Has McDonald's Found Its Jared?

Devoted Customer Loses 86 Lbs., but 'Starvation' Menu Isn't for Everyone

How's this for turning an old fast-food story on its head: Man eats only McDonald's for six months and loses weight. Chris Coleson, a Richmond, Va., businessman, ate salads, wraps, apple-walnut salads and the occasional cheeseburger since last December and lost 86 pounds.
Chris Coleson started at 281 pounds and is now just 10 pounds from his goal of 185.

Yet before you peg him for the next Jared Fogle, consider that a number of dietitians -- and McDonald's itself -- are moving to mitigate enthusiasm about Mr. Coleson's success. Yes, the same Mickey D's that has weathered onslaughts of obesity-related press in recent years, including the book "Fast Food Nation" in 2001, the film "Super Size Me" in 2004 and the film version of "Fast Food Nation" in 2006. Same-store sales have generally remained positive over this period, however.

Far from signing him as its next spokesman, McDonald's avoided attaching importance to Mr. Coleson's accomplishment. "There have been numerous success stories like this one, where consumers elected to follow a responsible diet with adequate exercise and incorporated McDonald's food in a very positive way," said McDonald's USA spokeswoman Danya Proud. "We continue to work on helping people understand how to strike the right balance between diet and physical activity." Dr. Christine Gerbstadt, a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association, called Mr. Coleson's plan of 1,200 to 1,400 calories per day a "starvation diet." "Almost anyone with decreased calories and increased exercise can lose weight," she said. "Keeping it off is what it's all about. And if you don't learn lifestyle habits that you're going to be able to maintain long-term, you won't be able to keep it off."

For Mr. Coleson, who started at 281 pounds and is now just 10 pounds from his goal of 185, the real reward is being able to play with his small children. And with his 10th wedding anniversary this week, he's able to wear his ring for the first time in seven years. He said he's healthier by the numbers, too. Dietitians have warned him that he's likely lost muscle mass and needs more variety in his diet. But Mr. Coleson's cholesterol, which has not been below 250 since 1993, is down to 239 today from 277 in December. To calm his critics, however, he plans to add tuna and some lean steaks to his salads moving forward, but to keep using the chain's portions as a guide.

Mr. Coleson has not spoken with the fast feeder but said that people on the street ask him if he was inspired by Subway pitchman Mr. Fogle. (He's become something of a local celebrity after a couple of newspaper articles, including a front-page profile in the Richmond-Times Dispatch.) He said the idea was born out of his wife's skepticism at his ability to lose weight. "I told her I could lose weight eating anywhere," he said. "I told her I could do it eating at McDonald's."

Determined to prove his point, Mr. Coleson started eating two meals a day at the Golden Arches (he doesn't eat breakfast) and saved his receipts in a journal. He saved most of his salad containers, too. In another nod to the McDonald's diet, Mr. Coleson changed his license plate from "OLDNFAT" to "MCFIT." Cathy Kapica, former global nutrition director at McDonald's, said Mr. Coleson's story "simply proves it's not where you eat, but what you eat and most importantly how much you eat." She also hopes he'll start eating breakfast.

Mr. Coleson will appear on "Good Morning America" later this week to talk about his weight loss. He said he's not interested in a job as a McDonald's spokesperson, but would love to get their involvement in building playgrounds where parents with disabilities can play with their children. "I wasn't disabled when I weighed 300 pounds, but it made me think about parents who are," said Mr. Coleson, who works closely with his local YMCA and the Wounded Warrior Project, which provides services to disabled veterans.

Source: AdAge.com

Why Consumers May Never Be the Same

The Recession Will Dramatically Change the Way and the Reasons Why Your Target Buys

I've been following Ad Age's coverage of the seemingly inevitable recession, particularly the solutions offered up -- most of which are on point. By all means, take advantage of any quick fixes that will get you through, as long as they support your brand equity. And, yes, innovation is always key to our industry's success, so take the advice offered and get gutsier with your new products and marketing. But while you focus on strategies to get through the next few months, we all need to understand that our customers' behavior is changing right under our noses. When the economy bounces back, you might find that what motivates consumers to choose or not choose your brand has changed. This is critical learning that needs to be sought now, not after you launch a shiny new post-recession ad campaign. The life of a consumer can change in an instant, often with just a few words, such as "I do" or "You're fired," or the cry of a newborn baby. These change points -- when almost everything in our lives shifts -- drive us to change our behavior and embrace new brand relationships. For marketers, these change points are opportunities to forge new relationships that could last a lifetime.

Be their choice: In a recession, you may find yourself competing with brands in unrelated categories. Strapped consumers unwilling to give up their TiVos may cut back on VitaminWater or drop their Gold's Gym memberships. The recession, which many economists have declared is already here, will be a critical change point for millions of consumers. Yet while today's housing crisis, rising gas prices and volatile stock market may be causing consumers to question their brand relationships, that doesn't necessarily mean they will all turn to cheaper store brands and stop buying clothes from Abercrombie & Fitch for their kids. It's tempting to give in to the knee-jerk reaction and start shifting advertising to coupons and marking down prices or, worse, freezing the marketing budget entirely. But instead of focusing on cost and pricing, we should turn our attention to better understanding how this major change point is affecting consumers. We need to determine how they are adapting, how their behavior is changing and how we can help shape this behavioral shift.

1. OBSERVE BEHAVIOR
Consumers are notoriously bad at predicting or remembering their behavior, so don't rely on what they say in focus groups or one-on-one interviews. Instead, watch what they do. Last year, people were ready to trade in their SUVs for hybrids at the thought of $3-per-gallon gas. Today, those same SUVs are swerving across three lanes of traffic for the opportunity to fill up for gas that cheap.

2. UNDERSTAND THE NEW COMPETITIVE SET
Reports indicate that half of consumers are reducing their spending to compensate for rising gas prices, but what we don't know is how that remaining spending is changing. It is no longer safe to assume that store brands or other traditional category competition are the biggest threat. Consumers are weighing purchases across categories in ways they haven't done since the mid-1970s.

Your brand might be competing against a completely unrelated product or service. Strapped consumers who are not willing to give up their TiVos might start cutting back on their daily VitaminWater or drop the Gold's Gym membership for jogging. Observe consumer behavior outside of your traditionally defined category or region. A behavior change in some unrelated category or in another country could be affecting your brand.

3. UNCOVER THE EMOTIONS BEHIND THE BEHAVIORS
Behavior is driven by motivation. Motivation is fueled by emotion. And when times are tight, emotions often intensify. Uncertainty, frustration and fear can dominate consumers' emotional caches. Different emotions may drive different behaviors, or they may reinforce existing behaviors. Either way, it is critical that brand stewards understand the changing emotional motivations driving their customers' behavior.

4. CONSISTENTLY BUILD YOUR EQUITY
In dynamic economic times, both positive and negative, marketers need to pay particular attention to the indirect signals their brands transmit while adapting to the new climate. Don't try to change what your brand represents. Price cutting and other price promotions are not consistent with many brands' equity, and such moves might just end up weakening the brand in the long run. Understand how consumer behavior is changing, but don't change your equity to chase the behavior. Determine how your unique collection of functional and emotional benefits can best be leveraged to capitalize on this new behavior or used to create a different behavior. During the turbulent 1970s, Tag Heuer didn't shy away from its association with racing, despite the somewhat exclusive gas-guzzling reality of Formula 1. In fact, it became the sponsor and official timekeeper of Team Ferrari. Was it tempted to pull back and become another Timex? Perhaps, but fortunately it persevered and is now one of the strongest lifestyle brands in the world. It understood the relationship between its brand and its consumers and leveraged it despite tough economic times. Keep in mind that not all consumers are going to pass through behavior change points at the same time. We won't all get promoted this year. Less than 4% of U.S. households will add children to their families. A fraction of the population will graduate, buy a home or become a vegetarian. But everyone is affected by the economy. How will your customers react?

Source: Advertising Age, By Eric Spahr

Automakers Underspend on Media that Influence Buyers

Some 17.5% of General Motors customers say TV influences their auto purchase, but GM spent 40% of its $3 Billion+ ad budget on TV ads in 2006 (proportions similar to other leading automakers’), according to an analysis by BIGresearch.

The analysis comes amid reports of automakers’ reallocation of more dollars to digital advertising. But those moves may not be going far enough, suggests BIGresearch’s most recent Simultaneous Media Survey (SIMM 11, Dec. 07) of 15,727 participants.

Top automotive advertisers pumped by far the greatest percentage of their media dollars into TV in ‘06 - the most unbalanced media spend compared with the medium’s influence on consumers to purchase (approximately 40% vs. 17-18% for major automakers):

Because such a large portion of ad dollars were allocated to TV, automakers in under-spent on other forms of media, such as newspaper, magazines, radio and the internet, BIGresearch said.
For example, Ford spent only 5.89% of its budget on newspaper advertising, which influences 16.5% of its customers:

“Automakers are making advances in a consumer-centric media world by integrating new media into their advertising strategy,” said Gary Drenik, president of BIGresearch. “However, when you look at which media their customers say influences them to purchase a car, they are over-allocating ad dollars on TV and under-spending on internet, outdoor, radio and print.”

Source: MediaPost

Help Taglines Regain Lost Glory

Why Creating Strong Slogans Is a Marketer's Most Important Job

What's MIA in today's marketing messages? Powerful taglines, or what I call "powerlines" -- those words that are well-chosen and have the power to awe, inspire, motivate, alienate, subjugate and, in a marketing context, change the buying habits of consumers.


Viva great taglines: Practically every adult in America knows this tagline and can instantly repeat it if asked: "Las Vegas: What happens here stays here."Taglines today are a forgotten part of marketing planning. When they are employed, they generally mean nothing or are relegated to small, unreadable type. Moreover, companies change taglines every year or two and sometimes within a given year. Nothing could be more harmful to your brand and your business.

Below are questions I am frequently asked about why creating powerful taglines is so essential and how to do it --as well as my answers. Are there easy-to-remember general guidelines that can increase the chance of my company creating a compelling tagline that will stand the test of time?

Yes -- four, to be exact.
1.) You are different; say so. Don't use common words.
2.) Have real attitude; bypass wishy-washy phrases.
3.) Be everywhere, or you are nowhere. For a line to make a lasting impression, it must appear at all customer touch points and ideally be the headline of every marketing promotion.
4.) Yes, it's an art. The best taglines come from individual flashes of inspiration. Why are our brains so receptive to taglines, slogans and mottos?

The brain is wired to seek the unusual phrase that describes something it should be aware of. It ignores phrases that seem ordinary and unimportant. Sound and repetition of distinctive sound play a huge role in remembering a political or commercial slogan. Inflection, tempo and rhyme are the three major elements of sound that make the brain pay attention. The power of sound over sight never diminishes; if anything, it increases.

Steve Cone's Top 10 Taglines of All Time

"A Diamond is Forever"De Beers
"Come to Marlboro Country"Philip Morris
"The Pause That Refreshes"Coca-Cola
"Think Small"Volkswagen
"Just Do It"Nike
"You Deserve a Break Today"McDonald's
"When It Absolutely, Positively Has to Be There Overnight"Federal Express
"When It Rains It Pours"Morton Salt
"M&M's: Melts in Your Mouth, Not in Your Hands"Mars
"You Don't Have to Be Jewish to Love Levy's Rye Bread"Levy's Baking

There is no shortage of marketing and advertising talent out there. So why do you think writing powerlines is a lost art?There is a lot of raw talent, but the basic principles of effective marketing are not taught as thoroughly as they were in the '50s through the '80s. That is partly because ad agencies are being run by financial stars, not creative ones. All the great campaigns of yesteryear for cars, household products, cigarettes, soda, food items and financial services began with taglines that served as the epicenter for all promotional executions. The incredible power of a defining tagline for a product or service is undeniable, yet most senior marketing executives don't insist on it. This is a huge mistake and the reason why so many campaigns fall flat and are not recognized, remembered or cared about. We are bombarded by advertising on TV, radio, in newspapers and magazines, and online.

