Brandeo is an online marketing resource that cuts through the clutter to update you on the need-to-know marketing ideas and insights that help build brands and increase sales.
Three of Tiger Woods’ sponsors, Nike (NKE), Gatorade and Gillette, have expressed their support in the aftermath of his automobile accident and rumored affair. CNN 11/30/09
The founder and former president and CEO of Jones Sodahas founded BoxB, a company that will create nonalcoholic private label beverages for distributors. Owning their own brand eliminates the risk associated with building non-owned brands and then losing the distribution when they become a hit. Brandweek 11/28/09
With Christmas less than five weeks away, Borders (BGP) and Barnes & Noble (BKS) are concerned that the weak economy will depress sales, despite best sellers from Dan Brown, Stephen King and Sarah Palin. wsj.com 11/25/09 May require subscription.
Dress Barn (DBRN) has completed its merger of Tween Brands, owner of the Justice brand that caters to children from the ages of 7 to 14. It will operate as a subsidiary of Dress Barn. Chainstoreage.com 11/25/09
AOL is adopting a new brand identity next month when it spins off from Time Warner (TWX). The triangle is gone, and the uppercase “AOL” is now upper & lower case, punctuated with a period: “Aol.” NYTimes.com 11/22/09 via Media Bistro
Tide has introduced “Stain Brain,” an iPhone app that offers simple solutions on the spot and allows people to share cleaning tips. The move coincided with the launch of Tide’s Stain Release in-wash booster, designed to be added into the regular laundry load to remove a host of stubborn stains. CMDGlobal.com
Microsoft (MSFT), Sephora, NASCAR and Comcast (CMCSA) are using Twitter as a component in sweepstakes promotions to boost buzz about their brands. Adweek 11/22/09
Complaints over ads from competitors filed with the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, the industry’s main self-regulatory program for national ads, will set a record in 2009. Combatants include Pantene vs Dove, Science Diet vs. Iams, AT&T(ATT) vs. Verizon Wireless (VZ) and Campbell Soup vs. Progresso. New York Times 11/22/09
Mega media brand Oprah Winfrey is ending her talk show in 2011 after 25 years on the air to launch OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network. Adweek 11/20/09
eBay (EBAY) will sponsor free wireless Internet on Delta (DAL) flights during the holiday travel period Nov. 24 through Nov. 30 to promote eBay’s “Holideals.” Clickz 11/18/09
Intel (INTC) hopes to strengthen the connection between it’s brand and consumers through a new website they’ve launched called LifeScoop. The site is designed to appeal to consumers interested in technology “but aren’t hard-core geeks.” Brandweek 11/14/09
Hundreds of “older, poorly perfoming” Holiday Inn hotels in North America could lose the right to call themselves a Holiday Inn if the franchisees don’t meet franchisor Intercontinental Hotel Group's (IHG) quality specs and undertake extensive renovations. Wall Street Journal 11/13/09. Requires subscription.
McDonald’s Corp. (MCD) plans to open about 1,000 new restaurants, remodel 2,300 existing ones around the world next year, and is experimenting with new technology to prepare for a global economic recovery. Wall Street Journal 11/13/09. Requires subscription.
The American Family Association is calling on consumers to boycott Gap Inc. (GPS) and its brands, which include Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic, this holiday season because the retailer's ads downplay the word "Christmas." Brandweek 11/13/09
Burger King franchisees are suing the company, alleging that Burger King Corp (BKC). doesn't have the right to set "maximum prices" for certain menu items. The lawsuit was spurred by the double-cheeseburger promotion that franchisees fought against saying it causes them to lose money. Advertising Age 11/12/09
Miracle Whip bought every ad slot on The Colbert Report on November 12th, and announced the buy “in newspapers warning Colbert that his commercial breaks would expose his viewers to “hardcore Miracle Whip attitude.” The Miracle Whip ad roadblock was in response to a parody of a Miracle Whip ad that Colbert ran on his show in October. MediaFreak 11/12/09
Ashley Furniture sponsors live-streamed birth on MomsLikeMe.com, a one-year-old site owned by newspaper publisher Gannett. The company had a featured banner running during event which was seen by 3,600 people watching the live stream, and an additional 148,600 unique visitors who downloaded the video during the next 72 hours. ClickZ Network 11/11/09
Breaking with other airline sites, Continental Airlines (CAL) plans to sell advertising on their website, saying their 10 million monthly unique users are in a trip-planning frame of mind, creating “an extremely conducive atmosphere for advertisers."Brandweek 11/11/09
Measure Online Display Ad Effectiveness to Determine Full Effect of Campaign
The problem with the use of click-through rates as the sole measure of online display advertising effectiveness is that CTR ignores a host of other ‘view-thru’ advertising effectiveness measures that impact roi, including recall, purchase intent, awareness, etc.
