How Many Banners Does Six Billion Bucks Buy?

 There was an interesting article in Adweek today. It said that spending in the online channel reached an amazing $6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2007. That’s a surge of 25% over Q4 in 2006. I don’t yet have any facts to back this up, but based on my own experience and observation, I am pretty sure that a decent percentage of this increase is coming from Consumer Packaged Goods marketers.

There are a number of reasons for this. First of all, it is now undeniable that reaching a target market using traditional channels is less cost-effective than ever (And this will only get worse until the TV networks roll back their pricing—they continue to charge more every year while providing less. Does anyone understand this?).  

Second, it is increasingly clear that marketers can use the online channel to reach consumers in numbers that rival traditional mass media. For example, Glam and iVillage now receive nearly 20 million visitors every month, and the major portals provide massive reach. 

And third, CPG companies are learning that, in addition to being the best method ever invented for deepening engagement with potential consumers, the online space is also really, really good at increasing baseline product awareness and purchase intent.  

I believe we will look back on 2007 as the year things changed for good. That it was the year that the internet finally took a place at the adult table, and turned out to be the best-dressed guest there.

Forget Advertising. You’re in the Content Business

One of the most fundamental, powerful shifts that the internet is causing has to do with how programming, or content, is distributed. If you have access to a server, you can essentially create your own distribution channel that, theoretically anyway, can compete for eyeballs with any other channel, including the big TV networks. The recent writers strike only accelerated the shift. There was a huge spike in online video viewing during the strike, and my hunch is a lot of people will never go back to their old TV viewing habits.

This is why all hell is breaking loose in every industry that’s connected in any way to the old models of creating and distributing content. Our clients  are right in the middle of the chaos, desperately looking for a partner to help sort it all out. Of course, there is no shortage of potential partners lined up.  

At Digitas, like most other large interactive agencies, we have a group of people that specializes in helping marketers create and distribute branded content. So do many  traditional ad agencies. And media planning and buying companies. And PR agencies. And just about everyone else. It is the Wild West, and not everyone is going to survive if we’re all trying to do the same thing for a limited amount of our client’s money.  

I’ll be discussing this issue more in future posts, but here is a good example of a CPG company investing in branded content. It is for the Tassimo Hot Beverage system. Tassimo is a Kraft brand, and they worked with Ogilvy to create a series of webisodes featuring an annoying guy named Bob who is obsessed with Tassimo, among other things. Here’s what Adweek said about the campaign.

We can debate whether the production/entertainment value compares favorably with the content that is its competition, and whether the distribution strategy—creating a website, http://www.whohiredbob.com/, instead of partnering with a site that already has significant traffic—is a good one. What is not open to debate, however, is that this is an example of how the advertising business—and the TV, media buying, broadcast production and PR businesses—are forever changing before our eyes.

“Happiness” Comes to Those Who Wait….and Wait

 The team at Attention Shoppers! has finally visited the latest offering from the slap-happy inhabitants of Cokeland (we know we’re late to the happiness party, but we had laundry to sort).

Well, this version of “The Happiness Factory” is certainly a piece of work. You might even call it a piece of art work (commercial art, but art nonetheless). The animation is stunning. The story in the movie you’ll find on the site is charming. The games are first rate. But the site is really, r e a l l y , s   l  o   w.  

I know that we often have to make creative and technological choices when it comes to delivering consumers an awesome experience while watching those pesky load times. But this site took FOREVER to load. And the “movie” gave me one of those stop-and-start performances that drive one nuts (on subsequent visits the movie played smoothly, but there was still a rather long wait between sections of the site).  

Of course, it might just be that a bunch of folks were hitting the site, or my ISP, at the same time. But, given that it was 7:30 on a Saturday night, I kinda doubt there were that many other losers hanging out online or at the Coke site.   

So is there a lesson here? I know, based on my own experience/mistakes, that any time you make a user wait more than a few seconds for a marketing experience (no matter how awesome it may be) you will lose between 25 and 50% of your audience. They simply won’t wait around for you. You were probably interrupting them, pulling them away from something else they were planning to do, in the first place.   So, while the judges at Cannes may wait 10 seconds for a screen to load, the judges in Duluth, Minnesota will probably not.

