Archive for July, 2006
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links for 2006-07-28
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Economists have long been intrigued by the numbers-rich world of sports. The interest is no longer a sideline, but an expanding field of study that offers insights on such broad topics as labor-management relations and racial disparities in pay and hiring
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“Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby” is one of the most in-your-face efforts ever to cross-promote consumer brands in a movie, and vice versa. Just as Nascar itself blankets every inch of its cars, drivers and racetracks with ads and logos, so do
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After moving far beyond its Southern roots years ago, NASCAR continues to soar in nationwide popularity and is on the verge of spreading to an even broader, international audience.
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Does learning about paintings and sculpture help children become better students in other areas? A study to be released today by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum suggests that it does.
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links for 2006-07-27
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The Boston Globe plans to sell advertisements on the covers of its Business, Sunday Real Estate, Sports, and Food sections. The paper is following an industry trend in which the likes of The New York Times have recently launched similar efforts, and The
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At the Public Radio Development & Marketing Conference
I am in New Orleans today speaking at the Public Radio Development & Marketing Conference. The panel I am on, entitled “New Media: Making Sense/Making Cents” will focus on the ways public radio stations can leverage interactive and other tools to raise funds and expand their offering. Here is the session description:
RSS Feeds, Podcasting, IM, flickr, blogs, etc… etc… What is all this stuff and how can we use it for fundraising? First a thoughtful, accessible overview of new media tools and terms for the non-techies amongst us, then it’s off to the races! Join us for roll-up-your-sleeves brainstorming about new media and how we might market it to our audiences and use it to build revenue, whether directly through outright membership solicitation, business sponsorship or e-commerce, or indirectly by capturing user contact information for later cultivation. Enough talking about what the future may hold – let’s start putting this darned stuff to use!
I will provide an overview/analysis of how other media organizations are using interactive tools — from HBO offering mobile games and MySpace pages to promote Entourage to the American Cancer Society’s virtual charity walk in Second Life – and offer some thoughts on how to apply these to public radio stations.
I will let you know how it goes.
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links for 2006-07-26
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A look at the good, the bad and the ugly of movie names.
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The coin-operated Big Buck Hunter Pro has evolved into the hottest-selling, biggest-moneymaking video game in bars and arcades across the country. And it’s surprisingly popular in liberal bastions with strict gun laws such as New York City, where the idea
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Racing fans who rent the gadget for $50 to $70 can get close-up views of crucial race events anywhere on the track. They can punch up video from the on-board cameras of seven different race cars, listen in on radio chatter between each driver and his pit
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Wikipedia remains a lumpy work in progress. The entries can read as though they had been written by a seventh grader: clarity and concision are lacking; the facts may be sturdy, but the connective tissue is either anemic or absent; and citation is hit or
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links for 2006-07-25
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According to a study released by Experience this week, 4 in 10 college students spend at least 10 hours a week online. Read on for more data/results.
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A look at sites visited for news, including top sites, reader demographics, advertisers, type and size of ads, and delivery.
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In a recent survey of corporate blog owners, almost three-quarters of respondents (76 percent) reported increases in Web traffic and media attention as a result of their blogs, and yet are still expecting more from these blogs.
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A report released by Nielsen Analytics last week found that podcasts are attracting a growing number of listeners, a shift that media companies and advertisers have noted.
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A growing number of new ventures are targeting aging baby boomers, their obsessions in the final third of their lives — and their $2 trillion in annual spending power. Start-up magazines with titles like GeezerJock, Grand and What’s Next are beckoning to
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Recruiting for Straight Talk America
I came across two ads this morning on Boston.com from Republican Senator and rumored Presidential Candidate John McCain. The ads are simple, encouraging online users to “Join Senator John McCain’s Straight Talk America.” When clicked on, the page drops to a simple landing page with a sign-up form.
I will assume that Senator McCain is trying to recruit support for his campaign in New Hampshire — why else would his ads appear on the sports section in the Globe (online)?
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TV Boss
All three major television distributors — broadcast stations, cable networks and satellite services — have united for the first time in a media campaign to educate parents on how to block objectionable programming from their children, as cable and satellite outlets fear that the government crackdown on broadcast indecency will spread to them.
Check out the website.
The Washington Post writes up the campaign here.