How can a powerline do the heavy lifting and break through all the sensory overload? The simple answer is that it must have personality and attitude. And it must be the central theme of every element of a marketing campaign. A good example is the tagline created a few years ago for Las Vegas. Practically every adult in America knows this tagline and can instantly repeat it if asked: "Las Vegas: What happens here stays here." Folks might recite the line as "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas," but they remember the thought and the essence of the message. Does the presidential candidate with the best slogan really win the race? Every time.

I have analyzed every election since 1840, and the best slogan has always carried the day. And when neither candidate has a strong slogan, nine times out of 10, it is a close election. Why is it that Hollywood produces such great movie taglines? Movies cost tens of millions to make, and they succeed or fail based on their popularity on opening weekend. To build anticipation and create pent-up demand for launch weekend, moviemakers have a huge stake in getting the public to see or hear a few words that define why they should drop everything and go see the newly released movie. That is why Hollywood executives seriously study and then approve the combination of words to use, and once selected, they make the tagline as big and bold as possible -- just the opposite of what most other marketers do today.

Explain the critical importance of sound vs. the other four senses in creating a high-impact powerline. Sound trumps sight by a wide margin in forcing the brain to remember something. Animals evolved by relying on sounds to learn from and be alarmed by. Taste and touch also are keen senses but are not factors in most advertising. When you think about it, all animals share a keen sense of hearing, taste and touch. But only humans write and read, and this "secondary" capability came a good million years after we first appeared as a species.

Why do you think a line delivered by a person or a character, such as Ronald McDonald or the Fandango Puppets, is so effective? Humans respond best to other humans they recognize or to characters who are entertaining. You can't build a relationship or relate to someone you don't know or care about who is just a visual generality. Key word: attitude. We want to interact with others who have it -- be they made-up or real people who identify who they are or play a character, such as Mr. Whipple or Dunkin' Donuts' Fred. You're a fan of jingles. Why? Are they right for all brands? Short musical tunes with a unique signature are impossible to ignore. You can't turn off hearing, but you can ignore what's shown or spoken on TV if it's just words being read. Even radio ads become merely background noise unless a special sound sequence is used. Musical sounds have motivated us to listen since the dawn of mankind and always will. You say, "The more things change, the more taglines should not."

Don't marketers need to keep their taglines fresh and relevant? No. Their taglines should never change if they are a special promise or claim that a competitor cannot easily duplicate. What should be refreshed are the promotions done year after year that the taglines are headlining. That is the secret to effective marketing. The internet and other media now allow for microtargeted advertising. Should advertisers still try to be all things to all people with a pithy catchphrase? A tagline should, best case, be the advertiser's unique selling proposition -- the core benefit that comes from using the product or service. Every product or service has a target audience; that is the group you want to remember what you stand for and not what the 50 other competitors are trying to convey.

What are non-powerlines, and how do marketers avoid them?About 98% of all taglines today have no power. They have no personality, attitude or unique claim or promise. Many are created by committee -- always a dead-wrong approach. Some are crafted through extensive focus-group testing -- also dead wrong. Powerful taglines are inspired phrases created by great copywriters who see clear and compelling brand promises and make them come to life to inspire, entertain and enlighten the rest of us.

Source: AdAge

Traditional advertising slows, as online grows

When the economy falters, marketing budgets get the ax first. Not everyone gets clipped the same way, though.

One canary in the coal mine is choking already: local retailers and service providers. Mom-and-pop stores, local attorneys, dentists' offices and the like tend to be most sensitive to short-term changes in the economy.

Ad spending by these local businesses has slowed sharply, rising 2.3% in the first nine months of 2007 from the same period a year earlier, down from growth of 11% during the first nine months of 2006, according to TNS Media Intelligence in New York.
TNS projects that total U.S. ad expenditures will climb 4.2% this year. But expectations of big gains from political campaign spending and the Beijing Summer Olympics mask weakness in the core ad market.

Expected to slide further this year:
Real estate, where spending sank 13.9% during the first nine months of 2007 from a year earlier, and retail, which slipped 1.8%, including a 2.1% decline among department store chains, according to TNS.

Financial services will also falter. Despite all the turmoil in the credit markets, ad spending by Wall Street held up surprisingly well, climbing 10% during the first nine months of 2007, 5% in the third quarter.

Retail banks and even mortgage lenders refrained from pulling their advertising last year, hoping to drum up business and maintain market share, a common response in the early stages of an economic slowdown, according to Jon Swallen, senior vice president of research at TNS. But "eventually, the P&L sheet catches up with you--at some point, you have to realign your cost structure," he said.

Brand marketing will also take a hit. During good times, big brands typically devote part of their marketing budgets to campaigns aimed at strengthening their brand visibility and equity over the long term, said Sanjay Dhar, a marketing professor at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.

During tougher times, those brand-building campaigns tend to get dialed back, particularly for low-margin, high-volume consumer packaged goods like food products, apparel and footwear. Dhar expects an overall decline in ad spending by packaged goods companies, as more consumers opt for generic, private-label products. Swallen believes spending will hold relatively steady as companies shift their ad dollars away from their premium brands to cheaper, down-market brands.

So much for the losers. Which ad categories should hold up?
Automotive advertising, which sank 7.1% during the first nine months of 2007, won't decline as much in 2008, said Dhar. Relentless competition from Japanese automakers forces U.S. car companies to advertise if they want to keep their names in front of the public and minimize further losses in market share, he said.

Consumer electronics is another category that should remain steady. The marketing efforts of personal technology manufacturers don't follow ups and downs in the economy because they are more geared around product cycles and a big fourth-quarter holiday blitz.
Another winner? Online advertising. As ad budgets shrink, marketing departments will come under greater pressure to show a return on their investment. Internet advertising and direct-marketing campaigns, such as direct mail and direct-response television, yield results more easily trackable than traditional, mass-media ad purchases. "Online is just ascending like you wouldn't believe,'' said Jane Bedford, head of the Bedford Group, a marketing management consulting firm in Atlanta.

