June 2010 Archives

Social Network Hotspots: Boston, Boulder and... Boise?
by Erik Sass, Tuesday June 29, 2010

Apparently April showers bring May-June overviews: There has been a remarkable spate of research about social networks over the last two months, and it shows no signs of abating as we move into summer. The latest study, the "2010 Social Networking Report" from Experian Simmons has some interesting findings about the who, what, and why of current social networking behavior -- but perhaps most interesting is the where factor.

Some of the data, will impressive, probably doesn't come as much of a surprise: for example, the fact that 66% of U.S. online adults have visited a social networking site in the last 30 days, up from 53% in 2008 and a more than threefold increase from 20% in 2007 (probably even more, considering the online population has increased over the same period). Like other recent studies, the Experian Simmons research suggests social networking is habit-forming, not to say addictive, with 43% of the social networking cohort -- 28% of the total U.S. online population -- checking in multiple times every day.

Experian Simmons also took a look at the motives of social network users, and found an increasing number use networks to stay in touch with their family (70%, up from 61% a year ago), while 88% use them to keep in touch with friends, and 39% use them to express themselves and their views. In terms of the age breakdown, nearly 90% of 18-34-year olds use social network sites, along with 69% of adults ages 35-49, and 41% of adults 50+.

To me, all this suggests that social networks are really following in the footsteps of email and the telephone -- a new technology which insinuates itself into our lives at the most basic, fundamental level, changing society forever. Obviously this is a good place for marketers to be, if they can figure out how to make it work. On that note, 68% of social network site visitors said they have become a "fan" or "friend" of a product, service, company, or musical group, up from 57% just one year ago. It's also very good news for Facebook: fully 46% of the U.S. adult online population said they visited Facebook in the last 30 days, giving it momentum and reach unmatched by any rival.

What I found most interesting about the Experian Simmons data was the geographic breakdown of social networking usage. There were hotspots in some of the places you'd expect, including most big metropolitan centers and college towns: on the Experian Simmons map, the group of high-indexing locales included Boston; northern Virginia and Maryland around Washington, D.C.; upstate New York around my hometown of Ithaca (home to Cornell and Ithaca College); central Texas around Houston, Austin, and San Antonio, and Wisconsin and Michigan around Madison and Ann Arbor, respectively. As one might expect there was also a very high concentration in the Pacific northwest and hip yuppie magnets like Colorado.

A bit more surprising was the fact that the Pacific northwest hotspot (by far the single biggest concentration of high-indexing areas) extended east and then south to encompass most of Idaho, western Montana, Utah and Wyoming. Having spent a decent amount of time in all these places -- my mom is a native of Idaho -- I will say I was a bit taken aback to see them so thoroughly enmeshed in the social network revolution. This is probably the result of some stereotypical thinking on my part: I guess I imagine the inhabitants of these rugged western states as being as independent and indifferent to all this modern fuss as the cowboys of old. But on reflection, there's no reason cowboys can't be on Facebook too nowadays.

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

Mountain Dew Lets Fans Plan Tour, Events
by Karlene Lukovitz, Monday June 28, 2010

Typically, a brand event is at least months in the planning -- or if not, likely requires hyper mode by the agencies handling it.

But while seat-of-the-pants activation may be inadvisable for most events, a 30-day, 69-city "grassroots" promotion tour that was part of Mountain Dew's year-long "DEWmocracy 2" campaign may point to an alternative worth considering.

In synch with DEWmocracy 2's mission of engaging fans by having them campaign and vote to determine which of three new Dew flavors would be rolled out by PepsiCo, the destinations, activities and venues for the "DEWmocracy: The Flavor Campaign" tour were also largely determined by fans.

The basic concept: Three mobile teams comprising agency/marketer reps and hardcore Dew fans -- each team "campaigning" for its own Dew flavor (White Out, Typhoon or Distortion) -- were sent on cross-country tours to engage people in the flavor competition/voting through live events over four weeks, starting May 1.

The teams got the ball rolling by using online and social media to let people know about the tour and doing some initial organization of campaigning theme challenges that would involve activities like skateboarding competitions, art exhibits, and sampling opportunities at concerts/sporting events. But fans were told they would be calling the shots on which cities were visited and the specifics of activities to take place in their areas, including input on venues.

As a result, many event decisions were made on the fly, based on consumers' input via Twitter and a dedicated microsite. Fans also were urged to rally friends and families to participate in the events, post photos and video content online and vote for their favorite flavor.

The results were eye-opening, says Matt Statman, founder of Motive, the lead creative agency for the tour, who estimates that about 60% of tour activity decisions were made by consumers.

The teams distributed about 60,000 samples of the Dew flavors, made direct, in-person contact with more than 100,000 consumers, and generated more than 1.5 million total impressions in person, online and through social media, he tells Marketing Daily.

Equally important was the level of personal involvement exhibited by fans. "I've been doing event marketing for 20 years," says Statman. "Usually, tours are so prepared, with the costs and logistics of each stop pinned down well in advance. This experience was a game-changer, from my perspective. Tapping the 'collective intelligence' by turning decisions over to consumers resulted in far more opportunistic and meaningful engagement. The loyalty- and community-building results were huge. I'll definitely be thinking about using the core concept for future campaigns."

Consumers proved eager to bring the tours to their towns, frequently volunteering or securing low- or no-cost venues in their communities, as well as generating local coverage of their events. For instance, one avid Dew fan threw a party in his own basement, and was interviewed about it the next day on a local ABC-TV affiliate.

Large venues like arenas also proved quite receptive to last-minute Dew-fan "crash" sampling events during concerts and sports events, and many even offered lower-than-normal rates for hosting these "guerrilla" events, reports Statman. An unexpected but welcome side benefit: The tour's overall activation costs came in well under budget.

Some of the events that took place during the tour:

• As part of a "Say I Dew Challenge" theme, Team White Out hosted a Mountain Dew-themed wedding in Portland, Ore. that was covered by the local CBS affiliate. Team Typhoon hosted a wedding reception (with a Typhoon cake) for two Dew fans being married in Gatlinburg, Tenn. In Detroit, Team Distortion took part in nuptials that featured the soda flavor's color theme.

• Each team collected endorsements for its flavor, ranging from the mayor and fire department of Pigeon Forge, Tenn. to a visit/inspirational message from "Benjamin Franklin" during a Philadelphia event.

• An "Art of Good Taste" challenge encouraged fans to tap into their local art scenes to create events and bring the teams to their towns. Team White Out hosted a poster show in which local Denver artists submitted prints with their interpretations of a "White Out" theme. Team Distortion took part in a rooftop graffiti show in New York City, and Team Typhoon participated in a fashion show in Nashville.

