Microsoft's Xbox Live advertising group has been courting television advertisers in an effort to expand its game console service into a cable television station. Now the Redmond, Wash. company will have the metrics to back up the eyeballs, similar to the way Nielsen tracks TV viewers. Supported by Nielsen, Microsoft unveiled the first pilot Thursday on the second season of the Xbox LIVE show "1 vs. 100." The test will embed Nielsen's traditional TV and video measurement tool in the video game content to gather channel and add specific metrics that identify who played the game and viewed specific advertisements. Mark Kroese, general manager of the Advertising Business Group, Entertainment & Devices division at Microsoft, says ad budgets remain tight, but dollars are moving from linear TV, 30-second spots, onto the Xbox. "We've moved past being called an emerging media, and now being considered our own cable network," he says, pointing about 20 million users the Xbox can reach. The goal aims to provide advertisers with concrete Gross Rating Points (GRPs) and Targeted Rating Points (TRPs) to get the most from media budgets. The second season of the Xbox Live show "1 vs. 100" will run for 14 weeks. Following the test, Microsoft will continue to collaborate with Nielsen to learn how electronic measurement, panels and census data can integrate into other Xbox Live media, such as TV, video and social media. Focusing on the "branded destination experience" tends to work best when it comes to ads in games on the Xbox console, Kroese says. It's a model that Microsoft supports based on the company's "invite, but don't interrupt during the game" mentality. Brands that traditionally advertise on television have been telling Microsoft to figure out a way to run multimedia ads produced in Flash -- as well as Silverlight -- on the Xbox to give them the best of both worlds. Now it all makes sense. The company has been working on making this happen for the better part of a year. Microsoft began working to bring both Flash and Silverlight to Xbox Live. It's been a vision of the agencies to spend less time repurposing content for multiple platforms. But Microsoft's three-screen ad model that extends from the PC doesn't stop at the game console. On mobile phones, the application becomes the most effective form of advertising, Kroese says. For example, Starbucks distributes an application that lets consumers find their nearest store, but also provides a coupon each time the person does a search for a location. That type of app, whether or not tied to a casual game, takes advantage of mobile capabilities. These applications are catching on, he says. Aside from Xbox Live, mobile and PC, advertisers could one day see the power of Project Natal. Kroese says there's nothing to announce in terms of product plans, but the technology in Project Natal has the opportunity not only to revolutionize the user experience, but also the advertising experience. Project Natal enables people to control and interact with the Xbox 360 platform without the need to touch a game controller. The technology can sense the presence of movement and sentiment through cameras.
Lawmakers Thursday questioned whether businesses are amassing too much data about consumers without their knowledge or consent. "We have moved from an era of privacy keepers to privacy peepers and data mining reapers," Rep. Ed. Markey (D-Mass.) said at a hearing about data collection.“ Markey, who has previously said that consumers should be able to opt out of online behavioral targeting, reiterated calls for consumers to have the ability prevent companies from collecting data. "They should have the right to say no," he said. The hearing, held by the Subcommittees on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection and Communications, Technology, and the Internet, addressed both online and offline data collection. Witnesses included WPP's George Pappachen, privacy advocates Chris Hoofnagle of Berkeley and Pam Dixon of the World Privacy Forum, as well as representatives from Wal-Mart, Acxiom and LearningResources.com. Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.), who is expected to soon introduce a privacy bill, questioned whether legal protections could make people more favorably disposed toward ad targeting. Referencing a recent study showing that two-thirds of Americans rejected tailored ads, Boucher asked Hoofnagle whether that percentage would change if people had more control over the collection and use of their data. But Hoofnagle said that new laws might not change people's attitudes because many consumers currently operate under the mistaken impression that sites with privacy policies aren't allowed to share data. Much recent debate has centered on whether Web companies should obtain consumers' explicit consent to collecting data, or should merely allow them to opt out. But Hoofnagle argued that neither opt-in or opt-out would protect consumers. "It is easy to trick people into opting in," he said. "It is easy to manipulate people into not opting out." Instead, he urged Congress to limit the length of time data can be retained. Rep. Mike Doyle questioned whether data collection hurts individuals. He proposed a scenario where a person who likes to ski is wrongly targeted as a fisherman and, as a result, receives ads related to fishing. "What's the harm?" he asked. Dixon replied that some companies can use information for purposes that can have an impact on consumers. For instance, she said, some companies put people who dispute charges into "bad customer" databases. Lawmakers also discussed balancing the advantages of data collection with empowering consumers to control the information that companies amass. "The collection, use, and dissemination of consumer information provide many benefits to consumers, businesses, and the marketplace," Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said in a written statement. "But they raise legitimate concerns about whether consumers have adequate control over personal information that is shared."
