Who would have thought twenty years ago, we Americans would be so connected to computers and the world wide web that it would become a daily routine in our lives just as showering and brushing our teeth. This is the common denominator between most millennials, but to add proof to my case, let me use my seventeen year old son as an example. He may not be so happy about this post, but let's all keep it a secret.
Chris Jr's Daily Routine
Jr. wakes up at 5AM every morning for football workouts, but during his preparation for the day he fits in a 20 minute shower, 30 minutes on Facebook, 5 minutes throwing some clothes on and a 15 minute ride to school while he is on his Facebook. He has even admitted to being on the toilet while surfing his Facebook. Sounds a little far fetched, but be honest with yourselves, we've all done it.
The kid is on his Facebook intermittently through school when he knows he can hide his phone, and on the ride home and after his homework he's back on his social media. Chores take less time to complete than it does for him to update and post on his twitter feed. Then comes dinner, where I will admit that this is an opportunity for the whole family to check on our social media feeds. If I had estimate, between YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, he spends about 4-6 hours on his social media. Jr. is a super athletic kid and has the opportunity to play college football if he concentrates on what matters most. As a challenge, coaches approached Chris to voluntarily give up his phone through Spring football workouts. Are all of us so addicted to social media that it has become a significant part of our lives?
Social media has evolved so much to our daily lives that media moguls have adapted the art of tailoring advertising to each person's interest. We are on our social media so much that companies have been able to track what our interests are and draw advertising impressions to whatever each individual person has shown a possibility of consumer ability. Those ads on the sidebar of your Facebook are no longer coincidence. So, are they cash or clutter? The question depends on who you are asking. One thing is for sure though. These advertisements all do increase brand or product awareness, because you either have to click off of them or ignore them on the side of the screen. Either way they are seen and very difficult to avoid.
So, the question stands, is social media a trend or fad? Our digital culture has evolved so much that it has taken on a life of its own. Consumers such as Chris Jr. that spend 4-6 hours surfing their social media, expand product awareness. I used Chris Jr. as an example, but when we consider that South Korea, China, and Japan offers the majority of the world's internet users and members of social media sites, we cannot ignore the potential of social media advertising. According to Mary C. Long in an article she wrote, "Global
social network advertising revenues are projected to double 2012
figures by 2014 – climbing from seven to 14 BILLION. This makes sense as
70% of advertisers are currently devoting at least a small portion of
their budget to social networks now.
When thinking about an award winning advertising campaign, we cannot let the Doritos brand escape our mind. Doritos has had extreme successes because of their brilliant advertising through a cross platform approach. What is unique about Doritos is their "Crash the Superbowl" campaign. This puts the creativity in the hands of the consumer through a contest for the best commercial representation of the Doritos brand. No other company has ever attempted this before, so the market idea is protected through the Frito Lay company. Brilliant!
2013 Crash The Superbowl Winner
Doritos has involved all different platforms of media, although social media advertising has shown a promising future in the Doritos repertoire. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+, Pintrest, Mashable, Tumbler, whatever it is you can pick your poison and I am positive that Doritos has a presence there. Social media is cost effective and has a huge ROI.
Doritos has encompassed a large about of comical entries that accentuate the bursting flavor of their product all while bringing laughter to the snack table. Doritos has my vote!
Mobile technology has opened up a wide array of opportunities in the advertising industry. One of the most notable sources of consumer reach has been in game advertising. This form of advertising offers a mode that cannot be ignored by consumers and provides a supplementary reach in conjunction with other mediums and can flow along maintaining campaign continuity.
The following video will give a better understanding how Google has mastered In Game Advertising.
There are five different ways to utilize in game advertising.
Display ads- These are ads that pop up either at the beginning of a game or in transition points within the game. These are a great way to reach consumers because in order to get rid of the ad the consumer has to physically click the ad away. A negative to this is sometimes these ads are viewed the same as junk mail.
Banner ads- Banner ads are a good means of consumer reach because they are always running on one of the borders of the screen. If they provide enough creativity and copy they can persuade a consumer to become curious about a product and draw them in.
Video interstitials- These are videos placed usually at transitioning points of a game or placed in a game so that a consumer must watch the video to obtain a certain item to continue. These are great for reach and with the right creativity can catch consumer attention. Unfortunately, if the video is too long, they can have a negative consumer effect and be seen as clutter.
