
Various measurement services have been dancing on both sides of this psychological tipping point for the smartphone market for the past year, but this week comScore joins the chorus of bean counters who say that a majority of adult cell phone subscribers in the U.S. are now working with smartphones. Nielsen marked the tipping occurring back in March numbers. Pew in September still had the overall penetration rate at 45%. Still, everyone seems to agree that key youth and affluent demographics passed the halfway mark a while ago. Your smartphone mileage may vary according to target. Whatever we may think of the fragmentation that resulted from Google’s open platform strategy with Android, it surely has paid off in raw platform reach, complex as that may be. On a worldwide basis, Android owns over 75% of the market in recently purchased smartphones. According to comScore, the U.S. picture is less lopsided. Google has a 52.5% share as of September, compared to Apple’s 34.3%. RIM’s nosedive continues predictably with a 8.4% share (-2.3 point in a quarter). And Microsoft’s costly charge into the mobile market continues to underwhelm, with a 3.6% share. As the politicos like to say about the latest polls, it is the internals that really count. Regardless of smartphone penetration, key mobile activities are well past the majority mark. Now more than three-quarters of Americans use SMS (75.5%), 54% use apps and 52% use the mobile browser. Considering that cell phone penetration now is at 234 million Americans, those are mighty numbers indeed. More specific mobile activities such as social networking (39%) and game playing (34.4%) now occupy more than a third of users.
Companies have to connect with their customers if they want to succeed in today’s marketplace, according to a survey commissioned by rbb Public Relations. Make consumers fall in love, and they’ll even pay more for your products. Think of the lines outside of Apple stores when a new product is released. The survey, conducted by polling firm IBOPE/Zogby International, indicates that 83% of consumers are willing to pay more when they feel a personal connection to the company. Of the 2,000 adults surveyed, one-fifth said they would pay 50% or more if they felt the company put the customer first. Questions focused on a newly identified evolutionary marketing strategy that nullifies the traditional challenger brand approach. The PR company has named it the “breakout brand” strategy. Breakout brands make the customer their first priority rather than chase their competition. The survey’s list of the top 10 breakout brands includes: Apple, Amazon, Chick-Fil-A,Wal-Mart, Costco, Starbucks, Google, Zappos, Toyota, Ford, Trader Joe’s and Southwest Airlines. Examples are illustrated in rbb’s white paper outlining the strategy and include: Why being a good company isn’t enough, what it takes to become a breakout brand like Apple and why positioning for market share from your competition will render stale results. The survey found that to stay competitive, companies are adopting marketing strategies that align with today’s new consumer perspective. Instead of chasing the competition to become number one, creating powerful customer experiences is top priority “Breakout brands don’t challenge their competitors,” said Christine Barney, CEO of rbb Public Relations, in a release. “They challenge their employees and leaders to make life easier/better for their customers, which create the kind of strong emotional bonds that inspire repeat purchases and loyalty.” Of the companies included in Fortune Magazine’s Most Admired Brands in 2012, Apple and Amazon were the only two considered breakout brands by more than half the people surveyed. The research indicates that breakout brand companies share a common strategy. They deliver services and products that trigger a response, an emotion, and a reaction from customers. Consider Zappos.com with its free return policy backed by a fun-loving customer service approach that delivers “happiness.” Or the anticipation coffee drinkers feel for Starbucks’ limited edition menu options, like the Pumpkin Spice Latte or Peppermint Mocha that signal the arrival of the holidays. “Breakout brands have communication in their souls,” Barney said. “They build incredibly rich feedback loops that keep the company in touch with customers’ needs today and tomorrow.”
Facebook’s stock jumped last month, once it began to generate real money from mobile advertising -- $150 million, or 14% of its total third-quarter revenue of $1.26 billion. On its own third-quarter earnings conference call Thursday, LinkedIn said a quarter of its overall traffic now comes from mobile. The company, however, is just testing advertising and other initiatives to monetize usage on the mobile side. But in contrast to Facebook, its go-slow approach to making money from mobile has not caused a problem for LinkedIn on Wall Street. The professional network boasting 187 million members posted strong financial results in the latest quarter, with revenue up 81% to $252 million, and adjusted earnings of 22 cents a share. Both figures beat analysts’ expectations. But the underlying difference is that LinkedIn is not mainly an ad-driven platform like Facebook. It has a three-pronged business model, in which its hiring business, called “talent solutions,” is the largest- and fastest-growing revenue stream. That unit accounted for 55% of LinkedIn’s revenue in the quarter; it doubled revenue to $138.4 million as companies spent more on the site to recruit new employees. LinkedIn’s marketing solutions business, including advertising and marketing, accounted for a quarter of overall revenue, while subscription-based services contributed about 20%. LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner reiterated that the company is taking steps to extend each of its three business lines to mobile. “We are now showing jobs in our mobile apps, continue to test display ads on our iPad app, and are now enabling members to sign up and pay for premium subscriptions directly from their mobile devices,” he said during the conference call. He also noted that the 25% of weekly traffic coming through mobile in the quarter is up from 13% a year ago. Asked during the analyst Q&A session how long before mobile monetization catches up with the desktop, LinkedIn CFO Steve Sordello indicated the company would ramp up those efforts in the next year. Unlike Facebook, there is no urgency to speed up its mobile ad push. “LinkedIn has executed well in its core business, and I think investors are willing to give the company some time to make sure they optimize the mobile ad experience based on the particular form factor -- smartphone, tablet, etc.,” said Tom White, an analyst covering the company for Macquarie Securities. LinkedIn has the cushion of continuing high demand for its desktop inventory, easing the urgency to capitalize on its growing mobile audience, he noted. Weiner also suggested that LinkedIn could make a smooth transition to the iPad in particular when it comes to advertising. “The larger amount of screen space affords us the ability to really leverage very similar marketing solutions that we see on the desktop."