A recent ComScore post reflects the opinion of many online publishers, advertisers and agencies, by asserting that display ad effectiveness measurement should consider view-thru metrics that provide marketers with “an understanding of what consumers are doing, not just saying, in the days and weeks after seeing display ads, and have an understanding of the volume of search activity that is being driven by ad exposure.”
Certainly CTR can be useful, such as comparing the performance of creative executions. But the value of the CTR metric has been overemphasized by some online ad sellers seeking to grab spend from traditional media by emphasizing the performance and interactivity of online advertising. And let’s face it – for advertisers hungry for proof of roi, CTR is easy to understand, even if it doesn’t tell the whole story. It’s easy to see how online advertising has become a one-click pony. Sorry.
What’s a marketer to do? For advertisers that can afford it, there are plenty of custom research options to help them analyze the effectiveness of their display ad campaigns. Or, if you run display advertising campaigns on the Google Content Network you can utilize their “View-through conversion reporting” to measure how well your compaign increased brand awareness and purchase consideration, in “those instances where your ad is seen, but not immediately clicked on. More specifically, View-through Conversion reporting measures the number of conversions that occurred within 30 days of your display ad appearing for which there was no ad click generated.”
Google also offers advertisers access to Campaign Insights , “a unique measurement tool that can give reliable data about how a campaign has raised brand awareness, or active user interest, in a particular product or service. It looks beyond the traditional measures of clicks and conversions to calculate the incremental lift in both online search activity and website visits that result from a display ad campaign.” Campaign Insights compares two data sets from thousands of consumers who both did and did not see the ads, while also filtering out the impact of other media influences, such as TV.
Analyzing online display advertising beyond clicks makes sense for advertisers who want to build sustainable revenue and brands.
The beloved brand was born 1914 when the owner of a San Francisco newspaper stand begain selling home-baked cookies. The company closed its doors in 2008 and was relaunched by Kellogg in 2009. Image credit: MothersCookies.com
Macy’s is reprising its “Believe” campaign this month, which recounts the famous, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus,” editorial from the New York Sun. The campaign incorporates numerous elements including a 30-minute, animated special on CBS, a 25-city Santa tour a commercial featuring Grammy Award-winning singer Queen Latifah and a “Telll Us Why You Believe” contest that enables people to share their thoughts about what they believe in and why they believe.” Brandweek 11/7/09
Sears (SHLD) will add a new line of Jenn-Air kitchen appliances to its lineup this month, the only national retail chain to sell the high-end appliances. Sears market share in appliances has dropped from 40% to 31% over the last decade. Chicago Tribune 11/5/09
Borders (BGP) will close 200 Waldenbooks and Borders Express stores and cut 1,500 jobs in January so that it can focus on its more profitable superstores. Miami Herald 11/5/09
SnapNames, the largest the largest reseller of Web site names, has admitted that an employee was shill bidding on auctions to enrich himself and drive up the cost of names sold by the company. SnapNames says just 5 percent of total auctions between 2005 and 2007 were affected, about one percent of the company’s auction revenue during that same time. Washington Post 11/4/09, TechCrunch 11/4/09
AT&T (ATT) is suing Verizon (VZ) over Verizon’s “There’s a map for that” ad. The ad plays on Apple’s “there’s an App for That” slogan---but that’s not the problem. At issue is a map in the ad (see map graphic, video below) that shows that Verizon has 5 times more 3G coverage than AT&T, but doesn't show that the gaps in AT&T 3G coverage might be covered by AT&T's 2G network.
