Facebook Serves 25% of Display Ads
Facebook Serves 25% Of Display Ads
Marketing Daily News
Facebook accounted for more than one-quarter (25.8%) of all U.S. display ad impressions in the fourth quarter of 2010—up from 23.1% in the prior quarter, per comScore. The social network's gain came at the expense of Yahoo, whose display ad share fell to 9.7% from 11%, and Fox Interactive Media, which dropped to 2.4% from 3.8%, in the third quarter.
Among other top Web publishers, Microsoft's share slipped to 4.5% from 5%, and Google, from 2.7% to 2.4%. AOL saw a slight uptick from 2.4% to 2.5% in the fourth quarter. More than 1.3 trillion ad impressions were served in the quarter, about the same as the prior three months. Of that total, Facebook was responsible for 338.6 billion.
The new figures reflect Facebook's growing dominance of display advertising based on its more than 500-million-strong audience worldwide and its advantage over the major Web portals in user engagement. According to Nielsen, the average time spent per person among Facebook's 135.7 million unique U.S. viewers in March was six hours, 35 minutes, compared to 2:26 for AOL, 2:16 for Yahoo, 1:26 for MSN/Windows Live/Bing, and 1:21 for Google.
Starbucks Hits No. 3 Despite Limited Ad Spending
Advertising Age
Last week starbucks blasted past Wendy's and Burger King to become the No. 3 restaurant chain, posting $9.07 billion in domestic restaurant sales last year, up 8.7% from 2009. For a company that's outspent on advertising anywhere from two to eight times by rivals and just a few years ago faced 600 store closings and negative sales, that's quite an achievement.
At the heart of that turnaround are menu and product innovations, and the ability to maintain steady price points—which tend to be higher than other chains—even through a recession. "They've done a nice job creating complementary food offerings to go along with their beverages," said Darren Tristano, exec VP at Technomic, referring to the company's menus expansions with breakfast sandwiches and the surprise hit oatmeal. "They've added products that are healthier with less artificial flavors, and more emphasis toward natural or organic food. They've really been able to increase price on a premium-coffee beverage that is on par with what younger consumers are looking for."
"It's more about just cultivating a brand than traditional advertising," said Morningstar analyst RJ Hottovy. "Once you've got a brand consumers' love, they're going to continue to visit the store. Plus, Starbucks has done its advertising more efficiently. It's been all over social media, mobile payments—stuff that elevates the image of brand."
Five Steps to Help Your Brand Avoid Overpromising
Advertising Age
For decades, companies have invested significant time and money in efforts to develop compelling value propositions that focus marketing plans and hone future business direction. However, the results of these efforts often overpromise benefits that the broader organizations can't, or even worse, never intended to deliver. Consumers quickly recognize the gap between what a brand promises and what it actually delivers. The widening of this gap in recent years has led to widespread consumer frustration in the financial services, telecommunications and automotive industries.
Many major banking institutions, for example, have spent substantial media dollars advertising how much they value "customer relationships," while simultaneously nickel-and-diming their existing customers with hidden, and oftentimes predatory, fees. In a recent study, it was found that 78% of consumers believe banks care solely about their own interests and not the interests of their customers. Can you blame them?
Accordingly, consumers have become more reliant on the advice of their peers to find the "real stories" behind the brands they are evaluating. It is now customary to seek guidance, and even approval, from outside sources before making a brand decision. How can you develop a value proposition that puts your organization in a position to deliver on its promises?
Inc.
Do you dream of helping others when you “make it big”? Do you imagine all of the good that you can do once you have no money woes whatsoever? I think this quality is a universal character trait for entrepreneurs. It’s one of the things that motivate and keep our imaginations happy. But do we really have to wait until we’ve hit the jackpot to give back? Nope. Not according to fashion designer, Julia Fiske we don’t.
So what exactly is cause marketing? In 1983 American Express coined the term “cause-related marketing” (CRM) when they launched a marketing campaign for the Statue of Liberty Restoration project. The company donated a penny toward restoring the Statue of Liberty each time a cardholder charged an item. In a mere four months, more than $2 million was raised for the project.’’
If done well, your partnership will increase your brand loyalty and sales, garner positive press coverage and differentiate you from the competition. In fact, according to a Cone Cause Evolution Study, a whopping 79% of Americans say they would be likely to switch from one brand to another, when price and quality are about equal and if the other brand is associated with a good cause. But don’t discount the fact that they will drop you like a hot potato if consumers sense insincerity or greed behind your cause related marketing efforts. This approach is not for you if you don’t have a passion for your cause.
Want to Evolve Your Marketing? Let People — Not Products — Lead the Way
Advertising Age
Looking for big ideas to take your marketing to the next level? "Marketing 3.0," by Philip Kotler, Hermawan Kartajaya and Iwan Setiawan, proposes a fundamental evolution to our marketing strategies. It seeks to move our focus from product and customer models to a human-centric model. It challenges us to evolve from pushing products to solving real-world socio-cultural issues, while concurrently creating relevant value propositions that ultimately lead to higher profit.
To better understand the theory behind Marketing 3.0, it helps to place it in some context. Marketing 1.0 was developed in the Industrial Age, a "product-centric" era focused on mass-selling products through functional value propositions. Marketing 2.0 was developed during the Information Age, and it adopted emotional value propositions. The authors of Marketing 3.0 propose that we are now at the dawn of the "values-driven" era, characterized by consumers who want to satisfy functional, emotional and spiritual needs. Marketing 3.0 seeks to satisfy the whole person -- mind, body and soul.
Why this evolution to human-centric value propositions? The authors point to three trends that are shaping the future of marketing.
Feds Propose Guidelines For Marketing To Kids
Marketing Daily News
Citing the goal of reducing childhood obesity, an interagency working group (IWG) comprising four federal agencies has released a set of proposed voluntary guidelines for the nutritional content of foods and beverages marketed to children and teens ages 2 through 17. In 2009, Congress directed the Federal Trade Commission, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to form an IWG to develop such recommendations.
The proposal calls for food marketers, including restaurants, to "strive" to meet specified initial/interim nutritional and marketing criteria by 2016, and final targets by 2021. The proposal identifies 10 food/beverage categories that account for the vast majority of spending for marketing to children and teens, and recommends that the industry focus on these. Those categories are breakfast cereals, snack foods, dairy products, baked goods, carbonated and non-carbonated beverages, prepared foods/meals, frozen and chilled desserts, and restaurant foods.
Study: Music Sponsorship Spend Hits High Note
Marketing Daily News
The days of rock and rollers refusing corporate sponsorships of their music and tours are long over. According to sponsorship tracker IEG, music sponsorship opportunities—ranging from multiday festivals to multinational tours—are generating more corporate interest than any other opportunities.
"The concerns over perceptions of selling out are long gone," William Chipps, senior editor of IEG Sponsorship Report, tells Marketing Daily. "Nowadays the music industry is turned upside down. The artists as well as the music promoters are all looking for new ways to promote their bands and music."
According to IEG, which measures sponsorship spending, North American-based companies will spend $1.17 billion sponsoring music venues, festivals and tours, a 7.3% increase over the $1.09 billion spent in 2010. That increase outpaces the 5.9% in expected growth in overall sponsorship spending and is the largest increase among all property types, including sports, causes and the arts.