Big brands have woken up to the realization … that young Americans across the board value diversity.

To steal a line from one of the best songs ever written, it’s been a long time coming — but a change has finally come to advertising. While the country generally has grown more socially liberal, advertising has lagged behind. According to a recent Ad Age article, advertising has proved to be the last frontier when it comes to reflecting societal changes. Let’s face it — pop culture typically sets the trends; advertisers follow. Why are we afraid to take a risk? It’s pretty simple — no one wants to hear negative feedback about a campaign. Speaking to where the public already is rather than leading them in a different direction has been the norm.

Until recently, that is.Read full post...

Photo Credit: Boston.com

I’m writing this blog post on Monday, April 21 — Boston Marathon Monday. Last year, the marathon was held on my birthday. As a runner who couldn’t be there, I took that as a kind of consolation prize. But that particular birthday — April 15, 2013 — will be etched in my heart and mind for years to come. I watched the news clips in horror as the oldest and most prestigious marathon in the country was turned into chaos. Three innocent people were killed; several more suffered life-altering injuries. We were all scarred in some way by the events of that day.

But Americans are resilient. We rallied. We showed solidarity with the city of Boston. And we created a brand. Actually, two seniors at Emerson College — who wanted to do something to help — say they came up with the phrase “Boston Strong” within hours of the attacks, creating a simple blue-and-yellow T-shirt with the two words. They started selling the shirts for $20, with $15 going to charity.  Read full post...

No one can say whether it will be able to monetize its social media platform, but the data suggests that TV broadcasters and cable networks have good reason to use Twitter.

It’s no wonder that broadcasters and some advertisers see Twitter as the ideal promotional partner. The Media Audit reports that nearly 15% of consumers who watch TV during prime time on a typical day have also used Twitter in the past 30 days. That’s an increase of more than 60% compared to 9.2% just two years ago. The latest figure represents more than 13.1 million consumers across The Media Audit’s 80 measured markets.

The way people watch TV is changing. More people are streaming video content and TV shows on mobile devices. Nielsen just announced that they’d be measuring phone and tablet TV viewing by mid-November. And there is a growing number of consumers who post and read tweets about popular TV shows and sporting events in real time, many of whom belong to the much-desired younger demographic. That helps to explain why advertisers and media are interested in Twitter. It lends itself to helping brands or media extend their reach to a desirable younger audience.Read full post...

I’m all for target marketing, but this is a little invasive.

To anyone who’s faced with a cable bill in excess of $200 every month, news that Intel is planning on “blowing up the cable industry” with its own set-top box and unbundled cable service is big stuff. Instead of paying a fortune for 500 channels you rarely watch, Intel says they’ll allow you to subscribe to specific channels of your choosing. According to Intel, the set-top box will offer cable channels delivered “over the top” to televisions anywhere there is an Internet connection, regardless of provider. Consumers can subscribe to content per channel – maybe even by show. They even plan to enable consumers to use “Cloud DVR,” which would allow users to watch any past TV show at any time.Read full post...

Marketing to the Baby Boomers

According to a recent report from NielsenWire, advertisers focus on reaching consumers 18–34 or 18–49. While these consumers spend billions of dollars every year, the report states that advertisers and consumer goods manufacturers are overlooking a group that has tremendous buying power — the 78 million Baby Boomers. Read full post...

Radio's impact on brand browsing.

Good news for our clients who utilize radio. A new RAB survey shows that radio advertising grows online brand browsing by 52%.

Twenty-three brand campaigns were measured in the research. Not only were 52% of respondents more likely to include that brand name in their browsing, but 58% of all browsing stimulated by radio took place within 24 hours.

Radio. It’s fast, efficient and a great way to drive people to your website.

Newspaper advertising will recover.

There’s going to be an ad revenue recovery for the beleaguered industry, and it’s coming soon. Yes, the decline is about to end, according to a new forecast that projects print ad revenue will actually rebound 2.4% next year.

Beyond 2010, ad research firm Borrell Associates forecasts that by 2014 newspaper income will be up 8.7% over 2009 and that newspapers’ share of total ad revenue will jump from 14.4% to 15.9%.Read full post...

Stay competitive by advertising.

Almost half of the adults in the United States think that if you’re not advertising, you must be in trouble. And most think that if you are advertising, you’re competitive and committed.

That’s according to a new Ad-ology Research study, “Advertising’s Impact in a Soft Economy.”

Also:

• 40% of consumers use coupons more now than a year ago.
• TV, newspaper, direct mail and Internet top local media from which consumers saw/heard an ad within the last 30 days that led them to take action.
• Store websites ranked second only to search engines as the way consumers research products and shop online.

The lesson? If you want consumers to know you’ve got a healthy business in this sick economy, advertise.

The reality of print advertising.

Well, maybe not greatly exaggerated, but there’s a sliver of hope for the faltering industry – at least for the time being.

A new survey of American readers by The Rosen Group, about the state of current and future media, found that nearly 80% of respondents still subscribe to magazines; 83% find that daily newspapers are still relevant. Of those surveyed, though, 40% were uncertain whether newspapers and magazines would exist in 10 years.

The results suggest that although there’s a strong shift to online news consumption and a strong preference for online sources for breaking news, Americans still believe print publications are important to their lives.

The research brief was published by the Center for Media Research – online.

Targeted cable advertising

Ads specifically geared to your household! Yes, cable companies are finally going to be able to do what the direct mail business has been doing since the beginning of time. The New York Times reported that Cablevision Systems is planning to announce the largest project yet using targeted advertising on television.Read full post...