I keep reading about the new normal.

That the over-the-top spending of the late 90’s and early 2000’s is over. That spending has gone down while saving has increased. That this pessimism everyone feels about the economy is here to stay, maybe not forever, but for a long, long while.

Even though the recession was declared over as of last summer, consumers and companies alike still feel its effects.

Most companies have not returned to their pre-recession ad budgets and there’s a chance that they won’t for a long time. For the first time, many companies were asked to justify their advertising budgets. Most companies have not returned to their pre-recession ad budgets and it’s going to take awhile before they do.

The good thing that has come out of it is the need to understand what is working and what is not. For the first time, many companies were asked to justify their advertising budgets. Of those that weren’t, it won’t be long until they are asked “But, how do you know it’s working?”

Here are just a few tips to get you moving in that direction:

1. Have some sort of tracking software for your website. If you don’t want to make an investment right away, use Google Analytics. It’s free and will still let you learn some valuable insights. When done properly, this will let you know what is bringing eyeballs to your site, how long they are staying and what they are looking at.

2. Vanity URLs. A vanity URL is just an extension on your web address. It could be something like www.WebAddress.com/Vanity. These should be used anywhere someone will actually see the address. When they type this into their browser, your tracking software will register what ad placement brought that visit in. Note: Using a vanity URL requires a 301 redirect.

3. For online, each placement should have it’s own tracking URL. The person on the other side of the screen doesn’t see a different URL, but when they click on your ad it’s coded to tell your tracking software what site the ad was on. If you’re using Google Analytics, there’s a tool that helps you build each one.

4. Use a call tracking system. Every site/publication/station should have it’s own phone number. When someone calls that number the source is retained in a database that can be accessed at any time. Many call tracking systems will let you record the phone call. As a CMO you can log in and listen to calls to see how your employees handle themselves.

5. Actually use the data. Compile the data in a way that is easy to see the big picture and actually pay attention to what it is telling you.

If you follow these and other tips, you should be able to see what part of your media plan is working and what part isn’t. I know this can sound tedious, but that is where an outside resource should be able to help. If the cost is something of concern, ask yourself “what is knowing worth?” And consider the fact that you could learn that the $100,000 media buy you thought was a perfect fit, actually wasn’t. Or you could learn that $2,000 campaign brought in more customers than any other buy.

Now that the wild wild west spending of the last decade is over, let us help you be prepared to answer the inevitable question.

Photo courtesy of Canolais

Since I work at a media planning agency, part of what I do includes research into new and interesting media opportunities. Besides it being part of my job, I really do love reading about new ways I can help my clients reach their audiences. In a recent AdAge I ran across an interesting article about just that. In it, the article describes how Cardlytics has partnered with some financial institutions to market in a previously uncharted territory – online bank statements.

How it works: The bank downloads the software, marketers sign up, consumers buy, which generates ads relevant to their purchases. The ads can be served on a rewards page, within the transactions or in a column beside the transactions. To activate the ad, the customer must simply click the ad. The coolest part, in my opinion, is that this is all the customer has to do. Once they make a purchase, either online or in-store, Cardlytics sees the purchase and applies the advertised discount or reward.

Currently they do not have a business model established for the B2B market, but I don’t think it will take long before one is created. After all, banks know whether an account is business or personal. Here is how I can see it working:

I, owner of Firestone’s Books, need office supplies. I decide to go to Office Max to pick up the items necessary to run my business. The next day I log on to look at my statement and below my purchase at Office Max is a Staples coupon for 10% off my next purchase. I’m interested and click to activate the ad. Later that month, I run out of ink for my printer. Knowing I have 10% off my next purchase, I head to Staples to buy a couple boxes of ink (they’re 10% off, so I might as well buy more than one), and some other items I forgot to pick up on my last supplies run. Staples is happy because they took market share from Office Max, I am happy because I saved 10%, and the bank is happy because I used their card when I could have used another company’s card. I should note, it doesn’t only work for competitors. A company can choose to use this as a form of loyalty program and reward their current customers.

The stats: The average activation rate is 15% but they’ve seen campaigns as high as 46%. This is a pay per performance model, so unless the ad is activated the marketer doesn’t pay.