Extending one of its more popular brands online, Disney/ABC Television Group on Thursday debuted an original online companion series to "Grey's Anatomy." Sponsored by Italian food company Bertolli, "Seattle Grace: On Call" consists of six individual webisodes, each four-five minutes in length, as well as a behind-the-scenes "making of" episode. Set primarily in Joe's Emerald City Bar, the hangout spot for doctors in the series, the series is shot in a documentary style and features familiar faces from "Grey's Anatomy." "Our goal with the Web series is to expand the 'Grey's' universe by offering a unique perspective of the various happenings at Seattle Grace, while paralleling some of the same story lines seen on the show," said "Grey's Anatomy" creator and executive producer Shonda Rhimes. "The intent is to put everything fans love about Grey's into these short, 4-minute mini-episodes that have been designed solely for the Internet." For networks and production companies, Web extensions are often used as a cost-effective way to strengthen core brands, and always hold the promise of viral success. A pioneer in the space, NBC ran original webisodes to keep "The Office" on fans' minds during the summer of 2006. Last month, following the season four premiere of "Dexter," Showtime began putting together a series of animated webisodes to accompany the series. "Dexter: Early Cuts" is a 12-part series consisting of four 1- to-2-minute chapters, focusing on how Dexter's killing techniques evolved throughout the course of his disturbed life. Earlier this year, meanwhile, Bravo created a custom webisode series featuring past "Top Chef" contestants driving around Los Angeles in a Lexus RX SUV. The "Custom Reinvention Webisode Series" was part of larger multiplatform effort sponsored by Lexus.
As an advertiser, how would you like to get instant feedback on an online ad right from questions posed within the ad itself? With its new Adometer tool, Dynamic Logic promises to provide that capability to help marketers and agencies optimize display campaigns at the outset. The Adometer software incorporates survey questions within ads to give advertisers an early idea of whether particular versions of an ad are making an impact on consumers and reaching the target audience. With that user data, they can more quickly adjust campaigns to focus on the creative executions and placements delivering the best results. "This is a tool meant for marketers to see whether ads are breaking through and to look across different creative themes to see which are working and allocate impressions toward those with higher recall," explained Michelle Eule, managing director, AdIndex Solutions for Dynamic Logic. Using Adometer, questions are launched within standard 300 x 250 units right after the ad creative runs, whether a Flash animation or series of frames. Up to four or five questions appear, one at a time, examining how well people remember basic things like the brand advertising or the main benefit of a product highlighted in an ad. Surveys can also be designed to help determine which sites are doing the best job of delivering the intended audience and results are provided through an online dashboard. A key idea behind Adometer is to provide more detailed data on campaign performance of brand campaign beyond click-through rates or leads generated. "The click-through is not a great measure of branding effectiveness," said Eule, since it doesn't tell marketers much about consumer attitudes toward a brand. A report released by Dynamic Logic last month also argued that creative quality is more important than more structural aspects of Web advertising like targeting, ad size or format in driving effectiveness. But the Adometer surveys depend on people actually taking the time to complete them to provide any useful information. Eule said response rates to the in-ad surveys in testing have proven higher than more traditional types because they don't require consumers to go to another page. "It's enough to get the sample sizes we need at the creative and site level," she said. Instead of a formal panel or focus group survey, Adometer also has the benefit of offering live feedback. "This is definitely more realistic than if you're asking questions in a panel environment. It's a different kind of experience when someone is visiting sites naturally as they're going about their day," she said. The new offering is also meant to complement Dynamic Logic's core brand metrics AdIndex service, which provides a more comprehensive analysis of brand campaign performance. "This is a quicker response solution that provides a lot of answers to make decisions but doesn't answer the same 'whys' to the extent AdIndex does," said Eule.
