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Advertising Industry Faces Monumental Change

"The next 5 years will hold more change for the advertising industry than the previous 50 did."

That, according to a new report from IBM (NYSE: IBM) Global Business Services. In "The End of Advertising as We Know It," (all apologizes to Sergio Zyman who published a book in 2003 under that exact title), IBM surveyed more than 2,400 consumers and 80 advertising executives globally.

The report shows, "increasingly empowered consumers, more self-reliant advertisers and ever-evolving technologies are redefining how advertising is sold, created, consumed and tracked."

Report Highlights

• Broadcasters must change their mass audience mind-set to cater to niche consumer segments.

• Distributors need to deliver targeted, interactive advertising for a range of multimedia devices.

• Advertising agencies must experiment creatively, become brokers of consumer insights, and guide allocation of advertising dollars amid exploding choices.

• All players must adapt to a world where advertising inventory is increasingly bought and sold in open exchanges vs. traditional channels.

• U.S. users report more usage of social networking sites and user generated content than almost any other content services category:

• 45 percent use social networking sites
• 29 percent visit user generated content sites
• 24 percent use a music service such as iTunes
• 24 percent subscribe to premium television content

• In biggest DVR market, users report extensive replay of television programming. This is resulting in ad skipping and revenue shakeup unless producers and broadcasters reinvent marketing formats and messaging:

• 24 percent have a DVR in their home, and 48 percent have used video-on-demand from a cable company or other provider
• While 33 percent report watching more television content than before the DVR, 53 percent report watching at least fifty percent on replay

• Users feel extreme regarding new forms of advertising. Marketers have to work harder than ever to understand individuals and micro-segments:

• Nearly 50 percent reported that video spots online – during, pre-rolled or as sponsorships – were the least annoying form of advertisement. Other formats tested were banner ads, pop-ups, and contextual search ads
• However, nearly the same level of consumers responded the same forms of advertising were most annoying online
• Additionally, 11 percent said they’d be willing to pay a little for ad-free viewing of video online

Check out the full report from IBM.

Social Media Battles for Budget

Despite the explosion of social media, many marketers still appear reluctant to invest significant resources in blogs, wikis, forums, social networking, podcasts and virtual reality worlds.


According to Coremetrics, "More than three-quarters of US marketing professionals surveyed think that social media marketing—also known as Web 2.0—can give them a competitive edge."

"Marketers are aware of the impact that social media marketing can have on their overall program but view it as uncharted territory, not worthy of their budget," said John Squire, senior vice president of product strategy at Coremetrics.



While many organizations sit on the sidelines waiting for social media best practices to emerge, the innovators and visionaries are venturing into the world of Web 2.0.

It's not too late to integrate a social media budget into your 2008 marketing plan, and here are some ideas on how to get started:

• Build Wikipedia pages for your company and top executives.
• Join LinkedIn.
• Launch a corporate blog.
• Monitor industry news, trends, blogs and forums through RSS feeds.
• Read and comment on industry blogs and forums.
• Find out how wikis can make your organization more efficient and productive.
• Tap into the power of viral videos.

Need help with your social media strategy? Contact PR 20/20 today for a free 2-hour consultation.

How Not to Conduct a Press Conference

When I first saw this on Digg.com, I thought it had to be a joke.

FEMA Apologizes for Fake News Conference on Fires

Not only did a government agency call a news conference 15 minutes before it was to be held, but they planted their own employees as "reporters" and then had them lob softball questions at Harvey Johnson, FEMA's deputy adminstrator.

. . . . But with no reporters on hand and an agency video camera providing a feed carried live by some television networks, FEMA press employees posed the questions for Johnson that included: "Are you happy with FEMA's response so far?"

According to Friday's Post account, which Walker confirmed, Johnson replied that he was "very happy with FEMA's response so far." . . . .

And here's another take from Al Kamen of The Washington Post:

FEMA Meets the Press, Which Happens to Be . . . FEMA

". . . . Johnson stood behind a lectern and began with an overview before saying he would take a few questions. The first questions were about the "commodities" being shipped to Southern California and how officials are dealing with people who refuse to evacuate. He responded eloquently.

He was apparently quite familiar with the reporters -- in one case, he appears to say "Mike" and points to a reporter -- and was asked an oddly in-house question about "what it means to have an emergency declaration as opposed to a major disaster declaration" signed by the president. He once again explained smoothly.

FEMA press secretary Aaron Walker interrupted at one point to caution he'd allow just "two more questions." Later, he called for a "last question.". . . ."