Although it may seem like privacy would be a concern, Cardlytics only has access to the store’s name, date and total of the purchase and the customer’s zip code. All other information belongs, and stays, with the bank.

I like this opportunity because you know that the person seeing your ad is your target. If you’re trying to target your competitor’s customers, there’s no self-cannibalism of your current customers/sales to do so.

Contact us if you’re interested in hearing how we can incorporate new ideas into a media plan for you.

Image courtesy of mag3737

As a media planner I’ve had the opportunity to work on all types of plans across a wide variety of client types.  We’re talking B2B to B2C, traditional to emerging media, and client industries ranging from healthcare to manufacturing to technology.  One thing that is always important across all these types is understanding the target audience.  Where does your target audience spend time?  What media do they consume?  What interests them?  Understanding these variables plus several others will help marketers eliminate wasteful spending.  Ads will be delivered to relevant, qualified eyeballs.

An increasing important audience segment is the Hispanic population.

The Hispanic population recently surpassed African Americans as the largest minority in the United States. This is an extremely important shift to understand as it has implications to how marketing and media plans are developed.  The significance of this can be seen as we consider planning for the building products category.

As of 2007, there were an estimated 690,000 Hispanic-owned businesses in the construction, repair and maintenance industries. By 2008, over 30% of the workforce in the above industries were Hispanic. As if that stat wasn’t amazing enough, in the next 15 years, that number is expected to more than double and reach 63.2%. What does all of this mean? Building product manufacturers have a huge opportunity, however few have campaigns that focus entirely on this audience.

Hispanic-owned businesses are generally located in 3 areas of the U.S. – California, Florida and Texas. Considering that these 3 states include over 50% of the total Hispanic population in the U.S., it makes perfect sense that those same 3 states would have the highest percentages in Hispanic owned businesses.

Through our media planning experience we’ve identified several benefits to developing plans that focus on the Hispanic marketplace.  First, because the media is still emerging, it is generally more efficient than the equivalent, mainstream outlets. Next, because of the concentration of the audience in a three-state geography, a regional advertising plan to these states can be implemented.  This reduces the dependency on larger national media that carries a premium and has less targeting to offer.  Finally, the ad market is down.  This is true across most segments including the Hispanic market.

This is a great time for building product manufacturers to develop Hispanic focused marketing programs and conduct outreach to this ever-important audience.

I’ve garnered several insights having developed many media plans that focused significant portions of the budget to reach Hispanics. First, relationships matter. If you can develop a trusting relationship with the Hispanic audience your budget will gain efficiency.  Next, the Hispanic audience has demonstrated brand loyalty that exceeds the loyalty found in other segments. If building product manufacturers are successful at building and maintaining relationships now with the audience, they could see a substantial reward for doing so over the several years.

Building product manufacturers have an opportunity at hand to develop plans that reach out directly to the Hispanic contractor, construction companies and allied trades.  Contact us to find out how Point to Point can help with your media planning and buying or audience segmentation efforts.

Flickr photo courtesy of atomicShed

One thing (of many) they don’t teach in college is in order to be successful in media planning you need to have good relationships. Trust is something I never realized was going to be so important and can make (or break) just about any client situation.

On a recent pitch for a client in the architecture and design (A&D) market, it was my relationships that allowed me to say: “Here’s what we’re trying to do, what can you do to help me make this work? Are there any ideas you have that would be cool that this market would glom onto?”

Not to mention the fact that I needed that information at that exact minute. And in the instances where I had good relationships with reps, they really pulled through for me. Together we were able to come up with some great ideas, that the client loved.

On the flipside, a bad relationship and/or lack of trust can be brutal.

Keeping it within the A&D market, I recently had a situation where  a new rep asked why we did not include them in a recent buy. When I gave my reasons, that person became upset and went to the client touting how amazing his properties were.

And you know what, his properties are good, and I told him and the client that. But so are his competitors. It just didn’t make sense to go with his properties with the rates he was giving me. It still has to make financial sense.

Fast forward a couple weeks: I received information about the past year’s performance of one of those properties, and it was down almost 25% year-over-year. Once I saw that, it all became clear. The property is hurting for customers and the rep was trying to go over my head to get the client’s sign off on a campaign. This situation was a tutorial in what not to do when trying to build a relationship.

