Data Driven: The Video Decade

Video is the number one growth rate for online marketing budget spend. Dwarfing all other categories with approximately 50% year on year growth forecast. Additionally, video is seen as the most important marketing tool for online retailers in 2009. This is largely due to the 40% increase in retail videos views and it being attributed to overall sales and customer satisfaction

Ad Network Prices Take a Hit - eMarketer via kwout

Retailers Take Note: Video Sells! - eMarketer via kwout

Ad Network Prices Take a Hit - eMarketer via kwout

Data Driven: How we spend our daze?

It appears we spend a lot of our time online. And, for better or worse, the data suggests this is not going to change anytime soon. We see online replacing are traditional information and entertainment sources such as TV, newspapers and other print publications. We also see that while we surf the net we also seem to have lots of time for other activities as well. Who exactly came up with the concept of multitasking? And why? Lastly, on a down note, like Yin and Yang with good comes evil. A recent study by Cisco suggests that 90% of all emails are SPAM! The real question is why do these people not use all that effort and resources for good instead of evil!?

Web Overtakes All Media Except TV as News Source via kwout

What’s Competing for Internet Users’ Attention? - eMarketer via kwout

Spam Doubles, Personalized Spam Quadruples in 2008 via kwout

VBlog: 7 Critical concepts every business must know

Straight from my spare room, this is the first in a series of vblogs that define the fundamental change in communication between business and consumers brought about by social spaces on the internet I refer to as the "paradigm shift". There are 7 easy to understand, but critical concepts every business owner must know and understand before taking their brand online or managing their brand online. In this vlog we will work our way through how to successfully integrate your brand into social spaces online, based on some simple rules.

I look forward to your feedback,

Data Driven: Everything in its place!

There is a place for everything and the place for retail is online! And the place of advertising is not social networks. I have reported in previous blogs the power of social networks as the fastest growing and most compelling place for consumers to get brand information and make buying decisions. I have also noted that in this consumer driven space conventional advertising is not only ineffective, but unwanted.

Research continues to confirm this. We see more and more persons of all socio-economic backgrounds moving online to find their information and entertainment. It is necessary to understand the unique dynamics of this space before launching in. This is a space driven by communication at a peer to peer level. This is engagement marketing, not distraction marketing. Businesses that understand this will be successful. Those that don't may find themselves without clear understanding why their most brilliant advertising strategies fail to garner attention.


Points to take away:

1. The place for business to be is social networks
2. The place for advertising is NOT social networks
   

Hitwise Intelligence - Heather Dougherty - US: Traffic to Web-only retailers increases on Thanksgiving and Black Friday via kwout

Social Networkers Aren’t There for Ads - eMarketer via kwout

Data Driven: What Men, Rich Women and China Love

Men love sex . . . and the Internet

Rich women love to shop online

China's loves the Internet

Men, Sex and the Internet
Unremarkably, Break Media reported that men prefer sex to most anything else. That is not terribly remarkable, but they also reported that for the first time men spend more time online than watching TV -- that is remarkable!

breakmedia-men-time-spent-internet-september-2008.jpg via kwout

Women love shopping . . . online
Another unremarkable set of data reported by the New York Times shows that women love to shop. Wow, that is a show stopper. What is remarkable is that affluent women love to shop online. The urban myth has always been that ladies who lunch prefer to do their shopping in person. Whereas it is very important to see and be seen, who wants to be seen squeezing your size 8 bum into a size 6 pair of jeans? Some secrets are better left to the privacy of home I guess.

Affluent Women Dramatically ‘Multiply’ Major Purchases with Word-of-Mouth via kwout

China loves the Internet
Unremarkable is that online ad/ marketing budgets are gaining an increasingly larger percentage of total spend. Even in these uncertain economic times, digital budgets are increasing because they have a a more accurately measured ROI. What is remarkable is that China is exploding!!! A 40% year on year increase in online budget spend tops anything imaginable. Go China go!!!