What Can Google Do For Your Business?

On the heels of surpassing the $200 billion mark in market value (which by the way is more than the combined value of News Corp, Disney, Viacom and CBS), Google amassed nearly 4 billion search queries in September, according to the latest report from Nielsen Online.

That's 54 percent of all online queries conducted at the top U.S. search providers. Yahoo! Search is second with 1.4 million (19.5 percent).

So, as Google's influence continues to expand, here are a few practical tips to help your business tap into the wealth of services offered by the search giant:

• Sign up to receive Google News Alerts for your company, competitors and industry.

• Create custom Google Maps of your headquarters to post online, and send in emails.

• Research and monitor discussions and trends in the social media world through Google Blog Search and Google Groups.

• Launch a pay-per-click campaign with Google AdWords.

• Submit your Website to be indexed by Googlebot.
  

To find even more uses for Google in your business, check out the Google Business Solutions site.

Affordable Online Press Release Distribution Services

Traditional PR that only targets mainstream media is a thing of the past. You now have to consider how to increase the reach and impact of your news by publishing to online distribution sites, such as PRzoom.com, PRWeb.com and PR.com.

These sites optimize the effectiveness of your press releases by distributing them to search engines and news sites, which generate links and traffic to your Website.

Getting Started

Major wire services, such as PRNewswire.com and BusinessWire.com offer online distribution as part of their packages, but there are also more affordable, and sometimes free, services available.

From the endless resources of Mashable.com, comes the "20+ Free Press Release Distribution Sites."

Is Social Media More Relevant Than Mainstream Media?

Mainstream media (TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, etc.) continues to play an essential role in every PR campaign; however, social media sites such as Digg, Reddit, Mashable and Del.icio.us are becoming more relevant and rapidly changing the way people consume news.

The Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ) recently released an intriguing report - "The Latest News Headlines - Your Vote Counts" - comparing the news agenda of the mainstream media for one week with the news agenda found on a host of user-news sites for the same period.

Here are a few of the key findings:

• The news agenda of the three user-sites that week was markedly different from that of the mainstream press. Many of the stories users selected did not appear anywhere among the top stories in the mainstream media coverage studied.
• The sources news sites draw on are strikingly different from the mainstream media. Seven in ten stories on the user sites come either from blogs or Web sites such as YouTube and WebMD that do not focus mostly on news.
• The user-news agenda, at least in this one-week snapshot, was more diverse, yet also more fragmented and transitory than that of the mainstream news media.
  

The report goes on to conclude that, "For now, the percentage of Americans who rely exclusively on news from user-driven sites is just a fraction of what it is for mainstream news sites. And in this increasingly fragmented era, many who visit Digg, Del.icio.us, and Reddit may also be reading the online versions of The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal."

"But whether or not we see further divergence between user-driven sites and mainstream media over the next few years will surely remain a key question for researches, journalists, and of course, citizens."

While the debate continues, one thing is for sure - the PR industry is evolving, and traditional agencies that don't quickly adapt to integrate social media will be left behind.



See what The San Francisco Chronicle wrote about the PEJ report:

User-news sites offer diverse stories, some questionable source
The San Francisco Chronicle
By Joe Garofoli - Sept. 12, 2007

. . . The traditional news outlet wants to put a lot of gravitas on their front page. They want the readers to eat their spinach," said Kourosh Karimkhany, general manager of Wired Digital, which owns Reddit. Technology allows users to create their own news "agenda" from multiple online sources, rendering a traditional front page increasingly "irrelevant," he said.

Instead, on these growing sites - Digg welcomed 19.5 million unique visitors last month - consumers rely on the "wisdom of crowds" (other readers) to figure out what are the top stories of the day.

The study found that the news items on these sites are "more diverse, more transitory and often draw on a very different and perhaps controversial list of sources." It found that 40 percent of the stories on user-news sites originated on blogs and 24 percent came from mainstream sites like BBC News. Only 5 percent came from wire services. . . .

15 Things I Learned from "The 4-Hour Workweek"

Eric Clemens, president of Acroment Technologies, and IT consultant extraordinaire, recently sent me a copy of The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferris.

I have to admit that I was highly skeptical of the title at first, but after devouring the book earlier this week on a trip to Vegas, I am pleased to report it has changed the way I look at success, and given me valuable insight into ways to increase the efficiency and productivity of our PR and marketing agency.

Some of the concepts are a bit far-fetched for service-based businesses like PR 20/20, but there are lessons to be learned for every professional, especially entrepreneurs.