• As part of a "Skate Competition/Parkour Challenge," Team Typhoon organized a skating competition in Vans Skate Park in Orlando, Fla. and Team Distortion held one in Philadelphia. Team White Out held a "Parkour Jam Session" in Kansas City, Mo.

• In a "Dew Goes Pro" challenge, teams attended and brought sampling opps to both professional (New York Mets, Durham Bulls, Seattle Mariners) and regional league team games.

• Each team took part in identifying concerts to "crash," which Dew fans attended with glow sticks, beach balls and ample soda samples. Concerts crashed included Seether, 2am Club with Mike Posner and April Smith & The Great Picture Show.

• All three teams were on hand for the Indy 500 weekend and tour finale. More than 20,000 samples were distributed from locations along the parade route and outside the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

PepsiCo recently announced that the White Out flavor won the competition, pulling 44% of votes versus 40% for Typhoon and 16% for Distortion. In total, the campaign reportedly drew more than 2 million votes, and increased the brand's Facebook fans by nearly 800,000.

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

Chipotle Mexican Grill Wants Your Spam
by Karlene Lukovitz, Friday, June 25, 2010

No, it's not some kind of masochistic thing.

It's a clever social media- and Web advertising-driven campaign designed to generate donations for a nonprofit encouraging healthier, locally sourced school meals, while simultaneously reinforcing Chipotle Mexican Grill's message that fast food needn't be "junk" food.

The QSR's "No Junk" campaign, launching June 25, is asking people to forward their own junk emails to the chain (at nojunk@chipotlejunk.com).

For every 100,000 junk emails received (up to a 500,000 maximum), Chipotle will donate $10,000 to The Lunch Box, a new initiative from the F3: Food Family Farming Foundation that will offer 100,000 schools nationwide (32 million children) recipes and other tools for implementing healthy, whole foods-based, economical meal programs. The recipes are from F3 founder/"Renegade Lunch Lady" Ann Cooper, a chef and book author who, according to her bio, has made it her life's mission to advocate for better food for all children.

The "No Junk" campaign -- which will run through August (or until the maximum donation level is reached) -- ties in with Chipotle's "Food with Integrity" brand promise, based on its commitment to using premium-quality ingredients from sources that are more sustainable than any other national restaurant company, according to the chain.

For example, the 1,000-unit, nationwide chain uses meat from animals that are raised naturally (vegetarian diets with no hormones or antibiotics) and humanely, and dairy products from cows not treated with the synthetic hormone rBGH. Chipotle also continues to increase the amounts of locally/organically grown produce used in its restaurants.

The inspiration for the campaign was to convey Chipotle's desire to "help people to get junk out of their lives," Chris Arnold, the chain's public relations director, tells Marketing Daily. "Junk email is certainly one good example and, while we can't eliminate it from people's lives, we can at least help them put this negative to productive use."

To drive participation, Chipotle will run banner ads on targeted sites, as well as leverage Facebook.

The chain has created a "No Junk" tab on its Facebook page, which currently has about 750,000 fans. In addition to posting about the cause-related campaign, Chipotle is offering fans a "How Happy Are You?" game in which players' happiness levels go up when they "catch" a healthy Chipotle menu item or ingredient with a virtual fork, and go down when the item caught is "mass-produced junk food." Links encourage players to share the game with other social media users.

The brand will also get the word out via its Twitter presence, although that's not as robust as its Facebook fan base, says Arnold. Chipotle's Web site, due to being mid-redesign, won't promote the campaign, he says.

People who forward junk emails can rest assured that the content won't be read by Chipotle, and that the chain won't add their email addresses to its promotional database unless they opt in via a reply email triggered by their forwarding of junk email. The reply email will also point interested participants to Chipotle's site to learn more about its "Food with Integrity" promise/practices, and to TheLunchBox.org.

F3's stated mission is to help change the food system in the U.S. to an ecologically sound, sustainable model. The organization educates through training programs, direct services, a Web portal and collateral channels. In addition to Cooper, its founders include Chez Panisse Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Orfalea Foundations, the Colorado Health Foundation, the Compton Foundation and Whole Foods Market Inc.

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

The Promise and Peril of Social Search
by Erik Sass, Wednesday June 23, 2010

Microsoft is rolling out some interesting new features for its Bing iPhone app, which have the potential to totally change the search experience for users by incorporating content from their friends' Twitter and Facebook accounts into search results. This is obviously a cool new capability -- but I can also foresee some potential problems arising if marketers try to combine this function with social commerce.

Basically, the new Bing feature lets you connect your Facebook and Twitter accounts to the search engine, giving it access to all the content your friends have chosen to share with you. Clearly there are some nifty uses for this: imagine that you're going to buy a product -- say, a new phone. If you search for the phone name, you'll turn up the usual suspects like the manufacturer's home page, articles about the device, and Web reviews, but also anything your friends may have said about it.

It seems to me this would obviously be an attractive arena for marketers to get involved in. It's not hard to imagine a system where brand marketers reward people for influencing their friends' online behavior, including purchases, through social search. Really, this would just be taking the established practice of word-of-mouth marketing and giving it a passive spin. But they would do well to approach with caution, because I think the potential for blowback is much greater too.

Using standard Web tracking features, marketers could determine whether someone's comments about a product helped persuade a friend to do more research or buy the product: for example, the friend might see a comment, "I got the new Justin Bieber single OMG it is so great" and then download the song herself. This should be pretty easy to do through paid search placements alongside organic search results, or targeted banner ads alongside Facebook or Twitter comments. Once the marketers have this kind of information, they can begin rewarding the influencers with points or virtual currency to get free stuff.

The potential problem here, as with some other word-of-mouth marketing tactics, is that a situation arises in which a person is unwittingly receiving marketing messages from their friends and acquaintances. One obvious solution -- the only solution, it seems to me -- is full disclosure: the system could be designed to include prominent notices that their friends are being compensated for their participation in a marketing program.

Of course, this may diminish the effectiveness of the system. But that's kind of the whole point. The risks associated with a marketer not disclosing that are recruiting networks of friends for social search marketing campaigns is enormous: should their participation be discovered by accident (as seems pretty likely) they could not only destroy trust in the search engine and brand, but spread discord in actual friendships.

To give another example: imagine Joe buys a car after seeing Mike rave about it, only to discover later that Mike gets free tuneups at the dealer in exchange for his advocacy. Then when Joe's car turns out to be a lemon, he suddenly realizes why Mike needs all those free tuneups, and (justly) feels he's been taken advantage of. Angry words are exchanged over the hedge, dinner plans canceled, leaves dumped surreptitiously ... and car brand X is central to the whole debacle -- probably the worst contextual association a brand could ever experience.

