Teen Truths

Wednesday I posted a story about teen spending habits.

Here's a few more revelations:

9 Myths You Thought Were True

A teen, a Millennial and a Mom walk into a restaurant for dinner. The Mom has a coupon for 10% off that she got for "liking" the bar's Facebook page, the Millennial checked in on Foursquare to get a free drink, and the teen has nothing and is too busy texting her friends to care.

Teens are a unique audience. They have their own needs and social drivers that are unique to their stage in life. Many marketers assume that, because teens are young, their needs are the same as Millennials and that they will interact with brands in the same way.

New research is showing that teens have their own needs and behaviors that are different from other generations. If you're a marketer looking to reach teens, it's vitally important that you always have your finger on the pulse of the teen audience. As technology evolves, teens are finding their own uses for it that are unique to their personal and social needs.

There are some myths about marketing to teens that every marketer can learn from.

Myth #1: All teens want smartphones
While it is true that teens want phones, smartphone adoption has only reached 31% as of 2010. If 90% of teens own a cell phone, why aren't they buying smartphones? The answer is actually pretty simple: texting. Teens send an average of 3,339 texts per month, and typing that many messages on a touch screen is a lot more difficult than typing on even the most basic phone keyboard. That's why BlackBerry is one of the most popular phones for teens.

Myth #2: Texting is the way in
We already know that teens love to text. What some marketers fail to realize is that teens only love to text with their friends. Only 10% say they want companies to contact them via text message. There are some instances where a brand can use a texting campaign to engage this audience, but most teens see texting as "too personal," and aren't inviting brands into their personal space.

Myth #3: Teens use Facebook the way we use Facebook
Don't count on just your Facebook page to reach teens. Teens interact with brands on Facebook if they feel there is a real benefit to them for doing so. They're not "liking" every brand on Facebook that they purchase, and even if they do, they're not likely to come back to your page after the first visit.

Myth #4: Teens are going to join Twitter
Recent findings from the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project show that only 8% of teens have embraced Twitter. Other studies also show that most teens don't have any interest in joining Twitter in the future (76%). By the time they decide to use Twitter, they probably won't be teens anymore.

Myth #5: If you build it, teens will come
Great ideas go to waste when no one knows about them. Many marketers believe that creating a social experience for teens will spread itself through word-of-mouth and online sharing. A good social media activation can always benefit from a mass-media driver.

Myth #6: Teens are online all the time
Teens spend roughly two hours per day on the Internet, and almost half of that time is spent on entertainment. Teens don't need the Internet to interact with their friends -- they see them all the time, and if they're not with them, they're texting them. If you want to reach teens online, you have to find a way to bridge their online and offline experiences.

Myth #7: Teens don't watch TV
Teens watch over 100 hours of television per month -- most of which is not viewed on TiVo, Hulu or Netflix. They may be texting or playing games while they watch TV, but they're definitely still watching it.

Myth #8: Teen word-of-mouth happens online
Teens do not spend most of their online time communicating with their friends. In fact, over 80% of teen word-of-mouth happens offline. If you want to tap into teen word-of-mouth, find a reason for them to talk about your brand offline.

Myth #9: Teens love online video
Teens use the Internet for entertainment, and online video is an important component of that. Branded video can be a great way to engage with teens as long as it doesn't come off as one long commercial. Teens aren't going to be tricked into thinking that your "viral video" is anything more than an advertisement.

David Trahan is a strategist at social marketing agency Mr Youth in New York, which was named one of the Top 10 Most Innovative Marketing Companies in the World by "Fast Company" magazine.

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Optimizing for Mobile

Last month I bought my first smart phone. A Droid, since my cellphone provider is Verizon.

A couple years ago, a friend of mine was telling me about optimizing websites for mobile viewing, and now I get it. Even though my phone will not replace my laptop the way my laptop replaced my desktop computer, I see the benefit of "apps" for smart phones.

Check this out: Talking Isn't All That Matters to Cellphone Users Survey Also Finds Price/Value Most Important Factor in Choosing Service Plans

Cellphones are necessary tools by which many Americans get information these days, with an increasing number of people looking for phones which offer access to email, the internet, picture-taking and even calendars. New research, conducted by BIGresearch for the National Retail Federation's Mobile Retail Initiative shows an increasing number of people want to be "tuned in" more than ever before.

According to the most recent survey of 9,578 adults used in this analysis, nearly nine out of 10 adults (87.5%) say they have a cellphone, an increase of 17.9 percent from January 2006 (74.2%).

With e-commerce now expanding to m-commerce, many people want the luxury of being able to shop or browse company's websites from their phone. The survey found 41.5 percent of adults want a cellphone with Internet access, compared to just under one-third (32.6%) who said so in July 2008. More than half (51.4%) of adults 18-34 years old say they want to be able to surf the web on their phone, compared to the 41.0% who said so in July 2008.

"Americans expect more from their phones than the ability to talk to family and friends," said NRF President and CEO Matt Shay. "Aside from sending pictures and sharing stories and experiences over social networking sites, consumers want to be able to connect with their favorite retailers in a way they never have been able to before -- instantaneously. The emergence of m-commerce has created a paradigm shift that has the retail industry very excited."

When it comes to other cellphone features or attributes, adults say email access has also increased in importance over the years. Over half (51.1%) of 18-34 year-olds say they want a cellphone with email access, up from 28.1 percent in January 2006. But young adults aren't the only ones who favor email access: according to the survey, 42.6% of all adults want email on their phone, up significantly from 22.5 percent four years ago.

