Forecast For Big 2014 Trends: Personalized Mobile Experiences Connecting Offline, Online

OnlineMediaDaily

by Laurie Sullivan, Dec 6, 2013, 5:30 PM

Four dominating trends in 2014 are predicted to influence marketing and force brands to build a better relationship with customers. This means companies will develop a stronger mobile strategy, as well as focusing on analytical personalization, social media and rich media.

The increase in ability to integrate offline with online information continues to drive the trends -- especially personalization, reports IBM. Customers are telling IBM's clients they want the retailer to recognize when they go online and the products they recently purchased in their physical store, said Larry Bowden, vice president of exceptional digital experience at IBM.

"Consumers have become extremely powerful with a direct influence over the brand," Bowden said. "They want brands to personalize every experience."

Mobile will no longer become an optional component of a Web strategy. IBM estimates a 300% increase in video consumption on mobile devices. Some brands create instructional videos that have been extremely successful, Bowden said.

Although a recent IDC report sponsored by IBM demonstrates the importance of building up a back-end infrastructure to support a better digital experience for customers, there are also some eye-opening stats. Just more than half of Internet users use a mobile device to access the Web -- about 1.4 billion users worldwide -- By 2017, nearly two-thirds of the global population will access the Internet using their mobile devices -- about 2.3 billion.

IDC estimates that mobile Internet users will spend some 13.9 hours each month online in 2013, increasing to 27.7 hours by 2017. Mobile ecommerce also continues to expand. IDC estimates that 16% of mobile Internet users will buy products online in 2013, and up to 22% in 2017.

While 2.6 billion people -- or 36% of the world's population -- will use the Internet by 2017, this will increase to 3.5 billion, or 46% of the people on the planet.

Internet users are also spending more of their time online -- about 99 hours each month. IDC expects this to increase to 109 hours monthly by 2017. Internet users will generate $13.6 trillion in B2C and B2B ecommerce transactions in 2013 and $23.6 trillion in 2017, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.8%.

Newspaper Dollars Still Tops In Local Media

MediaDailyNews

by Wayne Friedman, Dec 6, 2013, 12:34 PM

Local small and medium-sized businesses are “optimistic” about local media growth in the near term. Still, many are cautious.

When it comes to where local media dollars are spent, the survey says newspapers are still tops -- commanding a 22% share of local ad dollars, followed by digital at 19%; other local print publications with 12%; direct mail at 9%; radio with 8%; and outdoor (out of home) at 3%.

Local broadcast stations and local cable systems each command a 3% share of local and medium-sized business media budgets.

A new survey from Borrell Associates says 47% expect to spend “about the same” in advertising/marketing in 2013 versus 2012; with 27% looking to spend more and 19% spending less.

Still, Borrell research on actual media spending has estimated there will be a 10.7% rise in advertising/media spending for these small- and medium-sized businesses to an average of $88,300 a year.

Overall, 64% of respondents say they are “very” or “somewhat” optimistic about near-term improvement of the local economy.  

Nearly 45% of respondents said their digital spending is increasing, while about 35% said it remains the same. While mobile media spending will be important, only 20% of local and small businesses are currently active with mobile advertising.

Almost 40% of respondents say their media budgets are placed on three to five local media outlet

Don't Discount Lower-Income Affluents

MarketingDaily

by Tanya Irwin, Yesterday, 10:33 PM

Lower-income affluents are important to marketers, according to a trend report from Unity Marketing.

Brands as diverse as Costco, Trunk Club, Black Box Wines, Leo Schachter Diamonds, Alex and Ani and more hit the mark with the HENRYs, or High Earners Not Rich Yet.

With an income between $100K and $250K, they're not quite wealthy. But the unassuming mass segment is an important target customer.

"The recent recession has left the true middle class severely limited in their ability to purchase goods and services in the near future," says Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing and author of the report.  "This means HENRYs are the 'new mass market' for marketers and brands up and down the pricing scale." 

The HENRYs are ready to respond in force, if not necessarily in high levels of individual spending. While HENRYs spend about half as much as do ultra-affluents on luxury and high end purchases, their significantly greater numbers (21.6 million households) mean that the total value of the HENRY market is about four times that of the ultra-affluent market (2.9 million households).

"Marketers have historically felt that ultra-affluents were their ideal consumer, but there simply aren't enough ultra-affluents to keep luxury brands afloat," Danziger says. "Instead, luxury brands need to broaden their reach to include these consumers. This creates a unique challenge, as they are now competing with mass market brands that would also like to reach up and tap into HENRY spending."

Targeting HENRYs is a sound strategy for helping brands position themselves in the future, she says.