That's bad news for newspapers.

Historically rising and falling in line with the economy, the newspaper business has suffered hemorrhaging losses in classified advertising revenue, long the industry's lifeblood, thanks to competition from online rivals like Craigslist and steep cyclical declines in real estate and automotive classifieds.

"An alarming trend has developed over the past three years," Goldman Sachs observed in a research report earlier this month, "with newspaper ad revenue growth slowing and ultimately turning negative despite a relatively healthy economic backdrop." Goldman cut its advertising revenue estimate for the U.S. newspaper industry to a projected 7.9% decline in 2008, compared with its previous estimate of a 2.6% drop.

Won't election-year campaign ads help newspapers? Not as much as they will help everyone else.

Television stations are expected to reap a $2.3 billion windfall in political advertising in 2008, while $1.08 billion is expected to flow to direct-mail campaigns, $272 million to radio stations, $200 million to cable TV, $106 million to newspapers and $63 million to outdoor display advertising, according to PQ Media, a Stamford, Conn., media research firm.

Source: Forbes.com

Coke to Get Deluged By Anti-Water-Bottle Campaign

'Tappening' Aims to Raise Awareness for Recycling Efforts

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Incoming Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent will be receiving quite the welcoming gift come July.

Mark DiMassimo, creative director of marketing shop DiMassimo Goldstein, and Eric Yaverbaum, president of public relations agency Ericho Communications, are planning to deliver 1 million used water bottles stuffed with messages to Mr. Kent as part of an awareness campaign they call Tappening. The campaign aims to encourage consumption of tap water, as well as get consumers to buy reusable bottles emblazoned with messages including "Think Global. Drink Local."

"We are bringing our marketing experience to bear, and therefore, people are viewing us differently," said Mr. DiMassimo, who is a former executive at ad agencies JWT and Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners. "This is a public-education initiative dressed up as a brand to change the context in which Coke does business in."

10,000 bottles collected
So far, about 10,000 bottles have been collected, Mr. DiMassimo said, adding that because of storage issues, the bottles will be delivered piecemeal to Mr. Kent. At this point, no plans are in place to target PepsiCo or Nestle.

"They're all worthy targets but Coke is the biggest, and one thing you learn is you start big," he said. "They've responded right away and said they will happily recycle the bottles. But recycling also uses fossil fuels and burns energy and is wasteful, when you don't need to recycle."

Coca-Cola did not return calls for comment.

Tappening is already garnering plenty of attention. It was recently named as a hot item for 2008 by trendwatcher Jane Buckingham on ABC's "Good Morning America." Some 39,000 stainless steel and resusable bottles imprinted with the logo "What's Tappening?" were sold within a few days of the campaign's November launch, Mr. DiMassimo said. Those 39,000 bottles, sold via the tappening.com website, he added, were intended to last one year.

"We're surprised by how quickly the demand showed up," he said. "Our whole goal is to create a self-funding campaign, building a brand for tap water."

Making tap water profitable
And, in that spirit, it's not just about the bottle. Tappening is exploring ways to help restaurants and delis make tap water profitable and is looking at several proposals for "non-disgusting" water fountains, Mr. DiMassimo said.

Tappening is the most recent in a string of anti-bottled water initiatives. Several city governments, including San Francisco and New York, have begun encouraging residents to drink tap water. And, in 2006, David Droga, the creative chairman of Droga5, created a campaign to promote the Tap Project, which encouraged tap-water drinking among New Yorkers eating out at restaurants during World Water Day.

Source: Advertising Age

Outlook 2008: Online Marketing

Commercials are alive and well—at least on the Internet.Among all of the online ad formats, advertising during video content is expected to grow the fastest in 2008, according to eMarketer, New York.Video advertising, often attached as pre-roll ads, is expected to spike by more than 70%. Part of the reason the medium is exploding is because “mainstream advertisers are more comfortable with traditional ads, but they know eyeballs are moving online,” said Kris Oser, director of strategic communications at eMarketer. “Creating commercials is something they understand. Now they can just do them online.” Still it’s only a sliver of U.S. online spending, which is expected to hit $27.5 billion in 2008, up from $21.4 billion in 2007, per eMarketer. Search engine marketing (aka buying keywords) continues to be the dominant force in online advertising. A full 40% of online ad budgets are expected to be spent on paid searches next year compared with 9.5% on media/video. The problem: “As good as search is, conversion rates for surfers who hit your site are still only at about 10%; which means 90% of the time, [customers] don’t do what marketers wanted them to do,” said Stephen DiMarco, CMO at Compete, Boston.Static display ads (at 21.5%) and classified ads (17%) will also receive significant marketing dollars.“Video will be big, search continues to be big and behavioral targeting continues to be very interesting,” said Greg Stewart, former president of the Internet Advertising Bureau, New York. “The big agency holding groups will finally start to get it.”Social networks will continue to be a strong part of the marketing mix despite the backlash to Facebook’s Beacon.In November, Facebook launched the service, which automatically alerted members about their friends’ online purchases. CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologized to members and installed an easier opt-out mechanism. “Some advertisers were concerned initially, but we think they’ll all get on board eventually,” said DiMarco. “Our research showed they loved Beacon and the whole concept of social ads. It’s the Holy Grail of advertising.”John Paulson, president of agency G2 Interactive, New York, agreed. “For 2008 ad plans, I’m not sure the Beacon story is going to have that significant of an effect.” Whether video ads or social networking, this year “there will be so much opportunity for companies to spend more money online,” DiMarco said.

Source: Brandweek

Negative product reviews aren't so bad

Worried about opening your company to consumer reviews? Don't be. Bazaarvoice's VP explains why bad reviews are good for your business.

When retailers and marketers talk about social media, one question comes up a lot: what about negative reviews?

According to Shop.org and MarketingSherpa studies, less than 26 percent of retailers have customer ratings and reviews, yet 96 percent of the retailers that do have reviews find it to be an effective or highly effective feature. So what is stopping other retailers from adopting this feature?