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

Look Ma, No Hands: More Than Half Of Companies Say They Are Using Social Media With No Strategy
by Gavin O'Malley, Tuesday June 22, 2010

While 78% percent of corporate respondents say their company is using social media, only 41% say they have a strategic plan in place to guide such activity, according to a new study from marketing firm Digital Brand Expressions.

Of those companies that have some semblance of a social media strategy, 94% say that marketing activities are included in the plan; 71% said public relations were factored into the equation; and 55% say that they use social media for sales-related activities.

"It's fairly well established that social media is a channel that businesses must participate in, leaving CEOs with the new challenge of planning and implementing brand aligned initiatives enterprise-wide," said Veronica Fielding, president and CEO of Digital Brand Expressions.

Even for the firms that do have a strategic plan in place, only 29% reported distributing policies and/or communications protocols to employees via social channels. "This leaves the majority of organizations exposed to problems arising from employees saying the wrong things in the wrong ways to the wrong people at the wrong time," according to the report.

Meanwhile, most companies appear to be shooting from the hip, with no cohesive game plan or measurement systems in place. Even among those with a plan, few have written policies and communications protocols in place, leaving the organization exposed to problems arising out of employees communicating in ways that inadvertently hurt -- rather than help -- their company brands.

Among those companies that are presently executing social media plans, 69% have set up metrics/tracking methods to measure ROI of such activities, while 71% plan for ongoing monitoring of brand reputation across the social media landscape.

Another 71% claim to be preparing and distributing protocols and policies for ongoing communications, including how to respond to positive/negative comments on social media Web sites.

Also of note, the majority -- 74% -- of respondents said their marketing departments should be responsible for the creation and maintenance of all strategic social media plans. About half -- 51% -- said their corporate communications team should be in charge of such efforts, while 28% said their executive team should lead all social efforts.

Of the 100 companies that DBE surveyed in May, the majority -- 49% -- were made up of less than 50 employees; 32% were made of us 50-99 employees; and 19% were made up of more than 1,000 employees.

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

BP Gets Social Media Right -- Everything Else Wrong
by Erik Sass, Monday June 21, 2010

At the beginning of May, I took a look at BP's social media strategy (or rather at the empty space where it should have been) as it struggled to contain and counteract the very negative PR fallout from the ongoing environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. I also solicited ideas from readers about potential social media strategies the stricken energy giant might employ towards this end. Now, over a month and a half later, it seems BP finally has a substantial social media strategy in place -- just as all its other damage-control efforts have gone off the rails. And while it's just more misery for BP's PR folks, this ironic situation provides an interesting case study of the relationship between social media and other media channels -- and how much social media success depends on these external factors.

First, I should recognize the social media achievement: After a period of curious passivity (for example ceding Twitter to a satirical poster, @BPGlobalPR, who flayed the company daily, and continues to do so) BP finally managed to create a dedicated microsite for the oil spill cleanup operations, hosted on the company's main Web site. This is important because it allows BP's PR team to present the kind of crafted messages that were missing from the more technical, nuts-and-bolts site maintained by the joint response team, including the Coast Guard and other concerned agencies. These messages allow the company to present a more human face -- expressions of regret, plans for relief to inhabitants of the Gulf region, and so on. There are also regular multimedia updates on the site via Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr.

As the social media strategy finally takes flight, however, it's becoming increasingly clear that no amount of Tweeting or YouTubing can fix the basic problem: BP's bosses, who seem hellbent on embodying the stereotype of the venal, uncaring corporate overlords. Even their attempts to express determination or sympathy somehow come out wrong, from CEO Tony Hayward's plaintive wish to get his life back (yacht racing, etc.) to chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg's feudal concern for the serfs -- sorry, "small people."

Some commentators have gone for the hackneyed cultural explanation -- different emotional styles in Europe vs. America -- but that's obviously not it: Some of the harshest criticism for Hayward's testimony came from British newspapers, with The Daily Telegraph saying he "looked like a tired undertaker who was rather bored with having to look mournful." No, it seems that BP is just cursed with bosses who are not ready for primetime, or indeed any kind of public interaction. And with corporate leaders unable to execute even the most basic PR maneuvers -- look upset, apologize sincerely, repeat as needed -- there is almost no point in having a social media strategy, or any other kind of media strategy for that matter. Social media campaigns are laborious, time-intensive work. Like an ant colony, myriad individuals slowly build up a communal structure, with progress measured in small increments -- until the giant Italian loafers of the bosses come down and unwittingly demolish the whole thing.

Summing up, social media is just that -- media, a means for conveying content. It cannot substitute for the content itself. It can't, say, transform a gaffe-prone exec into a sparkling public speaker. Even the most brilliant social media strategist can't turn crap into gold. At this point, fixing BP's problems is up to its board of directors; once they get that sorted out, maybe they can use social media to begin repairing the company's image.

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

Gaia Readies Analytics Surge For Social Network Advertisers
by Laurie Sullivan, Sunday June 20, 2010

Promoting theatrical and DVD releases for Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland," Gaia Online scattered 37 million rabbit holes throughout the social media site. Avatars clicking on a rabbit hole fell down into a Flash environment where they drank a potion and shrank to fit through a door leading into Wonderland, where they could hang out and chat or participate in games.

Advertisers, marketers and their agencies have begun to request deeper interaction between the brand and site members, and to demand detailed reports and analytics to support return on investment (ROI) claims. "We are being asked to track everything, from how many clicks on those rabbit holes and trailers viewed, to engagement within the ad units and number of unique visitors to a particular part of the site," says Chris Davis, Gaia senior vice president of global sales.

Depending on the brand, advertisers require a variety of metrics. For Alice in Wonderland, Disney asked Gaia to measure how long people spend in the Wonderland Flash environment, how many people played the game where they mimicked Alice's expressions before being given Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter Hat from the movie, the quantity of hats that were distributed, and the click-through rate on banners.

That type of interaction does not go unnoticed. Experian Hitwise estimates that the time per site visitor spent on GaiaOnline.com in May 2010 averaged 34 minutes and 54 seconds.

Coke took notice. The soft drink maker will sponsor Gaia's summer event, Davis says. The summer camp-style virtual outing, where avatars will form teams and pull resources to accomplish tasks, begins in July and runs about four weeks. As part of the Coke campaign, Gaia will allow site visitors to vote on the Flash environment built on behalf of the soft drink brand. A home page announcement will ask people to vote on the promotion they want to see.