Video game developers and publishers have begun scraping insights from purchasing data, online communities and piracy to fine-tune marketing efforts for a variety of games. Facebook and Twitter campaigns have fueled the fire by rallying communities and augmenting traditional widgets or home page and takeover ads on MySpace or YouTube. Expandable rich banner ads promoting mainstream and action/shooter games on ad networks have helped, too. But a group of expert panelists dug a little deeper to share a few marketing secrets to those attending the Digital LA panel discussion on video game trends and marketing at OTX in Culver City, Calf., Wednesday night. Naughty Dog Senior Marketing Manager Arene Meyer explained how the company integrated Twitter into one of its story-driven games, which drove traffic to its Web site. The in-game Twitter feature in Uncharted tweets on behalf of the player as he plays, providing status updates or bragging rights as new gaming levels are achieved. Every tweet links back to Naughty Dog's Web site, he says. Ben Collier, connected marketing manager at THQ, says online interactive content drove six times the Web traffic for WWE SmackDown vs. Raw, compared with the previous version. THQ built a teaser site that drove traffic from the Twitter and the Facebook pages. Using Facebook Connect, the company allowed gamers to customize a wrestler. Communities have become a great marketing tool. Collier says marketers can tap into social network communities to target specific genres, instead of buying advertising that produces mass impressions on a broad scale of age and gender. Keyword advertising and promotional videos drive the message straight to the people who play and buy the games. "I loved when Facebook made their ad platform insanely usable in terms of building out keyword groups and advertising fan pages," he says. "This past summer it became easy to swap out marketing messages." But it's easy exposing consumers to the marketing message online. The difficulty become walking them to the last mile, which Collier calls the distance between online and the retail store. "We try and use all the tools, from our network Web sites, to Google Analytics," he says. "We provide discount codes as an incentive for consumers to purchase the product. Although you're sometimes talking about physical goods in a store, there are online tools that can convert marketing efforts into sales." And while the marketing focus historically has been on the person buying the game, the video game industry now realizes efforts need to tie in the player. "We have a lot of data on the person who purchases the games, and for years we assumed that person also played the game," says Tracy Williams, director of global brand management at Activision. "Now, we are getting more dynamic data about the number of people who actually play the game, which is about two or three age brackets lower than the person making the purchase." Game publishers have viewed the target audience wrong, panelists agreed. Williams says digging deeper into the numbers from demographic studies tell Activation parent buy between five and seven games annually for their kids, which can "significantly" throw off the marketing data. When asked how much piracy influenced the marketing plan and strategy, Williams says every PC game she shipped this year has been pirated in the first week. "The good thing is, I have a really good legal team and good resources to find the sites and shut them down," she says. Collier agrees that piracy does determine the features developers put in products. The industry has begun to find ways to monetize used and pirated copies. He says expect to see interesting marketing strategies that tie in used and pirated copies in the coming year.
