Manage Your Campaigns

When it comes to reporting results from online media, even with the purest of branding campaigns, our eyes always head to the far right-hand side of report. We look past impressions, clicks, and cost per click to see the volume and cost of the actions we are getting. And why shouldn’t we? Today, marketers must focus not just reach but engagement, high-value brand interactions, and of course, actual leads and sales. Think of it this way: there are banner impressions and then there are lasting impressions. Engagement helps brands make lasting impressions with target audiences.

So in parallel to a great Media Plan, one should have a great Engagement Plan. An accompanying document should map not just where your creative will be placed, but what people will be encouraged to do when they see and click on your ads. Especially today, when properties offer an assortment of rich media units and engagement ads, how people respond can vary as much as what people see.

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Direct marketing

2011

Direct agencies will continue to garner the praise of marketers for the measurability of their programs and their growing capabilities on gathering consumer insights. But the privacy battle with consumers and legislators will no doubt continue as well.

One of the areas worth watching in 2011 will be the advancements in geolocation/geotargeting. David Sable, vice chairman and chief operating officer of WPP’s Wunderman, said there is still much psychology that needs to be understood around geotargeting, socializing and commerce. “We need to have insight into what motivates a single individual to act in a collective manner — and what it takes for them to actually physically move from one point to another,” he said. “The challenge for us is to understand how to create cultures of convergence.”

Bryan Kennedy, president-CEO of Epsilon, said the biggest challenge for marketers in 2011 is an old one, but one that’s getting tougher to overcome: breaking through the clutter. With the barrage of media and the density of marketing messages making the marketer’s job harder than ever, he believes “the urgency behind engaging in relevant dialogue, powered by consumer insight and enabled by elegant technology in every consumer channel, is more critical and more complicated than ever before.”

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A recent study has found that the majority (59%) of US Social Media users consider advertising a fair price to pay for using these services.

Further, 15% of them reported that they are more inclined to buy brands that advertise on Social Media sites.

The study, entitled “The Faces of Social Media”, conducted by Media Post Communications and Knowledge Networks interviewed 2,242 Americans, ranging from 13 to 80 year old to measure their usage of social media.

“We have learned that as social media usage has become nearly universal, its influence on inclination to purchase cannot be ignored,” said Patricia Graham, Chief Strategy Officer of Knowledge Networks.

The study also looked at people’s inclination to learn about a brand, and found that brand exploration increased by 25% when consumers received an ad from a brand on a Social Media site.

Smartphones users show even more impact

The purchase inclination impact was shown to be even higher with smartphone users with almost a third (32%) saying that they were more inclined to purchase a brand who had advertised to them in the app.

Ads within apps also appeal to smartphone owners between the ages of 13 and 54, with 40 percent saying that ads they see while using their smartphones are usually relevant to their “needs and interests.” As a result, smartphone users were more accepting of ads (70%) as fair price to pay for the service.

“As more people move to smartphones, there will be an increased opportunity for advertisers to improve their reach to consumers with increased relevance.” said Chuck Martin, Director of the Center for Media Research at Media Post Communications. “Marketers can expect more impact reaching social media users via mobile, based on these new findings.”

Olson is acquiring Chicago-based public relations shop Dig Communications in a move that gives Olson its first sizable footprint outside of its home market of Minneapolis.

With the addition of Dig, Olson will swell to more than 360 employees, and nearly 20% of the agency’s overall revenue will now be driven by PR. Dig’s founder, Peter Marino, becomes president of the newly merged agency’s PR practice, which will be rebranded Olson PR. Dig employees will remain in their respective office locations in Chicago, Milwaukee, New York and San Francisco.

Mr. Marino said Dig witnessed a spike in inbound interest from potential buyers in the past nine months. It was approached by several groups that had been on the sidelines for the past two years but were able to gain access to capital coming out of the recession, he speculated. For him, the “integrated potential” of teaming up with Olson was alluring, especially as clients were asking for Dig’s PR services to be enhanced by other disciplines.

“Dig thinks a lot like we think,” said Olson President-CEO Kevin DiLorenzo, who approached Dig about the deal this summer. “The companies, we feel, share DNA and values.”

The two shops have no client conflicts or client synergies, the executives said. Olson’s roster includes General Mills, Fifth Third Bank, Northwestern Mutual and Target, while Dig’s client list includes MillerCoors, Mars’ Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co., Harley Davidson, American Express and PepsiCo’s Quaker.