Gaiaonline.com, a social site for ages 13 to 24, also recently launched promotions for "SIMS 3" and "Toy Story 3." Advertisers and marketers want deeper integration than banner ads can provide.

Engagement at Gaia gets data through third-party tags that partners or agencies provide, as well as internal proprietary platforms. Tags in pages and cookies in browsers tell the social site when someone enters and exits a specific space on the site, how much time they spend, and the time they interact with the sponsor.

Gaia relies on a proprietary analytic system, as well as DoubleClick Dart for Publishers (DFP) and Omniture, to monitor traffic.

Davis says many of the site's members have grown up with the social network. Kids must be age 13 to register, but Gaia has been around for about seven years. Not a ton of traffic comes from search engines, he says, but originates through bookmarked browsers, which suggests social networks are fast becoming the first site many people sign on to when visiting the Internet.

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

Are Publishers Embracing The Post-iPad Age?
by Gavin O'Malley, Wednesday June 16, 2010

Are consumers actually engaging more with content on devices like smartphones and tablets? Publishers in attendance for OMMA Publish on Wednesday wanted to know.

Heck yeah, said Cameron Clayton, VP of mobile for The Weather Channel. "The iPhone changed everything from an engagement point of view." To date, The Weather Channel has recorded 10 million downloads, and now sees 5 million uniques a month.

"The ad story is huge; the paid version is huge," said Clayton. The iPad experience is different, he said. "It's about weekends," when the publisher witnesses a 300-to-400% spike versus the weekdays.

Rick Levine, VP of editorial operations at Conde Nast, said GQ readers are spending nearly the same amount of time with iPhone apps -- 65-70 minutes a month -- that they do with the magazine -- 80 minutes a month. By contrast, readers spend less than 10 minutes a month browsing GQ.com, said Levine. "We think that there's a tremendous appeal to getting a magazine digitally."

Of particular note, Jeff Litvack, GM of global product development at The Associated Press, said he's not seeing the same level of engagement on Android devices as he is on Apple devices. He wasn't sure exactly why, but he suggested it could have something to do with the "experience."

What's the real value of a publisher's iPad investment? Beyond usership numbers -- which are still quite modest -- the branding possibilities "can't really be overstated," Sarah Rotman Epps, a consumer product strategy analyst at Forrester Research, said Wednesday. "Numbers tell part of the story, but not the whole thing." Also of note, she said, is the fact that the revenue per impression that publishers can charge on something like an iPad is very attractive.

More broadly, the future for publishers is "app-centric and multiplatform," said Rotman. "Even browsers are starting to feature apps." Why? Apps allow publishers to deliver this curated experience to users -- some that they can charge a premium for.

Users increasingly want go "go deeper" with apps, Rotman added. Browsers will play a role, but it will be "different."

More than Facebook integration or app development, however, publishers should be thinking of new and creative ways to differentiate themselves.

"What we're not hearing a lot is how publishers differentiate themselves," Josh Jacobs, SVP of Brand Advertising Products and Global Marketing at Glam Media, said Wednesday.

Added Mike Tatum, a partner at digital media company Whiskey Media: "The normalization is killing our industry."

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

Wednesday June 16, 2010

Social Media Driving Consumer Behavioral Changes
FROM THE CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH

According to a recent report from ROI Research Inc., sponsored by Performics, "S-Net The Impact of Social Media," social media permeates consumers' lives and affects communication, shopping and other activities, driving changes in consumer behavior online.

The study of 3,000 U.S. social network users delved deeper into how social sites affect family and friend relationships and consumer attitudes towards brands and products:

• 80% of respondents have an active Facebook account, and 23% of those without an active Facebook account plan to join in the next month
• 67% of respondents have reconnected with people through social networking sites that they never would have otherwise
• 39% of Twitter users respond to other people's tweets once a week or more
• 30% of respondents access Facebook and/or Twitter from their mobile phone (through a browser or application) once a day or more

Daina Middleton, CEO of Performics, says "Social networks have made... substantial changes in the lives of their users... (as they) more actively participate with brands and each other... More than a third of all respondents reported using a search engine to further learn after seeing an ad on a social networking site... more than a third think social networking sites are good sources of information about companies and products..."

 Consumers reported a desire to connect with brands throughout the study:

• 50% of Facebook users click on Facebook ads to "like" a brand
• 37% learned about a new product or service from a social networking site
• 32% of respondents have recommended a product/service/brand to friends via a social networking site
• 32% of Twitter users re-tweet content provided by a company or product

Middleton added that "... it's a groundswell of technology-enabled word of mouth...  shifting from strict consumerism to... two-way participation between brands and everyday customers..."

Scott Haiges, president of ROI Research, concludes that "... users are not only satisfied, they want more... respondents expressed a strong desire to get:

• More printable coupons [49%]
• Notifications of sales and special deals [46%]
• Information about new products [35%]

And, eCommerce predicts that by end of 2010, almost 9 out of 10 corporate businesses will engage through social networking portals. On Facebook, says research from ComScore, the visitors who spend the most time on the site also spend the most dollars on online shopping, with an average of $67 in spending for the top 20% of visitors.

The comScore research report says that people using Twitter are more likely to purchase Online than people using Facebook, who tend to communicate or play games. Twitter users are more interested in updates from brands, and the amount of information about products and services are more available through Twitter than Facebook, notes the comScore study.

For more information visit www.exacttarget.com

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Coffee 'n Email

FROM THE CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH

According to a new study by ExactTarget, based on more than 1,500 consumer interviews, 58% of U.S. online consumers begin their day interacting with companies on Email, compared to 20% who start their day on search engines and 11% on Facebook. Consumers' early morning online preferences reflect key differences in their motivations for interacting with companies across email and social media, observes the report.

Morgan Stewart, principal, ExactTarget's research and education group, says:

• "Consumers who check email first tend to be more task-oriented, subscribe to more emails and interact with brands across email and social media to obtain deals, promotions or new product information...
•  ... in stark contrast to people who initially check Facebook, who tend to draw firmer, more segregated boundaries and become fans of brands for entertainment purposes or to show support for a company or product."
• Key findings of the research include the fact that 93% of U.S. consumers subscribe to email marketing messagesand 42% of U.S. online consumers use Facebook at least once a day. And, of these:
• 69% are a fan of one or more companies
  54% of U.S. consumers between the ages of 18 and 24 are fans of brands on Facebook.
  While consumers between the ages of 18 and 34 are the most active demographic on Facebook and Twitter, they are also among the most active on email.
• 43% of all online consumers are either fans or followers of at least one brand on Twitter or Facebook
• 68% of daily Twitter users follow at least one brand, yet only 7% of U.S. consumers participate on Twitter with that frequency

Tim Kopp, ExactTarget's chief marketing officer, said "... Consumers' initial online activity provides a glimpse into their priorities and motivations... marketers must move quickly to... deliver the most compelling and relevant messages... "

For more information visit www.exacttarget.com

Virgin Asks Twitter Followers To Name Its 'Canadian Bird'
by Laurie Sullivan, Friday, June 11, 2010

Social media has become an interesting way for consumers to connect with Virgin America, especially via Twitter. So when the airline decided to add a flight to Toronto, Canada -- its first international destination -- it turned toward Twitter followers asking for names.

