When it comes to decide the strategy of a creative campaign, target research and data are juicy starting points to give creativity the right boost.
Consumer data are especially relevant, after the not so recent alarms on information and advertising overload. In the US, for example, there are about 630,000 TV screens placed in retail stores and their number is poised to grow. The question is: are they really useful?
What’s happening is that given the impossibility to assimilate an excessive array of media options, people tend to go multitasking and this affects how they use traditional media and discriminate among different types of content.
According to the latest report by BIGresearch which conducted a survey on 15,727 American people, the top 3 promotions influencing the purchase of a product are in-store product, samples, shelf coupons and special displays.
New media options tend to increase people’s engagement with other activities, such as reading newspapers, listening to the radio or watching TV. In this respect, key interesting findings are:
- 70% of the people eat while engaging with media, followed by doing housework and laundry, cooking and talking on the phone.
- When reading a newspaper, 30% also watch TV, 17% listen to the radio or go online.
- During a TV commercial, 41.2% of the people surf on other TV channels, 33% talk over the phone or contact people online, 30% think about their own business.
It’s not about being hostile to product information or being overwhelmed by it, though. More likely, it’s about learning to discriminate useful from redundant information. Experienced consumers tend to stick to relevant facts, especially now that budgets are stretched in a slowing economy.
Photo courtesy of jsc*
Every movement has a counter movement. It has been true for political, cultural or sociological movements throughout time. It is normal for it to happen as it is as innate to human nature – we can only see black because white exists. In movements this happens naturally – it’s a natural evolution. And, as in every other aspect of society, this applies to the Internet.
The clash that the engagement on the Internet causes in various factions is noticeable. People who defend the web, who are against it, who are indifferent, and who simply don’t have an opinion. The fact is that the Web has given birth to a whole new level of interaction between users, as it has evolved from a mere channel to the stature of an era changing tool – the engine of digital philosophy (more on this coming in a future article). But, to focus on the main point of the article, one of the most important tools that appeared on the web is the Social Networking Websites. I will not rant into the importance or characteristics of SNW, as each of their aspects deserve an article on their own. I’m going to focus on a more sui generis subject – the counter movements of social networking. Continue reading ‘Social Network Profiling – Another Side, Another Story’
The Internet is vast. I’m not trying to state the obvious, but face it – you will probably never be able to see 50% of all websites and interesting pages that exist online. With an astronomic expanding rate, only comparable to the Universe itself, users are more and more realizing the undeniable truth – lack of time, lack of filter capacity and whole lot of places to go and see on the Net. It’s probably not as long as my neverending posts, but it is definitely more interesting!
This is actually something that has been happening for quite a while – it’s not as new as my introduction would lead you to believe. In fact – it is something that exists ever since the big Internet boom in the 90’s, way back in the Web 1.0 ages. Users don’t have that much time and, in that time, they want to get the most out of their internet time. That was also one of the prefaces to the growing influence of viral marketing, send-a-friend mechanics, the influence of peers in comparison to the brands influence in the purchase decision making process, and the emergence of websites focused on link gathering. That is the main focus of this article – the growing websites and tools that provide the user with interesting links and contents.
When approaching this subject it’s quite easy to get lost or mixed up – since the convergence of utilities in Mobile Hardware is passing on to the Websites, most websites are now Portals, providing not only a core functionality (for example, Myspace is primarily a Social Networking Website) but also a whole paraphernalia of utilities that are a “must” for a surviving website – rich media interaction, comments, information exchanging, feeds, subscription, e-mail accounts, amongst a whole lot of “basic website building starter package” nowadays. But we will focus on the primary function of the Link Gatherers – submission of interesting links, users voting on those links and comments that show how good or bad the reactions are. Pure Web 2.0 tools, they contain strong Social Networking characteristics, but their main focus and importance is not as a SN tools per se. Continue reading ‘The Link Gatherers Phenomenon’
Online audiences nowadays require a study of its own. That’s just how important they have become. No longer are we just limited to targeting the offline targets with the purpose of bringing them online – the online publics are actually developing a persona of their own, emphasizing the user enhanced experience that can categorize them into groups that share a culture and purpose in their surfing experience. Sure, this might be obvious for some, but considering the time that Web 2.0 actually exists and the current amount of interactions that occur in it, it is a very short time for this audience to actually have developed a behavioral pattern of their own.
Where is this most obvious? Well, in my personal opinion, I’d say Social Networking. Sure, it might sound cliché to mention it once more in a post in this blog, but face it – we’re Trendwatchers and there’s nothing trendier than Social Networking nowadays. Brands are developing strategies taking in consideration Social Networking Websites, adjusting their functionalities and presence according to two factors: the nature of the Website itself – such as a personal brand page in Myspace like it was a regular user or adding a Facebook utility to enhance the users’ interaction with the Brand – or the profile of the Social Networking users themselves. Both these factors require an article of its own, so I’ll begin with the most interesting one for me- the profile of this online audience. Continue reading ‘Social Networking Profiling Part 1 – The Consumers’
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