Survey respondents also said that phones with cameras (59.0%), calendars (42.7%) and text messaging (55.6%) are important attributes. When it comes to why consumers switch cellphone service providers, four out of 10 (41.3%) adults say pricing/value is their top reason, with other important factors including coverage (31.6%) and plan options (22.1%). These factors remained consistent in every age group except cellphone users 55 and older, who listed their priorities as: pricing/value (41.3%), coverage (28.9%) and customer service (17.9%).

"The combination of new technologies coupled with consumers' desire to adopt these new apps are redefining the cellphone into a 'consumer communicator'," said Phil Rist, Executive Vice President of Strategy, BIGresearch. "Marketers and retailers should leverage shoppers' needs to stay connected by providing information and communications to assist them with their purchase decisions."

(Source: National Retail Federation, 06/17/10)

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Remember the "Paperless Society"?

This is for my friends that think that we will eliminate old stuff and replace it with new stuff.

At my radio station, we use more paper now than we did 20 years ago because it is so easy to print from a computer instead of typing everything in a typewriter.

MarketingProfs sent this to my email recently:

The Next Big Thing Is Already Here

"In the technology industry," writes Morgan Stewart in an article at MarketingProfs, "we are constantly focused on the next big thing." And there's often an assumption that whatever comes next will wipe out whatever came before. Do you remember, for instance, when computers were going to make paper obsolete? Or when it was just a matter of time before online shopping killed catalogs and malls?

But there's a catch to predicting this type of "inevitable" outcome: It hardly ever happens.

"We are witnessing the same thing when it comes to the digital marketing trifecta of social media, mobile and email," Stewart continues. "Instead of cannibalizing one another, these three technologies are fueling each other." In other words, social media and mobile messaging aren't about to kill email, they're gonna feed it.

Stewart offers these reasons why email is here to stay:

• Email has become a viable alternative to texting, thanks to smartphones. "Mobile email is appealing because it untethers [younger groups like college students] from a computer," Stewart says. "Moreover, there is the perception that email is cheaper since it comes 'free' with mobile data plans, while there are additional fees for text messaging."
• Email remains a favored method of communication. Whether sending statements as part of a paperless billing program or promoting a special offer, businesses like to use email—and so do their customers. "When asked which channel consumers prefer to receive direct marketing communications, the overwhelming majority wants email," he reports.

As we mentioned last time, it's time to find new ways to combine all your communications channels—including email—to better serve customers who want channel choice.

The Po!nt: Don't subtract channels, multiply them! New technologies might modify how and when email is used—but they're not killing it off. In fact, they're enhancing it. Find creative ways to make this new reality work for you.

Source: MarketingProfs. Click to read the article.

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Twitter Marketing

Last night I attended our local Addy Awards and I know there were at least 3 folks that were there that use Twitter. However as I checked today, none of them twittered during the event. Maybe they are used to using computers and not phones for sending tweets.

My phone, is just that. A cellphone. Okay I also use it as a camera but that's about it. Texting from my phone? Maybe 10 a month or less.

What makes this significant is the power of twitter and marketing. Unfortuneatley there is a gap, it appears in the advertising agency world when it comes to using some of the easy (and free) technology services. This seems to stem from old media thinking and practices that will leave some in that business in the dust.

If you want to get on board, I have an article from Content Marketing to help you start. In the meantime, I will be getting a new phone later this year that will enable me to tweet when I don't have my laptop handy.

Twitter for Business Made Easy

Posted: 27 Feb 2009 07:34 AM PST

Great MindMap from the Mindjet Folks Simplifies Twitter and Proves Power of Mindmapping

On the most basic level, it’s easy to explain Twitter in a few bullet points:

• Twitter is a micro-blogging service that you can use from anywhere you can get an Internet connection.
• You sign up and give yourself an identity that lives on Twitter, such as mine–Twitter.com/newtbarrett.
• You can then post 140 character text messages which may include hyperlinks.
• You can choose to follow fellow members whose ‘ tweets ‘ will show up automatically on your Twitter page.
• Other members can choose to follow you to see what you have to say.
• The heavy hitters on Twitter may have thousands of followers and may post dozens of tweets per day.
• Every Twitter member can pass on or ‘ retweet’ other messages so that the reach of what you have to say is potentially huge and global.
• All of this happens in real time

At this point, you may be thinking, “Okay, I understand that, but what’s the point? Why would I want to do any of that stuff? That’s where this great mindmap created by Mindjet’s Michael Deutch comes into play. It illustrates why you need to care about Twitter for your business–and how to get smart about using it.

First, take a walk through the expanded MindMap to understand more about how Twitter works, 20 business uses, best practices, worst practices, resource sites with links, and more. A few minutes spent with the MindMap delivers a crash course in all business things Twitter.

Click here to download the PDF version of the MindMap

Click here to view a fully interactive version of the MindMap on the Mindjet eNewsletter page.

Second, take a look at the Whole Foods Twitter page to get a flavor (sorry!) of how a major corporation uses this tool to engage its customers and fans. An image captured at 10:23 am EST, 2/27/09 is below.

If you haven’t taken the time to understand how to put Twitter to work for your organization, now is the time. In my opinion, it’s the real deal.

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My Prediction is Coming True

First, the Prediction.

On the Junta 42 Blog, I predicted,

Name: Scott Howard, ScLoHo
Prediction: In 2009 the smart brand marketers will reach out via text offers and Twitter offers to the college aged crowd, money saving offers that they can use repeatedly to build brand preferences for the future.

Several bloggers picked this as one of the top 10 from the list.

Now comes the news that Pepsi is following my prediction as we roll into the new year. The story is from the New York Post. Read the last line in the story!

PEPSI'S CAFFEINE BUZZ

By HOLLY M. SANDERS

December 28, 2008 --

Pepsi wants to be the choice of a new generation - again.

Hoping to revive sales of its flagship soda and recapture its youthful vibe, the cola company is ringing in the New Year with one of its most ambitious ad efforts in more than a decade.

Pepsi is zeroing on "millennials" - those born between 1980 and 1990 - in much the same way it took aim at Baby Boomers with the "Pepsi Generation" campaign.

"It's a complete relaunch of the brand," said Ralph Santana, Pepsi's vice president of colas. "We're trying to get out of the old model of marketing."

For years, Pepsi had a marketing edge over rival Coke, but more recently the company has watched soft-drink sales slide. Despite the down economy, Pepsi believes its target demo is an optimistic bunch, and its new "Refresh" campaign reflects that notion.

A new TV spot, which will debut tonight in primetime, is the first for the flagship brand since Pepsi dropped Omnicom's BBDO - the agency that created the "Pepsi Generation" - after 50 years and switched to sibling firm TBWA. The ad, dubbed "Wordplay," uses Pepsi's redesigned logo to spell out upbeat words.

The campaign will carry over into Times Square, where the company is taking over eight huge signs as part of nationwide outdoor advertising campaign. Pepsi hopes to build momentum for the campaign by partnering with MTV for its New Year's Eve coverage.

Pepsi also is incorporating text messaging with interactive billboards to connect with tech-savvy consumers.

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Is this Bad Taste?

Or just a sign of the times? From Brandweek:

BabyCenter.com Dials Up Booty Caller

The new set of mobile fertility alerts, dubbed Booty Caller, are free to BabyCenter users who fill out some basic information on their menstrual cycles

Dec 9, 2008

-By Mike Shields

Women in procreation mode can now sign up for a new series of text message alerts from BabyCenter.com reminding them just when the most opportune times are each month to attempt to get pregnant.

The new set of mobile fertility alerts, dubbed Booty Caller, are free to BabyCenter users who fill out some basic information on their menstrual cycles. BabyCenter then will deliver a total of 18 text messages (three per menstrual cycle), which provide women with information on just where things stand fertility-wise at that particular moment. For example, a message might read “Your fertile window opens today and lasts 5 more days.” BabyCenter will use Booty Caller to drive users to its mobile site for more information.

A Spanish language version of Booty Caller, Mama Cita, is also available. In deciding to launch the text-message-based product, BabyCenter, which is owned by Johnson & Johnson, cited research from Nielsen Online’s @plan which found that 1.9 million moms have to subscribed to or received some sort of mobile alerts in the past month.

The company has signed on pregnancy/ovulation test company First Response as Booty Caller’s initial sponsor.

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Ignorance or Ignoramus?

Over at Labov & Beyond's Idea Factory Blog, they wrote about the tech troubles with the new Blackberry Storm and Verizon that I've seen a lot of ads for recently.

Apple's I-phone had problems when it was launched too, but at least they addressed problems instead of hiding.

What happens if you pretend a problem doesn’t exist?

“So far, RIM has not commented on the problems of its first all-touchscreen BlackBerry, considered a strong competitor to Apple’s touchscreen iPhone. Verizon Wireless, the exclusive carrier of the device in the United States, has said little, except how well sales have gone. The company, like most, doesn’t publicly share sales figures.”

Which is funny, because before the Storm was launched we could not escape its omnipresent marketing campaign. Now that things seem to have not gone as planned in its first few weeks in the marketplace, however, everyone’s clamming up. And, as we all should know, what happens when you leave a void where your information and reassurances should be? That void is filled with negativity and online mob rule. And your supposed iPhone killer becomes dead on arrival.

Avoid the void, people. Avoid the void.

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Texting

Last weekend, I noticed a teen sitting in front of me in church was texting. He's not the only one that is "hooked on texting". Click on the charts to make them BIGGER. This is from MarketingCharts.com:

Texters Young, Culturally Diverse, Online Spenders

Adults in the US who use the text-messaging feature on their cell phone are 49% more likely than the average American to be between age 18-24, 14% more likely to be Hispanic and 24% more likely to be African American, according to (pdf) a survey from Scarborough Research.

The study also found that El Paso, Texas is the top US city for text messaging, with 57% of all adult cell-phone subscribers (age 18+) there reporting they use the text-messaging feature on their cell phone, compared with 48% of adult subscribers nationally.

Other leading markets for text messaging include Salt Lake City, Dallas and Memphis, Tenn., where 55% percent of cell subscribers use text-messaging.

Fort Myers, Fla., Charleston, W.Va., and Grand Rapids, Mich. are the local markets least likely to text message. Only 36% percent of Fort Meyers and Charleston cellular subscribers text, as do 35% of those in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Texter Demographics:

Scarborough points to the youthful, multi-cultural texting demographics as a likely reason why El Paso, Salt Lake City, Dallas and Memphis are the top text messaging markets. El Paso and Dallas both have Hispanic compositions that are well above average. Further, Salt Lake City and El Paso are top markets for 18-24 year old adults, and Memphis is a leading city for African-Americans.

Other key characteristics of texters:

• They are among the country’s highest spenders on cellular services. On average, they spend $87 on their monthly cellular bill. In contrast, all cellular subscribers spend an average of $75 monthly.
• They are 46% more likely than all cellular subscribers to typically spend $150 or more on cellular service monthly and are 12% more likely to plan to switch services.
• They use a wide variety of phone features - such as picture messaging, streaming video and email -at a rate higher than that of the average cell user.
• They are avid technology shoppers and are more likely than the average cell-phone subscriber to live in a household that owns - or plans to buy - a wide variety of hi-tech items, from HDTVs to MP3 players to video game systems.
• They most often shop at Best Buy for audio-video purchases: 39% of Texters live in a household that shopped this retailer during the past year vs. 27% of all consumers nationally.
• Other leading stores for Texter households include Wal-Mart and Target. 35% of Texters live in a household that shopped Wal-Mart for tech items during the past year, while 20% shopped Target.
• They are leading online spenders. One-fifth (20%) of Texters spend more than $1,000 online annually, vs, 17% of all cellular users.
• Internet applications permeate all aspects of their lives, from household tasks (such as bill paying) to entertainment (such as downloading movies or TV programs) to interaction (such as blogging and downloading a wide variety of content).
• Texters are active, on-the-go consumers. They are 37% more likely than all cellular subscribers to have played basketball (as a leisure activity) during the past year; 29% more likely to have gone jogging/running; 29% more likely to have played tennis, and 23% more likely to have practiced yoga.
• Texters are 12% more likely to have attended a professional sports event, and 57% more likely to have gone to an R&B, rap or hip-hop concert during the past year.

“Text messaging could be largely disproportionately appealing to marketers because it delivers a young, multicultural audience,” said Gary Meo, SVP, digital media services, Scarborough Research. “Additionally, texts can provide a very locally targeted vehicle for marketers wanting to reach people in the right place at the right time, ready to make a purchase. Texting is becoming a ubiquitous cell phone function.”

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Cell Phones are like Oxygen

At least for today's teens. Click on the charts to make them Bigger:

Cell Phones Key to Teens’ Social Lives, 47% Can Text with Eyes Closed

Nearly half (47%) of US teens say their social life would end or be worsened without their cell phone, and nearly six in 10 (57%) credit their mobile device with improving their life, according to a national survey from CTIA and Harris Interactive.

Four out of five teens (17 million) carry a wireless device (a 40% increase since 2004), finds the study titled “Teenagers: A Generation Unplugged,” which probes how the growing teen wireless segment is using wireless products and how they want to use them in the future.

Impact on Teen Life

• A majority (57%) of teens view their cell phone as the key to their social life.
• Second only to clothing, teens say, a person’s cell phone tells the most about their social status or popularity, outranking jewelry, watches and shoes.

Providing Entertainment and Security

• More than half of the respondents (52%) agree that the cell phone has become a new form of entertainment.
• One-third of teens play games on their phone.
• 80% say their cell phone provides a sense of security while on the go, confirming that the cell phone has become their mobile safety net when needing a ride (79%), getting important information (51%), or just helping out someone in trouble (35%).
• Teens carry cell phones to have access to friends, family and current events.
• Though only one in five (18%) teens care to pinpoint the location of their family and friends via their cell phone, 36% hate the idea of a cell phone feature that allows others to know their exact location.

Texting Replacing Talking

The study also confirmed that texting is replacing talking among teens. Teens admitted spending nearly an equal amount of time talking as they do texting each month. The feature is so important to them that if texting were no longer an option 47% of teens say their social life would end or be worsened - that’s especially so among females (54% vs. 40%).

Teens say texting has advantages over talking because it offers more options, including multitasking, speed, the option to avoid verbal communication, and because it is fun - in that order, according to the study.

With more than 1 billion text messages sent each day, it is no surprise that 42% of teens say they can text blindfolded, the study found.

“Teens have created a new form of communication. We call it texting, but in essence it is a reflection of how teens want to communicate to match their lifestyles. It is all about multitasking, speed, privacy and control,” said Joseph Porus, VP & chief architect, Technology Group, Harris Interactive. “Teens in this study are crying for personalization and control of exactly what a wireless device or plan can do for them.”

Devices of the Future

The survey asked teens what future changes they’d like to see in wireless services and devices and found that respondents want cell phones that break boundaries and are personalized to fit their lifestyles.

Teens remain excited and openminded about the wireless possibilities and their ideal future mobile devices would feature five applications - phone, MP3 player, GPS, laptop computer and video player, according to Harris.

Also on teens’ wish lists are phones that…

• Guarantee secured data access to the user only (80%)
• Provide accessibility to personal health records (66%)
• Present opportunities to be educated anywhere in the world (66%)
• Bring users closer to global issues impacting teens’ world (63%)
• Are shockproof and waterproof (81%)
• Have endless power (80%)
• Feature a privacy screen (58%)
• Are made of flexible material and fold into different shapes and sizes (39%)
• Have artificial intelligence - ask it questions and it gives answers (38%)

“In the future, mobility for teens means mobile banking, mobile voting, location based services, personal entertainment - the sky is the limit for how mobile our lifestyles can be,” said Steve Largent, president and CEO, CTIA - The Wireless Association. “We’ve certainly come a long way in 25 years and expect teens to be a growth driver for the industry and have a major impact on the wireless landscape for years to come.”

About the study: The study was conducted online in July 2008 among a nationally representative sample of 2,089 teenagers (age 13-19) across the US who have cell phones. More than 100 questions were asked on mobile phone usage, attitudes, behaviors, and teens’ desires and aspirations for the future of mobile communications, entertainment, and other features.

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Teen Habits

Take a look at this research:

Teens Learn From Advertising on Social Sites

OTX, releasing new results from its Teen Topix study, the complex lives of the 13 -17 year old set, found that teens are spending an average of 11.5 hours online, doing everything from instant messaging and visiting social networking sites to shopping and listening to music, but dispels myths that this group wants to do everything online.

