The concept of daypart targeting online has been a hotly debated issue ever since the Online Publishers Association announced that “daytime is primetime on the web” in January of 2002. For many months now, countless researchers have been hard at work to put some concrete data to the concept, which has resulted in an overabundance of stats and no clear way for marketers to use them. Enter eMarketer, well known in online marketing circles for making sense out of others’ research, whom the Wall Street Journal asked to put together one definitive report on the subject - “An Elephant in the Room: The Online At-Work Audience.” The118-page report, scheduled to be released today and available from the eMarketer website, presents ample data to “convince even the most skeptical marketer that the online at-work population represents an unprecedented targeting opportunity.” According to eMarketer, not only is the at-work online audience vast, it is comprised of a demographically attractive group of individuals who have higher than average incomes, educations and proclivities to shop and buy online. Here are some key findings:
What do you call a deal where competitors become each other’s clients and together offer a comprehensive solution for evaluating online marketing effectiveness? A partnership. Today, Dynamic Logic and Millward Brown, both well known in the advertising field for their research capabilities, will announce a strategic partnership that aims to enable advertisers to utilize best practices from both companies – Dynamic Logic’s AdIndex™ online advertising and brand evaluation research programs and Millward Brown’s team of advertising and branding experts. Financial terms were not disclosed, but if anything, said Nick Nyhan, CEO of Dynamic Logic, it’s Millward Brown “effectively becoming a Dynamic Logic client.” He said the two companies had several clients who were using both services and instead of making them choose between one or the other, the two firms decided to form a partnership. As a result, former competitors Millward Brown and Dynamic Logic will work together in North America under a nonexclusive agreement to “support the development of industry standards for online advertising and marketing effectiveness metrics, while also providing flexible and customized solutions to meet specific client needs.” In addition, the two companies will work together to develop new product offerings for measuring the effectiveness of multichannel marketing efforts, using online and offline media vehicles. “Millward Brown, a recognized leader in advertising and brand evaluation for leading global marketers, embraced the Internet early on,” said Mary Ann Packo, chief marketing and client service officer of Millward Brown. “As a result, this partnership with Dynamic Logic is a natural fit. As traditional marketers move further into the online space, we know from our clients that there is a demand for more flexible and comprehensive solutions to assess their overall marketing communications programs,” Packo said. The agency community seems supportive of the partnership already. “We see this as a positive development because the complexity of online accountability research varies greatly across our clients,” said Christian Kugel, director of insights & analytics at Starcom IP, a mutual client of Millward Brown and Dynamic Logic. Starcom IP is the digital arm of Starcom MediaVest Group, one of the world’s largest brand communications groups. “This partnership will ultimately enable us to take a consistent approach to online measurement while also giving our clients choice and flexibility,” Kugel said.
It looks like 2003 will be a rebound year for advertising. According to a survey of more than 1000 media buying executives by InsightExpress, a professional online research firm, and MediaPost, 45% of those surveyed expect their media budgets to increase in 2003, compared with only 18% who expect a decrease. Of those spending more in 2003, the online channel will be the clear winner with more than 36% of media professionals expecting to increase their online budgets. Other benefactors are media with the ability to deliver highly targeted audiences. Specifically, one third (31%) of media buyers spending more in 2003 will put more resources towards cable television while 22% will be increasing radio buys. “Advertisers appear willing to spend more this year, but are more apt to spend their dollars on affordable and segmented media choices,” said Lee Smith, president of InsightExpress. “For media companies, the key to capitalizing on the upswing in spending will be to deliver even more value in the form of targeted reach for a reasonable price.” While budgets will be growing, with it will come even more accountability for ad spends. “Despite the increase in spending, planners are being even more cautious when it comes to their media spend,” said Jeff Loechner, president of MediaPost. Nearly 80% of all media buyers expect to be held even more accountable for results this year than they were last. And nearly two-thirds (64%) believe their job will be more difficult this year.
A recent cross-media optimization study from the Interactive Advertising Bureau and Marketing Evolution, a research consultancy, reported that adding online components to a media mix of TV and magazine advertising substantially increased brand awareness for two packaged goods products. The study suggest that online spending should be about 10% to 15% of the overall media mix in low-involvement categories such as package goods and that the best interactive marketing is an emotion-packed complement to offline media. The research also suggests that rebalancing online and offline media levels may offer a better return on investment. Although the studies involved campaigns for Kleenex and toothpaste brands there is a lesson here for auto makers. Increasingly the auto industry is grasping that for most consumers, the FIRST step in car buying is online research. J.D. Powers and Associates reported in October that an estimated 82%of new-vehicle buyers visited third-party automotive sites in 2002, while 76% visited a manufacturer Web site and 48% visited dealer sites. Further, of the 60% of new-vehicle buyers who use the Internet for shopping, 88% visit automotive Web sites before arriving at a dealership for a test drive. The growth of eBay’s used car business aside, motorists are not buying cars online in great numbers, but they are doing their homework there especially comparing model features and pricing. While some are tire kickers, the vast majority of visitors to automotive sites are in the market to make a purchase. If auto maker media mixes are rebalanced as suggested by the IAB, the most impactful move would be into increase spending on the web, on major automotive information site where buyers are in the process of narrowing their choices. Today there are even tools that allow auto makers to present consumers a third option when doing a side by side comparison of two other, similar models. Clearly there is merit in the IAB report. Already this year General Motors announced a reallocation of dollars from their TV and print advertising budgets to “grass roots” and “relationship” areas such as the Internet, sponsorships and direct mail. Who knows, after a little experimenting they may come to the same conclusion as Amazon which last week decided to throw in the towel on its TV spots. The $50 million Amazon spent last year on local market TV apparently did not deliver much of an ROI. No one (least of all me) is suggesting that TV doesn’t work for automakers. But the evidence is mounting that even a slight shirt to where the in marketer buyers are – online – can pay big dividends. Mitch Lowe is the CEO of Jumpstart Digital Marketing, an interactive marketing and media sales organization that focuses exclusively on the automotive industry. Lowe can be reached at mitch@jumpstartDM.com.