By 2016 local online, interactive and digital advertising revenue will reach $38.1 billion, according to BIA/Kelsey's Annual U.S. Local Media Forecast, 2011-2016 report released Monday. The analyst firm expects 12.4% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2011 and 2016, compared with 0.4% CAGR for traditional advertising revenue. The report analyzes market segmentations such as ad revenues for search, display, and SMS. The sluggish 2012 U.S. economy led BIA/Kelsey to lower projections. Initially, the analyst firm estimated the local media market to total $136.2 billion in 2012, but now expects it to deliver $134.6 billion. Even with an increase in significant political advertising spend this year, BIA/Kelsey estimates a little more than a 1.5% increase from $132.7 billion in 2011. The firm expects the economy to improve somewhat in 2013, but that lack of political advertising will lead to lower growth estimates in 2013 of slightly more than 0.7%. U.S. mobile ad spend will reach $9.92 billion in 2016 -- up from $1.62 billion in 2011, according to the report. Local mobile advertising, a subset, will reach $5.8 billion in 2016 -- up from $664 million in 2011, representing a 54.2% CAGR. The local mobile market represents a 0.6% share of local media ad revenue in 2011, growing to a 3.1% share in 2016. It points to smartphone penetration, mobile Web use and increases in ad inventory as growth drivers. The report suggests that while mobile ad inventory outpaces advertising demand today, analysts believe it will begin to accelerate increasing overall ad spend and ad rates, such as CPMs and cost per clicks (CPCs). Today, they are lower than desktop ads as a result of an abundance of inventory. The analyst firm also forecasts that new forms of mobile and social advertising will drive demand, pointing to mobile advertising from Facebook, such as sponsored stories, ZIP code level targeting, and offers-based campaigns. And self-service tools will spur adoption. Google has begun to bundle mobile ad placement with AdWords search marketing, for example.
With Sandy outages fading from the headlines as fast as Halloween, the retail industry is loading up for the holidays, pushing the fourth-quarter envelope in every possible direction. In more evidence that Black Thursday is turning into the new Black Friday, Sears now says it will be open at 8 o’clock Thanksgiving evening, staying open overnight until 10 p.m. on Black Friday. (Its Kmart stores have opened on Thanksgiving for decades, and this year will open from 6 a.m. until 4 p.m., and then from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day.) In recent years, Walmart and other retailers have been opening late Thanksgiving evening as well. Last year, the trend even sparked some employee protests. And Target is upping its gift-card game in novel ways, adding lights and even sounds. Consumers have the calendar to thank for many of these innovations. This year, retailers are getting a bonus: There are 32 shopping days between Black Friday and Christmas, the greatest possible number. And while ShopperTrak is forecasting that national retail sales will rise 3.3% during November and December (with foot traffic climbing just 2.8%), it says the two “extra” weekends will require many stores to shift their strategies a bit. Certainly, it expects that Black Friday will be the biggest shopping day of the year, and points out that last year, sales rose 6.6% to $11.4 billion. And as has been true in recent years, “Super Saturday” -- the last Saturday before Christmas, falling on Dec. 22 this year -- will come in as the season’s second-biggest day. The preceding Saturday, Dec. 15, will again come in third. But it now predicts that the Friday before the holiday, Dec. 21, will jump from eighth-biggest day of the year to the fourth, and that the final Sunday (Dec. 23) will become the fifth-biggest day, moving up from the sixth. “Those 32 days provide extra time for consumers to shop more frequently and to visit more stores during the holidays,” says Bill Martin, ShopperTrak founder, in its forecast. “But retailers must prepare to capitalize on the holiday opportunity while managing the increase in operating costs that go hand-in-hand with extended store hours on more shopping days.” Gift cards offer chains important calendar advantages as well. Now a $100 billion market, they guarantee that lucky recipients will bring them in the days and weeks after the holidays, which helps stores’ sales in January. (They help in other ways too: TowerGroup has estimated that as many as one-third of gift card redeemers actually go over the amount of the card. And in some states, stores are allowed to keep the “breakage” of cash generated by unredeemed cards.) Target is hoping its new WOW! cards generate plenty of enthusiasm. One plays “Joy to the World,” and in yet another, a bear wears a sweater that lights up. The Minneapolis-based retailer is offering another first this year, enabling customers to use the in-store gift card displays to send digital gift cards. (The market for e-gift cards is expected to reach $11 billion by 2014.) Mobile cards are also available, and by scanning barcodes, people can turn any Target gift card into a mobile one. It’s even adding features to make that option more tempting, with one version offering a QR code that can be converted to “Santa’s Sleigh Ride,” an online game. Holiday Shopping from Shutterstock
