Advertising Anywhere, Anytime
This is not your father's advertising.
The decades-old model of blanketing the airwaves with snazzy, expensive television commercials is coming under unprecedented pressure from the advent of commercial-skipping devices like TiVo and the fragmentation of audiences among new TV channels, video games and the Internet.
THE JOURNAL REPORT
See the full Trends report.So with consumers becoming harder to reach, marketers are increasingly turning to new, nontraditional approaches to hawk their products.
Below is a look at those and other trends reshaping the industry:
1 > MAKING THE CALL
Marketers have found a new way to reach today's always-on-the-go consumers: the now-ubiquitous cellphone.
Companies are making their pitches by sponsoring content or sending text messages directly to individual cellphones. Insurer Allstate Corp., for instance, is sponsoring college football rankings that are being sent to people who subscribe to an ESPN program via their cellphones. Every Monday for eight weeks during the fall, subscribers are sent a text message that reads: "Allstate BSC rankings." College football rankings appear under the headline.
"Over the last six months, this sector has really heated up," says Courtney Acuff, a wireless specialist at Starcom USA, a media buying company owned by France's Publicis Groupe. "It's a must for advertisers to be educated about this space."
2 > YOU'VE GOT (ELABORATE INTERACTIVE) MAIL
You open an email to find a photo of a fictional newspaper. The headline reads: "Another slaying at Datadyne HQ." Below it is a link that sends you to a Web site where a video of an autopsy is running. Suddenly, the camera pans down and you see your name etched onto the toe tag of the body.
The screen then tells you about Perfect Dark Zero, a videogame from Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox. It also allows you to send a similar email to a friend. After you send your friend the link, your phone rings and a recorded message from Joanna Dark, the game's heroine, announces: "The job is done, friend." Then suddenly, you receive an email from Joanna that has a picture of another dead body. And the toe tag bears your friend's name.
These days, audiences want to be both informed and entertained. So elaborate online marketing campaigns like Microsoft's -- which marry product plugs and high-tech entertainment -- are increasingly being used by major advertisers. And as the penetration of high-speed Internet service continues, more people will be able to see such video on a computer as smoothly as a commercial on TV.
"Response rates to ads are higher when there is rich-media advertising as opposed to static banner ads," says Tom Bedecarre, chief executive officer of AKQA, the interactive ad firm that created the Xbox campaign. Using video is now the "price of entry" when developing a good experience online, Mr. Bedecarre says.
3 > BREAKOUT ROLES
Companies are taking product placement to the next level by weaving products into the plots of entertainment programs. And they are even helping to create and finance the content.
PepsiCo Inc.'s Mountain Dew brand recently financed "First Descent," a documentary on snowboarding. [TEXT]The soft drinks also make an occasional appearance in the movie.[/TEXT] DaimlerChrysler AG's Crossfire and PT Cruiser cars played a role in "Cry Wolf." In the thriller, singer and actor Jon Bon Jovi drives a Chrysler Crossfire. The film was the winner of Chrysler's "Million Dollar Film Festival." As part of the contest, film makers had to weave a Chrysler vehicle into the script. While the winning film was produced and distributed by Universal Studios and Hypnotic, the car company did get a small share of the film's profits. So far, the movie, which opened earlier this year, has taken in more than $10 million at the box office. Chrysler declines to disclose how much it has made from the project.
"Fear" is driving the new push into content, says Jeff Bell, vice president of the Chrysler/Jeep brand. "We are concerned with increased fragmentation of audiences. In the 1950s, you could buy three 30-second spots and hit 80% of the population. Those days are gone."
4 > GETTING IN ON THE FUN
Madison Avenue executives are calling it the Age of Engagement.
Advertisers believe you'll be more inclined to buy a product if you are in on the action. So they are using marketing techniques that invite consumers to play games or enter contests.
For instance, to promote its new Torrent sport-utility vehicle, General Motors Corp.'s Pontiac division hired six former winners of the reality series "Survivor" to drive around their home cities in Torrents. Meanwhile, television and online ads running during the series asked consumers to snap a photograph of one of the winners and send the image to the car maker for a chance to win a new Torrent.
"It's no secret the traditional 30-second ad doesn't work like it used to," says Mary Kubitsky, Pontiac's ad manager. "You have to deliver something to consumers that will engage them at an emotional level."
5 > THE LOOK OF THINGS
Being cheap isn't enough anymore. Companies are recognizing that design is as important to developing and marketing a successful low- and mid-priced product as a high-end one.
