Take a look at this little stat on TV ad spend in 2010 from eMarketer.

TV Advertising Still Alive and Well?

Some thoughts come to mind in looking at this (mostly questions with no answers):

1. Wait a minute… I thought the days of TV advertising were over. What’s this all about?
2. Maybe advertising’s effectiveness is dead, but its support still remains. Is that because it requires the least amount of work and strategy on the part of the advertiser (“just toss it to an agency”)
3. Here’s a more detailed article that breaks the industry down some more.
4. Wait… no wonder ad spending is going up. TV watching is growing, according to this awesome graphic and post by Danny Peled:

So what’s the deal?

We web marketers like to claim the death of all things traditional. But these numbers show us that TV watching and dollars going toward advertising are going up. Seems kinda out-of-sync.

What are your first reactions? Do you think we’ve over-rated the online world’s effect on television? Or is it still inevitable that advertising will die the ugly, painful death that marketing prophets have been insisting on for more than a decade?

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You can’t always tell what you’re going to get out of a big college bowl sponsorship. Sure, it’s cool to have your name in bright lights, and to get the great tickets that come with a sponsorship, but what does it really lead to in terms of exposure and sales?

I still don’t have a hard answer, but I do know of one added benefit that’s easy to overlook but may have the most potential of them all.

A month or two ago, I noticed a few of my friends at AdvoCare were posting screen shots of a PlayStation 3 college football game. The game would actually place the logo on the field chosen. In other words, if someone chose to play in the Independence Bowl, the AdvoCare V100 logo would appear at the 50, like you see in this picture.

Full disclosure: I used to work at AdvoCare, and I currently work at Mannatech, a company that could be viewed as a competitor. But that’s all pretty irrelevant to this post.

It sparked some interesting thoughts for me. Where a bowl game is a one-time event each year, a video game lives on and is played by millions on a daily basis. I’d be willing to be the video game exposure could easily rival and even surpass the exposure of the actual gameday itself.

Video games have already created myriad marketing opportunities over the past five years. This just seemed like a somewhat interesting extension of a sponsorship that I bet wasn’t planned for but is beneficial all the same.

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This article was originally posted by Brett Duncan at http://www.marketinginprogress.com/

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Have you seen the Christmas ad campaign that Mini Cooper did in Amsterdam? Paul Williams captures it well on Marketing Profs’ Daily Fix.

I’m sure there are plenty of bloggers breaking down the greatness of this campaign. What I wonder is how close this campaign came from getting nixed.

Think about it. Some genius brought the idea to the table, and then I’m sure there were some people with influence who’s first instinct was to break it down, play it safe or dilute its strength.

• Couldn’t we put a little more copy on the box?
  
• How is this going to do more for us than a great commercial?
  
• Why would we want to associate our product with garbage?

You’ve experienced this, from either one side of the tracks or the other. We love to castrate creative greatness; it seems instinctive. We simply can’t help but move things from the edge to the center.

But people don’t stop and look at things in the center. The center demands absolutely no attention. Only edginess works.

Kudos to everyone at Mini Cooper for not letting your instinct to be centered keep a great idea from the world. Be sure to watch the video on Paul’s post. Notice how many people stop and look at the box over a two-minute span. That’s penetration, my friend.

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When I recently asked for some post ideas from my Twitter followers, I got this question from my good friend Fred Cunha, the mad man behind HelpMeFred.com:

So have you read about the Taco Bell Drive Thru Diet? To be honest, you probably don’t have to read anything to think it’s ridiculous to hear “Taco Bell” and “Diet” in the same breath. I’m actually pretty excited: I’ve been on the Taco Bell diet for years and had no idea.

It looks like Taco Bell is trying to position itself as the lesser of two (or twelve) evils here. “If you’re going to get fast food, here are some relatively healthy choices.”

But let’s face it: the Taco Bell brand position is not about eating well. It’s about cheap, good, cheesy food. It’s about late night college runs for a box of tacos. It’s for fighting off the munchies. It’s about a talking chiauhua. It’s about thinking “Outside the Bun.”

Of course, the real ironic thing here is that Taco Bell launched the “Fourth Meal” campaign just a few years ago, which I don’t believe is a popular notion of too many diet books out there.

The AdAge article is pretty interesting. Here’s what stands out to me:

• Taco Bell’s version of Jared Fogle, Christine Dougherty, explains that she “exercised and cut her daily caloric intake from 1,750 to 1,250 per day….” Ummm, cutting 500 calories from your diet will help you lose weight regardless of what you eat, for the most part.
• One of the secrets to the diet appears to be “replace salsa for cheese or sour cream.” Really? C’mon ….
• The reaction of the web is extremely interesting, as the article notes that chatter has increased 44% but that the tone has decreased in positivity by 6%, which actually moves Taco Bell into the lower echelon among fast food joints as measured by this stat.
• A dietician from the NBA’s Portland Trailblazers is actually endorsing this program. Is there now any wonder why Greg Oden can’t stay healthy for a full season?