The promotion, Name our Canadian Bird, asked Twitter followers to submit their Canadian-themed plane names for the Airbus A320 set to take flight to Toronto later this month. Virgin America plans to post the 10 top picks for voting, and then christen the No. 1 choice on the new aircraft. The promotion kicked off earlier this week, but Virgin America service from Los Angeles and San Francisco to Toronto begins June 23.

Twitter followers got creative. There have been 400 Canadian bird plane name submissions so far. Although not yet ranked, Abby Lunardini, Virgin America's director of corporate communications, says a few company favorites are Plane Gretzky, OOT & ABOOT, Eh-bus in the Hoose, The Eh 320, Like a Virgin, International for the very first time, V-Dot in the T-Dot, Torontino, Flying Zamboni, Northern Exposure, and Canuck Connect.

It doesn't appear that Twitter's failure to support the volume of traffic on the site during the past week has had a negative impact on its Promoted Tweets program. Lunardini says it has not angered or frustrated consumers at all. In fact, Twitter has become a common way for consumers to communicate with Virgin America.

Lunardini recalls that a consumer using WiFi during a flight had trouble getting an attendant's attention, so he sent a tweet to the brand asking for help to track down an attendant to order a meal. Marketers back at corporate managed to get that message and seat number to the flight crew on the plane.

Although Twitter had difficulties with the site recently, experiencing periodic outages, that kind of quick response from Virgin America has become quite common.

Susan Etlinger, consultant at analyst firm Altimeter Group, describes Twitter's "Fail Whale" as an artifact from the days when the site was the "latest bright, shiny object -- a whimsical, human way to say, 'sorry, we messed up," she says. But increasingly, marketers have begun to think of Twitter as an integral part of their mix.

Fail Whale sightings definitely lose their charm for organizations that rely on Twitter as an essential medium to connect with consumers, but Etlinger doesn't think marketers will give up on the platform just yet. "Many know -- or should know -- they don't have access to the full Twitter feed anyway, so even on a good day, they are only seeing a sample of the total Twitter traffic," she says. "That's why they need to have a social media monitoring tool that aggregates multiple media streams -- news, blogs, communities, images, YouTube -- so they have a comprehensive view of what's happening online as it relates to their brand."

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

Denny's Pumps Up Social Media Efforts Amid Troubles
by Karlene Lukovitz, Thursday June 1, 2010

Social media is likely not the #1 priority these days at Denny's, what with searches for both a new CEO and a new CMO now underway and heavy investor pressure to rejuvenate the brand and jump-start its sales.

(On June 8, Denny's announced that chairman/CEO, Nelson Marchioli, who had survived an ouster attempt by an investor group in May, is now being replaced on an interim basis by board chair Debra Smithart-Oglesby. The chain's former CMO, Mark Chmiel, resigned at the end of last year.)

Still, from a marketing standpoint, it's interesting to note that the company is pushing forward with efforts to enhance its social media outreach, even as a new top-level strategic team tackles the job of reassessing the business's fundamentals.

In the last six months, in particular, the chain has been accelerating social media efforts intended to go beyond pushing out basic promotional/coupon offers -- efforts more focused on engaging fans and prospects with one another and with the brand, confirms Alan Miller, co-founder/co-owner of L.A.-based Filter Creative Group, the agency handling Denny's social media programs.

The latest effort, launched on June 8 and running through June 27, is a Father's Day "card maker" application being promoted through the chain's main brand and "Allnighter" Facebook fan pages and Twitter presences, as well as its email database.

Users register and create a card to email or print out for dad, and the card comes with a coupon for a free ice cream float for dad ... well, free with any purchase from the chain's new "$2 $4 $6 $8 Value Menu" or an entrée from its general menu. (The free-with-purchase nature of the offer is perhaps notable, given that disgruntled investors' criticisms have included charges that outright food giveaways, such as Denny's annual Free Grand Slam Breakfast day, have not succeeded in winning new, regular customers.)

As of June 10, more than 7,000 consumers had already created Father's Day cards, according to the chain. This follows a similar card-maker effort for Mother's Day, in which more than 13,000 users created cards in less than a week, reports Miller.

Denny's main brand Facebook page has attracted about 49,000 fans since its launch (along with an associated Twitter presence) in February 2009. But these general-brand Facebook/Twitter presences actually emerged from the success of the launch, nearly a year earlier, of a Facebook page and Twitter account that were created specifically in support of Denny's "Allnighter" initiative -- its effort to attract a young crowd with a hipper environment and special menu featured between 10 a.m. and 5 a.m.

The Allnighter Facebook page (which now has about 72,000 fans) has offered a variety of engagement devices, including mobile apps like virtual dancing video games and Webisodes featuring live-action puppet characters enjoying the Allnighter vibe. Allnighter fans have also been able to access personalized profile pages created by the animated characters, appearing on MySpace, as well as Facebook and Twitter.

Denny's two Facebook fan pages regularly cross-promote engagement and promotional opportunities, and Webisodes/videos, along with Denny's TV spots, are readily available on YouTube.

Earlier this year, Denny's' main Facebook page hosted eight video episodes featuring its popular chicken characters -- a follow-up to the chain's three Super Bowl commercials promoting its Free Grand Slam Breakfast day and Free Grand Slam birthday offer. One of those Bowl spots ("Chicken Warning") showed its chicken characters fleeing town as they were warned about the volume of eggs they'd have to lay to meet the demand for the free breakfast promotion. The video episodes offered humorous updates on the chickens' plight.

Denny's subsequently created "The Chicken Show," a series of monthly Webisodes on a "chickens" tab of the brand's main Facebook site that feature the chickens and their humorous interactions with a clueless fictional character, "Brian the Intern." A current episode, for instance, has the chickens begging for Denny's fans to volunteer as reviewers of the new Value Menu, because "Brian" has fallen gravely short as a reviewer (Allnighter Facebook fans are also being urged to become reviewers).

