Omnicom Media Group's Resolution Media this week will launch Content Continuum, an interest-driven content marketing business unit, according to Heather Molina, managing director for the group. Molina told MediaPost the strategy creates a "newsroom approach" for brands to connect with consumers, based on relevant topics and content. The agency then optimizes the content within days, rather than months, continuously monitoring data across Web sites, search engines and social platforms to identify trending topics and user interests. That information leads to the creation of marketing content, matching what people see, say, and search for across multiple channels. The concept not only makes search engine optimization act like paid search campaigns, but it turns companies into content creators, Molina said. "We're making SEO look like SEM," she said, referring to paid-search ads. "With SEO, it's always been a long-term strategy, whereas SEM is about the quickness of pushing it out and changing it as needed." Molina said the act of quickly optimizing content and Web sites and getting it picked up by engines resembles a news organization, rather than an ad agency building campaigns for brands. Aside from agility, brands must focus on a content strategy, from videos to blog posts. Agencies must have the tools to push it out more often. Industry experts say it is a way to connect online advertising with big data. Molina said Google's algorithmic Panda update makes content a "much more critical" tool to optimize organic listings, videos, Twitter tweets, and Facebook posts. Resolution will tap into technology from Skywords, a content strategy agency that recently developed a platform for agencies, identifies and captures trends by the hour. Learning about topics that don't differ daily, the company mines trends in social, news and other sites to test the audience and determine the resonating keywords. Molina expects other agencies to adopt this strategy, as well. She said it also will change the way companies hire search experts.
With Apple set to roll out a new iPhone on Wednesday, one question is whether the move will help the company's iOS gain back ground on Android. Last year, the Google mobile operating system surpassed iOS as the top smartphone platform globally and in the U.S. If nothing else, the iPhone 5 could help Apple steal back the spotlight from the hot-selling Samsung Galaxy S III, the latest Android flagship phone.The new monthly metrics report from Millennial Media released today shows that iOS gained back a bit of market share in August, with its share of ad impressions on the mobile network increasing to 34% from 33% in the first quarter. Android, meanwhile, slipped to 46% from 49%. Struggling BlackBerry, like iOS, picked up a point to reach 15%.Among individual smartphones, the iPhone easily remains the No. 1 device, with almost 16% share. The BlackBerry Curve is a distant second, with about 5%, followed by the Samsung Galaxy S (3.5%), the BlackBerry Torch (3%) and the BlackBerry Bold (3%). Still, 14 of the top 20 smartphones on the Millennial ad network were Android devices, which collectively help give the platform its hefty market share.On the strength of the iPhone and iPad, Apple was also the top device manufacturer on the network, accounting for nearly a third (31.3%) of impressions. Samsung was second with 22% share, up from 18% in the first quarter, trailed by Research in Motion (13.5%), HTC (8.8%) and Motorola (7%). Google-owned Motorola, which slipped from 10.6% share in Q1, is hoping to rebound with last week's launch of the Droid Razr M.Another big gadget-related announcement last week was Amazon's unveiling of new Kindle Fire devices, including a larger, 8.9-inch model, as well as the new Paperwhite e-reader with an illuminated screen. As of Q2, the Kindle Fire was the No. 3 tablet on Millennial's network behind the Galaxy Tab and the iPad. While male users outnumber female users on the iPad and Android tablets on the network, the Kindle Fire users skew toward women (57% versus 43% men).Non-smartphone devices overall account for 19% of impressions compared to 17% a year ago. Feature phones have dropped from 17% to just 7% of impressions, while smartphones have risen from 66% to 74%. Smartphone penetration in the U.S. is estimated at about 50% on the whole.Games were again the most popular type of mobile application on Millennial's network, followed by music and entertainment, science and technology, social media and communications. The company suggested students prepping for year-end exams helped push science/tech apps into the top three categories.In a mobile advertising report released last week, eMarketer ranked Millennial as the fourth-largest mobile ad company, with estimated revenue of $84.1 million this year. Google was No. 1, with projected 2012 revenue of $1.42 billion, followed by Pandora ($226.4 million) and Twitter ($130 million).
Forrester Research analyst Joanna O'Connell emphasizes the need for media planners and marketers to pull together programmatic buying, data and audience management and multichannel measurement to optimize results of media campaigns. The option of real-time bidding gives marketers improved targeting, more efficiencies and less waste, and, theoretically, better results. When it comes to the creative piece in the campaign, O'Connell believes marketers "tend to not put enough consideration into the creative, compared with all the algorithmic optimization available tools." If the message doesn't resonate, the ad fails. Media buying has begun to "bifurcate," according to O'Connell, who describes the trend as separating real-time automated buying from brand experience buying. Automation will replace manual processes, but agencies will still need skilled technologists. These two types of media buyers will co-exist, at least for now. "Data wonks and search geeks are the programmatic buyers of tomorrow, and marketers must embrace the value of data-driven thinkers, analytics specialists, and buyers who are facile with technology, according to O'Connell, who co-authored the revised report, "The Future of Digital Media Buying," the first in a 12-part series that Forrester will publish. The series creates a playbook outlining that concept in four strategies: discover, plan, act and optimize. Marketers that understand programmatic buying for display ads might want to think about tying it into video, mobile, and paid social. The series encourage marketers to think about staffing and the types of tools required, or ways to benchmark market maturity. O'Connell believes the model will aid marketers working with agencies to development unique, creative concepts and brand experiences.
