Category: Personal (Page 37 of 48)

Ok, so it doesn’t *exactly* say that, but here are a few bullets from a study commissioned by Media agency Starcom USA, behavioral targeting network Tacoda, and digital consumer insight company comScore.

• A very small group of consumers who are not representative of the total U.S. online population is accountable for the vast majority of display ad click-through behavior. 
• Heavy clickers represent just 6% of the online population yet account for 50% of all display ad clicks.
• Heavy clickers skew towards Internet users between the ages of 25-44 and households with an income under $40,000 and are more likely to visit auctions, gambling, and career services sites.
• We can’t count on click-through rate as our primary success metric for display ads; Starcom is more reliant on shifts in brand attitude metrics and analytics tying on-line exposure to sales as the true measures of online advertising efficacy.
• While the click can continue to be a relevant metric for direct response advertising campaigns, this study demonstrates that click performance is the wrong measure for the effectiveness of brand-building campaigns.
• For many campaigns, the branding effect of the ads is what’s really important and generating clicks is more of an ancillary benefit. Ultimately, judging a campaign’s effectiveness by clicks can be detrimental because it overlooks the importance of branding while simultaneously drawing conclusions from a sub-set of people who may not be representative of the target audience.

So, why am I writing about this?  Well, reports like this are not written for fun.  No one just says, "I wonder what a haevy clicker looks like."  There was a purpose for this report, and it’s goal is to obvious lay the groundwork for explaining to marketers that they shouldn’t be spooked by the fact that no one clicks on ads anymore.  Here is an ad network simply building a research report so that their sales guys have an answer for the question of, "Why are my clickthroughs so low?"  Now they can say, "Well you don’t need clicks.  In fact, clicks are bad.  You want the impressions, so let’s do some more CPM deals!"

Now, this of course flies directly in the face of logic.  "But look – we have a real research paper saying clicks don’t matter!"

It’s a funny report when yout think about it.  When Internet advertising got started, accountability was touted as one of its strengths.  Now that ads don’t get clicked on, they want to throw accountability out of the equation.  Moral of the story – take everything you hear in advertising and marketing with a big grain of salt…. 

So, the weekend has officially begun here in Phoenix. 

Last night Old Town Scottsdale took on a somewhat bizarre and surreal transformation.  In the middle of town square, the ESPN studio is set up.  (You have to wonder why ESPN chose a place 30 miles from the stadium to set up their Phoenix Studio.  Perhaps no one at ESPN wanted to spend any time in Glendale. I don’t know.) 

Certainly no celebrities wanted to spend any time in Glendale, and as I documented yesterday, all the mega-parties were being thrown in Old Town.  For comparison’s sake, imagine if a giant shiny new stadium was built up north of Everett for the Super Bowl.  And yet ESPN set up shop and all the celebrities threw parties in Belltown.  Just kind of bizarre.

Thus, the normal “see and be seen nightclubs” were closed for private events (or pay $200+).   Ordinary bars that normally cater to the 30-something set charged $25 cover.  And the college bars were dead.

I guess this is what happens when you schedule the biggest sporting event in the world, on the same weekend as the biggest sporting event in Phoenix, and also split the Super Bowl scene into two areas about 40 minutes apart.  Word on the street was that while Scottsdale bars were filled with tourists, Phoenicians themselves were up at the FBR Open Thursday night, and planning to return Friday and Saturday as well.  In fact, rumors are that few people from this area are going to the game at all, preferring to spend Sunday afternoon at TPC before heading home to turn on the game at 4:20.

But back to Marketing.  Coolest thing – or stupidest depending on your mood – are the walking TV sets.  How can I describe this?  There’s a guy walking.  And he has a harness on his back.  And rising up from this harness to a height of about 8-9 feet, is a flatscreen.  And that flatscreen has commercials.  So if he walks right at you, you would look up a few feet and watch the ad.  These guys are all over the place.  Walking TV Billboards.  They kind of look like Hammerhead from the Cantina on Tatooine.  I’ll try to snap a picture later today.

Now this question came up for debate yesterday.  Suppose a non Super Bowl sponsor, especially a competitor of a Super Bowl sponsor, somehow came up with 500 tickets to the game.  And they ran a contest for fans to get those free tickets.  And those fans had to wear clothing from the sponsor inside the stadium.  Could they be refused entry?  Let’s pretend it’s Burger King.  McDonald’s is a sponsor, so Burger King gets 500 tickets and puts people (maybe even rewards top employees)  in BK shirts all over the place.  Maybe they have to walk around Super Bowl events all weekend.  Now, could they also wear “King” masks?  Or does that step over the line?  Can they hand out business cards with coupons on them?  Is it Freedom of Speech?  Or do corporate rights trump the Constitution?  Just random thoughts…

Funniest and dumbest thing we saw yesterday.  A couple of guys walk in with about seven 21 year old blond girls, all  dressed in a different color of the same mini-dress.  You can’t NOT notice when something like that enters the room.  And all the guys in the bar are asking each other, “Are those dudes rolling with hookers?  Could they be anymore obvious about it?” And then we heard a girl say, “I think they are promoting jewelry, because they all have necklaces with a similar design.”  We never really figured it out.

I’m trekking out to Glendale today to see what the scene is like out there.  I expect this is where most of the corporate guys will be staying, especially those who don’t know Phoenix.  Probably a little different atmosphere.

Now I just wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t venture down to Phoenix this week to learn all the tips and tricks the professionals marketers at Super Bowl 42 can teach me.

So, this weekend I’ll be posting some thoughts, revelations and observations from the various venues making up the ecosystem that is the Big Game.

We’ll try to stop by the NFL Super Bowl Experience this afternoon which is essentially the party for the rest of us who can’t gain access to any of the cool ones.

The Arizona Republic and AZ Central Blog has some highlights from some parties, including The Big Ticket Gala, the Matt Leinart Foundation Party, a party I suppose I *could* have attended that didn’t sound too fun, Thursday night’s P.Diddy block party, and a long list of others.

Predictably, every bar in town is decked out with Super Bowl paraphernalia, even the ones 30 miles from the stadium.  It makes for a fairly misleading proposition, when a bar "Welcomes Super Bowl Fans" and then you realize that you’d have to be really really lost if you were an out of town guest.

As if this isn’t enough for one city to handle, Phoenix is also playing host to the FBR Phoenix Open, a 4 day 100,000 person party/golf tournament at TPC.  And just for fun, tonight the Suns host the World Champion San Antonio Spurs.  If anyone goes to work on Friday, I’d be shocked.

Anyway, more to come thru the week, as Marketing’s Reason for Existence approaches. 

Art Thiel has a great article lambasting Frank Chopp and other arguably ineffective Washington State Legislators.

There are definite arguments against funding the ridiculous arena package the new Sonics owners proposed.  But then it’s equally insane when the same people ignore their previous arguments to support the same package, but with the Huskies as benefactor.

Anyway, intresting read.