AT&T accuses Verizon of “misleading consumers into believing that AT&T doesn't offer ANY wireless service in the vast majority of the country.” Engadget 11/3/09 Image Credit: Techflash
Results from Technorati’s “State of the Blogosphere 2009,” reported by eMarketer, indicates that blogs can help companies build brands and generate sales.
According to eMarketer the study shows that 71% of bloggers who post for a business had increased visibility for their company, 63% had converted prospects into purchasers through their blog, and 56% have seen their blog bring their company recognition as a thought leader in the industry.
Creating and maintaining a blog requires a lot of effort---one of the reasons that many blogs are started and then quickly abandoned. But the study shows that developing a strategy, consistently publishing engaging content, and being patient can pay off.
Best Buy’s (BBY) Twelpforce consists of 21,100 employees who respond to customer tweets about consumer electronics via Twitter. To date, the Twelpforce has delivered advice in the form of 12,314 tweets to its 13,398 followers. Brandweek 10/31/09
Starbucks (STBX) will launch a new customer loyalty card program, called My Starbucks Rewards, on Dec. 26, 2009. The program will consolidate Starbucks Card Rewards and Starbucks Gold card. It has no annual fee, allows members to use one registered card (any Starbucks Card) and provides customized rewards, that increase with frequency of use. Chain Store Age 10/30/09
The Federal Drug Administration has notified Proctor & Gamble (PG) that the company’s marketing two of its Vicks-branded over-the-counter medications—Vicks DayQuil Plus Vitamin C and Vicks Nyquil Plus Vitamin C—violate FDA guidelines by portraying products as both a cold medication as well as a dietary supplement. Brandweek 10/30/09
Target (TGT) has cut 85 marketing jobs, about 8% of its 1,100 employees in that department.The recession has hurt Target because much of its revenue comes from fashionable nonessentials such as home decor and clothing. Chain Store Age 10/30/09
To introduce a leather-scented deodorant called Axe Instinct, Unilever (UL) is paying street musicians $1,000 to put up “Axe Instinct” signs, offer free deodorant samples when they play and, a few times a day, sing a ‘ditty’ “Look Good in Leather” that Axe is using in its commercials. NYTimes 10/29/09
Less and less individuals are trying out Bing says a study by online ad network Chitika. In looking at network traffic from August through the first half of October, it appears that although Bing's share of search impressions has declined at a steady rate, the number of users coming through Microsoft's (MSFT) decision engine has declined much more quickly.
In August, over 8% of search engine users and 6.7% of search traffic came from Bing. Since then, however, Microsoft's impressions share has dropped to 5.44%, and the user share has decreased even more significantly, to 6.28%. Chitika, Inc. 10/29/09
Videos posted on YouTube over the past two months featuring “the world’s fastest nudist” show a man, “clad only in running shoes, tube socks, and a strategically positioned frontward fanny pack” running through high-profile locations in New York City. Turns out the viral videos are a campaign for Zappos.The revelation comes too late for CNN and other media outlets who didn’t realize the runner was really an actor and included him in interviews and news stories. NYTimes.com 10/28/09
“United Breaks Guitars” musician Dave Carroll flew United Airlines (UAUA) last Sunday, and guess what? The airline lost his luggage. Carroll was on United because it was the only carrier with service from Canada to Colorado Springs where he had a speaking engagement. United located his luggage and returned it to him---the following Wednesday. NYTimes 10/28/09
Google (GOOG) has launched Campaign Insights, a tool to help marketers determine the incremental change that is directly attributable to online display ad campaigns on brand awareness and user interest. Available for larger display ad campaigns Campaign Insights goes traditional measures of clicks and conversions to calculate the incremental lift in both online search activity and website visits that result from a display ad campaign. BtoBOnline 10/23/09, Google AdWords Blog, 10/19/09
Disney (DIS) is offering consumers who purchased Baby Einstein DVDs their Money back. The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood says the offer is the result of a complaint they filed with the FTC regarding Baby Einstein’s marketing claims. Baby Einstein says the offer is part of an upgrade package and has nothing to do with the CCFC FTC complaint.Brandweek 10/23/09