In April, Denny's also teamed with ESPN on both branded content sponsorship segments within the network's "Wednesday Night Baseball" programming and a weekly, online "Denny's Kruk Report," in which ESPN baseball analyst John Kruk blogs on baseball, food and fans and answers questions submitted by Denny's Facebook fans. Participation in the Kruk Report is heavily promoted on both Denny's Allnighter and overall-brand Facebook pages.

What's next? Miller says a July Fourth social media campaign/ promotion is soon to be announced.

Denny's sales declined from $939.4 million in 2007, to $760.5 million in 2008, to $608.1 million in 2009. During fiscal year 2009, its same-store sales decreased 3.7% in company-owned units and 5.2% in franchised units. However, 2009 fiscal net income was $41.6 million, up from $12.7 million in fiscal 2008.

In first-quarter fiscal 2010, net income was $4.6 million, versus $4.3 million in Q1 fiscal 2009.

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

Yahoo Ready To Fix Advertising: What Will it Take?
by Lauren Sullivan, Wednesday June 9, 2010

Ramsey McGrory, Yahoo's vice president of North American Marketplaces and newly appointed head of Right Media, says fixing advertising requires the industry to focus on the "simple stuff." That means spending time on figuring out the standards for content classification, ad verification and data use. It's critical that the industry also addresses standards issues for order processing.

Bringing standards into digital advertising will bring down the cost of executing campaigns. Citing industry stats, McGrory says on average, digital campaigns cost about 25% to 30% to run, compared with 2% to 4% for TV. "We can't sustain that when the relative cost is much more, compared with other mediums," he says. "We also need better understanding at federal and state levels, as well as finding the appropriate use of data to give consumers what they expect."

They may not be the sexiest things, but they are the most important in the industry to address, McGrory says. Especially if agencies want to convince the largest brands that spend the majority of their dollars in television to have a reason to invest more in online campaigns.

The need for standards signals a maturing online advertising industry, although the industry remains in its infancy as it tries to support growth. There are disparate systems, aging technology platforms, ad-serving units and emerging ad video networks. "The industry feels somewhat like a gangly teenager in that you know all the capabilities are there," he says. "Someday that gangly teenager will grow into something bigger, but there are still things we must work out."

That maturing industry has left some companies admitting the need to update equipment. Yahoo Chief Executive Officer Carol Bartz recently spoke to analysts, pointing to the search engine's aging technology as a contributing factor to the company's declining performance. Similarly, Jay Herratti -- chief executive officer at CityGrid Media, formally Citysearch -- spent the last couple of years working to upgrade ad servers and platforms. Some might argue that many companies updated their infrastructure 10 years ago to deal with Y2K issues, but the technology has come a long way in the last decade.

Continued changes in digital will see traditional fixes move over to support customers, discover how to reach them, and determine the impact. The industry must take it back to core processes and implement them in digital, such as how to generate interest, intent and action.

While the discussion on how to fix advertising began during a panel at Internet Week, "much of the foundation to support processes will set in within the next three to four years," McGrory says. "It's already happening. Setting the foundations will reveal that the large digital companies and large industry organizations such as the IAB and 4As have a growing influence."

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

32% Give Online Brand Recs, Half Want More Coupons and Deals
 by Erik Sass, Tuesday June, 8, 2010

The last couple months have brought a wave of data suggesting that a substantial proportion of online social network members use their profiles to engage with brands in some way -- including recommending or criticizing a product or service to other people, and engaging with the brand itself for customer service issues. In addition to confirming many of these earlier findings, the latest study, sponsored by Performics and performed by ROI Research, also found that a good number of social net users want more online offers and information from brands.

The survey of 3,000 U.S. social network users found that 40% use social sites to connect with brands and products, including 37% who said they learned about a new product or service from a social networking site; zeroing in on specific social networks, 32% of Twitter users said they re-tweet content provided by a company or product, and 50% of Facebook users click on Facebook ads to "like" a brand. 90% of Facebook users said at least some of the companies or products they're fans of have done a good job providing relevant content, and one out of three said most or all of the companies or products were doing a good job. Meanwhile 32% of respondents said they have used social networks to recommend a product or service to friends.

Furthermore, there appears to be significant demand for more content and engagement with brands via online social networks. The same survey found 49% wanted more downloadable coupons, 46% wanted more notifications of sales and special deals, and 35% wanted more information about new products from companies or products on Facebook.

I am usually skeptical about the results of any one study, but focusing in on one figure in particular -- the 32% of respondents said they have used social networks to recommend a product or service -- we now have similar data for social network brand engagement from a series of surveys, conducted by different research outfits. Here's a quick review:

· Two days ago I wrote about a Harris Interactive poll of 2,131 U.S. social net users which found 34% turned to social media to air their feelings -- positive or negative -- about a company, brand or product. 26% complain, 23% speak positively, and 19% give reviews or recs. 38% of all social net users express preferences specifically to influence others (covering other subject matter in addition to brands). 45% said opinions expressed by friends or peers on social network sites have a "great deal or fair amount" of influence.

· In April a survey of 1,040 American adults by Opinion Research for the Chubb Group of Insurance Cos. found that 20% of respondents had used social media to share a negative experience with a brand or service.

· Last year a survey by WorkPlace Media found 25% of employed consumers have recommended a business or a product on a social net, and 33% have received a rec -- although just 18% actually acted on it.

Juxtaposing these figures and crunching them in a very non-scientific fashion, my gut feeling is that about 25%-30% U.S. adults who use social networks are actively recommending and/or criticizing brands online, surrounded by a halo of another 10% who form a passive audience for these recommendations and criticisms (this breakdown assumes that everyone in that active 25%-30% is also receiving recommendations or criticisms).

It's worth noting this isn't just idle talk. As one might expect, the process of becoming a fan or follower is correlated with an increase in likelihood to recommend and buy that brand. In March a survey of over 1,500 consumers by Chadwick Martin Bailey found 60% of Facebook users who are fans of a brand and 79% of Twitter users who follow a brand are more likely to recommend the brand to friends since becoming a fan/follower; meanwhile 51% of Facebook fans and 67% of Twitter followers are more likely to buy a brand since they became a fan or follower.

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

Four On The Floor: iPhone Upgrade Doesn't Disappoint, Feeds Mounting iAd Hype

By Mark Walsh, June 7, 2010

Apple didn't disappoint its legions of fans Monday, unveiling a new, sleeker version of the iPhone complete with a raft of new features including a front-facing camera for video-chatting, a higher-resolution screen and longer battery life.