Luckily, the majority of agency/rep relationships fall within the good column, but occasionally someone does something to make you question their intentions. It’s because of this that I’ve learned to play 20 questions pretty well. And if something still doesn’t seem right, I’ll just keep going. For the most part I think reps respect the questions and that only helps me stock my toolbox with good, strong relationships. However, I did have a rep complain once that I asked too many questions. My response: “I’m just doing my job.”

If you’d like to take advantage of my good relationships, or just play 20 questions with me, contact us.

Flickr photo courtesy of sgrace

If one thing is certain it’s that as a media planning agency we are always looking for trackability. TV, radio and newspapers have always had that elusive “I know X amount of people can potentially see it, but how many ACTUALLY did?” question attached to them…until now, well for TV anyway.

When you miss your favorite show, do you log onto the website and see if it is hosted there? I do. When it’s there, and they are becoming increasingly more available, I’ll prop my laptop up and watch the show. Apparently I am not alone in this because CBS and the CW are taking full advantage of their online properties.

CBS was able to sell $37 million in streaming ads for this year’s March Madness. This is above and beyond what they made for traditional TV advertising. I think this worked particularly well for March Madness because many of the games were played while most people were working their daily 9-5’s. Because they couldn’t be at home watching the games, they streamed them online and listened at work.

The CW is jumping on board as well. They recently announced that starting next season, all online shows will have full commercial breaks. This may upset some viewers, since many have become accustomed to one or two ads per break, but being that it will be the only place to catch up on missed shows, the consumer will adapt.

The good news about all this is that all of the views are trackable! By using the online player, you are almost 100% guaranteed eyeballs (or at the very least ears) since there isn’t any way to fast-forward, unlike with actual television. And usually, there is a link somewhere in the area surrounding the video player, to the advertiser’s website. So if the ad is interesting enough, the viewer can immediately go to the advertising company’s website.

This is a media planner’s heaven! Now I can say this many people definitely saw my ad and this many people clicked to the website because of it. If the site is equipped, I might even be able to see how many people interacted with my ad-which only makes the buy more enticing.

I don’t think it is far off that the TV networks will make their online viewers register for their streaming shows. And just think of the advertising implications! If I register my birthday and gender, the site will know that I am a 20-something female and they can target ads that a 20-something female would be interested in. They can also keep a record as to which shows I watch and target based on that information, in case I fall outside the normal likes of a person my age. This means not only will I know that X people watched it, but all of those X people are within my target market. We’ve all heard the famous quote “I know half my advertising dollars are wasted, I just don’t know which half,” as we get more metric focused, we’ll only be more likely to be able to tell you which half is working!

If you’d like find out about our media planning services or marketing analytics packages, please contact us today.

Flickr photo courtesy of alles-schlumpf

I usually get to work a few minutes early, so I grab a cup of coffee and as I let the caffeine course through my veins, I log into Facebook and see what all my friends have been up to since the previous night. It’s such a routine that one of my co-workers would often walk by my desk and say “What’s up Facebook?” If I don’t check it in the morning, I feel it calling my name the second I get a free moment. As it turns out, I’m not nearly as bad off as some of the counterparts in my age bracket. Side note: I use the word “would” to describe my co-worker because in the last 6 months he too has signed up for FB and now understands the draw, and guess what he does first thing when he gets into the office?

According to eMarketer “48% of social media users log in to the sites either during the night or as soon as they wake up.” Some people are so addicted, 19% of those 24 and under and 11% of those 25 and older, that they update/check FB or Twitter anytime they wake up in the middle of the night.” Not surprisingly, those with iPhones are more likely to participate in these actions. In a recent poll, for those individuals younger than 25, 50% don’t mind interruptions to meals, 25% facebook or tweet while in the bathroom, and as many as 11% will “socialize” during intimate moments (now that is addicted!). When asked how long people could go without checking in, only 40% under 25 and 46% over 25 were able to say “a long time” (at minimum over a day). An earlier survey noted that 39% of Twitter users and 27% of FB users under the age of 35 check-in over 10 times a day.

For those of you not tuned in to how it can get so consuming, here’s a glimpse. There is something fun about knowing what my friends are doing all the time. Not to mention I love seeing what the people I haven’t seen in years are up to. I’ve even been fortunate to reconnect with an old friend and am having lunch with her (and her new baby girl) next week. See, some good has come from being addicted to Facebook.