In addition to technology and headcount obstacles, fear of negative reviews is one of the biggest hurdles that retailers -- most particularly, retail executives -- must overcome in order to embrace ratings and reviews. Yet through many clients and evidence we've found negative reviews not only to be necessary, but also valuable.

In a recent study focused on product reviews, Patti Freeman Evans, a Jupiter Analyst suggests, "Retailers must take the good with the bad when it comes to user-generated content. But, because consumers are most likely to report on positive experiences, retailers need not be afraid of the other old adage, "Be careful what you wish for." Consumers expect to see both good and bad reviews. The good reviews validate seller product information; the bad provide the caveat emptor that retailers cannot provide themselves."

1. Customers are looking for negative reviews
According to an eVoc Insights study, 48 percent of consumers need to consult reviews before making an online purchase. What are they looking for?

I often ask friends and people I meet how they use reviews. Almost everyone describes looking for the negative comments to make sure they can live with any shortcomings in products they buy. We all know we don't live in a world of five-star products, and customers are desperate to know product blemishes before they make a purchase.

Lawrence Kerstan, CEO of Despair (those funny demotivational posters) recently bought a Lexus GS300 and researched it heavily online. What's the first thing he sought in his online research? Negative reviews. He had this car in mind, and the negative comments about the car were nit picks and factors that really didn't bother him. He had the information he needed to make the purchase.

If 48 percent of customers need to read reviews before making a purchase, they are looking for what could be wrong with a product. If they can't find it on your site, they're going to find it elsewhere.

"As for the product(s) with negative reviews -- my experience is that negative reviews do not hurt a product as long as there are also positive reviews associated with it." says Don Zeidler, Director of Direct Marketing for W. Atlee Burpee Co. "I'd guess that when customers see a mix of different ratings they are more apt to trust the review process. Secondly, we all know as marketers (or should know) customers who are interested in a particular product are only looking for affirmation or reassurance that the product is right for them; it's one they need to have. Negative reviews help customers affirm they've vetted all concerns before making a purchase decision. As long as the reviews are not entirely and overwhelmingly negative -- just nit picks that people decide they can live with (they usually are) -- these negative reviews help customers pass through purchase paralysis."

2. Negative reviews establish authenticity
Do you believe all of your products deserve five stars? You, like all consumers, know we don't live in a five star world. Customers know that if there aren't dissenting opinions about a product, then the opinions aren't real. If all they see are five-star reviews, they're reading testimonials, not authentic, credible customer reviews to help make a purchase decision.

For example, what's one of the best selling products so far this decade? The Apple iPod. It gets a ton of positive reviews, but one negative comment you'll see over and over again is that the surface of the iPod scratches easily. Customers say things that the retailer and Apple can't say: "When you buy this, get a case". Obviously this is not stopping customers from buying the iPod, but this constructive advice is getting them to buy a case. (iPod Accessories is a one billion dollar business!).

3. Negative reviews help the retailer's business
Negative reviews not only help customers make purchase decisions, they also help the retailer in several ways.

For example, negative reviews help improve customer satisfaction and lower returns. Consider a personal example. Amazon.com used to sell a toy called "Hot Wheels Slimecano". You can't find it through search, but you can find it here. The last time I looked, it had 177 reviews, almost all negative (1.5 star average rating). Several years ago, my wife purchased this toy from Hell for our son for Christmas. After an hour of frustrating attempts by my father and me to assemble this disaster, I was motivated enough to mash it back in the box, return it to the retailer and write a review on Amazon to warn others. When I got to the product details page, there were already over 100 negative reviews, one of them titled, "If you want your child to cry, buy this toy." I considered the title, "If you want your husband to cry, buy this toy!"

I wondered why Amazon was still selling this toy after such overwhelming negative response. How many dissatisfied, frustrated parents bought this toy, and how many returns did Amazon and other retailers suffer? Certainly the negative reviews helped reduced the sales and returns. But more importantly, if the retailer's mission is to be a trusted editor of its assortment, then products with overwhelmingly negative reviews should help prune this assortment quickly for the best products. After about a year and a half on the shelves, Amazon no longer sells the Slimecano.

If you are selling a bad product you have three choices:

1. Without reviews, you keep selling the product and risk costly returns and low customer satisfaction
2. With reviews, you can use the leading indicator of negative reviews and quickly remove this product from inventory to reduce returns and improve satisfaction
3. Or, just allow the negative reviews to steer customers to a more satisfying purchase within the category. Let the best products win, and you will win.

In cases 2 and 3 you remain a trusted editor of the best products; customers are happy; you maintain their loyalty, and avoid a return.

Patti Freeman, in her analysis suggests, "Online shoppers who find reviews valuable are much more likely to say that they are less likely to return products that they've bought based on customer reviews they read online. This sentiment offers double benefit of lower return costs for the retailer and a corresponding bump in satisfaction because buyers get the item that fits their need."

4. There aren't many negative reviews
After the above three reasons, you might agree that negative reviews are a good thing. But if management is still concerned, here's the nuclear argument: positive reviews outweigh negative reviews seven to one.

Across all of Bazaarvoice clients, four and five-star reviews outnumber one and two-star ratings seven to one. Conventional wisdom suggests people talk more about negative experiences than positive ones. Perhaps this is the case for customer service experiences. For product word of mouth, however, the data refutes conventional wisdom.

A recent study by KellerFay group found nearly two-thirds (62 percent) of brand-related talk features products in a positive light, while less than one in 10 conversations feature products negatively.

And according to a recent Jupiter study on ratings and reviews, 60 percent of online shoppers provide feedback about shopping experiences, and they are more likely to give feedback about a positive experience than a negative one.

So there you have it. You probably anticipate far more negative reviews than you get. For those you do get, they are a gift from the Gods of authenticity and credibility, which can help your business more than harm it.

Sam Decker is vice president of marketing and products for Bazaarvoice, Inc. Read full bio.

Source: iMediaConnection

It's Not About New Media, It's About New Marketing

To Nick Brien, worldwide CEO of Universal McCann, the notion of new media is almost irrelevant. "When clients say, 'Talk to me about new media,' I say, 'No I am not going to talk to you about new media, I am going to talk to you about new marketing,'" he said.

