Deep Focus is a member of the Society of Digital Agencies, a non-profit association dedicated to advancing the industry through best practices, education and advocacy. The global association is currently comprised of 41 well-regarded Digital agencies with members located across Australia, Canada, Eastern and Western Europe, Mexico, South America, and the United States.
We all got together and assembled what we affectionately call The SoDA 2010 Digital Marketing Outlook.
On behalf of Deep Focus, I contributed a segment on how social media is affecting content consumption.
2010 will be the year that social media-fueled technology and behavior is responsible for more content consumption choices than ever before. As the media landscape becomes increasingly fragmented, marketers will need to become more nimble than ever, and start getting on the leading edge of trends, as opposed to waiting for them to emerge.
There are several great contributions from our friends at Big Spaceship, AgencyNet, and Schematic, so I strongly suggest that if you read one piece of forward-looking thinking on the new year, that this be it. It's the best I've read, and I'm proud of my fellow SoDA members for their brilliant insights.
I spoke today at the Ad Council's Partner Conference, where many of the causes the Ad Council supports get together to discuss the burning issues around raising awareness of their very important initiatives.
At this event, the focus was squarely, 100% on social media, and understandably so.
In doing my part to set the table for the day's discussion, I gave the following presentation where I talked about some significant research findings, best practices, and case studies including our recent major effort with the Ad Council, SHARE YOUR VOICE.
Harris: Building a community of fans is an important step for these entertainment campaigns, and is gaining ground in other business sectors. It's a natural fit to leverage existing communities that support a particular brand, but what suggestions do you have for starting from scratch?
Schafer: When building a community from scratch, perhaps the most important thing you can do involves asking "why." For example, you should be able to answer the basic question of "why are you building this community in the first place?" You should have a clear understanding of the goals you aim to achieve by connecting to your consumers -- and connecting them to each other. These could very well be different than your typical business goals. Rather, they may be goals that don't result directly in attributable sales but, rather, in the alignment of a brand with, and focus of a community on, a particular cause or lifestyle inherent to the brand.
The other "why" question that should be asked is "why would I join this community?" What does the consumer stand to gain by being an active (or even a passive) member of this community? What appropriate incentives exist for participants? You can prepare for this question by doing the appropriate market research before embarking on a social media "hunch."
From a technology and strategy perspective, it is also important to embark upon a discovery process to identify your development and distribution partners, who may very well be one in the same. Should you roll-your-own social network? Should you build on a modular platform? Should you build a community within an already existing social networking property? An understanding of your goals, your consumers and their behaviors and of your brand's personality will make finding the answers to these questions an easier task.
Viewers who go online to find out about new TV shows before they premiere are more likely to watch them regularly, and to even convince their friends to watch those programs, according to a study by Yahoo and Deep Focus.
The “Engage and Entertain” study also found that there’s a direct correlation between advertising for a show–whether on TV, through a portal or billboards–and online searches regarding a program. When asked what prompted respondents to go online to learn more about a TV show, 55% said because they “saw or heard an advertisement,” according to the study.
The research was conducted by Yahoo and Deep Focus to help TV studios figure out the best way to engage consumers online, even during the traditionally slow summer TV season.
The takeaway is that TV studios should use the Internet early on to build loyalty to new shows.
And, according to the study, TV studios should be engaging with consumers even before the new TV season begins. For example, viewers who seek out information on a show online before its actual TV premiere convince an average of 5.1 of their friends to watch that show, the survey found. The study also determined that people who seek information online about new shows before they debut are 46% more likely to watch the show regularly.
Below are the viewable, zoomable, printable, and shareable topline findings of The Deep Focus/Yahoo! Study, Engage & Entertain.
Online advertising is poised to overtake television spending in the UK by the end of 2009, as reported by Mad.co.uk, and via the results of research conducted by the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau), PricewaterhouseCoopers, and the World Advertising Research Centre.
Now granted, the UK is a smaller market, but this is a clear signal that it may not be too far in the distant future until ad spending catches up with media usage here in the US.
A 2007 report by the UK's Office of Communications (Ofcom), stated that average daily internet use in 2006 (36 minutes) was up 158% on 2002 and time spent on the mobile phone (almost 4 minutes per day) was up 58%. Time spent watching TV was down 4% at 3 hours and 36 minutes.
All signs point to the increases likely being even greater in 2007, and will not likely stop climbing this year.
So why is the US so far behind? The latest numbers from TNS say that 2007 saw TV ad spending grow 17% to $64.4 billion, while online was not even at $17 billion. eMarketer predicts that in 2008, online ad spending will account for 8.8% of all ad spending ($25.9 billion).
We know that the Internet accounts for more than 8.8% of all time spent with media (not to mention all the behavioral signs that point to the web being a great place for great advertising). So why can't we catch up with the Brits?
It's ironic that a society that still has parliamentary meetings with wig-wearing electorates has a more progressive grasp on the media mix than we do. But then again, we've got Miley Cyrus, so there. And John Adams.