"While it is typical for brands to identify a target customer and stick with this demographic as it ages, today's luxury brands need to look at young HENRY consumers age 25-34,” Danziger says. “As these younger affluents mature, their incomes will rise, making this population the source of most of tomorrow's ultra-affluents. Luxury brands that want to continue to reach the highest income customers need to reach out to slightly less affluent Millennials today."

Online Video Will Remake Advertising In 2014

OnlineVideoInsider

by Colin Jeavons, Yesterday, 2:51 PM

Video marketing has evolved well beyond brands posting videos on YouTube and expecting results. Native advertising, social media, and semantic search technology have coalesced to transform video into a more targeted channel to engage consumers where they are online.

A recent study by video marketing firm Pixability found that 99% of the world’s top brands are active on YouTube, but the results are uneven. Fewer than half the brand videos posted ever exceeded 1,000 views. Meanwhile, other platforms, including Facebook’s native video ads, are growing in popularity.

Video ad spending is expected to reach over $9 billion by 2017 because of significant developments in consumer behavior. One is the rise of mobile smart devices. A Dartmouth study found that consumers are turned off by banner ads, since these ads aren’t very relevant and are a poor fit for the mobile form factor. 

Another key factor driving video ads is dramatic changes in media viewing habits. eMarketerestimates that time spent on digital media will soon surpass time on TV. Facebook’s ability to reach the coveted 25-34 demographic now meets or exceeds major TV networks, Nielsen has found. This creates opportunities to reach audiences across mediums and complement commercials with online video ads.

Effective videos are relevant and engaging to capture interest, and should be placed when and where consumers want to see them. That’s why so many companies are deploying new native video ad experiences to work across all devices.

NPR has created an ad unit called Center Stage, which features prominently positioned creative alongside video. Amazon has launched a new ad unit for retailers to showcase product demos in an effort to improve the shopping experience. Amazon is also integrating search into video: a query on diapers returns a related video.

The results are pouring in. Forbes’s BrandVoice native ad platform is anticipated to account for 30% of its ad revenues by 2014. Likewise, LinkedIn’s native ad unit should generate nearly $46 million in ad revenue by 2014.

Higher stakes, better results

It’s clear the stakes are now higher for brands. That’s why new technology that takes into account video recommendation is crucial to pairing interests.

Of course, determining whether the video was a key-influencing factor requires using better metrics. 

Metrics have shifted from one-click attribution models to looking at the entire impact from multiple perspectives: relevant scale (it’s not about numbers, but about reaching the right consumers); socialization (likes, tweets)); viral activity (shares, reposts); time spent, and engagement. That means taking all marketing channels and attribution models into account to understand if your video is really working for you.

Marketers have the tools to use video more effectively through a combination of native advertising and technologies such as semantic or predictive search that dramatically improve relevance. The future of online video is already emerging.

Time-Shifted TV Watching Rises, Net Use Dips

MediaDailyNews

by Wayne Friedman, 5 hours ago

Viewers watching time-shifted traditional TV continue to rise, but users of video on a computer -- as well as general computer usage -- declined in the third quarter of this year.

Users of time-shifted traditional TV have increased -- now up 11% to 167.1 million in the third quarter. This group now represents 59% of all traditional TV users, which rose slightly to 283.6 million.

Nielsen says there was a 9% decline in the number of users watching video on the Internet -- to 147.7 million on a monthly basis in the third quarter of 2013 versus the third quarter of a year ago. This comes from the latest Nielsen cross-platform media report.

The company also said the number of general users of the Internet via computer also dipped a bit -- 5% -- to 200.0 million versus the third quarter of 2012.

Mobile phone users have been going in the other direction. Analysts have said mobile and tablet usage growth will come at the expense of time spent with traditional computers.

For example, Nielsen says in the third quarter, there was a 40% rise in watching video on a mobile phone between August and October to 53.1 million users. Overall, mobile phone users rose slightly -- 1%, to 239.8 million.

Looking For Emotionally Ready Viewers -- Or Perhaps The Most Vulnerable Ones?

TV Watch

A media critique by Wayne Friedman Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2013

Forget about what marketers what to know about you on a purely analytical basis – such as what type of pets you have in your home, or your car or food preferences.

Future messaging may look to figure out how you feel on a particular day. Maybe you don’t feel like some generic shopping? What if you are blue? Perhaps an ad or message from a therapist would be in order. Perhaps a smiling face, or a piece of chocolate.

Much has been made of brain-wave technology in consumer research. But the real secret in seeking consumers’ dollars may be new emotion-detecting advertising.

In recent research, inserting ads into videos based on users’ emotions was looked at on a scene-by-scene basis. This proved more effectivethan relying on "textual" cues.