Drop us a note if you would like even more reasons to consider a social media marketing agency. (You know, in case these stats weren’t convincing enough!)

Flickr photo courtesy of Vasjen Katro

It was recently released that Conde Nast’s GQ will receive the honor of being the first print magazine to be available on the iPad. The issue will be available in April (the same month the tablet is available), while other Conde Nast publications, such as Wired, Glamour, and Vanity Fair, will be available in later issues.

The functionality and formatting of advertisements still appears to be in question, but something tells me they will get that resolved pretty quickly.

Editor-in-Chief of Wired, Chris Anderson, thinks tablets are the future for magazines. As a media planner, the question is always, “How do we measure ROI on print ads?” Anderson expects this will eventually be a moot point. He says  “the tablet will be measuring what you did on a page, what engaged you.” In essence it will be able to tell marketers “what entices people to put their fingers on the screen.” This is utopia for a media planner!

This is not the first time GQ has stepped beyond its 8.5’’ x 11’’ pages. In December I wrote this blog post on GQ’s foray with augmented reality. Also in December, GQ released an iPhone app where it charged $2.99 for the digital issue. It sold 7,000 copies in December and 15,000 for the January issue.

Contact us if you’re interested in learning about our media planning agency.

One of my co-workers, Heather Evans, wrote a post a few months back on a webinar she had attended on the growth in consumption of online videos. A statistic she learned is each video viewer (of which there are over 100 million) spends about six hours per month watching video content online. Because of this, it makes sense to seriously consider incorporating a video strategy into your media plans, especially when looking at the healthcare market.

As a marketing director for a hospital or healthcare organization, you might be thinking “people aren’t going onto YouTube and searching for XYZ Hospital.” And I would second that statement. But they are going to YouTube to search for information on conditions, risks, prevention, and cures. Search “heart disease” and there are 221,000 videos to choose from. People searching for that term, and any other medical term, are hungry for credible, reliable information. As a healthcare organization, you are in a position to give it to them.

Here are some ways you can help people, while helping yourselves:

1. Create videos using your doctors. Keep the videos to a minute and a half to two minutes and make them simple to understand. Remember these are ordinary people you are talking too. Not only will the information given be valuable to the viewer, but it will also give the organization a face. It will also give the viewer an idea as to who the doctor is and a first impression on that doctor – this is your chance to control that first impression.

2. Buy keywords on YouTube. YouTube works like Google, where you can bid on keywords and get your information out there. So, if you created a video on heart disease and bid on related words, you could get your video to appear next to the proper results. In the videos description reference the doctor’s name and the organization he/she is affiliated with, along with what the video addresses.

3. Post the videos to YouTube using the same account. If the video thumbnail is clicked on it will take the viewer to the video, where it will also list all other videos submitted via the same login. Maybe there is something else the viewer wants to watch that your organization created.

4. Post the videos elsewhere. Now that you have this content, repurpose it. Use it on your Facebook page, on the company blog, on the company website, tease it with in-banner video ads on geo-targeted websites. Any place that it would make sense, use the videos.

5. Have a profile of the selected doctor on your organization’s website. Before or after viewing the video, some people may go to their favorite search engine and conduct a search on the doctor. They may want to make sure the doctor is legitimate or they may want more information on his/her background and expertise. By having the doctor’s profile on your site you are pulling them into it and giving them an experience with your brand.

Bonus Tip

6. Give contact information. This is the most important thing. Throughout every step, always include contact information. You never know what the last item the viewer will see, so make it easy for them to contact your organization or the doctor directly.

And on that note, contact us if you would like to hear other reasons and ways we could help you incorporate a video campaign into your media schedule.

Image courtesy of Ed Yourdon

Model Filipa Hamilton in "real life" and the photoshopped version of her in a Ralph Lauren ad. What person wouldn't look at that an feel self conscious, even if it is fake?

Spain is currently entertaining the idea of banning any advertisements “that encourage the cult of the body and have a negative impact on self-image” before 10 p.m. The reason being that the number of eating disorders is on the rise in Spain, and the hope is that this will help to reduce that growth. This isn’t Spain’s first go at it either. In 2007, many fashion retailers agreed to not use mannequins smaller than a size 6. And the year before that, Madrid became the first city to set standards that prohibited overly thin models from taking to the runways during fashion week.

