Brand Experience Lab occasionally releases a series of predictions we're invited to peruse from time to time. They recently updated their list to include a few profundities that might ring redundant considering '06 was ridden with questions of ad ethics, authenticity regarding social networking and "flogs" and the craze for congratulating consumers for being consumers, as best illustrated by Time and AdAge.
If you feel so inclined, read admonitions on why authenticity is key, why consumer capabilities on your website should reflect what can be done in your store, and why we're looking at an age in which everyone - including us - wants to criticize your shit.
The Consumerist is hosting a survey to determine the best fake marketing blog for 2006. Contestants include McDonald's for its 4Railroads and Mcdmillionwinner flogs, Wal-mart for Walmarting Across America and Sony for All I Want For Xmas Is A PSP. Currently, Sony has the most votes for worst fake blog of 2006. Check out the survey and share your thoughts.
Yes, there is an actual medical ailment called "mouse rage syndrome," The term was coined by the Social Issues Research Centre in the United Kingdom which recently conducted a study of 2,500 web users who were found to exhibit negative cardiac function, profuse sweating, altered immune and nervous system function and, yes, "mouse rage" defined as furious clicking and bashing of the mouse.
Guess what causes the syndrome? Fat Flash sites, poorly designed sites, bad navigation, pop ups, banner ads, unnecessary graphics and just about everything else our industry foists upon the helpless public who only want quick access to the relevant information they need and have no need for "site loading..." bullshit or sites that look great in a presentation but perform like a turtle crossing the road when launched. Wake up and smell the consumer, people. We want them to be our frinds. Not our enemies. Make nice.
As it's well known research data can be massaged to come to any desired conclusion, we were pleased to see The Silly Girl's take on a recent eMarketer study that found Gen Y women love their electronic gadgets such as cameras, phones, video games and MP players. While eMarketer chose the family-friendly interpretation of the data, The Silly Girl came to an entirely different and not unlikely true conclusion regarding the 26 percent of women who used electronic gadgetry in the "none of the above" category. Gee, we wonder what sort of electronic gadget those 26 percent of women are using? The Silly Girl has the answer.
Hey, wait a minute Ad Age. We did our survey first and it was a split decision. Oh wait. You have all those old, conservative readers and we have all the cool new kids. Now we get why the survey results differed. It seems Adrants readers enjoy working with Julie Roehm-ish drama more than Advertising Age readers. Eighty one percent of Advertising Age readers feel Wal-mart made the right move in firing Julie Roehm. What's that they say about research? Oh wait, we don't want to nullify out own survey results now do we?
Given available facts, when queried on their opinions about whether or not Julie Roehm should have been fired from Wal-mart, the industry is clearly undecided and split right down the middle. Based on a survey of 509 Adrants readers, 250 think she should have been fired and 259 think she should not have been fired. Hardly conclusive and, well, hardly relevant either. It's just interesting to see where the industry sits on this issue.
With all the news and analysis last week regarding Wal-mart's Julie Roehm, let's get down to the most important issue at hand. Do you think Julie Roehm should have been fired? Take a quick yes or no survey here.
A recent study says that, contrary to the youth-savvy appearance of Apple ads, over 46% of Apple's user base is 55 and older. The 18-24 crowd actually shoot for Gateways, which makes more sense considering the average college student budget doesn't factor in a whopping $1500 laptop. Even if they do froth at the mouth for them.
In terms of mobility Apple still whoops everybody's ass. Purchase-wise they just may skew more toward the stodgy suited guy and less toward the cute crooked haircut guy in their sweet hand-holding ads. - Contributed by Angela Natividad
At this week's Search Engine Strategies Conference in Chicago, Jim Hedger from Webmaster Radio detailedhow Google is serving AdWords ads to terrorist sites within the company's social networking site Orkut. Some think it's malicious. Others think Google can't possibly monitor every single site in the world for content. Hedger also discussed how money earned from click fraud on these sites is "supporting" terrorism. You decide. Is there anything Google can or should do to minimize this?
Today, Bluelithium tells us, "BlueLithium Labs released a new report analyzing online shopping data from Black Friday and Cyber Monday. This report contradicts the many recent claims that online shopping trends are no different on Cyber Monday than any other day, in fact, this data shows 30 percent higher conversion rates than normal.
The impact of this data on the actual effectiveness of online advertising on both days is significant. Many retailers would be tempted to bump up their online advertising efforts for both Friday and Monday, which are both known to be high shopping days, but this report suggests that they may do better to pull back on Friday and focus their efforts and ad dollars on Monday."
There you have it. Act accordingly next year.
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