Havas' Q3 Organic Growth Slows to 1.5% November 14, 2008
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentBOSTON Beleaguered by a rough North American market and the loss of Dell business in Asia, Havas saw its third-quarter organic growth slow to 1.5 percent, compared to more than 9 percent in the same period a year ago.
The Paris-based holding company reported Q3 revenue of slightly less than $460 million for a 1.5 percent organic gain. By way of comparison, Havas’ rival Publicis Groupe posted a Q3 organic spike of 4 percent.
Ad spending cuts in the tourism and banking sectors in North America precipitated a $20 million Q3 revenue dip in that market to $142 million. In Asia, revenue fell to $19 million, off $5 million from Q3 in 2007.
So far this year, Havas’ global revenue has risen nearly 6 percent in organic terms to almost $1.5 billion.
Havas said its 11-12 percent ‘08 operating margin goal remains intact.
Read The Rest—>Havas’ Q3 Organic Growth Slows to 1.5%
Facebook falls victim to account hijacking scam – Brand Republic News – Brand Republic November 11, 2008
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentLONDON – Nigerian scammers have infiltrated Facebook and are hijacking users’ accounts to request money by posing as friends in need.
In the latest scam, Australian Karina Wells received a Facebook message last Friday from one of her friends, Adrian, saying he was stranded in Nigeria and needed her to lend him $500 (£213) for a ticket home.
Virgin Media to axe more than 2,000 jobs – Media news – Media Week November 11, 2008
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentLONDON – Virgin Media is to axe around 15% of its workforce, cutting up to 2,200 jobs by 2012 in a restructure aimed at saving £120m a year.
The company, which operates fixed-line telephony, mobile, Internet and pay TV services, plans to restructure its entire operation, adding that most of the changes should be in place between the end of next year and the end of 2010.
Virgin Media would not reveal which departments will face job cuts, adding that a period of consultation is now underway. A spokesman said the changes would help the company to save about £120m a year by 2012.
Read The rest—>Virgin Media to axe more than 2,000 jobs – Media news – Media Week
Building brand awareness through Wireless Application Protocol sites September 8, 2008
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentA new study shows that mobile marketing can increase brand awareness by 23%.
In addition, the study also indicates that mobile marketing can increase brand favourability by 5% and purchase intent by 4%.
The research conducted by Dynamic Logic, a Millward Brown research company, calculated the branding effects of mobile advertising campaigns across a number of industries, including alcohol, automotive, consumer electronics, FMCG, entertainment, financial services, retail, telecommunications and travel.
The promotions comprised of display ads on mobile Wireless Application Protocol sites and downloadable mobile applications.
The research revealed that aided brand awareness increased by six per cent and message association by 12%.
Angela Whitelaw, director of client services at Dynamic Logic claims: “As we measure more campaigns, we will continue to build these averages into a normative database that can be used to help marketers understand what’s working and what’s not on mobile. Ultimately, we’d like to have norms that can be used for mobile campaigns in the same way our database is used for online performance benchmarking and planning.”
For more information and other great articles go to the Wireless Application Protocol – defenitions and technology manin page by CLICKING HERE
Google ends its policy of trademark protection in the UK. August 28, 2008
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentCompetition between advertisers has always been intense but a change being implemented by Google will give companies the chance to hijack each other’s brands online.
From Monday, it will become possible for J Sainsbury to place an advertisement that appears anytime someone in Britain types Tesco as a search term, as Google ends its policy of trademark protection in the UK.
The move is already unsettling some big-name advertisers, with Tesco pledging to take the “moral high ground” and not bid against rival brands on Google, in the hope that it will not face aggressive competition.
Other brand owners are more unhappy still, with Ian McCaig, the chief executive of lastminute.com telling Channel 4 News that he was considering legal action. “We believe that Google’s policy change is a big problem and we object to it. We are investigating with vigour the legal position and if that investigation concludes positively then we will pursue a legal case, no question.”
Google is the most-visited site on the internet, accounting for more than a third of UK traffic. Consumers increasingly use the search engine to find even the most familiar brands – making any change to its policy critical.
David Kyffin, managing director of direct/digital at WPP’s Group M, said many clients were concerned about the change. “They would like to see more competition to Google in the UK but Google is so dominant that it is not possible to buy enough adverts on Yahoo! or MSN to reach as big an audience.” Google’s only concession to brand owners is to ban attack advertising and to ensure that nobody misuses a competitor’s trademark.
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Print ads preferred by consumers, research reveals June 13, 2008
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentLONDON – Newspaper and magazine ads generate more positive feedback from consumers than rival media, according to new research.
The research, undertaken by Dynamic Logic, claims that more than half of those surveyed view magazine and newspaper ads positively, ahead of outdoor, TV and cinema ads.