As an advertiser, I understand where some critics are coming from. This will limit the amount of people viewing the message. On most nights, the majority of adults are in bed before midnight, so one might think the industry will suffer because even adults might not see the ads. Not to mention the fact that this can be viewed as a form of censorship and we all know what issues that can bring up.

But, as a female that grew up in [what I am dubbing] the “supermodel era” I applaud the Spanish government for this move.

(Cue the violins)

I can remember being very, very young, maybe somewhere between 7 and 9 years old, and worrying that the interstate bridge would collapse under my weight. What child that young thinks those thoughts on her own? That idea had to come from somewhere, right?  Although I have gotten past that irrational fear, I will easily admit that I still have a self-image problem, as do the majority of my female friends. Can I say it was a direct result of advertisements? Probably not, but the constant reminders to be thin certainly didn’t help either. And when young girls see images like the one above, all they know is they want to look like her because everywhere they turn they are bombarded with images telling them that is the way they need to look to be considered pretty. They have no concept of the fact that that body has been photoshopped to near death.

I think there is an underlying point that is being overlooked here.  Isn’t our jobs as advertisers to make sure we are being socially responsible? Shouldn’t we use images that are accurate?   Think about it this way. There are advertising laws that mandate that images/advertisements for food have to actually be taken of the food being sold. Why shouldn’t there be a law that prohibits the use of dramatically and falsely “enhanced”images that are used to promote health, beauty and fashion products?   After all, there is no way that shirt in the picture above would look like that on a model that skinny. Don’t forget, that if the model was slimmed down so was the entire outfit, thus altering the products being sold.

Although a government step in can be bad for an advertiser, we have to remember that we are all people. And ultimately, we have to do what is best for ourselves as mothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, brothers, and dads…and then worry about the bottom line. Who knows, maybe this will end up being more good than bad. I know on the days that I feel fat, I don’t want to do anything but lay in bed. On days where I feel good about myself, I like to shop and spend money. Isn’t that the main goal anyway?

What do you think of Spain stepping in? Will it help the citizens more than harm the industry?

I recently read an article that stated a fact we all know: Americans are trying to avoid advertising. We DVR shows, we station surf on the radio or subscribe to satellite  and now many Americans are avoiding websites that has overly intrusive ads. For us marketers this only means we have to try harder and harder, and get more creative, in order to reach our desired audiences. The TV show Desperate Housewives seems to have glommed onto this idea and is getting creative with its advertisers.

I was watching the show this past Sunday and started to fast forward (yes, even I do it) through a commercial break. Then I noticed list, the kind of list Santa Claus uses, with all the characters names on it. Curious as to what that was about, I rewound and watched. It was a Wal-Mart commercial with gifts for the main characters. (I did try to find the spot for this post, but it was nowhere to be found. So while I am touting Wal-Mart for being creative and creating this one-time use spot, I am disappointed in them for not posting the commercial on YouTube, or creating a cool social media campaign around it. How cool would it have been to give the characters what YOU thought they deserved from the Wal-Mart website?!) Now whether this spot stuck with me because I’m in advertising or because I was intrigued by it, I don’t know. The point is it worked. I stopped fast forwarding, rewound and watched the spot. Once it was over, guess what…I fast forwarded through the remainder of the commercials.

Recently, Sprint did a similar thing with the launch of the Palm Pre. They worked with the writers of DH to create the “Another Desperate Housewife” mini-mystery (see above video for part 1). A new spot would appear weekly with the enticing plot line of a philandering husband whose wife caught him when he received a text from his mistress. Basically it was an 8 week, :50 miniseries within a commercial break. I feel that these were even more effective than the Wal-Mart spot because there was an evolving plot line that kept viewers wanting more. And for those that missed one, the spots are also housed on abc.com (where they also served up a :30 pre-roll video from Sprint before each spot began). There were even some comments from people asking for more spots!

In both of these instances placement played a major role. The commercials were the first spot in a break, and therefore did not get lost in fast forwarding. To be effective, all elements had to be just right, and in these instances I think they hit the nail on the head.

Have there been any recent commercials that have sparked your interest?