"I call it the democratization of design," says Joe Duffy, chairman of Duffy & Partners, a design and branding firm in Minneapolis.
Adds Chuck Porter, chairman of Crispin Porter & Bogusky, a Miami advertising firm: "Packaging and product design is much more important now."
No one knows that better than discount retailer Target Corp., which is known for making affordable stuff look like it should cost more. A current ad campaign for Target stars Thomas O'Brien, a high-end New York interior designer. Print ads for the campaign feature a picture of Mr. O'Brien and shots of products from a new line of home goods he is creating for the chain. The ads, which are appearing in magazines like Metropolitan Home, bear the tagline "Design for All."
6 > WHERE THE BOYS ARE
For the past few years, companies like DaimlerChrysler and McDonald's Corp. have been embracing videogames as a way to reach 18-to-34-year-old males, a fickle audience that is spending less time watching TV.
Advertising in videogames is expected to jump to $875 million by 2008 from an estimated $186 million this year, according to Yankee Group, a Boston-based research firm.
A few months ago, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.'s Panasonic brand ran a 15-second commercial within Anarchy Online, a science-fiction online videogame. As game characters passed a billboard within the game, the video and audio clip would begin playing.
The idea is to "generate buzz around the advertising in the game," says Mitch Davis, chief executive of Massive Inc., a New York firm that places ads in videogames. If a company does something cool in a game, gamers are likely to chat about it on message boards, and that "generates word-of-mouth buzz," he says.
7 > IT'S A CULTURE THING
Some companies are taking niche marketing to a new level by playing to a specific culture and its beliefs.
Take Procter & Gamble Co., which earlier this year relaunched its Biomat laundry detergent in Israel. In its marketing, the consumer-products company targeted Orthodox Jews, who represent about 15% of the population. It was a tough assignment, since many Orthodox Jews don't own traditional media like television sets.
So, P&G's ad agency devised a plan that tapped into the Orthodox Jews' belief that they should aid those less fortunate. A Biomat truck equipped with giant washing machines traveled around towns. People would donate their clothing, and Biomat would wash and distribute it to the needy.
Biomat's share in the Orthodox sector has grown by almost 50% since the activity began, says Jim Stengel, P&G's global chief marketing officer.
Says Faith Popcorn, chief executive of BrainReserve, a New York marketing firm that predicts trends: "The culture is the new media."
8 > YOU TALKIN' TO ME?
Buzz words come and go, but "addressability" seems to be here to stay.
Advertisers are increasingly exploring ways to better target consumers. So companies like New York-based Visible World Inc. are popping up to help advertisers customize ads and target households by ZIP Code.
For example, last year UAL Corp.'s United Airlines used the technology to promote its discount airline, Ted, in the Chicago market. TV ads running on cable systems were customized to include the name of each suburb in Chicago. The technology allows different Zip Codes in the same neighborhood, where households are watching the same TV program, to get targeted ads.
"Consumers don't hate advertising, they hate irrelevant disruption," says Tracy Scheppach, video innovation director at Publicis' Starcom. "The key to getting permission is relevancy."
Meantime, the holy grail of advertisers -- tailoring ads based on specific demographics -- may be on its way. OpenTV Corp., a San Francisco-based technology company, is teaming up with Philadelphia-based cable provider Comcast Corp. on a service that will allow advertisers to target households using even more specific data provided by Experian Marketing Solutions, a division of credit-reporting agency Experian.
The data include demographic and geographic attributes like ethnicity, age, estimated household income and how many people live in the household. The cable operator is currently conducting a test on the service in Miami. An Experian spokesman declines to comment on the project.
9 > GLAMMING UP THE GLOSSIES
Publishers are finding new ways to move the needle on magazine ads, which critics claim are static and boring.
Gimmicks range from a single-advertiser issue to inserts like CD-ROMs to ads that have microchips embedded in them, which allow sound to accompany print ads. They are a far cry from the standard perfume strips magazines have carried for years.
Discount retailer Target was the sole advertiser in the Aug. 22 issue of the New Yorker magazine. It's the first time the magazine carried just one advertiser. Not only did Target buy all of the ad pages in the issue, it also commissioned various pieces of original artwork featuring Target's bull's-eye red and white logo to run as an ad. The New Yorker is known for its clever illustrations.
Playboy magazine's October issue featured a videogame ad that resembles the magazine's famous centerfold. But instead of a naked woman, the ad showed a scantily clad videogame character.