Mr. Brien said the marketing model has fundamentally changed with emerging media, and if marketers don't progress, they will jeopardize their brands.

Avoiding 'legacy' thinking
"If you are not the leader, you are going to lose your market share opportunity to a new competitor who is not encumbered by legacy mentalities or legacy business models or legacy agency relationships," Mr. Brien said in his keynote address Nov. 6 at the interactive marketing conference Ad Tech in New York.

In this new marketing model -- where media enhances personality -- brands have to become experiences and destinations and consumer insight has to be smarter, Mr. Brien said.

"A brand is ultimately a promise ... it is something that is not ownable by a corporation any more," Mr. Brien said.

Helping consumers generate their own content is one of the smartest ways to embrace the new marketing model, Mr. Brien said, noting that marketers need to become experts in understanding the marriage between traditional aspects of persuasion-based marketing and user-generated influence.

He cited a Yahoo case study, which was shown during the online giant's upfront media-buying event last year, in which more than 200 Shakira fan groups were asked to record impersonations of her song "Hips Don't Lie," which ultimately became the No. 1 downloaded song of the summer.

"It was helped to no end that this was about users participating in brand development. And there was no conventional advertising around," Mr. Brien said.

Innovation and collaboration
The new marketing model also calls for innovation and collaboration among media and creative agencies and brands, Mr. Brien said. He cited a campaign executed by Universal McCann and Interpublic Group of Cos. sibling Lowe for Lynx deodorant in Australia. To target young adult males, the campaign used insight that men find air travel sexy and exciting and then created a campaign that centered around a fake airline. Spots were created to promoted the airline, complete with sexy stewardesses dressed in tight yellow dresses and carrying the line "Lynx Jet -- Get on, Get off." According to Mr. Brien, sales of the deodorant increased within four weeks of the campaign's launch.

"The old notion of integrating and being smart players is an absolute must. ... I don't know whether it's going to go back to full bundling in the way that it was, but the plan will come back together," Mr. Brien said.

He also acknowledged that some marketers are still hesitant about embracing the new marketing model, but that agencies must teach them to love new technology and not fear it.

"They always say that the two greatest motivators are love and fear, and I find that many agencies are playing the fear card -- 'The world is collapsing, the sky is falling.' I think it has to be a love thing."

Though the new marketing model may be frightening, it is also an opportunity, Mr. Brien said, "if we have the creative intellectual juice to come up with different approaches.

Source: Ad Age

Online ad spending to reach $42B by 2011 & budget shift to accelerate

kevinnorman.gooruze.com
Advertisers are well on the way to spend $21.4 billion on the internet in 2007, according to eMarketer’s new online ad spending report, “US Advertising Spending,” which also projects that by yearend 2011 spending on online advertising will reach $42 billion. emarketer-us-online-advertising-spending-2006-2011.jpg

eMarketer also projects that US online advertising’s share of total media ad spend will more than double, from 6% in 2006 to more than 12% share in 2010 - and more than 13% in 2011.

The amount of online ad spend per internet user is also growing and will, this year, for the first time surpass $100 per user, eMarketer also said; and, by 2011, advertisers are expected to spend nearly double that amount online per user.

One big trend is that the nation’s largest advertisers are shifting more of their budgets from traditional media to the internet, according to eMarketer:

* Among Advertising Age’s “100 Leading National Advertisers,” 69 allocated a smaller share of their total ad budgets toward the four traditional measured media - TV, radio, newspapers and magazines - in 2006 than in 2005.
* 58 of those advertisers both decreased their spending share on the four traditional media and increased the share going to the internet.
* Combined, the 100 top advertisers spent nearly $230 million less on the traditional four media in 2006 compared with 2005, while boosting internet ad spending by $558 million.

Search, display and classified ads account for the largest advertising share of Internet spending, according to eMarketer’s projections for the 2006-2011 period:

emarketer-us-online-advertising-spending-by-format-2006-2011.jpg

* Paid search’s share of online ad spend will continue to hover in the 40% range through 2011.
* Display ads (such as static banners) will generate about 20% of internet ad revenues through the decade.
* Classified ads, including those on newspaper sites and in places such as eBay, Monster or HotJobs, will contribute about 17%.
* Rich media, which includes video advertising, will rise from 8% share this year to over 13% in 2011.
* Social-networking advertising numbers, currently being revised by eMarketer, are expected to increase from $900 million in 2007 to $2.5 billion in 2011.

While the current total media ad spending forecasts reflect economic anxiety, a downturn will also affect online ad spending - but less so, according to David Hallerman, author of the report:

* In contrast to the 26.7% growth projected for internet advertising in 2007, total media ad spending will increase only 2.1%.
* Mainly because of the credit crunch and related economic fallout, internet ad spending will not increase as much in 2007 and 2008 as analysts previously expected. However, reduced spending will be tempered by advertisers buying the low-cost display advertising gobbled up by mortgage companies’ shrinking marketing budgets.
* As a highly accountable ad format, paid search are likely to get more of the mortgage companies’ shrinking budgets than display ads.

Source: MarketingCharts.com

Mobile Users Want Internet, Maps, And Local Search

According to a new mobile consumer study conducted by The Kelsey Group with ConStat, 44.7 percent of U.S. mobile phone users surveyed say a mobile phone with better Internet capability will be a key factor in their next mobile phone purchase decision. According to the survey, only 26 percent of mobile phone service subscribers currently opt for an Internet access plan.

Matt Booth, senior vice president and program director, Interactive Local Media, said "The combination of unlimited data plans and next-generation Internet-enabled mobile devices suggests mobile Web access will grow to become ubiquitous... mobile Internet usage and increased satisfaction with mobile Internet applications are among the converging factors that... point to a breakthrough year ahead for mobile ad adoption."

In the past six months, notes the study, 9.8 percent of respondents used their mobile phones to conduct Internet searches for products and services in their local area. During the same period, 10.7 percent downloaded or looked at maps, while 10.9 percent indicated they had downloaded search or mapping applications for use on the Internet to supplement those that came with their mobile phones.

The Kelsey Group announced last month that it expects U.S. mobile search advertising revenues to grow from US$33.2 million in 2007 to US$1.4 billion in 2012, representing a compound annual growth rate of 112 percent.

It is thought that customized, targeted advertisements will be what boost the growth of mobile ads. Currently online advertising claims about $75 million which is 1.8% of the country's ad spend. It is projected to grow by 3.1% in the 2008-2009 fiscal year, and another 7.1% in 2010-2011.

Mobile only claims about $1.5 million, yet the country continues to add about 7.5 million mobiles a month. Online users in India measure at 35-40 million, while mobile users total 208 million, the report continued.

S Subramanian, CEO of BPL Mobile, was quoted by Business Standard to say "Mobile advertising, with its reach and relevance is attracting advertisements. It will become the best option in the next six months."

Finally, AdMob released a report covering 1.5 billion mobile ads served in September covering the US, UK, India and South Africa.

Source: Center For Media Research

Increase ad response with a vanity phone number

Vanity phone numbers, like 1-800-FLOWERS, are proven to pull more responses and generate more leads when used in advertising. In fact, many business owners experience at least a thirty percent increase in ad response, and some are doubling, even tripling their responses. They attribute success like this to using a vanity phone number in all forms of advertising, like broadcast, print and outdoor.

Just ask Ron Henson, General Manager of an auto dealership in Utah. Ron increased his call volume 650%, which enabled his sales team to move more units off the lot. He compares the number of units sold in November 2005 to previous years and attributes the up tick to more phone-ups coming into his dealership. Ron says, "We are shattering previous sales records by 50% and I attribute this success to our new advertising, which prominently features a vanity 800 number."

Follow the advice below to make sure you use a vanity 800 number as effectively as possible to maximize the power of your advertising budget, increase lead generation and get results like Ron.

• 1. Lather, Rinse n’ Repeat. We all read the back of shampoo bottles and laugh at the obvious instructions to "lather, rinse and repeat." But, this is great advice when you think of it in other contexts, ones that may not be so obvious. For example, make sure you feature a vanity phone number in all advertising. And, when you are using your vanity number in broadcast (TV and radio) be sure to repeat the number at least three times - once in the beginning, in the middle, and as the last bit of information to finish off the commercial.
  
  For example: "Call 800-NEW-CARS today for more information on in stock new and used vehicles. We have hundreds of affordable models in all shapes and sizes. Call Jim’s Dealership today at 800-NEW-CARS for a car quote that you can afford. Call 800-NEW-CARS today."
  
  
• 2. Say It Loud and Proud. Put your phone number on everything – from business cards to company cars. Hire a troop to scream it out from the top of the tallest building. Seriously, make sure people know how to contact you. Use it in all of your advertising. Radio, print, television, billboards, collateral materials, even on your website for local searches. Think big, think branding, think billboards or better yet, moving billboards. Using your vanity number on all marketing materials and in all advertising campaigns delivers consistent messaging and ensures that the number will pull more leads and sales.
  
  
• 3. Say it in a Song. Everyone loves a good jingle. And, they have been proven to stick with people forever – for example Folgers - "The best part of waking up is Folgers in your cup." Using jingles in radio and television ads have been hugely successful for businesses in food, package goods and even the automotive industry. They create an emotional connection with consumers. And, they can last for years and years (as long as they are not too cheesy or annoying). The cost of creating one jingle has HUGE pay off if you use it to brand your business, run it in all broadcast ads, and increase your leads and sales as a result.
  
  
• 4. More is More. Make sure you give your advertising campaign, and direct response tool (remember we are talking vanity phone numbers here, trackable vanity 800 phone numbers) a chance. Run a moderate to heavy ad schedule. If it is a radio ad, be sure to run on several stations that target your audience, and run the ads at least several times a week on each station. Same goes for television, and print – come to think of it! We all have a better chance of remembering a phone number if we hear it several times a day! The more impressions you provide the better the retention rate by your audience.
  
  
• 5. Brand, brand, brand. When you activate a vanity 800 phone number, be sure to get one that ties into your product or service. Follow steps 1-4. This will help. A car dealer who uses 1-800-NEW-CARS is stating the obvious, but we need that as consumers. It enhances the brand, the ad message and the opportunity to be remembered by your target audience. If you are selling real estate services 1-800-NEXT-HOME is a clear indication of what you have to offer. As a matter of fact, apart from your company name, a strong call to action, and a branding vanity phone number, you do not need to include much else in your ad. That will avoid clutter and the chance of overwhelming consumers with too much information.
  

Finally, test it and track it. Create two separate ads using the same creative elements, just switch up a toll-free phone number for a vanity 800 number in one of the ads. Then track the response you get from each ad. It has been proven that people will remember a vanity phone number (one that spells something, like 1-800-PICK-UPS) in a radio ad fourteen times more than they will remember a numeric number. So you will be able to test ad campaigns, specific media channels, and find out which ones in your local media/advertising market are best for your success.

When using a phone number as a direct response tool there is no question that true vanity 800 phone numbers are the easiest to remember, and produce higher response rates.