Jane Buckingham, President, The Intelligence Group, concludes that "Teens are not a ‘one size fits all' market and the... report show this group to be complex, sophisticated consumers and media users... "

Given the choice, though, teens prefer real friends to online friends, date someone from school over someone from the Internet, and shop in a store to shop online,

Ranking Paired Preferences (Teens aged 13-17)
Would you rather...	% or respondents	OR...	% of respondents
Have a lot of "real friends"	91%	Have a lot of "online friends"	9%
Date someone you know from school	87%	Date someone you meet on the Internet	13%
Shop in a store	82%	Shop online	18%
Watch a full length program on TV	81%	Watch a full length program online	19%
No television for a week	74%	No Internet for a week	26%
Get information from the Internet	71%	Get information from traditional media like TV, magazines, or newspapers	29%
Give up cell phone texting	71%	Give up Internet access	29%
Get your locker vandalized	63%	Get your personal homepage of profile vandalized	37%
Be limited to a TV antenna for watching TV	63%	Be limited to a dial up connection to access the Internet	37%
IM your friend	54%	Call your friend	46%
Source: OTX, June 2008

The study did find that 24% of teens are spending more than 15 hours a week online and when all teens were asked how frequently they do typical online activities, instant messaging came up as the most frequent activity, followed by visiting social networking sites, email, searching, and visiting virtual community sites.

• 45% spent from 1 to less than 8 hours on line during a typical week
• 31% from 8 to less than 15
• 24% 15 hours and over

Bruce Friend, President Media and Entertainment Insights for OTX, said "Many of (their) online activities take place simultaneously... our Longitudinal Media Experience (LMX) study confirms that teenagers are often heavy simultaneous media users."

The study also says that 58% of teens have made a purchase online. On average teens who make purchases online are spending $46 per month, and 26% of teens are spending $50 or more. Clothes and music are the two most popular online purchases, followed by books, electronics and DVDs.

The bedroom (36%) and living room (24%) are the places teens are most likely to have their primary computer. Teens with their primary computer in their bedrooms are more likely to be heavy internet users (15+ hours per week) and spend money online.

Products Personally Purchased Online (Among teens who have purchased online)
	% of Respondents (multiple response OK)
Clothing, Shoes & Accessories	46%
Music	41%
Books	30%
Electronics	27%
DVDs	20%
Source: OTX, June 2008

78% of teens are concerned about computer viruses while online, followed by:

• Identity theft (67%)
• Unauthorized access to personal information (65%)
• Scams (60%)
• Spam (60%)

The average teen has signed up for over four social networking sites and currently belongs to two, reports the study. Teens are receptive to advertising on these sites, where the majority of teens learn about:

• Financial services (63%)
• Movies in theaters (59%)
• Mobile services and accessories (58%)
• Travel (57%)
• Other websites (53%)

For more information please visit OTX here.

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Media Consumption Survey

A very interesting study was released last week:
Minorities Dominate Use of New Media

According to BIGresearch's most recent Simultaneous Media Survey, African Americans, Hispanics, Asians and Whites not only use traditional media differently, their adoption of new media is also quite unique. When it comes to traditional media, types of TV shows watched as well as radio formats listened to most often differ by consumer group.

Although movies are the most watched type of TV show among all categories, according to the study:

• 66% of African Americans are most likely to watch them regularly
• 63.6% of Hispanics watch them regularly
• 52.5% of Asians watch them regularly
• 51.4% of Whites watch them regularly

Dramas and police/detective shows round out the top three for types of shows watched most often except for Asians, who would rather catch a sporting event or a cartoon.

There are more differences for radio formats listened to most often:

Top 3 Radio Formats
Hispanics	African American/Blacks	Asians	White/Caucasians
Rock	R&B	Rock	Rock
Latin/Hispanic	Hip-Hop	Top 40/Pop	Oldies
Hip-Hop	Religious	News	Country
Source: BIGresearch SIMM 11, May 2008

Although cell phones are the form of new media used most for all segments, with 57% of Hispanics, 53% of African Americans, 53.9% of Asians and 49.4% of Whites regularly using, the similarities stop there.

According to the analysis, minorities have a higher regular usage of new media than Whites across all media types. They are more likely to use iPods, text on cell phones, play video games, use video/picture phones, instant messaging online and watch videos on cell phones.

Top 3 New Media (Regular Usage)
Hispanics	African American/Blacks	Asians	White/Caucasians
Cell Phone	Cell Phone	Cell Phone	Cell Phone
IPOD/MP3 Player	Text Messaging	Instant Messaging	Tivo/Replay TV/DVR
Text Messaging	Video Gaming	IPOD/MP3 Player	Video Gaming
Source: BIGresearch SIMM 11, May 2008

Gary Drenik, President of BIGresearch, said "... Minorities are using new media in higher percentages, providing... unique opportunities to create specific marketing plans that integrate non-traditional media options into their digital ad strategy."

Differences among the various ethnic groups are apparent in how they use the Internet for fun and entertainment. Shopping tops the list for African Americans (40%), Asians (43.7%) and Whites (43.1%); whereas Hispanics would slightly rather check out movie news (42.7%).

Top 3 Online Activities for Fun & Entertainment
Hispanics	African American/Blacks	Asians	White/Caucasians
Movie News	Shopping	Shopping	Shopping
Shopping	Movie News	Movie News	Weather
Video Games	TV News	IM/Chat	View Photos
Source: BIGresearch SIMM 11, May 2008?

The BIGresearch Simultaneous Media Survey data is used by marketers to develop consumer-centric marketing plans to help increase ROI.