Remember, I'll be attending the Media Summit NY on March 12th, presented by Digital Hollywood where I'll be speaking on the following panel:
2:15 PM - 3:30 PM
Session C: Advertising NEXT: Social Networks, User Generated Video, Blogs, IMs, Podcasts, Broadband and Mobile
In this session, we will look for a comprehensive understanding of what advertising in the next generation will look like. The world of advertising has been completely dislocated by the acceptance and integration of the new technologies, from PVR and Broadband to Social Networks, VOD, Mobile, Blogs and ITV, the consumer is being both barraged by content and choice, he/she is being overwhelmed by the technology itself. While the decisions being made by the advertising community are always measured and incremental, the technologies at hand are profound and will only move forward. How fast and at what rate of impact is still to be understood, but the question is no longer about consumer acceptance and proof of distribution, it is about when the roof is going to cave in. The new technologies are successfully invading traditional media and the good news is rather than leaving the advertiser without a way of reaching the audience, the new technologies may ultimately prove to be better and more comprehensive vehicle for reaching and developing relationships with an even larger customer base.
Bant Breen, president, Interpublic’s Futures Marketing Group
Kevin P. Ryan, Co-Chairman, Alley Corp., former CEO and co-founder, DoubleClick
Anne Hunter, Vice President, Platform-A Strategic Advertising Solutions, AOL
Scott Kessler, Senior Director, Information Technology, Internet Software & Services and Internet Retail, Standard & Poor's Equity Research
Marc Ruxin, SVP, Director, Digital Strategy and Innovation, MCCANN WorldGroup
Ian Schafer, President and Founder, Deep Focus
Dean Carignan, Director, Ad Business Strategy, E&D Division, Microsoft Corporation
Tim Chang, Principal, Norwest Venture Partners, Moderator
In case you missed it, BusinessWeek reporter Sarah Lacy pretty much bombed the Mark Zuckerberg keynote interview yesterday at SXSW. Check out CNet's coverage here.
So, we will not re-hash why Zuckerberg didn't sell to yahoo. We will not re-hash the fact that he's -- gasp! -- 23. I might make fun at his awkward 60 Minutes line: "was that a question?"
Everyone has glommed onto the corporate facebook story. And to Mark, that's the least interesting part. So we'll spend some time talking about the site itself, and the role it's playing in the world. And we'll tackle thorny advertising questions. (Beacon, anyone?)
Mostly, I hope to draw out some of the real Mark. I've spent some 30 hours or so interviewing him, starting when he was a 19 year-old punk. And you know, he's not a bad guy.
THAT'S the problem.
She told us what she was going to ask him. Lacy should have done a little more research into the makeup of the crowd at SXSW. She should have known that this crowd wanted answers. If Zuckerberg wasn't going to provide answers, or at the very least, information, then that would've been his (or Facebook's) problem. Instead, she utilized her 'familiarity' with Zuckerberg (she's interviewed him before, and is writing a book that features him) to try and 'friend' (approriately enough) information out of him. And that information never came. Zuckerberg is not known for his conversational finesse. You need to put him on the spot - without insulting him. If the questions were the right ones, the ones that the audiences wanted to hear, she could have at least satisfied some of the crowd.
But that never happened.
She never asked us about what we wanted to hear from him. Of course there is time for 'audience questions' after the interview. But why wait until then to hear what we have to say?
What Sarah Lacy should have done was write a blog post and solicit questions to ask Zuckerberg in the comments section. She could have taken the pulse of the crowd before she arrived. She could have at least given Zuckerberg the opportunity to address the issues that were so important to the crowd.
Style aside, a lot of what was missing was substance. In an interview, the questions need to have as much as (if not more) substance than the answers. It puts the onus on the interviewee. If Sarah gave the audience the opportunity to contribute substance to the interview -- relevant to them -- than maybe the crowd wouldn't have turned on her so quickly.
Isn't it ironic that one of the most attended, most accessible (to the public) interviews of the CEO of the most popular social and collaborative property on the web, had nothing social or collaborative about it?
Next time, please ask. Don't tell.
Oh...and please use this as an opportunity to listen to the crowd that is your audience. And converse. Don't antagonize.
I recently read the book Breaking Open The Head by Daniel Pinchbeck on a recommendation and was very intrigued by the connection of the internet to shamanistic ideas.
One particular passage talks about the Burning Man festival which takes place in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada at the end of August.
"The rapid growth of the festival and it's flawless self-organizing structure are direct products of the Internet. Among the attendants at Burning Man can be found a tremendous brain trust of scientists and technicians, Silicon Valley Engineers and CEOs... Briefly escaping corporate jobs or university labs, they find release in flaunting their tools before a live and jubilant audience. "Black Rock City shows it's possible to create a society based on play," said Russel Wilcox.
In reading that so many internet associated people attend such events, one can see how and why the idea of the online social network was born. The ideals of current online social networks are found and inspired through these real-world settings. Life imitating art imitating life to a point. Can the online space replace the human connection of a face-to-face conversation? Probably not. But that's where the challenge lies in gaining a connection where LOL and emoticons truly emote.