Nearly four in 10 consumers don't want to receive mobile ads for any reason -- and less than 20% recall seeing a mobile ad, according to new data from market research firm Parks Associates. Those findings may not be especially encouraging to mobile marketers, but the broader mobile ad research Parks presented in a Webinar Thursday suggests there's also opportunity for advertisers to make their case on cell phones. So if 38% of U.S. mobile users don't want to see any ads, almost an equal percentage (37%) are neutral on ads and 25% are open to them. "Most people don't want ads on their mobile device, but you have a huge chunk of people that are really neutral," said Heather Way, a research analyst at Parks Associates. "I think if anything it's a positive thing because you don't have people saying 'no.'" She added that the question is whether marketers will be able to sway mobile consumers over time with more targeted ads. As of now, only 18% say they don't mind seeing personally relevant ads, with 39% indifferent and 43% not interested. The figures are roughly the same when asked about seeing ads in exchange for incentives like coupons and discounts or free entertainment services. When it comes to recall, only 19% on average remembered viewing a mobile ad in the last 12 months. Younger users tend to have the higher recall rates, with 18- to-24-year-olds representing the peak, at 27%. Text ads -- probably because of their prevalence on mobile phones -- fared best in recall among users, at 49%, followed by ads at the top of a page (45%) and image-based ads (42%). Not surprisingly, movie trailers topped the list of ad types that mobile users were most likely to take some type of action in response to, at 38%. Ads with click-to-call features and ads on the side of the page were next -- each at 35% -- followed by ads in the middle of the page (33%) and ads accompanying search results (32%). Ads in mobile applications are a more nascent but rapidly growing trend, as apps themselves become more pervasive on mobile devices. How do consumers feel about ads creeping into them? More than half don't (55%) like in-app ads, 38% are neutral and 6% don't mind. Teens were somewhat less opposed, with only 49% objecting to in-app ads compared to 57% of adults. Looking at broader mobile usage, the Parks study found that basic communication features were most popular. Email, Internet access, GPS capability, wireless/wireline convergence and instant messaging were cited as the most appealing ones. "Mobile content that serves a utilitarian type function and/or entertainment are by far the most used by consumers on mobile phones," said Way. But she expects areas like mobile video to grow as more people get smartphones or other devices with larger screens that make viewing easier. Video advertising in 2009 accounted for only 0.5% of mobile ad revenue, according to Parks. Overall, the firm expects mobile advertising to increase from $208 million this year to $366 million in 2010, and to hit $1.5 billion by 2013.
While Google remains consumers' favorite online brand, Yahoo and Amazon are not far behind, according to a new report from Forrester Research. "In the minds of their fans, the top online brands exhibit very traditional attributes such as trustworthiness, helpfulness, and relevance, all at the expense of more-predictable tech-friendly characteristics such as innovation and speed," reads the report authored by Forrester analyst David Card. According to the report, direct-to-consumer brands in categories including media, retail, financial services, and travel -- and consumer electronics, given its technology angle -- should position themselves against competitors' weaknesses, and deliver their brand messages through site experiences that complement offline marketing. For the report, Forrester surveyed more than 4,823 U.S. consumers about their favorite online brands or companies; what brand attributes make them popular, and how brands can make themselves more online-friendly. Online and off, Google recently ranked seventh in an annual brand value study conducted by BusinessWeek and Interbrand. Coca-Cola topped that list for the ninth year running. Online, however, Google has gained ground in the past two years, with 44% of online adults rating Google their favorite in 2009 compared with 36% in 2007. Two years ago, Yahoo held a strong second place behind Google, with a clear gap between it and third-place Amazon. While Yahoo has lost a little luster -- dropping from 32% to 27% -- it's nothing like MySpace, which has faded dramatically from 13% to 5%. Back in 2007, meanwhile, Facebook was just gaining momentum, and Forrester didn't even offer it as a choice. Now it's three times as popular as MySpace. Google is the favorite brand for each of the age groups Forrester examined. Among young adults ages 18 to 24, Facebook ranked second at 36% to Google. MySpace triples its share with young adults at 16%, but can't match Yahoo, at 23% -- or YouTube, at 18%. With the exception of Facebook, the other top five brands all do well with older age groups, maintaining or modestly bettering their share. Notably, Microsoft's popularity directly correlates with age, ranging from a low of 5% among young adults to a high of 24% among seniors (65 and older). Among the wealthy, Google is by far the most popular brand. Indeed, 55% of those making more than $100,000 name Google their favorite. Amazon, at 31%, is next -- and more weighted to higher-income households than eBay. Facebook fared evenly in the space -- which Forrester found surprising, given that it's largely considered a "youth brand." "Trustworthy," "helpful," and "relevant" are the top brand attributes, according to Forrester. Analyzing the phrases consumers assigned to their favorites revealed four tiers of characteristics. The most popular brands did a good job on the first tier: establishing trust, helpfulness, and relevance to their fans. They also did well with the next tier, which comprised value, fun, and quality. The seemingly online-friendly characteristics fell into a third tier of attributes -- and things such as prestige, authenticity, and "cares about the customer" either didn't move the popularity needle or have been neglected by the top online brands. More than half of the consumers who called Amazon one of their favorites said it was trustworthy; 40% of Microsoft's "fans" used the same description. Google, Yahoo, and eBay also did well in that attribute, which combined to drive "trustworthy" to the top of the charts. Half of Google's fans believe it to be helpful, compared with 42% of Yahoo's. The two shopping brands -- Amazon and eBay -- do well on value, while Facebook and MySpace are both social and fun.