The highly anticipated iPhone 4, which will go on sale June 24, was showcased Monday by Apple CEO Steve Jobs at the company's annual Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, where new products are often rolled out. Never one to avoid hyperbole, Jobs called the latest edition of its signature device "the biggest leap we've taken since the original iPhone."

With mounting competition from phones running on Google's Android platform, including Sprint's newly launched Evo 4G phone from HTC, Apple is under more pressure than ever to maintain its advantage in the rapidly growing smartphone category. Later this month, Jobs said Apple would surpass 100 million devices sold on the iPhone operating system -- now called iOS -- across the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

With the introduction of its iAd platform in April, Apple will also go head-to-head with Google in mobile advertising. To that end, the company said it will roll out its new ad unit July 1, with initial advertisers including Nissan, Citigroup, Unilever and AT&T pledging a total of $60 million so far, committing a total of $60 million to be among the first brands to use iAds.

And while it was rumored that Apple might replace Google as the default search engine on the new iPhone with Microsoft's Bing, Jobs said Google would remain the main search option, but with Bing added as an alternative along with Yahoo Search.

From the standpoint of most consumers and Apple loyalists, however, among the most eagerly awaited features delivered in the latest iPhone was a front-facing camera for video calls. And at 24% lighter than the current phone and sporting a boxier glass front and back wrapped in a stainless steel band, Jobs called it the "thinnest smartphone on the planet."

Other features that the Apple boss highlighted in his presentation included a new high-resolution "retina display" that can pack four times as many pixels in the same space. Looking at the old and new displays side by side, the retina display looked noticeably sharper.

Other new additions included a built-in 3-axis gyroscope for enabling enhanced game play and an LED flash for the new 5-megapixel camera. The upgraded camera also includes high-definition video capture and the ability to edit videos using the new iMovie program for the iPhone.

Jobs said the new A4 chip and a larger battery in the iPhone 4 would allow 40% more talk time, 10 hours of Wi-Fi surfing or watching video and 40 hours of music. The new phone in the U.S. will cost $199 for the 16GB model and $299 for the 32GB model with a new 2-year contract. The 8GB version of the iPhone 3GS will be bumped down to $99, allowing Apple to continue to offer a lower-cost smartphone.

Taken together, the new features in the iPhone 4 add up to a substantial advance for the Apple device, according to Noah Elkin, a senior analyst at eMarketer. "This seems to be a more significant step forward than the 3GS was to the 3G," he said. "As always, Apple has looked at what its core audience does with the iPhone and made improvements that expand the appeal and utility for the device."

In that vein, the company is counting on the new phone, along with the recently released iPad, to provide a growing user base for its forthcoming iAd units. The hefty $60 million total in upfront buys so far for the format underscores the interest iAd has generated among brands and agencies.

Jobs estimated that amount would be nearly half of projected mobile display advertising in the second half of 2010.

He cited a group of roughly 20 launch advertisers featuring big names across the auto, retail, media and insurance categories including Sears, Target, TBS, Disney and Geico. Apple reportedly has been seeking up to $10 million for marketers to be part of the initial batch of iAd advertisers, and $1 million otherwise.

Jobs demonstrated the iAd with a full-screen, animated ad from Nissan that allows users to enter a contest to win its fully electric Leaf model. He showed how a user could tap on the ad to expand it or tap a button in the corner to close it and go back to an app.

Aside from the creative options afforded by the iAd, Phuc Truong, head of Mobext, Havas Digital's mobile marketing arm, said a key draw was Apple's ability to offer anonymous iTunes purchase behavior to target iAds. "We feel we're buying true audiences here based on media consumption," said Truong, whose firm is working with Sears on its upcoming iAd effort.

With 2 million sold units sold in the last two months, the iPad is becoming a legitimate ad platform in its own right. In his keynote, Jobs said the 8,500 native apps on the Apple tablet have been downloaded 35 million times so far, which he called a "great number."

When it comes to Apple's iBooks e-reader app, 5 million books have been sold to date. He added that five of the six top U.S. publishers said iBooks already accounts for 22% of e-book sales, a figure Jobs expects to increase with further iPad sales. The iBooks app will also be extended to the new iPhone.

With 225,000 apps overall now available in the App Store, you'd think Apple might soon shut the door to new titles. But don't bet on it. High-profile new additions on the way this summer include new apps from Netflix and for popular social game FarmVille from Zynga this summer.

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

Yahoo's Facebook And Twitter Integration Pulls In Social Ads

by Laurie Sullivan. Sunday June 7, 2010

Yahoo plans to announce Monday changes to the Yahoo home page, full product integration with Facebook, and Yahoo Pulse, formally Yahoo Profiles, to let people manage content and privacy settings, Yahoo's Cody Simms, senior director of social platforms, and Bobby Figueroa, vice president of consumer advertising experiences, told MediaPost. The release makes good on a partnership agreement announced in December.

Although social has become the way people share information, don't expect Yahoo to build its own network. The company plans to become a social aggregator. The deeper integration will Facebook signals the beginning. The tools released today allow people to connect their Yahoo and Facebook accounts and access their entire news feed on Yahoo, as well as share content created with their friends. Yahoo will release similar tools for Twitter within the next few months, followed by integration with other social networks, from text to games.

Simms, who runs Yahoo's product open strategy (YOS) group, has been working to build out services for about two years. The backend integration made possible through a newsfeed-like platform, Yahoo Updates, also lets people read Facebook status messages from friends through a set of "relationship" technologies such as Address Book or Messenger Buddy list.

Expect in the coming months companies like Zynga to build games with technology on the Yahoo network and syndicate them out through the Updates channel across Yahoo sites, Facebook and other social networks. "We have other social networks coming into the network, too," Simms says.

Zynga, the company behind the social games Farmville and Mafia Wars, agreed to integrate its games into the Yahoo Application Platform (YAP), making them available to people throughout the Yahoo network.

Facebook continues to take heat from what industry experts call "soft" privacy settings, but Yahoo Pulse, built as a dashboard, will have a privacy menu setting that provide those who use the search engine's network with a variety of options. The features will become more important as Facebook continues to grabble with members who think their settings are still too difficult to understand. Simms says Yahoo "bakes" privacy into products during the development cycle. When people create updates on the Yahoo network, an information box pops up to tell the person their action will create a public update.

The social mantra has advantages for advertisers, too. Yahoo plans to launch tools that let people comment on or share parts of a display ad in a social message to friends within their social graph, explains Figueroa. Yahoo wants to understand the "power of the connectors, because not all users will engage with particular brands the same way."