Bottom line, Taco Bell is crossing a line that doesn’t make sense, and people are reacting. Whether on purpose or not, the perception here is that Taco Bell thinks we’re idiots and that they can just use jedi mind tricks to make us think they’re healthy.

Here’s a litmus test: try lowering your caloric intake by 500 calories while also foregoing the Taco Bell. My bet is Ms. Dougherty would’ve lost more than 54 pounds.

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I like what Michael Hyatt is doing.

Yes, you can take that to the bank as a general statement, but I love how he’s handled his advertising rate kit. Yes, I know, this is somewhat standard for large website, but this kit is loaded with tons of specific info about Michael’s site. The fact that he surveyed his readers and then is so upfront with his site’s demographics and stats make deciding on advertising here pretty simple. You know exactly what you’re going to get.

Hold on to this link; it’s a great standard to both follow for yourself or to know some common rates out there.

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Fortune magazine has an extremely interesting article on the direct response advertising industry with interviews with Billy Mays, Anthony Sullivan and Vince Offer. In addition to a great behind-the-scenes look at the growing industry, and a he said/she said spout between competitors Offer and Mays, I took away these key points on the real heart of how these guys make things happen:

• The pitchmen usually make between 3% and 5% of total sales for the product their hawking.
• Retail store sales actually accounts for 90% of As Seen on TV products.
• Mays goes through his three-part formula for a great pitch.
• The Discovery Channel is actually launching a reality show called Pitchmen soon.

So, what’s your favorite infomercial? Would you ever use one for your product?

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You gotta love what Denny’s is doing with their advertising.

First, if you missed it during the Super Bowl, Denny’s is offering a free Grand Slam Breakfast to anyone on Tuesday, Feb. 3. No strings. Here’s what I love about this bold move:

1. The economy sucks, so free food is always welcome (it’s welcome even when the economy doesn’t suck). Denny’s is capitalzing on this challenge, not hiding from it. 
2. Their driving trial, reminding people of just how good their breakfast is, while probably conjuring up some nostalgic memories in the meantime. 
3. Their letting advertising do what it does best, which is make consumers aware of something. It will be pretty easy to measure how effective this campaign is by seeing how many free breakfasts are given out tomorrow. In turn, we’ll see how good Denny’s is by seeing how many people come back when it’s not free. 

At $3 mil. a pop, you can’t mess around with a Super Bowl ad. Denny’s is making the most of it. Too often, we expect advertising to make our product great. But advertising, at least these days, can’t do that. It can only call attention to the product. Then the product actually has to be great. 

The buzz alone could pay off. As of 12:30 on Feb. 2, there were more than 1,300 blog entries for Denny’s free grand slam. 

In addition, I’ve been loving Denny’s ads lately. A direct hit on all the sugary froo-froo coming out of IHOP. 

So, will you be eating at Denny’s tomorrow? Do you think this kind of approach will work?

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Reading through Bruce Horovitz‘ article in USA Today titled Marketers Face Pressure to Deliver with Super Bowl ads, I ran across a few interesting resources:

1. The full roster of Super Bowl advertisers
2. Marketers are spending $100k per second. 
3. Clients are scrutinizing over agencies’ work much more than ever. 
4. Last year, about 300,000 Super Bowl viewers who saw Hyundai’s ads went online before the game was even over to leave their addresses to get more information, says Ewanick. This year, Hyundai expects an even larger online response during and after the game with its “Assurance” spot.

But what really stuck out to me was the claimed goal of these ads. Says Horovitz:

“The common goal: $100,000-a-second worth of ad buzz. Buzz means Web hits after the game and, in good times anyway, that translates into sales.”

While I know it’s true, and became increasingly evident in last year’s ads, I feel as though admitting that the goal is getting web visits, then sales, is a pretty big statement. 

So what does it mean? Well, it makes sense for companies like GoDaddy and SalesGenie to be advertising, given their product is bought online. Consumer goods like beer and cola still have to drive people to stores and vending machines after they hit the web for all the buzz. 

It also means that media is being looked at in a much more comprehensive way, which is a good thing. It’s not so much about which medium works better: radio, print, broadcast, internet . . . , but rather how can we use them all together to best communicate what we need to communicate. 

Finally, Horovitz’ main point is how our current economy raises the stakes as to the results that must come from a $3 mil. 30-sec. spot. Looked at another way, though, it could be worth it more than ever this year, as many regulars in Super Sunday advertising like FedEx and General Motors pass on the opportunity. 