Check out 15 of my favorite excerpts, and then grab a copy for yourself. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised:

1. “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.” - Mark Twain
2. “I can’t give you a surefire formula for success, but I can give you a formula for failure: try to please everybody all the time.” - Herbert Bayard Swope, American editor & journalist; first recipient of the Pulitzer Prize
3. “Having an unusually larger goal is an adrenaline infusion that provides the endurance to overcome the inevitable trials and tribulations that go along with any goal.”
4. “It is easy to get lost in minutiae, and the key to not feeling rushed is remembering that lack of time is actually lack of priorities.”
5. “The end product of a shorter deadline is almost inevitably of equal or higher quality due to greater focus.”
6. “Don’t ever arrive at the office or in front of your computer without a clear list of priorities.”
7. “If you prioritize properly, there is no need to multitask. . . . Divided attention will result in more frequent interruptions, lapses in concentration, poorer net results and less gratification.”
8. “Stop asking for opinions and start proposing solutions.”
9. “An interruption is anything that prevents the start-to-finish completion of a critical task, and there are three principal offenders: time wasters (those things that can be ignored with little or no consequence), time consumers (repetitive tasks or requests that need to be completed but often interrupt high-level work) and empowerment failures (instances where someone needs approval to make something small happened).”
10. “There is a psychological switching of gears that can require up to 45 minutes to resume a major task that has been interrupted.”
11. “For the employee, the goal is to have full access to necessary information and as much independent decision-making ability as possible. For the entrepreneur, the goal is to grant as much information and independent decision-making ability to employees or contractors as possible.”
12. “If you don’t make mistakes, you’re not working on hard enough problems. And that’s a big mistake.” - Frank Wilczek, 2004 Nobel Prize winner in physics
13. “Life is too short to waste, but it is also too long to be a pessimist or nihilist.”
14. “Surround yourself with smiling, positive people. . .”
    
15. [This one is my personal favorite] “Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking that you have something to lose.” - Steve Jobs, Stanford University Commencement, 2005

Talking Management with Jason Fried, 37signals

If you aren't familiar yet with 37signals, and its founder, Jason Fried, do yourself a favor and check out this video from Crain's Chicago Business.

Founded in 1999, the company designs web-based software for individuals and businesses. 37signals estimates that more than 1 million people use its products. To date, Jeff Bezos of Amazon is its only outside investor.

Their products are simple and affordable, and as their Web site says, "they do everything you need and nothing you don't."

Here are a few outtakes from the Crain's video, Talking Management: Leadership Lessons from Jason Fried. He offers an interesting perspective as the leader of a high-growth technology company that has become a media darling, and is sought after by investors:

• "We're not big into increasing our headcount. We're big on increasing our influence."
• "Interruption is the biggest enemy of productivity that there is."
• "We have free versions of all of our products. And that's actually the best way to get someone to pay for something."
• "We're focused on building things that provide way more value than they cost."
• "People are always willing to pay for something they find valuable."
• "I love the idea of building simple tools that work really well."
• "I don't think you need to be a big company anymore to do big things."

Screenshot from Basecamp, 37signals' project management and collaboration platform.

Logo Design Trends

Logo design can be both invigorating and infuriating for clients and agencies. Logos have the power to stir debate, create emotional connections and increase brand value. However, by its very nature, logo design is a subjective process.

While graphic designers take great pride in their ability to interpret and capture the essence of an organization through colors, fonts, icons and effects; clients, consumers, family and friends all have their opinions too. Sometimes designers are spot-on in their interpretation, and other times clients have something else in mind.

But, in the end, logos are the visual representation of a brand and an essential component of every organization.

Check out the LogoLounge.com 2007 logo design trends report for some excellent insight on what's hot in logo design, including: dos helix, rubber bands, radiance, eco smart, lit, pseudo crest, urban vinyl, hubs, descending dots, flora, half, overlap, 3D, opticaLine and ribbons.

Blog Bought by NY Times

The convergence of social media and traditional media took another leap forward today as the New York Times acquired the popular Freakanomics blog.

"This will be the first blog that the New York Times acquires and adds to its larger media family, but there’s word that the newspaper plans to acquire even more blogs in the not-too-distant future. . . ." Visit Mashable.com to read more.