Newspaper ads topped the survey, with 53% viewing them positively, ahead of magazines ads ( 51%) and outdoor (50%), while ads on mobile devices and telemarketing ads came bottom of the survey, with just 7% and 6% respectively viewing them positively.
Christina Goodman, director of global marketing and business development at Dynamic Logic, said: “More interruptive or intrusive formats, such as telemarketing and spam, are towards the bottom of the list in terms of consumer appeal.
“What is surprising is the breadth of feelings about different advertising formats. This research shows there is a significant difference between how consumers feel about mobile ads (70% negative) versus newspaper ads (9% negative).”
The research involved more than 350 UK respondents.
Social Network Traffic Surpasses Web-based Email in UK November 12, 2007
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a comment
Getting connected
for retail success
October traffic to the top 25 social networks, including Facebook, Bebo and MySpace, accounted for 5.17 percent of all UK internet visits, compared with 4.98 percent for the “Computers and Internet – Email Services” category, such as Hotmail, Yahoo Mail and Gmail, according to Hitwise, writes MarketingCharts (via ResearchRecap).
This marks the first time UK internet visits to social networks outnumbered visits to web-based email services, Hitwise UK Research Director Robin Goad wrote.
“A growing proportion of the UK online population is choosing to communicate with friends via social networks rather than email,” he added.
Moreover, social networks now send as much traffic to retail websites as do web email sites, according to Hitwise data:
Younger internet users — those age 18 to 34 — tend to visit social-network sites more than they do web email sites, whereas the reverse is true for those 35+, Goad writes.
Top performing online campaigns need branding objectives September 20, 2007
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentTop performing online campaigns need branding objectives Article here
Dynamic Logic recently announced the most effective online advertising campaigns, based on research that evaluated how well each campaign achieved its branding objectives. Reviewing the campaigns measured in the US and the UK during 2006, Suzanne Moorey-Denham, managing director, Europe of Dynamic Logic discusses the top overall campaigns, which successfully generated the greatest branding impact.
Top UK campaigns
The top UK campaigns, which evaluated over 100 campaigns that also included some European advertising, represented a wide variety of brands and categories, including travel, FMCG, automotive and entertainment. Brands included two cinema campaigns for Adrift and The Sentinel, which utilised video as part of the campaigns’ assets. Also among the top performers were online travel site Opodo, Colgate’s Palmolive for Men, Philips Streamium Wireless Music Center, Sheila’s Wheels, Kraft’s Tassimo, Volkswagen Jetta and Yahoo! Search. On average, advertising for entertainment brands, such as films or television programmes, consistently generate higher average branding scores as compared to other categories. This is partly due to the very nature of these campaigns; they are fun to watch and often include clips of the film and celebrity actors as part of the adverts. However; the mix of product categories represented within the top campaigns, shows that many brands are successfully using online advertising.
These campaigns produced Online Advertising Awareness scores ranging from 8-20 percentage-point increases, which, interestingly, is notably lower than the scores for the top US campaigns. This may not be surprising, and may partly explain the difference in performance, since a majority of the top US campaigns used online video as a creative unit.
Previous Dynamic Logic research has shown that online video adverts can effectively cut through the clutter, yielding higher awareness for brands on average compared to other ad formats and online advertising in general. As online video becomes more commonplace on sites in the UK and across Europe, more agencies may begin to implement video elements as part of their campaign, driving higher average ad recall increases.
Many of the top online campaigns were well-integrated with their offline campaigns, including Sheila’s Wheels, allowing people to more easily recognise and connect with the brands.
The adverts also included a combination of rich media elements and various ad formats, including some lively home-page placements which captured visitors’ attention, but did not disrupt their experience enough to have a negative impact on the brands. The top performing campaigns tended to find the right balance between grabbing and holding people’s attention and having a positive effect without harming their user experience.
Top US campaigns
Among those ads measured in the US, the top campaigns were led by FMCG products, including four Kraft campaigns: Oreo, Honey Bunches of Oats, Kraft Singles and Crystal Light On-the-Go. These campaigns dominate the top performers partly because they have had a particularly innovative approach to online over the past few years. By conducting research and testing campaigns, marketers can learn and refine their process, incorporating learnings from one, informing and improving the creative and planning aspects of future campaigns.
Other brands that also achieved high scores were BMW, Dove, McDonald’s, and Ray-Ban. Online Ad Awareness scores for these campaigns ranged from 18-43 percentage-point increases after exposure to online advertising. The ads were also highly persuasive, generating the highest scores in Brand Favourability and Purchase Intent.