While some people express concern that the line between advertising and editorial content is blurring, media buyers are quick to point out that if magazines don't add new twists to their offerings, advertising revenue will get harder to come by.
10 > ONE STOP NO MORE
With all the diverse places to advertise, companies are looking to advertising agencies that can best produce a pitch for a given medium. And that means looking for ideas beyond the big players on Madison Avenue.
Earlier this year, Unilever PLC handed Bartle Bogle Hegarty, a midsize ad firm based in London, an advertising assignment for its Dove brand -- even though the bulk of the Dove account is handled by WPP Group's Ogilvy & Mather.
"The changes in media force you to work with more agencies," says Silvia Lagnado, Unilever's senior vice president for Dove.
Allstate, which has worked with Publicis' Leo Burnett since 1957, recently handed an ad assignment to Not Traditional Media, a small New York advertising firm. The boutique agency created a nontraditional marketing program for the insurance company that used the Internet to promote Allstate's brand to Hispanic car buffs in the Chicago area.
"I reject the notion of one-stop shopping" when it comes to agencies, says Joe Tripodi, chief marketing officer of Allstate, based in Northbrook, Ill. "I think smart marketers will have a lead shop, but you can supplement that shop with smaller firms that have a different perspective on marketing."
广告业－随时随地皆广告
当今世界，广告业的形态与我们父辈的时候已经不可同日而语了。
自从有了可以让观众跳过电视广告的Tivo等工具，加上电视新频道、视频游戏和互联网的诞生也使广告受众明显分流，地毯式轰炸般的电台广告和时尚但制作成本极高的电视广告等延续了数十年的广告模式开始面临著巨大压力。
广告是越来越难以接近消费者了，有鉴于此，产品营销人员开始越来越多地转向新的、非传统方式的营销手段。下面就让我们总结一下营销行业出现的新趋势吧：
1. 利用手机
营销人员已经找到了一种新方法来接近当今那些好像总在赶路的消费者，那就是利用手机。
企业通过赞助某些内容或直接向个人手机上发送文本信息来推广产品。比如，好事达公司(Allstate Corp.)就在赞助通过手机向ESPN节目订户发送的大学足球排名。今年秋季连续8周的每个星期一，这些订户就会收到题为“好事达BSC排名”的短信，里面有具体的排名情况。
法国Publicis Groupe旗下媒体购买公司Starcom USA的无线专家考特尼?阿卡夫(Courtney Acuff)说，过去6个月，这个领域真的很热门。对广告客户进行这方面的培训和引导绝对有必要。
2. 你有新邮件！（还是互动式的）
你打开电子邮件时，可能会看到奇闻小报上的那种照片，还有这样一个标题：Datadyne HQ的又一场屠杀。下面是一个连到尸体解剖现场录像片的链接。突然，摄像机向下移动，你看到被解剖尸体的脚趾吊牌上刻著自己的名字！
画面接著告诉你有关Perfect Dark Zero的信息，这是微软公司(Microsoft Corp.)Xbox的一个视频游戏。它还允许你向朋友发送类似的邮件。在你向朋友发送链接之后，你的电话就会响起，然后你会听到一段事先录好的该游戏女主人公琼娜?达克(Joanna Dark)的声音说道：“朋友，任务完成了”。然后你会突然收到琼娜发来的一封电子邮件，里面是另一具死尸的画面，这次，脚趾吊牌上刻的是你朋友的名字......