In-game branded virtual items- We see this type of advertising everyday in television, movies, and now video games. Virtual billboards or signage offers a pseudo-subliminal pathway to reach consumers and offers product or brand awareness. In the photo above we see how the McDonald's Corporation has taken advantage of this medium.
Brand partnerships/sponsorships- Brand partnerships are important for brand awareness. Attaching a brand name to a popular item or game produces another pathway to increase frequency and reach.
The following is a video to show how subliminal advertising has an effect on our options to choose certain products. Imagine how this same tactic is utilized in the medium we just discussed.
Let me make this clear at the beginning of this blog. Journalism is not dying. It will never go away. As Sam Butterfield said in his online article in The Nieman Reports, "The market for clear and sharp writing about timely subjects will never disappear." The route in which we deliver our message may evolve to changing technology, but the messengers are still her and multiplying. We are survivors! According to an editorial by Jack Shafer, a writer for the online publication of the Slate, "researchers found that the print folks
"remember significantly more news stories than online news readers";
that print readers "remembered significantly more topics than online
newsreaders"; and that print readers remembered "more main points of
news stories." When it came to recalling headlines, print and online
readers finished in a draw." From this statement can we assume that online readers are consuming so much news that they have become a generation that only remembers stories that appeal to their lifestyles or interest. Our reading comprehension has diminished because we now have access to so much more, and we have chosen to narrow our news down to only what we choose to consume rather than the attraction of a flashy front page headline.
Newspapers seem like the print dinosaurs to our millennials generation. With technology providing easier access to just about any magazine content imaginable, print journalism appears to have risen to the level of retro nostalgia. One thing that tablets provide in the most innovative ways that every other media lacks is the ability to get real time updates of breaking new as it's happening by a regular citizen experiencing things first hand. Tablets provide less clutter and an ability to reach a greater number of readers.
Online versions of newspapers have made it conducive for the business person on the go to have access wherever and whenever. As stated an article by Brian D. Angell and Gabie E. Smith in The Journal of Technology Studies, access is the greatest barrier to online readership. Not everybody has an electronic device with internet access available at their fingertips. Not every American is willing to submit to the technology boom and purchase an electronic device just to read the morning paper.
With tablets bullying their way into the industry, newspapers that have a strong local tie have survived the loss in print subscriptions. Most print newspapers have chosen to join the technology boom by moving contents from print to electronic media. Our population has shifted with the majority of readership being baby boomers that are reluctant to abandon their loyalty to their morning newspaper in had over a cup of joe and breakfast.
Television and radio advertising has for a long time claimed the title for the best reach at an amazingly convenient cost per thousand, or as we know it in the advertising world as CPM. There is no surprise that advertising guru Tim Burt has taken a stand against the junk that floods our radio and television commercials. We already know that if we have enough money we can place any radio or television commercial during the most profitable viewing or listening slots, and cater it to be very niche, and we also can reach a local or national audience. Radio and Television advertising presents many options, many times, and can be tailored to cater toward the ROI (return on investment) needs that the client chooses.
So I present this question. Why has advertising chosen to use comedy and drama as a selling point for products that have very little to do with the message in the advertisement. Burt uses an analogy in the video above, of advertising being like over stuffing a burrito with useless information rather than delivering a concise message that directly concerns the product and it's benefits.
I am certainly not the industry know it all, but I believe that my answer may be the consensus of most Americans. We like a product that can relate to us as Americans, human beings with emotion, and anything that can spark enough emotion to put a tear in our eye or a smile on are face is worth listening to. Has advertising become more closely aligned with entertainment? Absolutely! It's that entertainment that makes us remember a product. PRODUCT AWARENESS Mr. Burt. That is what we are all shooting for, right. Let's take for example the VW campaign below.
This story is about a child trying to harness the force. This commercial obviously was targeting those that grew up in an era spanning from the late 70's up through millennials. The message still showed products features and benefits through a story that us Star Wars nerds can relate to. Star Wars always puts a smile on my face. Good job Volkswagen.
Tim Burt, would you tell the General Motors Company that they are doing it all wrong. Let me remind you that General Motors spends 753.5 million dollars on advertising and I don't think it is all in vain. The above GM commercial relates to us college seniors as the "Best Day Of Our Lives," only to have our dreams crushed by reality. It's a hilarious commercial though!
The bottom line is that radio and television advertising has proven itself to be the powerhouse in the industry. It may not always be the primary or sole medium in every campaign, but it is reliable and cost effective.