The value of video
As noted earlier, most of the US campaigns utilised some form of video ads as part of their online campaign. Video ads can provide a successful format to communicate to consumers. Many of the video ads appearing among the top campaigns happened to be repurposed TV spots that were adapted for online, and also implemented a variety of video formats, including pre-roll, in-banner and interstitial ads. Companion units were placed near the video, allowing viewers to interact with the ads and maintaining constant brand presence while the videos were playing.
These campaigns illustrate smart media strategy and clever but simple creativity, providing some great examples of what online adverts are working well. They also illustrate some guidelines in creating successful online brand advertising that other marketers may be able to learn from and apply. Following are some best practices that can be gleaned from the top performing campaigns:
- Keep the message simple. Don’t try to convey too many messages with your online advertising
- Be sure the brand is intrinsically linked to the creative assets
- The online campaign should be synergistic with the offline campaign
- For products, make the product shot the “hero” of the ad. Showing the prepared product or people using the product helps to demonstrate its benefits and also grabs viewers’ attention
- Leverage the unique capabilities of the Internet, such an interaction, layered roll-over units, and precise targeting
The research was conducted using AdIndex while each campaign was running live across the websites that made up the actual media plan. These campaigns were the most noticed, generating the highest Online Ad Awareness scores after exposure to the online campaign; they resulted in positive increases in awareness of the brand or product being advertised and were also highly persuasive.
Get your digital work right July 16, 2007
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a comment6/07/2007 Get your digital work right Is your digital advertising cutting it? Need some creative inspiration? The Top 10 Online campaigns in the UK and Europe across 2006 have been revealed, with creative agencies Tribal DDB and Starcom UK the clear winners. Both agencies have been recognised for two campaigns each, compared to the rest of the winners with just one. Determined by Dynamic Logic’s ad effectiveness research, the campaigns were recognised as the most noticed, most persuasive and most favourable campaigns. In alphabetical order the winners were Creative Agency: Pre-Loaded Brand Advertised: Sheila’s Wheels for eSure Creative Agency: Pro-Creation Brand Advertised: Palmolive for Men for Colgate Palmolive Creative Agency: Profero Brand Advertised: Yahoo! Search Creative Agency: Tribal DDB Brand Advertised: Philips Streamium Wireless Music Centre Creative Agency: Tribal DDB Brand Advertised: Volkswagen Jetta Creative Agency: Starcom UK Brand Advertised: ‘The Sentinel’ film for Twentieth Century Fox Creative Agency: Starcom UK Brand Advertised: Tassimo for Kraft Foods Creative Agency: Wheel Brand Advertised: Opodo for Marriott Creative Agency: Yahoo! Brand Advertised: ‘Adrift’ film for Pathé Also amongst the top performers was a campaign produced by Zed Media. The criteria for inclusion was for those with the highest Online Ad Awareness scores, which were characterised by statistically significant increases of 90 per cent or above. Additionally, the top-ranked campaigns performed as either “above average” or “excellent” compared to other online campaigns within their industry category, in either Brand Favourability or Purchase Intent, the two measured persuasion metrics. Managing director, Dynamic Logic Europe, Suzanne Moorey-Denham, said, “These campaigns represented a wide variety of brands and categories, including travel, FMCG, entertainment, and automotive. “The most noticed ads tended to be very-well branded and did not try to convey too many messages. The research also showed that the results were not driven by baseline awareness levels. She added, “Not only did these campaigns break through the clutter to generate higher awareness for their brands, but they were also persuasive. “Influencing consumers’ attitudes towards a brand and shifting intent to purchase are typically the most difficult metrics to move. Suzanne concluded, “These branding campaigns help to identify and illustrate some best practices in successful online brand advertising that other marketers may be able to learn from and apply.”
The best online ads of 2006 in the UK July 16, 2007
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentThe best online ads of 2006 in the UK
The top online ad campaigns in the UK last year, according to research from agency Dynamic Logic, were
- The campaign for the film Adrift, with Yahoo! as creative agency and BLM Quantum in charge of media.
- Opodo, with Wheel as creative agency and MediaCom UK as media agency.
- Palmolive for Men, with Pro Creation as creative agency and MEC Interaction as media agency.
- Philips Streamium Wireless Music Centre, with Tribal DDB handling creative and Carat Digital doing media.
- Sheila’s Wheels, with Pre-Loaded as creative agency and Carat Digital as media agency.
- The campaign for the film The Sentinel, with Starcom UK handling creative and media.
- Tassimo, with Starcom UK handling creative and media.
- Volkswagen Jetta, with Tribal DDB handling both creative and media.
- Yahoo! Search with Profero handling creative and media.
What do you think? Do you agree with these choices? Or did other ads online take your fancy this year?
WATCH ALL THE ADS HERE!!!