On the list of traits I prize in an online provider of financial services and bank-like transactions, "quirky sense of humor" ranks right up there with "good at tennis" and "hair smells like lilacs." I don't want online financial entities with which I do business to make me chortle; I've got the delightful Tim Allen for that. No, what I want from those entities is a pledge that they'll grow my tiny pile of money into a slightly less tiny one, and that they'll do everything within their power to safeguard my personal info. I want an advocate that moonlights as a snarling guard dog. If the entity happens to come across as pleasant and punctuation-conscious in its e-dispatches, that's a happy bonus. I bring this up in the wake of a new and sublimely misguided PayPal campaign that has been tailing me online for the last two weeks. In the clips, Jeff Goldblum does his glib-agitated-funny Jeff Goldblum thing, attempting to make a case for PayPal as the financial linchpin of my existence. He also touts PayPal's offline offerings, hoping to lure active online customers like me into using PayPal products at "[my] favorite juice shop." Setting aside the question of whether I have a favorite juice shop -- a gentleman never tells -- the videos manage to pull off an unfortunate trick: making a likable, user-friendly company seem less likable and user-friendly. Pre-campaign, PayPal was the company that made it easy to zip my fantasy baseball entry fees to and fro, and offered a wealth of other services if I wanted them. Post-campaign, PayPal is the company that does all that, but also wants to store my credit card numbers, passwords and frequent-traveler-program data, and allow me to e-pay for my mango juice in physical stores if I'm so inclined. This is a hell of a leap to take. And frankly, I'm hurt that PayPal went the big-ass-ad-campaign route rather than giving me the news in person (which, given the nature of modern relationships, would've meant a blandly worded promotional email). I've been tight with PayPal for the last decade and this is how they tell me that they've changed, that they've grown, that they've planted their flag in my favorite haberdashery (not that I necessarily have one)? Why am I hearing this via aggressively placed online videos, rather than directly from the source? I thought we had something. Goldblum's twitchy monologues sure don't mitigate the unease that comes with being simultaneously underinformed and overwhelmed. I dig the guy as an actor, but he's a poor fit in the spokespersonality role, stutter-sermonizing about tango lessons, only being able to recall that his credit card number "starts with a 5... I know there's a 2 in it," and "buying a chair, while sitting in a chair -- it's a funny story." The tics and half-improvised asides end up clouding the message (namely, that PayPal has a whole lot of stuff goin' on nowadays). Worse, he imposes a personality on a brand that has done just fine without one for quite a while. Why now, and to what end? It's like an acquaintance showing up at your front door and assuming the friendship status of a grade-school crony: too much, too soon. Walk before you run, ride a bike with training wheels before you ride a bike without training wheels, etc. This campaign marks one of PayPal's first forays into high-profile marketing, and it shows. *** Speaking of acquaintances assuming a higher level of connection: I'm writing a story for the year-end issue of MediaPost's OMMA magazine on the worst online brand/marketing videos of the past 12 months. While I certainly have my own anti-favorites, I'd like to hear yours. Send any/all nominees to LDobrow@gmail.com, with a link to the relevant clip if possible. Submissions motivated by personal or professional malice are heartily encouraged.
According to the “Ad Sales Executive” survey recently released by PaperG, evaluating the future of digital advertising sales from the view of sales executives at local newspapers, directories, broadcast stations and other media nationwide, 94% of advertisers are interested in mobile advertising and over 90% of sales executives are optimistic about sales for mobile display advertising. The survey suggests a continued push towards display ads as 94% of respondents will be offering online display ads to their clients and 86% will be offering mobile display ads in Q4. Only 34% of respondents will offer Facebook ads. Digital Ad Products Offered to Advertisers (% of Respondents: Sales Executives Survey) Product% of Respondents Online display ads 94.3 Mobile display ads 85.7 Daily deal 62.9 Facebook ads 34.3 Search ads 28.6 Other 2.9 Source: PaperG Ad Sales Exec Survey, October 2012 Assesses the necessities of sales executives, the findings show that better education on the value of digital ads and having spec ads to show clients are the top two ways to help sales executives sell more digital advertising. Factors To Help Sell Digital Ads (% of Respondents: Sales Executives Survey) Factor% of Respondents Better education on value of digital ads 68.6% Spreads to show clients 54.3 Better reporting on ad performance 51.4 Lower price points 25.7 More digital ad products 17.1 Other 5.7 Source: PaperG Ad Sales Exec Survey, October 2012 Other key findings of the Sales Exec study say that: