Category: interactive advertising

“Social Influence Research” from Ad Agencies to Identify “Advocates and Champions” for brands [Annals of Social media Marketing]

excerpt:  In one instance, we used Social Infuence Research to conduct qualitative research for a Web site targeted at teen girls. Participants were recruited and asked to bring two friends to an interview. The researchers used the interview to observe the behavior of the group and the dynamics that occurred among the individuals in it. As a follow-up, the group was given a video camera and asked to document a trip to the mall. The video provided tremendous insight into the influencer and follower behaviors that were naturally occurring in the group… In another research project, we interviewed entire nuclear families to understand how its members managed and allocated financial resources. Families are the oldest and most established “social networks.” As such, they have fairly clearly delineated exchange and influencing processes to make decisions. To map how those decisions were made, we interviewed parents and children separately, and then together. In addition we worked with the family to create a digital photo diary for an entire week. Through those “mapping” interviews and exercises, we were able to canvas how financial decisions were made, how parents implicitly and explicitly passed along “money values” to their children, how children implicitly and explicitly absorbed the parents’ financial lessons and ultimately how the family network functioned around financial matters…

Generating social graph analysis and reporting helps to identify not only the attributes of influencers, but shows us who they are, where they are, what makes them influencers and, most importantly, where they cross other networks. Of course, social networks are nothing new; marketers have observed and responded to influencer relationships across categories for many years. However, the evolution of the social Web has created a new opportunity for digital marketers and researchers to harness a consumers’ social influence across their online network and create advocates and champions for their brand.

source:  Razorfish. 2009.

Alain Heureux, IAB Europe, and the Battle Over Online Marketing and Privacy: Worried about Article 29 Working Party and Calls for Regulation

We recently met Mr. Heureux in Brussels at a EU conference on consumers in the digital age.  He is a most capable representative of the European online advertising industry.  But Alain’s job is also to help prevent the enactment of privacy safeguards that would protect European consumers and citizens when they use digital and interactive media.  Here are excerpts from a recent article on Mr. Heureux in New Media Age [26 March 2009]:

In the battle to protect online advertising from intervention by politicians, Alain Heureux is on the front line. The president and CEO of IAB Europe spends half his time on what he calls public affairs, concentrating on the regulatory agenda in Brussels.  “The three main concerns are privacy, targeting and social media, and all the links between…“We’re very worried,” he admits. “At the moment, the revenues from targeting and profiling are not so big, so if you damage them you might not damage the entire industry immediately. But marketers want to move away from traditional techniques to targeted, efficient forms of marketing, and that shift can only happen with the use of technology and data. So there is a risk of damaging the future of marketing and media.”

Heureux’s concerns include the Article 29 working party which, although it has no power to introduce legislation, carries considerable weight in Brussels. It’s currently working on a paper which would define a person’s IP address as personal data, making it subject to the same data protection regime as other personal information. He’s also worried about the upcoming EU elections, wondering if one of the current commissioners might campaign on a privacy and data protection platform.

“Someone could position themselves as the messiah of data protection,” he says. “You’d get a lot of sympathy from consumers’ associations and citizens who are a little bit scared about all this data stuff, so it would be easy to take that great role and use it politically. That’s why these elections are dangerous, the threat is very much present.”…

Heureux takes the view that the only way to stop regulators passing new laws is for the industry to regulate itself. And while he acknowledges that Brussels is open to the idea of self-regulation, he sees one of his biggest problems as managing its expectations.

“Regulatory affairs take time, but the regulator wants everything now, not in a year’s time.” …“We need to create room for self-regulation but I’m worried about who will take care of enforcement. It’s not clear that the SROs [self-regulator organizations] will do it, because they’re under-resourced and under-funded, so it won’t be easy to extend self-regulation to include new techniques and practices.”

Despite these concerns, Heureux acknowledges with a smile that the current economic situation is helping the cause of self-regulation. He sees companies becoming more pragmatic and open to compromise with their competitors, while regulators are more concerned about the effect of new legislation on jobs and business.

“behavioral targeting on steroids” is how one major interactive advertiser describes rush to create “goldmine of information” on consumers

Excerpt from a column written by Domenic Venuto of Razorfish.

“Data is now sexy. Very sexy. At the same time that publishers were looking to capture market share online they realized they sit on a gold mine of information that isn’t used anywhere near its potential… Suddenly publishers turned their attention to data. They became interested in building unified customer databases, repositories that captured a 360 degree view of the customer and consolidated behavior across brands and distribution channels. Whatever the phrase, it is behavioral targeting on steroids. All efforts focused on consolidating information about a user’s online activity with their offline behavior…Publishing aside, financial companies, CPG and retailers are also extremely focused on data. They collect data from every customer interaction—television ads, mailers, Web visits, call center calls, deposits, coupons—and connect the data dots between customer touch points to understand the effects of each interaction on the acquisition and retention lifecycle.”

Google Tells Advertisers it has the “Largest Global Network” for “Pinpoint targeting”

Google says that in the Ad Age Ad Networks and Exchanges Guide.  Here are some excerpts:

The Google Content Network can efficiently and effectively meet your advertising needs. Not only do we have the largest global network,1 but our product and engineering teams have developed a range of solutions—from contextual targeting to real-time reporting—that help you and your clients create, launch and optimize campaigns that deliver results.

Connect with your audience, large or small
  • Consumer behavior is shifting toward niche sites.3 With sites spanning broad and premium niche, the Content Network gives you access to hundreds of thousands of sites and millions of consumers.
  • Select your audience based on their interests—whether they’re sports enthusiasts or social activists—and our targeting technology will find them across the Content Network.
  • We give users the ability to edit the interests we think they have, providing a new level of transparency for users and better targeting for you…Broad reach. Pinpoint targeting. Efficient prices. Better ROI. The Google Content Network…

    Network Reach

    As the largest ad network in the world, and fourth largest in the U.S., the Google Content Network reaches 75 percent of international Internet users and 76 percent of the U.S. online audience.*
    *Source: comScore, February 2009

“Microtargeting at scale”–a look at one Behavioral Targeting Online Ad Network

We urge everyone, including the FTC and Congress, to review Ad Age’s “Ad Network & Exchange” guide published on April 20, 2009.  Much of it is online.  Here’s an except from Tribal Fusion:

“We offer:

  • Vertical expertise
  • Deep customer insights
  • Comprehensive targeting tools…Tribal Fusion works with a broad array of data sources to provide a true 360º consumer view. We aggregate data to pinpoint interests, past actions and likely future behaviors. This enables each campaign to get smarter over time, informing clients about which data points are making consumers convert.
    Microtargeting at scale

    Tribal Fusion can deliver personalized messaging to multiple niche audiences on an exceptional scale, combining consumer understanding with comprehensive targeting technologies and dynamic creative. The content of a single ad unit can be tailored by the geography, demographics and lifestyle of individual viewers, producing thousands of personalized ads in real time. Ad units with dynamic copy can perform six to seven times better than static ads.“

Tales of Behavioral Targeting: Barry Diller’s IAC Can “tap into rich behavioral….information” of users

The IAC Network includes sites such as Citysearch, Evite and Match.com  From Ad Age, Page C46.  April 20, 2009 [excerpt]:

“…we can tap into rich behavioral and declared information about our users.  Translation:  We know a lot more.  For example, we know if a user exercises regularly, searches for expensive restaurants in New York, is looking for a new home to purchase, has dogs or attended a bachelor party.  Analysis of these multiple dimensions of attributes (literally millions) delivers an unmatched level of insight into our users and what’s important to them.  And we’re making that intelligence work for you.”

Cable TV’s Targeted & Interactive Ads: Benefiting from a “enormous fire-hose of data”

excerpt from Advanced Advertising.  Linda Hardesty.  Cablefax.  April 1, 2009:  “There’s a lot of technology in place for data collection,” said Ross [Doug Ross, Cisco’s VP of business development in the service provider video technology group]. “We can collect almost an unimaginable amount of data at a granular level. The industry grapples with what’s the right architecture that would make this enormous fire-hose of data more useful.”