Technology has made it possible to Out Of Home advertisers to engage consumers through creative tactics, giving a huge advantage over other mediums. With billboards being the second largest growing form of advertising, digital and interactive signs have only made it even more possible for this medium to stamp a larger footprint in the minds of consumers. Out Of Home advertising has proven to have outstanding reach and frequency relative to a low CPM or cost per thousand.
Today's format is going to be a little different. For the most part when somebody goes out of there way to do something, they make their best attempt at being Number One. So we are going to take a look at "Who Does it Right" in our local media.
Keys to Local Media Planning Success
First, matching media with markets that they will be most successful in is an important process for overall success. Different clients or businesses are unique in their own ways. Each will most likely need to be matched with the media that most fits their specific needs, whether those needs be extremely specific or broad. Choosing the correct media requires market research and is a process in which accurate information can be obtained from a unique process of information gathering. As Marian Azzaro says in her book Strategic Media Decisions, "Location, Location, Location." Geographic consideration of advertising is equally important as geographic location of the business itself. When considering geographic location, most metropolitan areas offer a slew of mediums on different levels of production, such as local or national newspapers, radio (local, national, satellite, online,), Television (local, national, online, sattelite, cable), magazines (niche, local, national, or online), Out of Home (billboard types, Non-traditional advertising), Direct Marketing (direct mail), or New Media (store kiosks, social media, web page banners, or interactive web videos).
Second, conducting a Local Market Profile will help get a better understanding of the market itself, the pople in the market, the media in the market, and how the market behaves. This will assist the planner in becoming an expert in the area needed. determining the proper local media source is imperative to the successful delivery of the creative message. These are many of the proper media sources.
Third, research on a local level. It seems kind of backwards, but pinpointing your secondary research could determine the type of primary research that would be required to make a campaign successful. Chamber of Commerce reports are a great start to provide your research with local demographic of the population and provide information about local businesses, schools, churches, a list of the top employers and contact information for them. Other valuable sources of secondary research are the publication by Marketing Management magazine called "Survey of Buying Power", Donnelly demographics, U.S Census data, U.S. Government Studies and booklets, U.S. Statistical Abstract, Regional Studies, Industry publications, specialized reports from industry sources, "Instant Backgrounders" such as information that is already provided through industry related organizations, local newspapers and magazines, national newspapers and magazines, advertising journals, and CD-ROM databases. Secondary research is less expensive because much of the information has already been gathered and made public.
Now that we have gathered our Secondary research, we can determine which primary research would best suit our goal (surveys, interviews, focus groups, ect.). This step can get pricey so knowing the vision of your research is imperative. By getting the proper research the team is able to "1. look for clues and opportunities, 2. identify the marketing problem, and 3. put them all together into a program that solves that problem and builds long-term growth," according to Marian Azzaro, author of Strategic Media Decisions.
The Different Mediums and Who Does it Right
Medium: Amarillo Globe News Media (Newspaper and Magazine) Advertiser: Jack Sisemore Travelland Rationale: The Amarillo Globe is the industry leader in the area because it is the largest newspaper publication with the largest readership. AGN also is expansive to an online publication that reaches younger readers and consumers. AGN readership is unique because it has such a large area that it covers due to the rural local areas. Readership has potential to reach the whole Texas and Oklahoma panhandles and New Mexico border areas.AGN also runs several magazines like the Amarillo Magazine and Pigskin Preview which have a large local and regional circulation.
Medium: Cumulus Radio Advertiser: Amarillo Civic Center
Rationale: Cumulus Radio has the ability to advertise through several genres of music stations and has the ability to reach the largest audience in the local region than any other in the industry. Cumulus has a strong history of reaching large amounts of listeners through quality radio advertising. As the Cumulus website states, "our local media brands typically reach more consumers than the newspaper, local TV news, or dozens of combined cable channels."
Medium: Suddenlink Communications (Television and New Media) Advertiser: Fred Loya Insurance
Rationale: Suddenlink Communications is the territorial owner of cable television and internet in the Amarillo area. Advertising through Sudddenlink provides a very tailored product toward a specific target market. Fred Loya is proud of being a Latino owned company and capitalizes on targeting a growing demographic in the Amarillo and Texas Panhandle area. Suddenlink has the ability to reach audiences through multiple mediums and target specific audiences.
Medium: Lamar Advertising (Out of Home)
Advertiser: Amarillo National Bank
Rationale: Lamar is the industry leader in the Amarillo area and owns billboard sites that reach the most consumers with the best Cost Per Thousand. Location, Location, Location!
