Marketing Pilgrim

And you wonder why we poke fun at research from time to time.

If you are a marketer trying to decide whether the mobile ad market will be the place to be in the future (or even today) you have a virtual smorgasbord of numbers to back your claims to move or not move.

Thanks to eMarketer for aggregating these ‘predictions’. Note that these ‘research efforts’ can’t even agree on the same starting point for how much mobile ad spend was (as in already occurred and paid for) in 2008.

What do you take from this kind of disparity? What is your opinion on how big this market can be? It looks like your guess is as good as the next research firm’s.

When it comes to advertising, AOL says bigger is better. They also say cleaner, more engaging and more focused is better, too and that’s why they created Project Devil.

Project Devil is a new form of display advertising that relies on online-magazine style content in order to promote a product. The ad is designed to occupy the entire right sidebar of a webpage, with every inch devoted to only one sponsor.

JCPenney’s devil ad has a slideshow of winter fashions, over a fashion video and below that is a widget showing their Facebook fan page feed. Olay features an ad with roll-over information and Lexus offers downloadable high-def images of their featured cars.

I think we are all in agreement that Google has a lot of really good points and equal amounts of bad ones, right? I chalk it up to no one is perfect especially when you are cutting a new path.

Well, I would like to take the time to congratulate Google on using their technology for something more than just marketing and making a buck (although they may make money from this but how is beyond me). A post from the Google LatLong blog this past week tells how they are using maps to bring to life the reality, the horror and the important history of World War II.

Well I have some big news to share with you today. This week I ventured in to the 21st-century and purchased my first smart phone. I ended up going with Motorola’s DroidX. There are a lot of reasons why I decided to go with DroidX. But one of the reasons was a post by well-known venture capitalist Fred Wilson. Fred outlines the major market advantage that Andriod has over the iPhone.

Wilson illustrates that Android apps have a much larger market because Google’s open source software allows for wider integration with a more diverse array of devices and companies. Whereas the iPhone market is tightly controlled around only one manufacturer and service provider (at the moment). Because of this, companies looking to expand into the mobile app market should consider the Android platform as a more stable and larger market.

You may think of Sears as a stuffy, old fashioned brand, but they’re working hard to change your opinion with a brand new social shopping site and zombies!

Sears has outdone themselves with a Halloween site makeover that doesn’t miss a trick and is loaded with treats. They’ve taken the basic website and replaced the ads with zombie versions such as dead hands showing off rings and a fridge complete with brains on ice. Clicking through the links will take you to a real page where you can buy real items and how can you not buy with an enticement like this?

The center of the page features a Zombie Gift Guide where you’re asked to choose the zombie type (slow, cranky, dirty) and brain preference (runny, chilled, boiled). These lead to more zombie graphics with gift suggestions that are legit.

How does a company become one of the most recognized and respected brands on the planet? In the case of Coke (get it, case of Coke?) it’s comes from the benefit of a lot of years of being at it (over 100) making changes along the way (sometimes failing miserably like the New Coke debacle) and adjusting to the shifts in how people receive, digest and disseminate marketing messages.

It appears as if they are well on their way to keeping their position if the recent moves in their organization are any indication. AdAge reports

Coca-Cola announced internally today that it is making changes to the leadership team of its global integrated marketing communications and capabilities organization. That group, led by Wendy Clark, falls under Joe Tripodi, chief marketing and commercial officer.