“The challenge is the enormity of that whole set of data,” agreed Woidke [Paul Woidke, SVP and general manager of advanced advertising at Open TV – and chair of SCTE Digital Video Subcommittee (DVS) Working Group 5]. “Eighty-five percent of homes in the U.S. have some kind of satellite or wired connection with a potential return path.”

Instead of just getting Nielson data for a selected sample of homes, a cable operator could gather data from all its subs and know what people watched, when they watched it, and how they behaved in terms of pausing, rewinding and fast- forwarding.

Cable Giants Canoe Ventures and Your Set-top Box Data [Annals of Telling Congress One Thing, But Insiders Another]

From a November 2008 report on Canoe CEO David Verklin’s speech at the “NewTeeVee Live” conference.  Excerpts:  Canoe Ventures outlined its strategy today at the NewTeeVee Live conference in San Francisco, where David Verklin, the CEO, outlined the cable industry’s answer to the competition from online video…“Data is the new creative,” Verklin said. He said Canoe thinks the key to that data is the set-top box that’s already hooked up to the televison. That box can tell advertisers exactly how many people are watching an ad.

And this excerpt on Comcast’s data mining warehouse from a January 2009 report in Multichannel News.  Excerpt:  Comcast has sketched out plans for a gigantic database called “TV Warehouse,” able to store a full year of statistics gathered from digital set-tops in more than 16 million households nationwide, according to an industry executive familiar with the project.  TV Warehouse, envisioned as having a massive 500 Terabytes of storage, would then feed up to a database even broader in scope operated by Canoe Ventures, the advanced-advertising venture formed by Comcast and five other large MSOs.  The idea: to give advertisers an enormous set of actual viewing metrics — showing exactly what millions of cable customers watched and when — as opposed to representative samples.

Canoe CEO David Verklin has said the venture expects in the near future to provide viewing metrics for 32 million U.S. cable households, representing about 57 million set-tops.  “One of the first things we must do is bring set-top data into the marketplace and make that the currency,” Verklin said, speaking last November on a panel at the CTAM Summit.  Detailed audience measurement metrics, in Verklin’s view, are crucial to Canoe’s aims to sell interactive-TV services and deliver ads that are “addressable” to individual set-tops.

and an excerpt from an interview with Canoe’s chief technological exec Arthur Orduna.  Worth thinking about the implications:
And when a viewer does respond, or requests information, what happens?

[Orduna]:  There the local system comes into play, and so does Canoe, actually. Because whatever I click will be collected into a separate aggregation server by the MSO or the system. That information would then be sent to a centralized Canoe aggregation server, because we’d be managing all the information for that particular campaign. And then whatever would need to be done with that data, whether it would need to be presented back to the subscriber, or whether it would be compiled for fulfillment or reporting, that would be Canoe’s responsibility.

Kraft’s Research to Boost Oreo Sales reveals “resurgent desire for indulgent food products”–A multi-media ad campaign designed to stimulate cookie “licking”

This excerpt from an Brandweek article on the 2009 Super Reggie winning ad campaign deserves to be highlighted, so the Federal Trade Commission can do a better job next time it researches the market.  The agencies involved for this campaign included Draftfcb (general and promotional advertising);  Razorfish (digital); Digitas (online media);  MediaVest (media); IMG (experiential); Weber Shandwick (PR).

“…Double Stuf Racing League (DSRL) …The highly stylized marketing and entertainment vehicle, billed as a professional sport…has enjoyed 16 consecutive months of sales growth since the program debuted in late 2007, per the company. That consistent performance was a resounding reversal of the brand’s previous sales declines that year, and it explains why Kraft continues to build on the effort in 2009.

It all began as Kraft’s marketing team and litany of agency partners searched for a new brand experience that would distinguish the creamier Double Stuf Oreo from the original cookie. Research revealed consumers’ resurgent desire for indulgent food products, and collective brainstorming led the team to focus on a familiar aspect of Oreo consumption.

