Down For The Count In a recent article in CNET News.com, writers Sandeep Junnarkar and Jim Hu conclude that the number of visitors to a site will remain a vital statistic for media buyers. Such measurements are a necessary starting point, justifying the higher fees charged by brand-name sites. While traditional advertising is to create a positive image and reinforce a brand's recognition, clicking on banner advertisements and providing personal information in direct-marketing questionnaires became the gauge of an Internet ad campaign's success. Marty Yudkovitz, president of interactive media at NBC, said "There was the assumption that if …

Kids Eat It Up Since children have become an increasingly important market for advertisers, much television advertising is aimed at them. If you're targeting this market internationally, here are some caveats and penetrations in a variety of worldwide markets. A recent international study has examined the wide diversity in the practice and regulation of television advertising to and for children, with special emphasis on food advertising, in thirteen developed economy countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom and the USA. Food advertising comprised the largest category of advertised products to …

The Medium is Tricky If your client is a business selling to businesses, a recent convention of Direct Marketers had lots to say about the conversion of traditional DM tactics to effective eMail marketing strategies. Copywriters Herschell Gordon Lewis and Bob Bly offered tips, as reported by Debbie Weil at ClickZ, for strategy and promotion using eMail. - Creative rules for email recognize that "Email attacks, whereas a Web site is passive." - Email is a "push" tool, and a powerful one. The message must be carefully targeted to the recipient, relevant and interesting, with a compelling …

Campy Concentration USA Today has recently summarized research and census reports on the physical distribution of 80 million Baby Boomers in the US and finds concentrated clusters that will influence target marketing. The article reports that analysis of Census 2000 data shows that Baby boomers are losing their dominance almost everywhere and for the first time are becoming concentrated in parts of New England and the Rockies that are less diverse, attract fewer immigrants or are losing younger people. William Frey, a demographer with the Milken Institute, says that the formation of these "boomer havens" is an important …

Can Y or Z Be Far Behind? The Industry Standard, in an article by Maryann Jones Thompson, reports on a recent announcement by Forrester Research that the “Web is dead.” However, Carl Howe, Research director at Forrester, says that "dead" means the Web is "lifeless," not "extinct." Moreover, he says, "Our business model does not require us to pay homage to any particular technology or company." Forrester and other researchers still believe that Web surfers and e-commerce expenditures will continue to expand for some time. Forrester defines a new concept described as the “X Internet” which it says …

California Gloom Media and advertising strategy planners focusing on California will be interested in noting that according to a new Field Poll study released last week, published in the San Jose Mercury News, the public's mood has shifted dramatically since January, when Californians were highly optimistic about the state's overall economy. "You're talking about millions and millions of people changing their minds when you're talking percentage changes on the magnitude of what we're seeing here," Poll Director Mark DiCamillo said. Among the study's findings: - 66% of residents say the state is "seriously off on the wrong track," …

Cleverness Counts A recently released report by Harris Interactive, as part of its 2001 Advertising Agency Reputation Study, found that 37% of Advertising Clients who spend $5MM or more believe that medium sized agencies are likely to do the best work. 9% of those same clients believe that a mega-agency can do the best work, down from 11% in 1998. This Harris Study is conducted bi-annually to enable agencies to compare current positions with other agencies, respond to specific needs of their customers, and develop an understanding of advertisers’ views on issues facing the industry such as: - …

The Theatre of the Mind The RAB Media Facts Book on radio, reports that repeated studies show that "the ear is superior to the eye…people remember more if they hear words than if they see them." The mind is able to understand a spoken word in 140 milliseconds, while it takes 180 milliseconds to understand the printed word. Psychologists believe this 40-millisecond delay occurs when the brain attempts to translate visual data into aural sounds it can understand. These same studies find that what you hear is retained longer in your memory than what you see. A visual image …

Death Of The Postman A new report titled "eMail Marketing Report," from eMarketer, forecasts that eMail marketing expenses will double in 2001 to $2.1 billion. The report says that because opt-in email is less expensive than other forms of direct marketing, its usage among marketers will continue to grow. Jonathan Jackson, eMarketer senior analyst, says that eMail “allows marketers to get in front of customers and prospects in a more concrete and forceful way," The report says that e-mail can be significantly cheaper than traditional direct marketing methods. The average cost per e-mail message in the United …

Very Niche Marketing Deepti Hajela, Associated Press Writer, recently wrote in a report released by the AP, that the New York has nearly 200 ethnic newspapers and magazines. The Bangladeshi community alone has eight newspapers. Polish New Yorkers have six. And nine publications in four languages are aimed at Indian immigrants. In San Jose, Calif., with a population of 100,000, more than a dozen daily or weekly newspapers serve the Vietnamese community alone. In Chicago, more than 80 publications serve Hispanics, Poles, Koreans, Russians, and other communities. And in Miami, where Spanish-language publications have long thrived, newspapers are …