Source: Jeanne Landau, 800response

New Study Says Successful Ads Tell Stories

Want to market your brand better? Then tell a story. That's the top finding from an intensive three-year study titled On the Road to a New Effectiveness Model released this month. The Advertising Research Foundation and American Assn. of Advertising Agencies, both based in New York, set out to measure consumers' emotional responses to TV advertising. What they discovered is that advertisements that tell a branding story work better than ads that focus on product positioning. Thirty-three ads across 12 categories—from brands like Budweiser, Campbell's Soup and MasterCard—were analyzed by 14 leading emotion and physiological research firms. The research tools varied from testing heart rate and skin conductance of the ad viewer to brain diagnostics. "We were trying to identify patterns that could be used," said Bill Cook, ARF svp-research and standards. "We saw powerful pieces of evidence for the impact of advertising." One such pattern was that a campaign like Bud's iconic "Whassup" registered more powerfully with consumers than Miller Lite low-carb ads that essentially just said, "We're better than the other guys." Why? Because Bud told a story about friends connected by a special greeting. The report contends that in many ways, advertising is stuck in the past. The 20th century was dominated by a one-way transactional focus where ads were pushed at consumers. Today, consumers interact with ads to "co-create" meaning that is powered by emotion and rich narrative. "Advertising has been standing on the sidelines, stuck on the language of positioning," said Randall Ringer, managing director and co-founder, Verse Group, New York. "Telling a story about the brand is more engaging, memorable and compelling than telling a bunch of facts. What worked 30 years ago with a 30-second spot doesn't work today." Other ads that struck a chord positioned the brand itself playing the archetypical role of hero. In Campbell's "Orphan" ad, it is about bringing together a mother and her foster child. Ad research firm Gallup-Robinson, Pennington, N.J., found that the spot, which showed a little girl's sadness and anxiety melt away into a soft smile once she was given a bowl of soup, generated 80% purchase intent. Most viewers measured said it was believable. A similar study from Ameritest, Albuquerque, N.M., found it received 42% purchase intent compared to a category norm of 33%. But for such storytelling ads to be truly effective, the plots need to tie in to a positive brand message. "When the emotional peaks align with the presence of the brand, or the impact of the brand in the story, the emotional connection with the brand is greatest," Cook said. While a MasterCard "Priceless" campaign, featuring a father taking a son to a baseball game, successfully achieved this impact, not all storytelling ads work. A United Airlines spot that showed an emotional story of a businessman returning home was deemed unimaginative by 68% of those surveyed by TNS Ad Eval. Eighty-four percent of respondents said the humor came through loud and clear for Southwest Airlines' "Want to get away" ad, which showed a woman accidentally destroying a man's medicine cabinet while snooping. A Nissan Maxima spot also failed. At first blush it appears a couple is talking about sex, but in fact they are talking about the car. "Negative levels were so high for many people over the brashness of the guy and his seemingly erotic proposal that they were unable to switch over to more positive feelings once the Maxima appeared," said the report. The study does not discuss the ROI of the ads for their marketers. Mark Truss, director of brand intelligence at JWT, New York, said the storytelling theory is correct, but the industry still lacks a way to prove it. "Without the tools to measure and link back to business metrics, marketers and advertisers are not going to embrace [this approach]."

Source: Brandweek

Now Showing: More ads

The past couple of years have been kind to the movie business. Ticket sales are up 8% year to date compared with 2006, thanks to blockbusters such as this summer's one-two-threequel punch of the "Spider-Man," "Shrek" and "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies. Now the Cinema Ad Council has reported that ad spending in movie theaters grew 15% in 2006 to $455.6 million.

Movies like the 'Spider-Man' sequel helped boost box office revenue, which helped lure marketers to the big screen as well.

Cliff Marks wears two hats in the movie ad business as CAC's chairman as well as president-chief managing officer of National CineMedia, which owns AMC, Cinemark and Regal Cinemas. This past year he has seen growth in ad spending from categories such as telecommunications, broadcast and cable networks, video-game hardware and software, and consumer electronics.

"Digital technology has allowed marketers to target specific movies and markets to use this medium much more strategically than years ago when they'd put an ad up on the screen," Mr. Marks said.

Spending shift
Out-of-home advertising as a market has experienced flat to single-digit growth in recent years as spending shifts from traditional billboards to more-accountable digital platforms.

Yet as marketers start racing to be innovators in the out-of-home market, which reached $6.8 billion in ad spending in 2006, the majority of their dollars are being spent in burgeoning areas such as in-store networks and unmeasured media, such as digital billboards. Movie theaters have managed to lure marketers by selling the big screen as an alternative to cable networks or multiple-market billboard buys.

And with in-cinema pre-shows often running 20 minutes of content and ads, there's more inventory for movie marketers to buy. The pre-shows started out as a place for marketers to get extra mileage out of their 30-second TV spots. Now major marketers such as Coca-Cola Co., Procter & Gamble and Geico are creating custom, short-form content often 60 seconds or 90 seconds in length. Movie theaters are the only place to catch new Geico ads starring the popular cavemen now that the ABC sitcom is on the air.

Driving growth
Stu Ballatt, senior VP-marketing and research for Screenvision, said the long-form approach to marketing is helping drive growth of movie advertising. "It's a continuing trend for people to place new creative into the cinema that isn't necessarily used elsewhere or maybe is launched in cinema and then moved into other media," he said.

Categories spending more on cinema so far this year, Mr. Marks added, have been family restaurants such as Chili's and Applebee's as well as retail and package-goods personal-care products.

Although movie theaters are categorized as out-of-home media, Mr. Ballatt said cinema buying has become more similar to TV buying now that digital formats have streamlined the distribution process.

Forecasts in 2000 had the movie market caving with the advent of pay per view and DVDs, but "clearly that hasn't happened," Mr. Marks said. "It's still a very important cultural part of the American weekend."

Source: Ad Age

National Advertisers Behind the Digital Times

We are knee-deep in the digital revolution, yet marketers are still having trouble making the transition. A new study from consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton in conjunction with the upcoming Association of National Advertisers conference reveals that interactive marketing still lags badly behind consumer behavior. The Web has become an essential part of most consumers' lives--eight in ten Americans are online, and usage is nearly parallel to that of television, yet marketers on average allocate just 5-10 percent of their ad budgets to digital media. Moreover, less than 25 percent of the 184 marketers polled for the study said they were "digitally savvy."

Indeed, online spending is still very much driven by search--a sector where you wouldn't see national brand advertisers spending an awful lot of their budget. Most of that usually goes to TV, the biggest branding medium. So why aren't those brand dollars moving faster to the Web? That's one of the big questions to be addressed at the ANA conference, along with an assessment of the best ways for national brand advertisers to market online.

If conference attendance figures are anything to go by, the mostly traditional media-skewing audience is a thirsty bunch. Attendance is up 25 percent this year to 1,200, making it the first time the conference has sold out since it started 97 years ago, according to ANA CEO Bob Liodice. Click here to read the whole story...

Source: Wall Street Journal