As the real world and these events foster "mind altering" and "mind expanding" through a variety of methods and, yes, substances, the online space is a prime inducer of opening the mind. Granted, watching too many YouTube videos has the opposite effect, but as a whole the internet is many people's drug of choice through its vast landscape of content. I doubt the military saw the internet having this effect to such a social level.
Social networking takes us to these alternate realities. It lets users take on any persona they wish. It let's people connect with those familiar and close to them as well as complete strangers. It's an out-of-body experience. These crossovers from the physical space into the online space is where Web 3.0 is being born. Content generation with social interaction that explore connections in an alternate plane.
At least once a day, I visit YouTube to see which videos are the most viewed, discussed and shared. On Sunday the entire front page of view rankings was populated with:
a) Videos of Arsenal striker Eduardo Da Silva breaking his leg in a Saturday game against Birmingham City. The injury was too graphic for Sky Sports to rebroadcast it.
b) Videos of Big Brother Season 9 contestant Amanda Hansen passing out due to low blood sugar.
I've watching my share of Formula One and ski jump crashes on YouTube over the years. I'm no innocent. But sometimes, when a "Most Viewed" index holds ONLY injury, disaster or downfall, it makes me wonder. Especially following the noxious preoccupation with 2 Girls One Cup last autumn. Boo humanity! Boo!
What? That last link doesn't go anywhere? That's because Time Warner/Cartoon Network yanked the Adult Swim show's content from the site. Time Warner's volatile relationship with YouTube is well known, but this was one of those great examples that illustrates the cost of stubborn and stodgy corporate policy. I wanted to share the video, in person, with a group of friends. Sure I searched other sites, but at the time, I only found badly optimized, shorter versions. Nothing as majestic as the one I'd been watching every day on YouTube for three weeks. Note: This version on FunnyOrDie is pretty good, though. Anyhow, the experience left me pissed off and unable to share my excitement with my friends. To use an awkward dating metaphor, I got content blocked. Compare this to the Sarah Silverman/Matt Damon affair, which ABC got OUT THERE. I even tuned into Jimmy Kimmel Live, a show I never watch, to see the response video. Anyhow, I know this is an old story...but that doesn't change the fact that it's still happening.
3. Everybody loves Magic. That's why they call it Magic. (sorry, following the awesomeness of the Redbelt trailer, I had to channel Mamet.)
I don't believe you can cultivate "magic", it just happens. And yet, right now, this little girl is tearing up YouTube.
OK, I guess she's cute and all. And yes, I'll probably get some boos for nay saying the clip but I thought the editing of this video, by the dad, left it feeling completely contrived and bereft of magic. I've nothing against parents capturing their kids doing funny stuff and posting it on YouTube, but this video (and the father defends himself in the comments) really feels like it was shot FOR YouTube. Regardless of intent, the finished product didn't feel organic to me. I went "eh" instead of "aww". And that's a bummah.
Look for a more substantive post on the potential convergence of Online Advertising and New Marketing Research Technologies in the AM.
MIT's Technology Review just published it's list of 10 Emerging Technologies for 2008. The one piece that resonated with me is Sandy Pentland's exploration into Reality Mining especially in relation to social networking, new media and interactive.
Reality mining "is all about paying attention to patterns in life and using that information to help [with] things like setting privacy patterns, sharing things with people, notifying people–basically, to help you live your life."
This becomes a hot topic for a few reasons. First and foremost is, once again, privacy issues. Data capture is part of our daily lives – credit card usage, cookies on sites, social network profiles, company swipe cards – and as technology continues to slowly infiltrate more of our lives, we become more tolerant and accepting of what information is divulged and distributed. Everyone has see the movies with the FBI trying to trace the criminals phone call with the criminal hanging up just before being caught. However, most people don't think about that even with mobile phones being on all the time A simple Google search on his/her name would surprise a lot of people.
Reality Mining has been a reality for years. And as mobile phones become more prevalent with WI-FI, Bluetooth and GPS-type systems (ala iPhone,) in addition to the laptops we carry around and use, the continual social network is our daily life. And as mobile technology advances, our blip on the grid becomes more prominent. The Human Cyborg ideal continues to press forward. Professor Kevin Warwick first started research into this in 1998 by planting microchips in his arm for recognition of systems in his lab.
The major benefit of Reality Mining is from an anthropological standpoint. How people interact, where they are and when they are. Tying this information into disease outbreaks, advertising models (when a person sees an ad, what do they do right afterwards?) and general healthcare and "human maintenance." Smartex in Italy is working on clothing that does just that.
It's a bit of the God factor (being omnipotent and omniscient) that is also fascinating. Knowing where your friends are at any time, knowing what they're doing, where to get the food your phone knows your craving. It's bringing the idea of Facebook, Google Maps, Dodgeball and other sites into the physical space. The ultimate social network. Maybe even a step closer to SkyNet.
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