If you have ever been to an Apple retail store, everybody there seems to have ingested a combination of Ecstasy and psilocybin shrooms. The staff is earnestly and cheerfully productive, and the customers don't seem to mind the wait for sales or repair service. Clearly, a lot of thought went into making the stores highly customer-centric and friendly. I am not, however, so sure that as much thought has been given to the patent Apple has applied for that displays advertising on almost anything that has a screen of some kind: computers, phones, televisions, media players, game devices and other consumer electronics. Says the NYT: "Its distinctive feature is a design that doesn't simply invite a user to pay attention to an ad -- it also compels attention. The technology can freeze the device until the user clicks a button or answers a test question to demonstrate that he or she has dutifully noticed the commercial message. Because this technology would be embedded in the innermost core of the device, the ads could appear on the screen at any time, no matter what one is doing....What the application calls the "enforcement routine" entails administering periodic tests, like displaying on top of an ad a pop-up box with a response button that must be pressed within five seconds before disappearing to confirm that the user is paying attention." Shocked enough? There's more: the patent is written for all "computers" -- as defined by the presence of a processor, memory, storage and network connection. That covers a lot of devices including some cars, trucks and refrigerators. On the optimistic side someone speculated that such a process, may allow Apple to drop the entry price of devices like the iPhone and MacBook by offering ad-supported versions -- potentially offering free iPhones to the world and causing MacBooks to be affordable to those who may otherwise not be able to afford them. But it has never been the policy of Over The Line to look on the bright side. If fact, we go where others fear to travel in search of the worst possible scenario. Or second worst, whichever is funnier. While I am tangentially in the ad business (some of my most casual acquaintances are Mad Men), I am also a consumer, and have been forced to engage in a vast electronic dodgeball game with media entities who think more ads are better. I was an early video recording adopter, and still have a machine that skips forward in 30- second increments. With the newer DVRs I can watch a network TV show in about 40 minutes or a football game in an an hour instead of three. I am as banner blind as the next guy, although I must say I do like retargeted ads from commerce sites I have recently visited. They make me feel special. I have the same pop-up blocker that you do, and am just as likely to skip those "welcome screens" as you are. I confess that I am growing weary from the crush of ads coming from every direction. I realize it is a long way from a patent application to actual implementation, but I think I can speak on behalf of more than just a handful of consumers when I say that this technology could be a brand killer. Especially if one brand foists it on consumers and others do not. Just as seeing the same ad too many times moves me from a positive to a negative feeling about the marketer, any advertiser that makes me pass an attention test before I get access to any application on my computer (or "phones, televisions, media players, game devices and other consumer electronics") will be put on an embargo list and I will buy around their brand. And I know I can do this. Dell, for example, is on now on the list for a variety of other reasons, and I am very happy with my HP computers and printers. At any rate, those of us on the sidelines -- and in the middle -- of the advertising game need to learn that more is not better. Better is better.