It can be tough for publishers to reach app subscribers -- particularly when they opt out of “push messaging,” and fail to share their email addresses. Aided by new financing, mobile analytics firm Localytics is investing in new marketing services, which it believes can solve such problems. Localytics already knows “when and where messages can have the greatest impact -- while [consumers are] using their apps,” according to cofounder and CEO Raj Aggarwal. From there, Aggarwal says it’s easy to boost engagement by embedding marketing messages directly into users’ app experience. Localytics will then use its analytics technology to measure campaign performance -- and make necessary adjustments. Along with existing investors, Polaris Venture Partners is pumping $5.5 million into Localytics to help the 3-year-old start-up scale its business. As consumers continue to embrace mobile technology, Aggarwal is confident that app-centric publishers are poised to profit. “They’ve already built a personal relationship with users and have a place on their phone or tablet,” he said. Despite rapid consumer adoption, mobile advertising will only represent about 1% of total U.S. ad spending this year, according to eMarketer. Still, the industry is witnessing exponential growth. To illustrate, eMarketer recently predicted that Facebook will see its mobile ad revenue quintuple next year. Combined, Localytics says its analytics and marketing technology reaches some 350 million mobile phone customers across various devices and mobile operating systems.
A recent study by app analytics firm found Instagram has become the second-most-popular app behind Facebook globally. It was the most-downloaded social app in July across the 10 largest markets it tracks. Ben Schachter, an analyst at Macquarie Securities weighs in with anecdotal evidence of Instagram's growing popularity, especially among teens. Based on interviewing a panel of six Facebook and Instagram users ages 17-28, he issued a report over the weekend with the following key findings: *All of the participants are now actively using Instagram (none were a year ago) *Facebook still plays a large role, but mostly because it aggregates all their social connections in one place. *Nearly all said that they expect to use Facebook less six months from now versus today. *The twenty-somethings indicated that 25% or fewer of their social friends were using Instagram, but the teens indicated that virtually all of their friends were already using it. When it comes to advertising on Facebook, the consensus was that no one clicks on ads and that ads introduced into the news feed earlier this year are annoying. While the report acknowledged that a panel of six (five females, one male) is only a tiny sample, it believes more young people are discussing shifting away from Facebook to Instagram. Macquarie had convened the group after hearing informally about young people starting to spend more time on Instagram than Facebook. Facebook acquired Instagram in April for $1 billion, partly to neutralize a rapidly rising rival. “While we have yet to see any hard data on this ... we believe that the trend is accelerating. We have not heard that this trend is impacting older Facebook users much yet,” stated the research note. The panelists are looking for social networking alternatives because they're turned off by Facebook features -- including the Timeline, which they find too convoluted and “creepy," since it allows people to scroll back years into a user's history of photos and comments. That has led many to adopt aliases on the service -- an important point given that real names are required (in theory) to help Facebook advertisers distinguish between their targeted audiences. Instagram was favored by the group as the best option “to capture a moment, highlights of my day,” and, counterintuitively, since most of their Facebook friends are not on the photo-sharing service. That suggests people are looking for ways to reach smaller groups of “real” friends, with females seemingly more drawn to Instagram than males. In addition to Instagram, people are also turning to social platforms like Tumblr, Pinterest, SnapChat, and Path as Facebook replacements. While Facebook still plays a large role, the shift toward mobile use is leading to more passive interaction with the site. Instead of signing in to see what friends are doing, users only monitor Facebook through “notifications” pushed to their phones or tablets rather than laptops or desktop PCs. Instagram.com was the top-gaining site in July, with its audience growing 38% to 22.7 million from June.
More newspapers are getting into the social-marketing services business. The Dallas Morning News, which is owned by A.H. Belo, has partnered with Slingshot LLC to launch a new social content marketing company, Speakeasy, which will conceive and execute social campaigns and promotions for local and national brands. Speakeasy’s areas of expertise include content creation, social media management and associated SEO activities, newsletter development and delivery, video creation and distribution, and reputation management. The company is a joint venture, with Dallas Morning News publisher and CEO Jim Moroney serving as chairman of the board and Slingshot founder Owen Hannay serving as CEO. Mike Orren, formerly the founder and president of Pegasus News, has been named president. Promising “real, measurable sales results that go beyond ‘likes’ and ‘follows,’” Orren stated: “We have built a launch team of experienced and award-winning editors, journalists and marketers who will focus more on communications and guerilla marketing than on the mere ability to use social platforms.” The company is currently recruiting freelance writers, photographers and videographers with experience in local and niche journalism. As noted, several newspaper publishers have waded into the social marketing services space. Most recently, in August Gannett Co. announced its acquisition of social-media marketing firm Blinq Media to help build out its digital marketing services for brands and agencies. The New York-based company develops and executes ad campaigns on Facebook and other social networks, and will complement other Gannett properties, like ShopLocal.