I like the simplicity of this campaign. Too often these PSA campaigns, and their web components in particular, are too complicated or try to be too cool. The blocking of content that people find objectionable is about personal choice — give people the option to pick what they want to watch. More importantly, for a campaign like this to succeed, the TV industry must give actually give parents the tools to block content they find objectionable. They have successfully done this.
Once this education campaign gets a foothold, the government should back off and let the television industry make whatever shows they want. They’ll learn their lesson if the viewership goes down when the sex and violence goes up (so far that doesn’t seem to be the trend - with Sopranos, CSI, and others out there). They won’t if the punishment is more fines and public embarassment. The television viewing audience can show the TV industry what kind of shows we want to see on TV by blocking, or not blocking, what we find appropriate. And in the end, the system should sort itself out.
Happy watching!
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links for 2006-07-21
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When “The Infinite Mind” opens it virtual doors next month, it will become the first regularly scheduled national media broadcast within the increasingly popular 3-D web space. A growing number of companies are turning to these interactive worlds as a pla
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As people increasingly tailor their leisure time to suit their lifestyles — through blogs, MySpace, iPods, video on demand — politicians and their promoters are facing the same problem as Hollywood and the makers of toothpaste: How do you sell your pr
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Cass Sapir is on perhaps the grandest, most exhausting road swing in baseball history. In a money raiser for the Jimmy Fund (the Boston-based children’s cancer charity), he’s driving around the country visiting every major league and minor league affiliat
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A Red Sox fan angry that Johnny Damon defected to the New York Yankees has fought off an attempt by his high-powered agent to stop her from selling baby bibs with a very grown-up insult.
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Are Branding and Marketing the Same?
People ask me all the time if branding and marketing are the same (hint: they are not). So when Karen E. Klein, a business columnist for the LA Times, offered up the following answer in her small business ‘In Box’ column this week, I had to share it:
Question: How does a small business brand itself? Is branding the same thing as marketing?
Answer: Branding your firm is a crucial part of your overall marketing strategy. Establishing a brand involves defining your company, knowing exactly what niche you serve in your industry and convincing your potential customers that your product or service is the only solution to their problem.
The smaller the enterprise, the more important branding is because small firms tend to have fewer resources and lower marketing budgets.
If you have established a strong brand, you will not have to do as much marketing to have an effect on potential customers.
“The truth is that branding has to occur before any other kind of marketing: advertising, public relations, Web marketing, identity and so forth,” said Rob Frankel, a branding expert and author of “The Revenge of Brand X.”
Once people are aware of your company and are convinced that yours is the only solution for them, they will stop shopping elsewhere.
“The clearer your brand message, the more likely people are to tell others about it, including why it’s the only brand to buy. That’s how you turn users into evangelists. Your advertising, public relations and other marketing efforts run more cost-effectively because the message gets through much more quickly and memorably.
“That’s how branding works,” Frankel said.
Unfortunately, he said, most companies don’t spend much — if any — time on brand strategy development, thinking they’ll do fine if they can just make potential customers aware of their products.
“The result is that they spend five or six times the marketing money on marketing that has no brand strategy, so it simply doesn’t work,” Frankel said.
More information on specific branding strategies, along with case studies, is available free at Frankel’s website, http://www.robfrankel.com .
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links for 2006-07-20
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Some forward-thinking film companies are trying to figure out how to make video games before they even get a movie studio’s green light. Companies that produce documentaries and other films that talk about serious issues should be thinking about this as
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National Review has published a list of the 50 greatest conservative rock songs. “The lyrics must convey a conservative idea or sentiment, such as skepticism of government or support for traditional values. And, to be sure, it must be a great rock song.”
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Web sites give children many opportunities to interact with candy bars, cereals and snack foods in an entertaining, branded environment. Their sophisticated online marketing efforts are drawing children into playing hundreds of free Internet games featur
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A systematic content analysis of the most viewed videos on YouTube in an attempt to get under the skin of the viral phenomena [Via BusinessWeek].
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First came fantasy baseball, in which enthusiasts put together make-believe dream teams of real-life players and compete based on those players’ performances. Fantasy football and other variations followed. Now fantasy fishing is one of the more unlikely
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The number of TV shows that allow audiences to participate through text messaging is skyrocketing. Programmers are now seeking out new revenue sources and trying to encourage people to watch shows when they are aired, rather than on tape or video on dema
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Tom Hanks, Ron Howard, and Dennis Miller are quietly making their way around the country to visit major league ballparks. The trip, organized by Hanks, is a birthday present to himself.
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