当今时代，广告受众们既想了解信息，同时也希望享受到娱乐。所以，像微软这样将产品广告与高科技娱乐方式结合起来的网上营销手段在广告大客户中间越来越有市场。而且，随著高速互联网的逐步渗透，越来越多的人将能像看到电视广告片一样很方便地在电脑上看到这种录像。
AKQA首席执行长汤姆?贝德凯尔(Tom Bedecarre)说，与静态的横幅广告相比，广告受众对多媒体广告的回应率更高。AKQA是一家互动广告制作公司，微软Xbox的广告就出自该公司之手。贝德凯尔说，现在，在开发网络广告业务方面，采用视频是一种必要的入门手段。
3. 突破传统角色
企业正在将植入式营销发展到一个新水平，他们将所推广的产品嵌入娱乐节目的情节之中，有时甚至还帮助制作节目内容并提供运作资金。
百事公司(PepsiCo Inc.)的Mountain Dew品牌最近为滑雪纪录片First Descent赞助了资金。节目中时不时可以见到这种软饮料的身影。
戴姆勒-克莱斯勒(DaimlerChrysler AG)的Crossfire和PT Cruiser两种车型也出现在惊悚片《狼来了》(Cry Wolf)里面。在片中，歌唱家、演员乔维(Jon Bon Jovi)就驾驶著一辆Crossfire。《狼来了》是克莱斯勒主办的“百万美元电影节”获奖影片；该电影节的竞赛规则之一就是电影中必须出现克莱斯勒的车。虽然《狼来了》是由环球电影公司(Universal Studio)和Hypnotic联合制作和发行，但克莱斯勒也从该片分享了一小部分利润。这部今年早些时候开始上映的影片迄今票房进帐已超过1,000万美元。不过克莱斯勒拒绝透露它从这部片子里得到多少分成。
克莱斯勒负责Jeep品牌的副总裁杰夫?贝尔(Jeff Bell)说，“恐惧”推动人们不断变化广告内容，受众越来越细分也令人担心。上世纪五十年代，你买三个30秒的插播广告时段就有可能接触到80%的人群。但那种好日子已经不复存在了。
4. 一块儿来玩吧
纽约麦迪逊大道上的人称现在是一个参与的时代。
广告客户相信，如果你亲身参与到行动中，你购买相关产品的倾向性就会更强。所以，他们采用了邀请消费者参与游戏或参加比赛的营销方式。
比如，为推广新款运动型多用途车Torrent，通用汽车(General Motors)雇佣了电视“真人秀”节目《生存者》(Survivor)的6名前胜出者驾著Torrent在他们生活的城市里兜风。与此同时，节目播出时插播的电视和网络广告告诉人们如果抓拍到其中一位胜出者的照片，并将图像寄到通用汽车就可以参加抽奖，奖品就是一辆新款Torrent。
Pontiac广告事务经理玛丽?库比斯基(Mary Kubitsky)说，传统的30秒广告已经不像过去那么有效了，这一点早已尽人皆知。现在的广告必须向消费者传达一些能激发他们情绪的东西。
5. 外观还是很重要
如今，一种产品仅仅便宜是不够的。企业已经认识到，即使是对于中低档产品而言，产品设计对实现开发和营销成功的重要性已不亚于高档商品。
明尼阿波利斯设计和品牌事务公司Duffy & Partners的董事长乔?达菲(Joe Duffy)说：“我把这种现象称为设计的普及化。”
迈阿密广告公司Crispin Porter & Bogusky的董事长查克?波特(Chuck Porter)说，产品设计和包装现在越来越重要了。
这一点没有人比折扣零售商Target Corp.了解得更清楚了，该公司一向善于让普通商品给人以物超所值的感觉。Target最近的广告宣传请来了纽约高端室内设计师托马斯?欧布莱(Thomas O'Brien)，平面广告上有欧布莱的照片以及他为Target设计的新的家居用品系列中部分产品的图片。这批登载在《大都会家居》(Metropolitan Home)等同类杂志上的广告都醒目地打出了“为所有人设计”的口号。
6. 别忘记那些大男孩
过去几年，戴姆勒-克莱斯勒和麦当劳(McDonald's Corp.)纷纷将视频游戏作为接近18-34岁男性消费者的一个途径，这个群体的人变化无常，而且看电视的时间比较少。
据波士顿研究机构Yankee Group提供的数字，到2008年，预计在视频游戏上的广告支出有可能从今年的1.86亿美元窜升至8.75亿美元。
几个月前，松下电器(Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.)借助科幻题材的网上视频游戏Anarchy Online为其“松下”品牌制作了一个15秒钟的随片广告。当游戏中的人物走过布告栏时，视频和音频片断即开始播出。
Massive Inc.首席执行长米奇?戴维斯(Mitch Davis)说，这个设计的创意是在游戏里围绕广告制造“噱头”。该公司从事视频游戏插片广告业务。他说，如果一家公司在游戏里加进了一些很酷的东西，游戏玩家们就可能会在聊天室里谈到它，这样就能产生口碑效应。
