Archives for February 2009

Is timeshifting killing television advertising?

Nielsen report 37% more consumers are watching programs via DVR (digital video recorders) which timeshift TV rising about 9% in the fourth quarter from the third quarter. The other key of the report is that viewers are watching their television content online, and on mobile devices rather than watching it through the television itself. Nielsen’s report covers the US but the same trends are taking place here in Australia. Foxtel is now in nearly 1.6m Australian households. One-third (more than half a million) of these subscribers have a Foxtel IQ digital video recorder. Subscriber’s are up 7% and Foxtel’s revenue is up 13%

So instead of watching TV when the advertisers and the networks intended them to be watched, viewers are watching them in a different timezone or online or on a mobile phone. The viewers who watched TV online consumed even more video content, to the tune of another 3 hours per month. Even Nielsen’s report is called the “3 Screens Report” reflecting the fact that the traditional TV screen is only one of the delivery mechanism for television content. What happens to the ads ? The fast forward button is killing television advertising.

Your brand is just not that into you

As advertising and marketing budgets are being slashed (don’t mention the “R word”), it’s probably worth looking at the way brands engage and relate to their customers. I’m inspired to put this into relationship terms after seeing the film, “He’s Just Not That Into You” (HJNTIY) . One of the male characters, Alex, is brutally frank in telling Gigi, how she is deluding herself on male romantic behaviour when a series of guys don’t call her or ask her out again – all when they say they are going to.

In much the same way Alex did, I am going to tell it like it is, with regards to the way brands (and the agencies acting on their behalf), toy with customers’ feelings, and keep them at arms length, or promise to contact without any actual delivery.

Here are my interpretations of the classic, dysfunctional customer relationships where customers are treated badly by brands:

The internet as confessional: anonymity and community

Social media sharing is spilling into “real life” is hot news with 11% of adults in the US updating their “statuses” via Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn (wonder what the statistic is in Australia?) and everyone is getting comfortable with the “overshare” of what they are doing right now/what they are working on now/just doing.

So why is it still so popular being anonymous and pour your heart out online? I have been following 2 anonymous Twitter confessionals SecretTweet and F*** My Life. Both have corresponding websites, and the Twitter accounts feed the wonderful, painful, funny and tell-it-like-it-is truths that are posted anonymously by the thousands of users.

Tweet Chasing – the week in social networks

It’s been a busy week in the social media universe. Some of the trending topics and interesting things I’m digesting are: The Shorty Awards was written up in the NY Times – the inaugural tweetup award event was so popular they had to turn people away at the door. The real life person who was […]

7 ways Twitter helps you with your social life

So what happens when you do meet people you follow, or engage with or just see conversing on Twitter – in real life? Here’s why Twitter can help you have more fun in your social life and why you should attend your next local tweetup

Brand Hijacking, Brand Advocacy and Social Media identities

If you are in the brand building business, whether agency or client side, it pays to think early about your brand’s online and social media component – no matter what the brand is.

The best case study to illustrate this is what happened to to AMC’s Mad Men, a drama about a Madison Avenue advertising agency Sterling Cooper in 1962, shown in Australia on Movie Extra. Despite critical success for Season 1, and numerous awards including the Golden Globe® for Best TV drama and actor, Season 2 started well but had lost a million viewers in a month in the US. The characters in Mad Men are completely compelling – cigarette smoking, hard liquor swilling and delightfully old school.