According to a report released Tuesday by Veronis Suhler Stevenson, a media investment firm, U.S. consumers are increasingly shifting their attention away from traditional, advertising-supported media in favor of entertainment such as the Internet, video games and cable TV, which consumers pay for. As a result, the boom in online advertising is expected to continue. In 2010, the overall U.S. online ad spending would reach $54 billion and become the largest advertising category, supplanting the $51.5 billion for print-only newspaper advertising. At the same time, newspapers would more than double their digital advertising revenues.
We are all familiar with the “youspace” “mytube” hype. In this article I will try to explore and gather some other niche social networks that might open fresh opportunities for online advertisers.
At the moment a lot of brands are building their own community sites within their websites in order to keep their consumers “engaged” (had to use the buzz word) and get as much personal information as possible. For example, Saatchi online has built a community for the upcoming artist and art dealers where they can post their work, comment and arrange deals and exhibitions. But there are other emerging social networks that specialize in different areas. For example Trig is the version of Myspace targeting the “cool kids” with topics from the film and music world. Visually looks much nicer than Myspace.
Other special interest sites in the UK, include Zopa which matches people willing to lend money to those needing to borrow it, cutting out the bank. Then there is W.A.Y.N (Where Are You Now) which focuses people who are interested in travel. PPlParty.com and Faceparty.com are the other two fast growing clubbing related sites. Trusted Places is a London based restaurant review site with its own community. And finally, ISporty obviously gathering sports fans in one place.
What is interesting to note is that all these sites started with almost nothing but since the popularity of social networking is growing at incredible rate, investors are finding it worthwhile to invest money in these ventures.
And besides these we mustn’t forget the virtual worlds. Second life has got some competition coming from all around the world. Gaia is the manga looking virtual world for the younger audience. But, that’s another topic on the blog menu.
Now the question is, will these sites manage to steal audience from Facebook and Myspace over time or we will all end up being members of all of them, and basically spend all of our time “networking online”?
Hopefully this won’t happen because I would still like to have someone to go with for a real drink!
Working as a media planner & buyer at DMC London. Originally from Belgrade, Serbia but after four years living in this town she is becoming a proper Londoner. As other writers on this blog, she is an information junky and she is one of those people who can just watch the ads on TV and not even watch the programme. Other than that Kat has true passion for house music!!! If you want to know where to go out in London, just ask her!!! Obviously, Kat likes to be in the know which is why she decided to contribute to this blog, and also because she likes to write (as long as someone is reading). There is too many blogs out there, and she hopes ours is going to be somewhat different and useful to everyone. If you are up for a game of table football, find her because she is always up for it!
I guess you’ve spotted the difference. Yep, in the first one, Mr Über-Hot runs off with a girl, while in the second one, the same guy escapes with… another gentleman. At last, a huge brand that gets pink marketing.Robert Cameron, the brand’s VP-marketing, talked to AdAge about expanding the brand’s creative relationship in reaching the gay community:
At first it made us parse the thought of, what does that say? We’re not spending as much money as we ought to do a dedicated commercial for the gay market. But [then] we thought, if we’re going to do an ad for them, they deserve the same production values. … So doing the same commercial with different endings seemed to us to be a message about absolute equality.
The guy/guy version is aired on Logo, the gay channel of the MTV network, but will roll out on other lifestyle cable networks later in the season. I am amazed that this is apparently only the second time that a brand has the balls to shoot and edit an alternate version of their tv commercial especially for the gay population (Orbitz the travel site, did it already, check here).
The TrendWatch is the collective postings of some of the FullSIX Group’s designers, strategists, and consultants on new media and marketing trends. It is meant to be an impromptu think-tank, and is a way for us to share theories and beliefs about how we think communication and connectivity is evolving.
We work for The FullSIX Group; a leading full service marketing agency with digital DNA. From our 15 international offices with over 600 employees, we constantly embrace and encourage innovation to make integrated marketing and communication campaigns that are more accountable and efficient for our clients.
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