China's digital ad spend to rocket to $5.2bn Media guardian.co.uk via kwout

CIO Guest Blog: Disappearing Technology

At Prosperity Research and SO-U.TV, we believe it is all about YOU! Whether you own or represent a business or agency we provide services to, or are a viewer and consumer of our content, we want YOU to find US interesting.

To that goal, we have developed a simple Technology Strategy: we want to make your computer disappear!Well, not exactly disappear, but our goal is to place our content and deploy our products in a manner that is so interesting to our audience that our technology solutions virtually fade into the background.

Likewise, for our clients, our goal is to provide near term results with long term value. We do this by developing and placing interesting content where consumers are already looking for information. Our model is all about the consumer and what they find interesting.

How do we do this? Without divulging too many secrets :-] I can tell you we have integrated a combination of proprietary technology with open source and licensed tools, and by using many free consumer spaces on the internet. In addition, our multilingual and highly talented back office staff can do things on the internet I never imagined possible!

Although we are happy if you join in the tens of thousands of video views we serve per month at our recently upgraded website, http://www.so-u.tv/, we are equally happy if you were one of the 50,000+ viewers who watched us on YouTube last month. Because, “It’s not me, it’s you”, to paraphrase an old saying.

In closing, although my wife often threatens to make my computer “disappear”, it is unlikely our computers will go away any time soon. They may get lost in a sea of blackberries, ipod’s, 3G phones and some other yet to be invented apparatus but disappear? Not likely. Wherever you are, however, you can bet SO-U.TV will be there too.

Now, where are my glasses?

Marketing going digital, content more interesting than ads, people like themselves, Duh!

In this installment of my data focused blog I again get to point out the obvious. I do this because despite an overwhelming amount of data that never varies in its direction, many are still in denial. And so I continue to beat the drum until everyone gets the beat.

Marketers #1 wish for 2009 is for agencies to get better at digital! Marketers believe that 50% of all budgets will be spent on digital media. Agencies are ill prepared to fill the gap. Prosperity Research has been the thought leader in this area for several years and we continue to marvel at how large agencies continue to stumble. What is worse is the attempt to cut and paste traditional marketing strategies into the digital realm as if it is as easy as that. Digital marketing has a whole different set of rules and the old rules do not apply.

Marketers’ Top 10 Wish List for Agencies of the Future via kwout

Paul Brienza, SVP Laughlin Constable, gets serious brownie points for stating the obvious and completely missing the point altogether. Mr. Brienza first points out that advertisers want to put their ads in the content area of web pages because content is more interesting than advertising and people look at content and avoid advertisements, duh! Secondly, has Mr. Brienza ever thought that maybe instead of making advertising that people don’t enjoy looking at a business could invest in creating content that people do want to look at? Duh again! Prosperity Research has been doing this for years. We never create advertising because we have always known that nobody likes it! Be interesting not advertising!

Social Networking for Baby Boomers - eMarketer via kwout

I will not rail much on this one. I wrote about this in last weeks blog and simply put, people are interested in themselves and their own issues. Products and services are only interesting to individuals if they meet their needs. So if you want to reach your customer base you need to switch your communcation style from ME to YOU.

Web Ink Now: Nobody cares about your products and services (except you) via kwout

More Money More Ideas More Communication

The latest data just in. Not surprising the statistics continue to show an overwhelming level of confidence in the internet as the surest way to reach an audience as measured by ad spend. But what is most interesting is that businesses originally reluctant to move into social media are not finding an expanded way to utilise them. B2B on the social network scene is hotting up. The last bit of data is the line up of highest volume blog sites. Blogs are an important and flexible way to get your message out.

Web Video Ad Spend to Grow Worldwide - eMarketer via kwout

Social Networks Get Down to Business - eMarketer via kwout

Top 10 Blog and Personal Websites - July 2008 via kwout

Everything online is up: Luxury, Spend, Users

In this bi-weekly post I try and add some facts and figures on the digital trend to spure the already super-charged race to the digital frontier. My selection this week was chosen to highlight some misconceptions that are circulating. These are that overall ad spendng is going down, social networks have limited utility and life, and that high net worth individuals tend not to use internet resources. We know that none of these assumptions are true -- in fact, as you can see, it is quite the opposite.