Fortune (FO) magazine is dropping from 25 issues a year to 18 in 2010, will undergo a redesign, and focus on more “long-form, deep-dive journalism, great narrative stories,” to gain cost savings and strategic advantage. New York Times 10/23/09
Through Lufthansa’s free MySkyStatus service, fliers on any airline can sign up to have their flight details posted automatically to their Facebook or Twitter profiles, including regular updates about their departure, altitude, location and arrival as they travel. Springwise 10/23/09
Beginning next Wednesday, New York-based daily newspaper, Newsday, will offer limited free content on Newsday.com. Only Newsday and Cablevision Optimum Online subscribers will still have full access; others will need to pay a $5 weekly subscription fee. Clickz 10/22/09
Financial services brands are less effective at building awareness and persuading consumers to become customers says researcher Dynamic Logic. The study says financial services online ads are too text-heavy and could benefit from adding images of people and including fewer details. Clickz 10/21/09
On Wednesday Google (GOOG) reportedly plans to announce a new service that will give users an easy way to learn more about and sample music after searching for information about bands, alsbums and songs. Facebook also plans to integrate music site Lala into its gift store. New York Times 10/21/09
Okay, so when I first saw this it screamed hoax. But several blogs and the Christian Science Monitor are reporting that Burger King in Japan is offering, for seven days, a 7 patty Burger King Whopper to celebrate the launch of Microsoft Windows 7. You can believe what you read on the Internets, right?
Anyway, here's a visual of the sandwich, and below it is a video of an intrepid soul trying to bite into one at a Windows 7 launch party. Mashable 10/23/09
A Ralph Lauren spokesman has apologized for “the poor imaging and retouching that resulted in a very distorted image of a woman’s body,” and pledged that future artwork would represent the brand “appropriately.” The company was criticized for digitally retouching a model’s image to make her appear abnormally thin. Daily Mail 10/10/09
The Coca-Cola Company’s Facebook page, which has 3.7 million fans in contrast to Pepsi’s 250,000 fans, was actually started by two Coke fans in August 2008. The pair was then invited by Coke to run the page with the company’s backing. Adweek highlights which key brands have successfully leveraged Facebook and which ones fall short in “Brands Seek Fans on Facebook,” 10/11/09.
Dell, the world’s no. 2 PC maker,offers the full range of its Studio and Inspiron laptops for personalization. Customers can choose from more than 350 images from 25 artists and branding partners such as Major League Baseball, (Product) Red and OPI nail polish. The company says the importance of customization goes back to the company's beginnings when "it was really about getting a product that could do what you wanted it to do." Adweek, 10/11/09
Starbucks Corp. is suing a former executive of violating non-competition and separation agreements to work for rival Dunkin' Donuts as its brand operations officer. Chain Store Age 10/9/09
“Teen apparel chain Abercrombie & Fitch has suffered after refusing to cut prices, yet it resists big discounts. The retailer hopes to win back customers by emphasizing edgier fashions.” LATimes 8/15/09
Target, which had outsourced much of its e-commerce technology and fulfillment services to Seattle-based Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN), will launch and manage its own Target.com platform beginning with the holiday season in 2011. Atlanta Business Chronicle 8/7/09
Nissan Motor Co.'s environmentally friendly electric automobile, the Leaf, will go on sale in Japan, the U.S. and Europe next year. Designed to avoid a “stereotypical futuristic design,” the blue hatchback has a sporty design and a recharging opening in the front. Huffingtonpost.com 8/3/09
Apple reportedly offered a refund to the family of a child whose iPod music player exploded after being dropped, only if they would sign an agreement that threatened legal action if they ever disclosed what had happened. The Times 8/3/09
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Results from Technorati’s “State of the Blogosphere 2009,” 