An entrepreneur who runs "nontraditional" dating sites like WhatsYourPrice.com has won a round in court against Paypal, which he said wrongly refused to process payments to the sites.U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston in the Northern District of California rejected PayPal's motion to dismiss the case before trial. She ruled that the sites' owner, Lead Wey (also known as Brandon Wade), alleged enough facts to warrant further proceedings."The Court finds that whether PayPal breached the parties’ contract by terminating plaintiffs’ accounts is a question best resolved on summary judgment or by a jury," Illston wrote. The ruling, issued late last month, rejected PayPal's motion to dismiss the lawsuit at a preliminary stage.Wey alleged in court papers that PayPal permanently stopped processing payments to WhatsYourPrice.com and other sites last year. PayPal allegedly told Wey that it had banned his sites because they violated the acceptable use policy, which prohibits the sale of "certain sexually oriented materials or services."WhatsYourPrice.com allows people to purchase dates with other users. "Just name a price, and if your offer is right, you'll get a YES and you're off on a first date," the site says. Wey says in court papers that WhatsYourPrice and his other dating sites don't allow nudity, obscenity or prostitution ads.Wey alleges that PayPal's reasons for terminating his accounts were pretextual, arguing that the company continues to process payments to other dating sites that potentially violate its terms of service.The complaint against PayPal also included an allegation that the site violated antitrust law. But Illston ruled in PayPal's favor on that count. She found that Wey didn't sufficiently allege either that PayPal participates in the online dating market, much less that it is attempting to monopolize it.
Advertising is in the midst of a sea change. There's an exciting new medium out there, and it just may be the greatest selling tool ever invented. But it is so different from what's been available in the past that many of the entrenched practitioners within the agency business don't understand how to use it. And clients? It seems they're even more lost at sea – especially those who are over 40. The new medium opens up many questions, and there are few models and little experience to draw upon. How do I create for it? How much of my budget should I allocate for it? How do I buy it? How do I measure it? We're talking about the digital revolution, right? Actually, the scenario is from 1947 and the mysterious new medium was television. Fast-forward 65 years and the advertising and marketing communities are wrestling with the same questions, except the medium in question is digital. What was once new is old and the new presents many of the same problems — and even more opportunities — than the old sector that many predict will eventually replace it. Clients and agencies are wrestling with perceived complexities and nuances of the new digital communications tools. Traditional agencies were at first slow to adapt – in fact, many have barely, if at all, tried. To fill that gap, a new breed of digital shops emerged. But I say they will be short-lived. In the midst of all this change, clients have been demanding digital recommendations, often without stopping to consider that "digital" is an omnibus term encompassing everything from hosting and Web site development to mobile and social applications. Some agencies, eager to please, have rushed to put their clients onto YouTube or Twitter before the proper messaging has been developed and without taking into consideration that many digital venues allow — even encourage — the consumer to talk back. With all these changes and so many new subtleties, why do I predict that specialized digital agencies will not thrive over the long term? It’s not because digital media will go away. Quite the contrary: it may very well unseat "king television" as the greatest selling medium of all time. Recent reports indicate that’s about to happen. Specialized digital shops will eventually disappear because digital, in all its myriad forms, it's still nothing more than another medium to be added to the marketing communications tool box available to agencies and their clients. Yes, it's a big one, but it will never entirely usurp the media mix of most companies and brands. Jump back a generation and you'll see the pioneers of TV were essentially showmen and entertainers; marketing objectives and long-term strategy were foreign to them. But agencies understood and they jumped in and took control of the medium from a marketing point of view. There were no real television agencies, at least none that even put a dent into the historical record. Today, there are digital agencies, and they've been able to build a certain allure, since so many "non-techies" have been intimidated by the new technologies. The founders of many of the digital shops, just like the pioneers of television, have come from a technical and tactical background, and not a brand-building or strategic background. What the digital folks provide is critical, to be sure, but only in the larger context of long-term strategic brand building and a 360-degree marketing mix. My prediction? Digital shops will disappear, either through the development of strategic marketing skills and broad media expertise that will make them, essentially, traditional agencies. Or, as we have been seeing lately, these digital shops will be absorbed or merged with broader traditional agencies. While we may not yet have the paradigm of the 21st century, we can safely say that digital is here to stay. The pure-play digital shop, however, is not.