For more about BIGresearch, please visit here, or to obtain the complete lists of Activities, go here.

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Re-defining Branding

What you are about to see is a slide show that you can click through to see how media, marketing, advertising and branding are changing right before our eyes.

Remember no matter what changes with technology, each of us still have the same 24 hours a day that our grandparents had. Yet the speed of technology and how it is affecting the younger generations, (compared to say, the over 55 year olds?), is hard to keep up with.

Is it any wonder that A.D.D. and other disorders are more common today compared to 50 years ago?

Even my kids that are in their teens and early 20's have placed self-imposed limits on how much tech they are going to use in their daily lives.

The real revolution is that there are more and more choices for getting information, entertainment, social interaction, and each of these options are also more and more interactive which levels the playing field. It also means that each option will likely have a smaller number of users/readers/listeners/viewers, simply because of time limiting factors and the explosion of options.

Well, enough from me, here's the slide show I promised, from David Armano. Click here to go to his site for more goodies:

| View | Upload your own

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Anyone can have a voice

In this social media world we have the mobile web which you can view on your I-phone; we have MySpace; FaceBook; RSS Feeds; Twitter; and the list will continue to grow.

The fact is, newspapers and bloated traditional news outlets are going to suffer declines in viewers/listeners/readers simply because there are other ways to get information and entertainment. You can have a voice on the internet, and be equal to the 15 year news reporter in readership on the internet.

I prefer the Blog world which often allows two way comunication between the author and the readers. It's also easy to link to other sites and build some virtual networking along with local networking.

I recently wrote about the local blogging scene, click here to see how you can connect with other local bloggers.

Research was done on who are these bloggers? Who are these people who are compelled to share their voices with the world? Here's the stats:

Friday, April 18, 2008

What's A Blogger?

Bloggers are younger and higher percentages are Hispanic & African American than the general population. A higher percentage of Democrats than of Republicans are blogging.

Now that Blogging might better be called a market segment rather than a market niche, it's useful with regard to positioning the marketing message to understand what a Blogger looks like, as distinguished from the rest of the population. According to the BIGresearch Simultaneous Media Survey, 26% of all adults say they regularly or occasionally blog. Of those:

• 53.7% are male
• 44.7% are married
• 28.4% hold a professional or managerial position
• 10.4% are students.

Bloggers tend to be younger, averaging 37.6 years old, compared to 44.8 for adults 18+ (the "general population"). Ethnically:

• 69.7% of Bloggers are White/Caucasian (vs. 76.1%)
• 12.2% are African American/Black (vs. 11.4%)
• 3.7% are Asian (vs. 2.0%)
• 20% of Bloggers are Hispanic, compared to 14.8% of adults 18+

In addition, Bloggers report a lower income ($55,819 vs. $56,811) and are better educated (14.3 years of education vs. 14.2).

Political blogs are becoming increasingly common, especially in this election year, where 24.6% of registered voters say they regularly or occasionally blog. Political affiliation of regular/occasional Bloggers look like this in 2008:

• 37.6% of Libertarians regularly/occasionally blog
• 26.9% of Democrats
• 25.7% of Independents
• 22.9% Republicans

Analysis of Bloggers shows that they are using most forms of new media significantly more than the average market.

Regular/Occasional New Media Usage (Top 5)
	% of Regular/Occasional Bloggers	% of Adults 18+
Cell Phone	93.0%	87.5%
Instant Messaging	75.3%	49.3%
Download/Access Video/TV Content	72.2%	45.0%
Video Gaming	66.9%	47.5%
Text Messaging	65.5%	45.2%
Source: BIGresearch, January 2008, N=15,727

Although Bloggers are more likely to use new media, the analysis finds that more conventional forms of media trigger their Internet searches. Magazines, at 51.6%, rank highest, followed by:

• 48.8% reading an article
• 46.1% broadcast TV
• 44.5% cable TV
• 42.5% face-to-face communication
• 39.7% newspaper

Gary Drenik, President of BIGresearch, concludes "Bloggers are a diverse group and not who you would expect..."

For more information, please visit BIGresearch here.

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Teen Age Favs

I'm not sure why it has taken so long for the results of this study which was conducted in October and November 2007, to be released, but the survey is worth examining.

This is straight from my email inbox from Brandweek:

Teens Name Coke, McD's As Faves in New Study

April 06, 2008 By Kenneth Hein and Eric Newman

Old school brands still rule among teens, according to a new survey from virtual online community Habbo.

From Coca-Cola to CoverGirl, many of the favorite brands of today are the same as yesterday. More than 7,700 U.S. teenagers (ages 11-18) were asked to reveal their favorite brands in an online poll conducted last October and November. The study was organized among teens participating in Habbo.

Other veteran brands, like McDonald's, Nike, MTV and Seventeen, also were tops. "These preferences definitely show that investing in brands still matters," said Anastasia Goodstein, founder of Ypulse.com, San Francisco.

"Does this mean teens aren't spending lots of time with other lesser-known brands, especially when it comes to media and technology? No. It just means that these brands have succeeded in branding by being the ones teens think of first and foremost when asked." The pervasiveness of these brands helps place them top of mind, according to experts.

"When you consider Nike's market share, at 40%, versus a player like Converse at 3% to 4%, it stands to reason why their presence among teens would be so high," said John Shanley, a senior analyst with Susquehanna Financial Group, New York. Still, the fact that Nike has taken a page out of Vans' book, "with substantial quantities of lifestyle footwear in their product lineups," has helped Nike stay on top, Shanley said. Vans placed second in the poll.