I don’t know that 30 seconds of anything is worth $3 mil. And to be honest, if you want to do it right, you really need about 5 minutes worth of spots scattered throughout the game, which equates to $30 mil. 

But, if you think it works, then I believe this year presents many more opportunities to the brave and risky than any other year in recent history. 

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I didn’t catch the premiere of Trust Me on TNT last night, but I did happen upon Junta42′s post on their innovative approach to advertising with the show. In a nutshell, the show centers around an ad agency. The agency is developing campaigns for actual products on the market today from companies like Unilever, General Motors and Anheuser-Busch. 

Joe’s post at Junta42 goes into more details, but here’s my initial reaction: If network TV makes its money off of advertising, and if this example of ‘Trust Me’ captures the trend-to-be, then won’t we see a major shift in the settings of popular shows? It’s a lot easier to write in consumer products into a show about an ad agency than, say, a group of people stuck on an island since 2004. 

What do you think? 

Related Posts on MarketingInProgress.com:

1. Lipitor, Pfizer Pulling the Dr. Jarvik ad
2. Is a Super Bowl Ad Worth It? 

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Below is part 2 of my email interview with Phil Bernstein. Be sure to check out part 1 of the interview here, and come back for the final piece of this enlightening time with Phil. Also, all apologies on not posting last week: I managed to get a little sidetracked with having a baby last weekend. They say that can happen. 

Brett Duncan: What are the keys to a successful radio ad campaign? How long should it last? Whatʼs this normally cost? 

Phil Bernstein: Roy Williams taught me this:  Results = what you say multiplied by how often you say it. If your story doesn’t interest your prospects, they won’t respond no matter what medium you use. And if you don’t tell the story often enough to cut through all the other messages your customers are exposed to, they won’t even notice that you’re talking to them. So the copy is vitally important, and then you’ve got to buy as much frequency as possible. 

As for how long the campaign should last, in big-picture-terms, the answer is “forever”. McDonald’s has been advertising since the 1950′s — everybody in the country knows who they are, what they serve, and how to find one. And they still advertise every single day of the year. 

How long a campaign will take to deliver results depends on the sales cycle of the product. A restaurant looking to increase dinner traffic could start seeing results in a day, because people need to eat every evening, and a restaurant visit can be an impulse decision; but those results won’t last unless they keep the advertising going. On the other hand, a campaign for a big-ticket product or service might not show tangible results for several months — most people who hear the ad on any given day aren’t in the market that day. The goal is to keep talking to the prospects until something moves them into the “active” category.

BD: Are there any industries or types of businesses that, over time, you realize probably shouldn’t use radio as part of their marketing mix? In other words, is radio right for everyone, or is there a group that it definitely doesn’t work for?

PB: Really specialized business-to-business companies (Roy Williams uses dental equipment sales as an example) are not appropriate for mass-market advertising. Manufacturing companies who sell only to other manufacturers can’t use radio to sell product — but they may be able to use it for recruiting workers.

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BD: What makes radio a viable medium today? What can advertisers do with radio that they canʼt do anywhere else?

PB: Radio’s big advantage has always been, and continues to be, the fact that it’s the one medium that can reach customers while they’re doing something else. You can’t watch TV while you’re driving; you can’t read the paper while you’re working in the garage; a direct-mail piece won’t reach someone who’s gone to the beach. Prospects are a moving target, and radio follows them.

BD: This is something I’ve never really thought of, but so true. With this said, how is text messaging changing how stations work and how radio ads work? I’ve been hearing more and more stations incorporating text into their programs.

PB: Text messaging is a great way to reach the younger end of the market. Z100, our hit music station, uses it for contests all the time. Some of our advertisers are incorporating text messaging into their radio campaigns — a mexican restaurant, for example, tell listeners to text the words “combo platter” to our text message number to receive a “text coupon” good for a discount. They then go to the restaurant and show their cell phone screen to the waiter to get the deal. I’m doing a program with the Oregon Elections Division in which listeners can request text message updates on things like voter registration deadlines.

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BD: How have podcasts affected radio? It seems to me that podcasts still havenʼt caught on like other Web 2.0 media. Is that what you see, or is it actually growing? What opportunities for marketers do you see in podcasts?

PB: I think podcasts are beginning to take hold, but nobody’s quite figured out how to turn them into a substantial revenue stream yet. The audience is growing, but listeners don’t expect to pay for podcasts, and it’s not clear at this point how much advertising they’re willing to accept. Here’s an example of the challenge: I love the fact that I can listen to “This American Life” whenever I want on my Ipod, and skip the pledge drive. My local public radio station isn’t so enthusiastic. People much smarter than me are working on that.

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Be sure to read part 1 of this interview, and part 3, coming soon. And don’t forget to visit Phil’s site. 

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