7. 用文化说事儿
有些公司的广告通过诉诸特定文化群体及其信仰，将营销提升到一个新高度。
以宝洁(Procter & Gamble Co., 又名：宝硷)为例。该公司今年早些时候在以色列重新推出了Biomat衣物清洗剂。在策划广告方案时，宝洁决定将目标对准约占以色列总人口15%的正统犹太教徒。这可是个艰巨的任务，因为许多正统犹太教徒没有电视机等传统传媒接收设备。
于是，宝洁的广告代理公司设计了一个诉诸正统犹太教信仰之一──应帮助弱者──的方案：一辆Biomat的卡车装著大块头的洗衣机在城里巡回流动，有善心的人捐出他们的衣服，Biomat会把这些衣服洗干净并送给需要它们的穷人。
宝洁全球营销事务总监吉姆?斯丹杰(Jim Stengel)说，Biomat洗衣车活动启动后，Biomat在正统犹太教徒生活区的市场占有率上升了接近50%。
纽约营销公司BrainReserve的首席执行长费斯?帕帕考恩(Faith Popcorn)说，文化已成为一种新媒介。
8. 你在跟我说话吗？
广告客户一直在越来越积极地探索更好地对准目标顾客的方法。因此，类似Visible World Inc.这样的公司应运而生，他们专门帮助广告客户根据地区代码实现广告的个性化并锁定目标用户。
比如去年UAL Corp.旗下的联合航空公司(United Airlines)运用这种技术在芝加哥地区推广其折扣航空业务Ted。在芝加哥不同地区的有线电视网络播出的电视广告片分别包涵了各地区的名字。这种技术允许同一片社区使用不同的代码以便锁定相应的广告。
Publicis旗下Starcom的视频创意总监翠西?斯科帕奇(Tracy Scheppach)说，消费者并不讨厌广告，他们只是不喜欢不相干的广告打扰他们。让他们接纳广告的关键是要（与他们）有相关性。
与此同时，广告客户希望达到的最高境界──根据具体人口年龄段定制不同的广告──正开始兴起。旧金山科技公司OpenTV Corp.正与有线供应商康卡斯特(Comcast Corp.)合作开展一项业务，它允许广告客户运用Experian Marketing Solutions提供的更具体的数据来针对不同家庭播放广告。Experian Marketing Solutions是信用报告代理机构Experian的一个分部。
这些数据包括人口统计数据和地理分布统计数据，还有种族、年龄、家庭收入估计数字和家庭人口等指标。康卡斯特目前正在迈阿密试运行这项服务。Experian发言人拒绝评论这项计划。
9. 对症下药
出版商们正在设法找到能对杂志广告对症下药的新途径，批评家们认为，现在的杂志广告非常乏味且一成不变。
市场出现的新做法从一期杂志只刊登一家公司的广告、到在杂志里夹带只读光盘、到嵌有微晶片可播放音乐的平面广告等等五花八门，应有尽有。这些东东与杂志多年来采用夹带香味纸条的做法已大相径庭。
折扣零售商Target是唯一一家在8月22日那期《纽约客》上刊登广告的客户。这是该杂志第一次采用这种做法。Target不仅购买了当期的所有广告版面，还借用带有类似Target红白两色牛眼图案的各种不同的原创艺术品作为广告。而《纽约客》一向以其富有创意的插图设计而闻名。
《花花公子》杂志(Playboy)十月号登了一份像杂志裸体插页的视频游戏广告。但广告里的不是裸体女郎，而是穿著暴露的游戏角色。
尽管一些人对广告与杂志本身内容之间的界限日渐模糊感到担忧，但媒体广告买家随即指出，如果杂志不能在内容上增加新的东西，杂志将越来越难拿到广告收入。
10. 抛弃所谓“一站式”服务
面对各种各样的广告媒介，企业希望广告代理机构能针对某一种媒介制作出最好的促销广告。这意味著需要到麦迪逊大道以外寻找新鲜创意。
今年早些时候，联合利华(Unilever PLC)委托中等规模的伦敦广告公司Bartle Bogle Hegarty为其多芬(Dove)品牌制作广告，虽然多芬的广告大部分由WPP Group旗下的奥美(Ogilvy & Mather)负责。
联合利华负责多芬业务的高级副总裁席尔维亚?拉格纳多(Silvia Lagnado)说，媒体力量的变化迫使你不得不与多家机构合作。
自从1957年以来就与Publicis旗下李奥贝纳(Leo Burnett)合作的保险商好事达最近将一项广告业务委托给了纽约一家规模不大的广告公司Not Traditional Media。这家精品小店式的公司为好事达设计了一套脱离传统模式的营销计划，它利用互联网向芝加哥地区的车迷推销好事达的品牌。
好事达营销总监乔?特里波德(Joe Tripodi)说，在选择广告公司方面他反对“一站式”服务的观念。他认为，聪明的广告客户应该有一家重量级的广告公司为其服务，但同时还可以辅之以小公司，它们在营销手法上可能会有不同的视角。
