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Report: Local Ad Spend Shifting to Digital

posted on September 28, 2010

Local marketing has always been a very traditional space. Newspapers, local magazines, yellow pages of some variety, direct mail, ValPak etc etc. Because of this traditional approach the local marketing segment has been a little slower to adopt the online space. However, if the numbers reported by a BIA/Kelsey study are correct that shift is taking place and ready to take root over the next few years.

The chart below shows the ‘recovery’ of local ad spend but the important number to note is that when the numbers fell off the table from 2008 to 2009 only traditional media took the hit.

Moving forward traditional marketing will still be the dominant vehicle but its percentage of the overall ad spend for the local marketer will be decreasing for the foreseeable future while online/interactive sees increases in overall percentage of ad spend.

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Google Leads 2010 Merger and Acquisition Race

posted on September 28, 2010

Considering that today we should learn whether all the hubbub around TechCrunch and its alleged purchase by Aol. is true, here is a snapshot of the merger and acquisition activity thus far in 2010. As you can see Google is playing this game real hard. The following chart from CBInsights is courtesy of cnet.

Google is following the lead of one of the most successful tech companies of all time, Cisco. Cisco has been smart enough over the years to understand that if they wanted a technology or the talent around a technology they would use their deep pockets to purchase those assets rather than develop them themselves. They have done this over 140 times since 1993. By constantly infusing new ideas and new ways of thinking a company can stay relevant more readily. Google seems to be working the same system to stay ahead of a rapidly changing competitive landscape in the online space.

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Web 2.0: A Necessary Evil?

posted on September 27, 2010

Every day we talk about the large number of people who are using not just social media but other Web 2.0 applications to manage and promote their business. Online project management sites, web mail, Google docs, and online chat are all becoming part of the working norm but not everyone is comfortable with where we’re headed. According to a new report commissioned by McAfee, more than 50% of the over 1,000 decision-makers surveyed said that Web 2.0 was a dark and scary place.

You could put their fear off to technophobic paranoia, but more than 6 out of 10 have already felt the burn of a security breach with losses averaging around $2 million.

Companies’ top four perceived threats from employee use of Web 2.0 are malicious software (35 percent), viruses (15 percent), overexposure of information (11 percent) and spyware (10 percent).

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Survey Says “Twitter Effect” is a Hollywood Myth

posted on September 27, 2010

Sometimes, Hollywood admen don’t tell the truth. I know, you’re shocked, but that’s not to say they’re lying to us. It’s more a case of believing their own press.

Vincent Bruzzese, president of the worldwide motion picture group told TheWrap;

“In this business we spin ourselves into perceptions that aren’t real. They echo through the hallways of this industry, but the facts don’t support the claims.”

One of the claims in question is whether Twitter is an effective strategy for promoting movies. People in the know have stated that “The Blind Side” and “The Karate Kid” both had big box office numbers because of a positive run on Twitter, aka The Twitter Effect.

However, research by Ipsos OTX MediaCT says otherwise.

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Technology and the Press

posted on September 27, 2010

The press and technology have one of those classic “love-hate” relationships. On the one hand technology makes for good articles because of the high level of interest expressed by certain groups in society. On the other hand, technology is the one major thing that is forcing a sea change in the delivery of the news industry and changing the face of the journalistic work force.

The Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism recently completed a study looking at traditional media’s treatment of technology.

The mainstream news media have offered the American public a divided view of how information technology influences society, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism.

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French Court First of Many to Convict Google of “Suggest” Defamation?

posted on September 27, 2010

May I suggest that Google CEO Eric Schmidt cancel any plans to ski the French alps this year–the authorities may not let him in!

Not after he (and Google proper) were convicted of defamation for results showing up in Google Suggest:

The new function, which suggests options as you type in a word, brought up the words “rapist” and “satanist” when the plaintiff’s name was typed into the search engine, legalis.net reported.

The court ordered Google to make a symbolic payment of one euro in damages and take measures to ensure they could be no repeat of the offence.

Whether the plaintiff deserves the reputation cast down by Google Suggest, we won’t discuss here, however this could be the kind of precedent needed for someone to test this in a US court.

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Promoted Tweets and Trends Doing Well with Big Brands

posted on September 27, 2010

Twitter is moving from the social media collector of huge numbers of accounts and unique site visits etc to the thing everyone in the business world is waiting for: a real advertising vehicle.

The first foray into this area has been their promoted tweets and trends, which were introduced in April and June of this year respectively. With a few months of data behind them and the announcement that these special items will be showing up in third party apps like TweetDeck and HootSuite, things are starting to gain steam for the Twitter revenue express.

AdAge reports

Even after six months, campaigns with nearly 40 different marketers and repeat customers such as Ford, Virgin America and Verizon, Twitter still views its ads as experimental.