McDonald's also benefits from its size, said Richard Adams, president of Franchise Equity Group, San Diego. "It's about convenience." Even though Burger King's ads may resonate with teens, "if they aren't available, there is a McDonald's on every street corner," said Adams. "That kind of dominance gives a lot of presence in the marketplace." Analysts have also pointed to the Snack Wrap and other new items as being spot on with the wants of the younger consumer. BK was No. 2.

For Coke this could be a sign of good things to come, said Bill Sipper, senior partner at Cascadia Consulting, a food and beverage consultancy based in Ramsey, N.J. "Teens are into energy drinks, sports drinks and water, but lets face it, people are drinking billions of liters of Coke. Maybe this is a good opportunity for them to reconnect with this consumer."

Some new brands also made the cut. Hollister secured the top spot in the clothing category. "It is no secret it is a more accessible version of Abercrombie & Fitch," said Marshal Cohen, analyst for the NPD Group, Port Washington, N.Y. "Hollister is the new Americana for the young and 'wannabe' young." Hollister sales increased 11% to $531 million for the most recent quarter, per its parent company, Abercrombie, which placed No. 2. Hollister is expected to open 67 new stores for 2008.

Instant messaging and e-mail tied as the top forms of Internet usage. Listening to music and gaming were teens' favorite pastimes and rap/hip hop was their favorite music genre. Casual gaming has spread in popularity with Runescape tapped as the favorite game. Addicting Games ranking only behind MySpace and YouTube as the most popular Web site.

khein@brandweek.com

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New Media integration with Traditional Media

Traditional Media is going to recognize that there are new media options for consumers that will either replace or supplement traditional media.

What determines if traditional media is replaced or simply supplemented, is not the consumers, but how traditional media adapts to the new technology that is fueling new media. Cable TV used to be new media, but now they are traditional media. When Cable TV started pumping dozens of extra channels, (and then later hundreds of channels), into consumers homes, traditional broadcast television had to make adjustments. When Radio markets swelled from 10 to 30 or more local stations, adjustments had to be made.

These adjustments that are coming will most likely result in staff reductions as automation grows, but staff expansion as we add new media options to the traditional media platforms.

Take a look at this recent study:

Monday, March 10, 2008

New Media An Important Place To Be Seen

The most recent BIGresearch Simultaneous Media Survey shows that, while traditional media still rank on top in the influence of purchases, many are declining in influence and some are showing double digit losses over the previous year. At the same time, says the study, many new media options are showing double digit growth. For example, when compared to a year ago, Instant Messaging and Blogging experienced double digit growth for purchase influence of electronics while Broadcast TV and Cable showed a double digit decline.

Not only is influence of new media growing, it is much more influential among minority groups, says the report. Influence of new media is higher for Hispanics and African Americans across all new media forms compared to all adults. Alternatively, influence of new media for Caucasians is lower than the general market for all types.

Percent of Media Influence on Electronics and Year over Year Growth
	All Adults 18+	Yr/Yr Growth	Hispanics 18+	African Americans 18+	Caucasians 18+
New Media
Instant Messaging (Computer)	7.5%	22.0%	11.3%	14.1%	5.1%
Blogging	6.1%	21.5%	9.2%	7.8%	4.8%
Web Radio	6.2%	14.4%	9.2%	11.2%	4.2%
Email Advertising	21.5%	9.2%	24.7%	24.4%	20.3%
Internet Advertising	22.4%	-1.4%	25.8%	26.4%	20.6%
Satellite Radio	8.4%	-6.9%	9.9%	13.2%	6.7%
Video on Cell Phone	6.9%	-10.6%	8.6%	14.6%	4.4%
Traditional Media
Product Placement	13.9%	10.2%	19.2%	16.7%	12.2%
Direct Mail	22.5%	4.6%	30.0%	29.7%	19.9%
Coupons	23.1%	1.6%	25.5%	23.4%	21.9%
Yellow Pages	7.9%	1.5%	8.8%	10.5%	6.9%
Radio	19.7%	0.8%	26.1%	30.3%	15.7%
Read Article on Product	34.3%	0.6%	30.8%	28.4%	36.7%
Instore Promotion	27.4%	0.5%	28.8%	28.6%	26.9%
Word of Mouth	42.6%	0.0%	42.0%	38.3%	44.1%
Outdoor Billboards	6.7%	-0.9%	10.4%	10.9%	4.8%
Newspaper	21.8%	-1.2%	22.1%	24.8%	21.1%
Magazines	24.7%	-3.7%	28.8%	25.8%	23.6%
Newspaper Inserts	30.5%	-4.5%	28.0%	27.0%	32.1%
TV/Broadcast	27.9%	-13.9%	31.3%	32.7%	26.6%
Cable	18.9%	-14.4%	22.8%	23.1%	17.5%
Source: BIGresearch, February 2008

Gary Drenik, President of BIGresearch, concludes that "It's no longer enough for marketers to advertise only a slogan... (they) need to better understand the changing dynamics of the consumer media market and develop new marketing plans that integrate new media to replace the erosion of traditional media for influence to purchase... "

Please visit BIGresearch here for more detail.

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Internet Number Crunching

Beware, they have been keeping track of your instant message content!

The following came in my email this week:


Hot Topics in the NFL plus Top Web Brands, Blogs and Advertisers for 2007In anticipation of the Super Bowl, Nielsen Online provides the Top 10 Most-Discussed NFL Teams in 2007, ranked according to online messages.

Nielsen Online also provides the top U.S. online Parent companies, Web brands and online advertisers for December 2007, along with December Web traffic for popular blogs and social networking sites.