The social advertising tools will launch in the July to September quarter. It will give Yahoo a better understanding on how the information from the display ad gets shared and the strengths of the person sharing the ad parts through their social graph. Yahoo can monitor and track modules and plans to give advertisers reports that identify the pieces being shared through Facebook, Twitter or other social networks. The non-personally identifiable information includes click-through rates, engagement and more.

Reliable-SEO Founder David Harry saw it coming for years. "You could see the interest and the shift in focus over the last few years toward social through Yahoo's patent filing," he says. "This is easily one of the better parts of a search and social partnership with Microsoft."

Harry says Yahoo, consistently, during the last few years filed for, along with being awarded, far more social-related patents, compared with Microsoft or Google. And this is certainly one thing the Microsoft and Yahoo partnership might bring to bear against Google, he adds, explaining that traditionally Google hasn't done social well. He points to several social-related patents that may shed light on Yahoo's future strategy.

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

Social, Mobile Sparking Heavier Use Of Media, Especially TV/Internet

By Joe Mandese, June 3, 2010

Heavy users of social or mobile media spend dramatically more time with overall media, and are more likely to use TV and the Internet simultaneously, according to findings of new research being released this morning by Knowledge Networks.

The study, which is derived from KN's MultiMedia Mentor service, a single-source sample that tracks how consumers use eight key media, found that the impact of social and mobile media was most pronounced among older adults - people age 35 to 64 - who can spend nearly three hours more daily consuming media than the general population (see table below).

KN said differences were also found among younger adults - age 18 to 34 - but were not as pronounced as the affect on older adults.

"For young adults, cell phones and the Internet are often a way of life - so their use of mobile and social media is more pervasive and natural," stated Robert DeFelice, vice president-client service at KN, who previewed the findings during a KN conference about cross-media measurement in New York on Wednesday. "But older adults have come to digital media late in the game - so there is a more pronounced divide between those who make extensive use of digital media and those who just dabble. We also see that these digital media users are more likely to be 'creating' media time by using TV and the Internet simultaneously - which, of course, creates a host of opportunities for synergy between these two platforms."

Mobile & social media users, ages 35 to 64:

Dramatic differences in overall media time

Source: Knowledge Networks' MultiMedia Mentor.

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

Facebook Sued For Sharing Users' Names With Advertisers

By Wendy Davis, June 2, 2010

A California Facebook user has sued the social networking company for allegedly sharing his personal information with advertisers.

In a complaint filed late last week in federal district court in San Jose, David Gould of South Lake Tahoe alleges that Facebook violated its own privacy policy by disclosing to advertisers a host of information about users who click on ads, including their real names, current cities, schools attended and friend lists. Gould is seeking class-action status.

"Facebook advertisers are able to gain the ultimate demographic information," the lawsuit alleges.

Gould alleges in his complaint that Facebook sends "referrer headers" to advertisers whenever people click on ads. Once marketers have those headers, advertisers "can simply navigate back to the specific user's profile and obtain any personal information the user has made publicly available," Gould alleges in his lawsuit. "And remember," he adds, "the default privacy settings that many users never change make the user's name, photo and more available."

Gould alleges that Facebook is breaching its contract with users by sharing their data, because the company states in its privacy policy that it doesn't disclose users' information to advertisers without people's consent.

Facebook spokesperson Andrew Noyes said in a statement that the company believes the lawsuit is without merit and intends to fight it vigorously.

The allegation that Facebook was sending data about users to marketers via referrer headers first surfaced last summer, when two computer scientists from AT&T and Worcester Polytechnic Institute published the report, "On the Leakage of Personally Identifiable Information Via Online Social Networks."

The researchers concluded that many social networking sites "leak" personally identifiable information by including it in the HTTP header information that is automatically sent to ad networks.

At the time, a Facebook spokesperson said that referring URLs only provided information about the profile page a user had been on when he or she clicked on the ad, but didn't reveal whether that user was the person featured in the profile or a friend of the member. But Harvard professor Ben Edelman said last month that Facebook automatically embeds a profile tag in referring URLs when users view their own profile pages.

Late last month, Facebook said it revised its code and no longer sends marketers information that could be used to identify which member clicked on an ad.

Gould is being represented by Michael Aschenbrener of EdelsonMcGuire. Aschenbrener has been involved in several other high-profile lawsuits against Web companies including a lawsuit against eBay for allegedly discriminating against deaf sellers by requiring them to use a telephone to verify identity.

For more information visit mediapost.com

Research Brief

FROM THE CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH

Monday, May 31, 2010

According to a new Arbitron study, more than 70% of the U.S. population, or 181 million, have viewed a digital video display out of home in the past month, while 52% of the population, or 135 million, have viewed digital video display in the past week.

Digital video in public venues reaches more Americans each month (70%) than video over the Internet (43%) or Facebook (41%).

The report notes that DOOH video dwarfs many prominent new media and marketing platforms. More American teens and adults have seen a digital video screen at a public venue in the past month than have watched online video.

More people see digital video screens in public venues than have ever sent or received a text message, own a DVR, such as a TiVo or recorder provided through their cable or satellite TV provider, or have a Facebook profile.

Viewers are engaged with the content, says the report, with 47% of those who have seen a digital place?based video in the past month specifically recall seeing an ad. 19% of those who have seen a digital video ad say they have made an unplanned purchase after seeing an item featured on the screen.

Based on surveys of 1,700 people, the study is said to be the industry's first universe estimates for 19 different venue categories to compare the reach of individual networks to the potential reach of the venue. Diane Williams, senior media research analyst for Arbitron, says "It's a first step in setting the groundwork for determining just how big the audience is."

Video displays in grocery stores, visited by 97% of the population, get the most notice with 72 million viewing a display in the past month. Displays in shopping malls are viewed by 70 million, followed by large retail or department stores, medical or doctors' offices, and movie theaters.

Though the movie venue was No. 5 overall, it ranked number 2 among teens, after shopping malls. For reaching Adults, the top three venues were grocery stores, large retailers, and shopping malls. The least-viewed DOOH venues were elevators and buses, trains or taxis

Monthly Digital Video Viewer:  A person who noticed a digital video screen at one of the 18 public venues examined in this report in the past month. The survey question is:

"Many public places now have digital video displays. These video displays look like television screens, but rather than broadcasting regular television stations, they feature short programs and advertising relevant to products in the store. For example, a video display at a local grocery store might show food items for sale, while a video display in the lobby of a local movie theater might show the trailer for an upcoming movie... I'd like you to tell me whether or not you have seen a digital video display... recently...specifically digital video displays... NOT to include TV stations you might have seen on a regular television screen at one of these locations."

Please visit Arbitron here for additional information about the study including access to PDF charts and graphs.

For more information visit www.mediapost.com