Some Mindless, Hairy Fun

If you’re looking for a quick chuckle (and really, who isn’t?), check out the latest zaniness from the fertile minds of the good folks at Wieden and Kennedy and Old Spice. The Hair/Body Metrics Profiler experience is in support of Old Spice Hair and Body Wash, and allows you to create your own hairscape on a body and then….well, maybe you should just go see for yourself. My explanation will never do it justice. To be honest, I’m not sure how much Old Spice the Wieden work is selling, but since Old Spice is a P&G brand, I imagine we’ll know soon enough if the work ISN’T working. I am hoping it is.

“I Can’t Believe” It’s Still Stuck In My Head

 A few days ago we discussed a fine integrated CPG advertising effort by Saatchi & Saatchi and Digitas (the next day, in fact, the esteemed brains at the New York Times called “The Talking Stain” the best TV/Internet play of all the Super Bowl spots).

Today I would like to feature another integrated campaign that those same New Yorkers have signaled out (you’d think I would avoid New Yorkers like the butter-plague, what with my beloved Patriots’ dreams of immortality being destroyed by the Gothemites, but we are not like that at Attention Shoppers!).   

The campaign is for “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter.” Which I remember like I saw a spot yesterday, although the last one I viewed was probably 20 years ago. This new campaign is tagged “Now You Know Better,” as in now we enlightened folks of the 21^st century understand that all that  butter-eating of yesteryear was a very bad thing. Personally, I CAN’T BELIEVE that eating a moderate amount of butter is bad for you at all, and it surely makes food taste much better than the man-made spread, but I guess that’s not the point here.   

 The TV spots are a take-off on the world of “Leave it to Beaver”, when Dad went to work and Mom stayed home and made wholesome meals chock full of quarter-pound sticks of butter. YUM!   The spots end with a smarmy 60s era talk-show host (fans of the Seinfeld J. Peterman episodes will approve) who directs you to the site. Which, I find a little underwhelming, given the material they had to work with in the TV spots.   

The main attraction of the site is a quiz show that takes you through the decades and asks you questions that pertain to popular culture. We did not do well, but we are not that cultured. Or that popular.

Stain Yourself

 In most cases, we refrain from using too many examples of work from Digitas for this blog. Which helps make Attention Shoppers! that bastion of objectivity so many of you have come to know and love. Today, however, I am making an exception. Because work from Digitas is the best example of a CPG company leveraging a Super Bowl spot in the online space.   

Of course, it helps to start with a very good TV commercial. And the one for Tide-to-Go, created by Saatchi & Saatchi, is very good indeed (that’s not just my opinion—the USA Today poll put it in the top 10 best spots of the evening, and Yahoo had it third).  What’s more, it is that rare bird in the flock of Super Sunday spots: one based on real consumer insight instead of a joke.   

The spot directed viewers to My Talking Stain.com, where they can recreate the commercial and replace the talking stain with their photo and voice. A number of bloggers (and not just this one) are already talking in glowing terms about both the spot and the site.

Was Elf Yourself a Giant Success?

 In our last post, I believe we established without a doubt that Elf Yourself was the most successful viral campaign in history, if one only takes into account reach. I’ve done a bit of additional research, and turned up a few more interesting facts. For instance, nearly 1 in 10 Americans visited the site. In addition to the mention on Good Morning America, the campaign was featured on CNN American Morning, ABC World News, The Today Show, TNT Sportscast, Fox News, TBS, as well as many local news and entertainment programs, all generating millions more positive impressions. That’s pretty remarkable for an online campaign that probably cost in total significantly less than most TV spots cost to MAKE, let alone run.  

Still, there are some people who are not huge fans of the Elf Yourself campaign. They say that it wasn’t strongly tied to the brand (this is true) could have been done for virtually any brand (true again) and probably had little effect on sales. This blog entry and the subsequent comments make good points.

  

As far as immediately having an effect on sales, here is what Bob Thacker, VP-Marketing and Advertising at Office Max, had to say about the goal of the campaign. “We were looking to build the brand, warm up our image. We weren’t looking for sales. We are third-place players in our industry, so we are trying to differentiate ourselves through humor and humanization.”   If that was indeed the goal of Elf Yourself, then here is one significant fact that says it was a success. In the month of December, six of the twenty most common search terms included the words “Office Max”. That would indicate that the branding of the campaign came through loud and clear, and that people were actually seeking out the marketing message.