Top 10 Most-Discussed NFL Teams in 2007
Team	Top Discussion Drivers of 2007
New England Patriots	Spying scandal, undefeated regular season
Dallas Cowboys	NFL Network coverage of Dallas Cowboys vs.Green Bay Packers game on 11/29/2007, Terrell Owens blaming QB Tony Romo's girlfriend Jessica Simpson for loss
Chicago Bears	Defeated in Super Bowl XLI by the Indianapolis Colts
Miami Dolphins	1-15 record in 2007, played in Wembley Stadium in the UK on 10/28/2007
Indianapolis Colts	Champions of Super Bowl XLI, lost to the New England Patriots in Week 9
Washington Redskins	Murder of player Sean Taylor
Green Bay Packers	NFL Network coverage of Dallas Cowboys vs. Green Bay Packers game on 11/29/2007
Pittsburgh Steelers	Player Anthony Smith guarantees a win against |the New England Patriots
Atlanta Falcons	Michael Vick's legal problems with dog fighting, coach Bobby Petrino leaving
Cleveland Brown	A surprisingly successful season for the Browns
Source: Nielsen Online

Rank determined by total number of online messages for each NFL team occurring between January 1 and December 31, 2007. Nielsen Online Top 10 Web Sites by Parent Company and Top 10 Web Sites by Brand, December 2007

50.5 million home and work Internet users visited at least one of the Wikimedia Foundation-owned sites or launched a Wikimedia Foundation-owned application during the month, and each person spent, on average, a total of 15 minutes and 39 seconds at one or more of their sites or applications.

Online Viewers of Parent Companies, December 2007 (US, Home and Work)
Parent	Unique Audience (000)	Time Per Person (hh:mm:ss)
Google	124,631	1:38:56
Microsoft	123,208	2:08:22
Yahoo!	114,148	3:05:35
Time Warner	106,277	3:45:47
News Corp. Online	76,325	2:01:46
eBay	67,443	1:59:03
Amazon	65,438	0:35:57
InterActiveCorp	64,141	0:23:56
Apple Computer	50,686	1:15:10
Wikimedia Foundation	50,474	0:15:39
Source: Nielsen Online

A parent company is defined as a consolidation of multiple domains and URLs owned by a single entity.

Top 10 Web Brands, December 2007 (US, Home and Work)
Brand	Unique Audience(000)	Time Per Person (hh:mm:ss)
Google	117,719	1:10:43
Yahoo!	113,203	3:05:43
Microsoft	98,338	0:48:37
MSN/Windows Live	96,448	1:52:41
AOL Media Network	90,850	4:03:38
YouTube	68,582	0:48:16
Fox Interactive Media	67,591	2:08:51
Amazon	59,624	0:34:04
eBay	59,374	2:00:50
Apple	50,686	1:15:10
Source: Nielsen Online

A brand is defined as a consolidation of multiple domains and URLs that has a consistent collection of branded content

Top Advertisers, ranked by estimated spending, are based on data from AdRelevance, Nielsen Online's advertising research service. An impression is counted as the number of times an ad is rendered for viewing.

Top 10 Online Advertisers, by Estimated Spending, December 2007 (US)
Advertiser	Total Estimated Spending	Impressions (000)
NexTag, Inc.	$60,955,600	30,080,566
Countrywide Financial Corporation	$38,346,000	18,373,534
Sprint Corporation	$37,340,500	5,467,605
AT&T Corp	$37,239,800	7,730,829
InterActiveCorp	$32,841,100	8,864,357
Experian Group Limited	$29,245,800	11,472,443
Netflix, Inc.	$26,711,600	9,865,749
Low Rate Source	$26,621,200	13,305,005
HSBC Holdings plc	$23,506,600	11,421,441
Ford Motor Company	$21,883,700	3,065,251
Source: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance

Estimated spending reflects CPM-based advertising online. Example: An estimated 3.1 billion Ford Motor Company ads were rendered for viewing at the cost of approximately $21.9 million during the surfing perio

Top 10 Blogs ranked by Unique Audience, December 2007 (US, Home and Work)
Site	Dec-06 Unique Audience (000)	Dec-07 Unique Audience (000)	% Growth
Blogger	24,136	35,780	48%
WordPress.com	4,427	13,380	202%
Six Apart TypePad	9,088	10,192	12%
tmz.com	8,864	9,489	7%
LiveJournal	4,226	3,825	-9%
Engadget	2,163	3,295	52%
Xanga.com	4,363	2,502	-43%
StyleDash	1,501	2,355	57%
Thatsfit	1,462	2,254	54%
Gizmodo	1,318	1,917	45%
Source: Nielsen Online

Top 10 Social Networking Sites ranked by Unique Audience, December 2007 (US, Home and Work)
Site	Dec-06 Unique Audience (000)	Dec-07 Unique Audience (000)	% Growth
Myspace.com	55,256	60,104	9%
Facebook	13,110	22,574	72%
Classmates Online	11,406	10,748	-6%
Windows Live Spaces	8,703	8,856	2%
AOL Hometown	9,032	6,853	-24%
Club Penguin	2,688	6,358	137%
LinkedIn	2,072	4,804	132%
Reunion.com	4,327	4,090	-5%
AOL Community	5,213	4,069	-22%
Flixster	744	3,097	316%
Source: Nielsen Online

Note: Blogs and social networking sites are custom lists compiled by the Nielsen Online PR team with the help of our media analysts. While these lists are not meant to be exhaustive, they should provide a good idea of the significant players in each space.

For more information, please visit Nielsen here.

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