Social Networking Explodes Worldwide, Facebook User Base Up 153% via kwout

The Wealthy Rate Investment Brokers and Real Estate Companies, Websites via kwout

Online is becoming the clear winner

I get enjoyment browsing through the hundreds, if not thousands, of feeds I recieve each week. There are always a couple of gems in the lot that validate all the hard work my colleagues and I are doing. It is difficult being ahead of the crowd. If you are so far ahead it can look like you are all alone, ha ha. But with a steady flow of data showing that people are catching up, soon this lonely feeling will be but a memory.

More than Half of US Adults Text, Blog, Otherwise Use Social Media via kwout

mri-ad-medium-preference-segmentation.jpg via kwout

Buzz Canuck: The Three Horse Media Race... via kwout

Facebook Iphone app reaches 1 million

Facebook Iphone app is the first to reach 1 million downloads. This and other compelling news is what I highlight in my weekly blog. From NBC taking the Olympics online to the number of Women exceeding men in Social Networks, the statistics coming in on New Media and Social Networks are anything but boring.

NBC Launches On-Demand Olympic Coverage In HD via kwout

Rapleaf Business: Press - Rapleaf Study of Social Network Users vs. Age via kwout

Short Web Video Dominates; Full Online Episodes Drive Users to Network TV via kwout

Online Activity Dominates Our Lives

8 video myths debunked - iMediaConnection.com via kwout

Just 10 Sites, Apps Averaged at least 500MM UK Online Minutes per Month via kwout

A new online game in China every 10 days; 79.5 million Internet users via kwout

Social Network Trends, Women and Ad Spend Lead

Marketing, Traffic rush spurs social networks sites, HONG KONG, Marketing, Event marketing, Branding, Effectiveness, Search marketing, Social Networking, | Market-interactive.com via kwout

Top 10 Online Video Properties in May; 12 Billion Videos Viewed in All via kwout

Women Primary Searchers for Wellness Information Online via kwout

Online Ad Spending Increases With User Confidence

There is an avalanche of studies showing a significant migration of advertising and marketing budgets toward online spending. This is on the heels of increasing consumer confidence in online channels for doing brand research and making purchases. Information found online is quickly becoming the preferred choice for consumers to formulate brand decisions. The below articles are compelling evidence that a dramatic shift is happening and critical mass has been achieved to keep the momentum.

fhhi-europe-internet-trust-safety.jpg via kwout

Video, Social Networking to Fuel Sixfold Increase in Global IP Traffic by 2012 via kwout

Interactive Media Advertising Growth on Major Upswing via kwout

Top 100 Advertisers Shifted $1 Billion To the Web Last Year At The Expense Of TV And Newspapers via kwout

If You Don’t Know The Answer, Ask Yourself

When you go to buy a new toy or plan a holiday where do you go for trusted advice? Well if you are like most people you spend some time on line doing some research, but you most likely ask a friend for recommendations. If this is the case, you are in good company.

A Neilson study showed that the top 3 sources for getting recommendations are:

78% from other consumers (friends)
63% newspaper articles
61% from consumers online they don’t know

The least trusted methods are:

34% search engine ads
26% banner ads on websites
18% text messages on mobile phones

So why are internet marketers continuing to push search engines, banner ads and text messages? The answer is simple, they will sell what they know, and not necessarily what is best. For too long, advertisers have delivered messages in one direction. Imagine trying to ask your TV a question?

Well, the internet is a social/ democratic medium. It is the first time in the history of mankind that everyone can contribute, comment and share ideas as a collective whole. When it is possible to have immediate access to personal endorsements or criticisms why look at advertisement?

We learn very early that advertising exists for 2 reasons:

1 it pays for the free stuff we get to watch
2 businesses have to convince us to buy stuff

So if you are a business and are wondering how to reach your online consumers, ask your self a simple question “what would I do”?

Advertising and marketing will be with us for a long time, but hopefully, online marketers will wake up and realise that the virtual world is a very different place.