“The spark came as we were thinking about fun new ways to engage consumers with Oreo,” explained John Ghingo, marketing director for Oreo at Kraft Foods, East Hanover, N.J. “Lots of people partake in the rituals of twisting, licking and dunking Oreo cookies in milk. Double Stuf Racing League focuses on the ‘lick’ aspect and takes Oreo to a new place in an unexpected way.”

Thus far, Double Stuf Racing League has pitted two sets of celebrity siblings against each other: NFL star quarterbacks Eli and Peyton Manning and pro tennis champs Venus and Serena Williams. In January 2008, a national TV teaser spot featured a mock press conference by the all-American football heroes declaring their entry into a “second sport.” The ad directed fans to a Web site (whatsthesecondsport.com) where they enter DSLR and participate in games by creating avatars called “Yoobies.” However, the identity of the second sport was kept alive, leaving viewers to chatter about the mystery on fan sites and blogs…

That buzz continues this year. A spring contest is slated for the Sunshine State, with appearances by both the Mannings and the Williamses. So what other famous athletes may join the competition? “Like any league, DSRL is always looking to scout great new talent,” demurred Ghingo.”

Super REGGIE Winner:  Oreo Double Stuf Racing League ‘Licks’ the Competition.   Michael Applebaum. Adweek.  April 6, 2009

DSRL site
NabiscoWorld.com Privacy [data collection] policy

Congressional Internet Caucus and the State of the Mobile Net: Corporate Donors Influence Group’s Agenda, Leaving Public Vulnerable to Loss of Privacy

When will members of the Congressional Internet Caucus wake up and address the role its special interest dominated “Advisory” Committee is playing?  The Caucus is holding a “State of the Mobile Net” conference on April 23.  It’s doubtful Congress will be receiving the unbiased information they need, given that the sponsors of the event are the leading companies engaged in mobile marketing and data collection.  As typical of the “business model” crafted by the Center for Democracy and Technology connected group known as the Internet Education Foundation, the event prominently acknowledges its  “Platinum” sponsors: the CTIA lobby group, Google, Microsoft and Verizon.  “Gold” sponsors are AT&T, Nokia, T-Mobile.  There is also a category called “promotional” sponsors which lists Yahoo and several others.

It’s highly unlikely that the meeting will discuss the real issues challenging consumer privacy and welfare on the mobile Internet (including, we expect, the recent CDD/USPIRG complaint filed at the FTC– which has helped launch an investigation into that market).   The Advisory Caucus is run by the Internet Education Foundation, whose board members include representatives from Google, Verizon, Comcast, Microsoft, Recording Industry of America, and the Consumer Electronics Association. So the line-up of speakers is crafted to make sure that corporate donor feathers–and their willingness to continue to financially contribute–aren’t ruffled.  On the privacy panel for the event we have, of course, a representative from CDT.   There are also mobile marketers–including Yahoo and loopt.  There is the DLA Piper law firm that advocates for industry and a lone academic. Consumers and citizens deserve better from Congress.

PS:  As an example of how incredibly biased the Advisory Committee to the Congressional Net Caucus is, look at the description and speaker line-up of its recent briefing on online advertising.  A supposed “unbiased” event,  it featured industry lobbyists and several groups funded by online marketers!  Incredibly shameful!

Advisory Committee to the Congressional Internet Caucus

Anatomy of Online Advertising: Understanding the Privacy Debate
March 30, 2009…The purpose of the briefing is to provide an unbiased foundation for understanding the various privacy issues that Congress will debate in the context of online advertising.

Panelists:

* Paula Bruening, Hunton & Williams
* Maureen Cooney, TRUSTe
* Michael Engelhardt, Adobe Systems
* Tim Lordan, Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee
* Jules Polonetsky, Future of Privacy
* Heather West, Center for Democracy & Technology
* Mike Zaneis, Interactive Advertising Bureau