For Olson, it’s the second acquisition this year. In June it acquired loyalty-marketing agency Denali in a deal that transformed the shop into one of the Twin Cities’ largest full-service agencies and one of the country’s top 10 largest independents. And it’s still looking to do more deals.

“We’ve decided at this point in time our ambition is to continue to build the agency of the future as we see it and that isn’t through a holding-company model,” said Mr. DiLorenzo. “Our next move will be similar. Mobile is an area where we have great interest and our clients have great interest so that would be a smart next piece to put into the puzzle.”

Komli

Digital advertising and technology company Komla Media, venturing into the video advertising space last year, has begun offering pre-roll video advertising format for advertisers. Company has already banners and video advertising solutions on video. Komla Media has a link with Israel based video advertising solution provider for services Artivision ad video. For the uninitiated, the pre-roll video advertising refers to video ads inserted or presented before the main video clips on a website. Banners are branded video video clips placed in a unit banners.

Advertising In-Video referring to banners placed on a dead (inactive space) within the video image from a video clip. As a provider of online video advertising on the Indian market, it is wise to Komla Media to print on the market pre-roll ad format, which contributes the maximum bite of online video advertising spend. According to industry estimates, to pass the online video ad market is estimated at Rs 50 crore every year in India. Of this, gets a portion majority (70 percent) intended for pre-roll video ads, and the rest goes to the mid-roll, post-roll video and banner ads.

This figure, however, does not have a video ad that goes to video sites like Youtube.com, Metacafe.com and Dailymotion.com. Some other video advertising solutions providers that already offer pre-roll advertising service Jivox, Vdopia Media and ozone. Initially Komló Media is linked to (not exclusively) with some publishers, like SantaBanta.com, Mid-Day. com, and Zeenews.com Mypopkorn.com, video portal properties and Zeel Planetradiocity.com, the site of Radio City, which serves pre-roll video ads. However, advertisers are offered to choose the pages where they want ads, spokesman says media Komló afaqs!. He adds: Advertisers can target consumers based in connection with videos and websites. The pre-roll video ads offered by Komla will be interactive in nature – which means that advertisers can direct users to another Web site – and will come with the players in the skin mark. This technology company will sell pre-roll skins and collective mark.

Akshay garg

The company selling pre-roll ads on a cost per thousand impressions. In an official communication, Akshay Garg, co-founder and entrepreneur, Komla Media, said: We are extremely excited by the launch of our video pre-roll offers. In combination with the announcement of support (pre-roll and the skin mark) and video advertising solutions that we offer a unique awareness of the value proposition and commitment for retailers while offering more opportunities for income generation for publishers.

Amazing ads

Advertisements are the insurance for any brand , The branding element that gets highlighter with the advertisements can never be overlooked by the prospects or consumers. The impact can be measured when the consumer says WOW.

We have observed many ads in past that were really jaw dropping and many which failed to make any impact. Everything that matters is the placement of the ad and also the timing. There had been great thinkers in this domain who have delivered such remarkable ads for there brands that the brand owners could not stop counting the profits from those ads. Adviction.com is trying to list superb ads which really made an impact among users and pulled them to stores and the result was whooping sales.

Ambient

1. Skin Cancer Towel

2. WINZIP Compressed House

3. WPPED Cream Elevator Award

4. Neglected/ Invisible Children

5. McDonald’s Pole

6. Piano Stairs

7. Human Meat

8. Life Is Too Short for the Wrong Job

9. Kleenex Soap Dispenser

10. Elm Grove Police Department: Slower is Better

11. Unicef Land Mine

12. 2012. We Were Warned

13. Nikon D700: Papparazzi

14. Pantene Anti-Breakage Shampoo: Rapunzel

15. Swiss Skydive Elevator

Billboards

1. Panasonic nose trimmer: Fatty

2. Nestle Billboard

3. Sign from God

4. Formula Toothcare Bite

5. Imodium AD Toliet Tissue

6. Allstate Auto Insurance

7. Zimbabwean Money Billboard

8. iPod and iTunes

9. Powerhouse Gym

10. Get Organized with Peter Walsh

Print

1. Findus FraichíFrites: Granny Fries without the Granny

2. International Vegetarian Union: Vegetables Are All Your Body Needs

3. Bose Noise Reduction Headphones

4. Clorets: Fishy Breath

5. Gun Central Alliance, South Africa

6. The Joy of Pepsi

7. Utopolis: Reality Sucks

8. Fortis Bank: Plastic Surgery Loans

9. Target Dri Bots Nappies: No One Likes a Bed Wetter

10. McDonald’s Baby Ronald