Other media connections already exist. For example, Apple’s motion-sensing chip in its new iPhone can, in effect, tell if a user is "stationary, running, walking, or driving.” That could mean better targeting for a specific ad message. Ford has been messing around with heart-rate monitors built into the driver's seat -- no doubt to calculate all those near-misses from road-rage drivers.

At much lower levels of detection, TV and other media platforms right now can suss out usage history and deliver recommendations concerning new comedies, new dramas or other content – such as displaying an automobile ad after someone searches online for a new car.

But apparently that’s child’s play. The key to future messaging will be getting consumers when they are most ready -- detractors would say most “vulnerable” -- to be affected by a marketing message.

There is still a long way to way. An obvious strategy for marketers would be to run current messaging in shows where viewers already have strong allegiances.  But it’s hard right now to get consumers to see current advertising in a time-shifted show on their DVRs.

On other time-shifted platforms however, such as video-on-demand services, some movement is happening. Comcast, for example, wants to deliver advertising from a recent episode of ABC’s “Castle” onto a “Castle” episode from three seasons ago.

But what is my emotional state during that episode -- or when a GEICO commercial or Apple iPhone ad appears? That can be important -- to some marketer down the road.

Six Essential Practices Of Highly Effective Marketing Organizations

MetricsINSIDER

by Anto Chittilappilly, Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2013

To improve planning, enhance performance and optimize spend, the most effective marketing organizations inject data and analytics into every phase of their marketing process. Here are six essential practices that best-in-class marketing organizations employ to become more data-driven -- and, in turn, make better, more profitable decisions. Align marketing metrics with business outcomes. All too often, marketing comes under the gun because its tactics aren’t perceived as having a direct impact on the company’s bottom line. The C-suite isn’t concerned with the number of website clicks, Twitter followers or Facebook likes; they want to see results in the form of sales, revenue and profit. Successful marketing organizations prove their value by working closely with senior management — especially the CEO and CFO — to define, align and prioritize the metrics that are most relevant to the company and its business objectives. Aligned metrics not only demonstrate marketing’s contribution to the organization, but also provide marketers with more confidence in their decisions and more clarity on where to focus their efforts. Eliminate data silos. New opportunities for marketers lie in the massive amounts of consumer data that’s generated every second. Unfortunately, most of this data lives in siloes. Without the ability to piece all of these disparate data sources together, marketers are left with inconsistent and duplicate conversion data, and an incomplete view of their customers. The most effective marketing organizations use sophisticated data mining techniques to integrate all of their marketing data (from adservers, email platforms, CRM systems, DMPs, RTBs, etc.) into a single data repository to reveal new insights, reduplicate conversions, and uncover hidden optimization opportunities. Integrating data from unique users at the touchpoint level across different marketing channels enables marketers to get the 360-degree view of their prospects and customers, which is a cornerstone for omni-channel marketing. Interpret data the right way. Combining previously siloed sources of data is one thing; interpreting it intelligently to generate actions that improve marketing performance and ROI is another. Successful marketing organizations arm themselves with robust measurement technology that enables them to draw actionable insights from the data they’ve collected. With advanced measurement tools, marketers can understand the performance of individual channels, campaigns and tactics, the influence that each has on the other, and their overall performance, as part of an integrated marketing strategy. Predict marketing performance. To ensure maximum return on marketing investment, marketers not only need to know what has been working, but also what is likely to work in the future. Using predictive analytics, marketers can perform “what if” analysis to understand the potential impact of changes — such as price adjustments or discounts, alterations to product positioning or messaging, and/or budget reallocations — before they are made. Armed with this kind of forward-facing insight, marketers can create and implement more effective cross-channel marketing strategies. Optimize by audience segment. When optimizing media, effective marketing organizations not only understand the mix of channels, strategies and tactics that produce the best return across all prospects, but also the mix that produces the best return for each specific audience segment. To answer questions around which segments have the highest propensity to convert, which will have the highest lifetime value, and which tactics will produce those segments with the greatest efficiency, effective marketers leverage data management platforms (DMPs) such as BlueKai or Axciom to overlay demographic and behavioral data with media, response and customer data. Such tactics ensure marketing efforts and spend are optimized to reach the right audience. Automatically deploy optimization recommendations. Finally, even if all the previously mentioned best practices are followed, marketers will still fall short if optimization recommendations aren’t implemented into daily spend decisions and operations. The most effective marketing organizations not only have a process for implementing offline recommendations, but also automatically send media buying instructions to execution platforms — including demand-side platforms, real-time bidding tools and trading desks — for more effective optimization. By following the lead of highly successful marketing organizations, you can turn your own company into a highly effective, accountable, predictable, data-driven and agile operation. Most important, embracing these six practices will enable you to produce the highest possible ROI for your marketing spend.