Corporate Blog Creative Brief

Thinking about launching a corporate blog? Here are some basics we've compiled at PR 20/20 to help clients establish a blog strategy before taking the leap:

1. Audiences: Whom do you plan to reach and influence with your blog?

• Community Leaders
• Customers
• Employees
• Media
• Prospects
• Suppliers/Vendors
• Other

2. Objectives: What do you intend to achieve with your blog?

• Augment Web site traffic.
• Boost brand awareness and visibility.
• Build relationships.
• Change, enhance or revitalize brand image.
• Educate and inform audiences.
• Enhance/establish positioning as an innovator and industry leader.
• Generate leads.
• Improve brand loyalty (i.e. customer retention and repeat purchasing).
• Increase brand comprehension (i.e. understanding of products/services and benefits).
• Motivate employees.
• Penetrate new markets.
• Other

3. Content Outline: What relevant, timely topics do you plan to publish?

• Company news
• Industry trends
• White papers
• Tools & resources

4. Frequency: How often do you plan to post?

• Daily
• Weekly
• Monthly
• Other

5. Comment Policy: Will the corporation allow, block and/or screen comments?

6. Controversial Issues: What is the policy for addressing controversial issues?

7. Links: What sites, blogs and forums will the corporate blog link to?

8. Promotion: How will the blog be promoted?

For additional insight on corporate blogs, check out Debbie Weil's blog. Debbie is author of The Corporate Blogging Book.

Corporate Blogging Resource

Corporate blogging is changing the public relations industry, and the business world, at an astonishing pace. Odds are that blogging is already impacting your business whether you know it or not.

Technorati, a leading blog search engine widely known for its quarterly State of the Blogosphere reports, is now tracking more than 70 million weblogs, and is seeing about 120,000 new weblogs being created worldwide each day. That's about 1.4 blogs created every second of every day.

This is the first of many posts to come about corporate blogging. At PR 20/20, we are constantly adapting our model and service offering to meet the growing demand from clients for blog consultation, services and resources.

Check out this excellent posting from blogger Robert Scoble for organizations looking to launch corporate blogs: The Corporate Weblog Manifesto

If you haven't considered how blogs are impacting your business, now is as good a time as any to get started!

What I Learned: Pour Your Heart Into It

PR 20/20 started out in February 2004 as a vision to evolve the PR industry. That vision, which 21 months later manifested into an upstart PR and marketing firm, was fueled by remarkable books that told inspirational stories of vision, passion and innovation.

“What I Learned” is a series of blog postings about the books and experiences that continue to shape our agency, and our vision. My hope is that these insights will inspire others to pursue their dreams.

Some men see things as they are and say “Why?” I dream things that never were, and say “Why not?” - George Bernard Shaw

Pour Your Heart Into It by Starbuck’s Chairman Howard Schultz

For this installment of What I Learned, I’ve included a selection of my favorite quotes from Pour Your Heart Into It. It’s a classic story about an entrepreneur with a vision, and the passion to make it a reality:

• “A company can grow big without losing the passion and personality that built it, but only if it’s driven not by profits but by values and people.”

• “If it captures your imagination, it will captivate others.”

• “Vision is what they call it when others can’t see what you see.”

• “Naysayers never built a great enterprise.” - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

• “When you see the opportunity of a lifetime, move quickly.”

• “Don’t be threatened by people smarter than you.”

• “Everything matters.”

• “Strong brands create a powerful, personal connection.”

100 Open Source Web Design Tools & Resources

Open source is a set of principles and practices that promote access to the design and production of goods and knowledge. The term is most commonly applied to the source code of software that is available to the general public, with relaxed or non-existent intellectual property restrictions. Wikipedia and Linux of two of the most well known examples of open source applications.

Here are 100 resources--including open source design software packages, CSS tools and generators, templates, and code sources--for tech-savvy organizations and individuals looking to save time and money building their own web sites.

read more | digg story

The Power of Viral Videos

Public relations as we know it is rapidly evolving, and organizations caught watching from the sidelines are being left behind.

Innovators and early adopters are taking the risks, and reaping the rewards, of launching social media campaigns. These organizations, seeking more affordable and effective, non-traditional marketing solutions, are turning to online tools such as blogs, podcasts, wikis and videos – and some are having remarkable success.

Take, for example, Blendtec. For the YouTube.com faithful, CEO Tom Dickson (that's him in the lab coat) is a social-media celebrity. But for those of you who aren’t familiar with the “Will It Blend?” video series, it is a case study in the power of viral videos.

In a recent StartupJournal.com article entitled, “Marketing Videos Are A Hit in Their Own Right,” it was reported that as a result of a series of online-only videos featuring Dickson blending items such as, golf balls, EZ Cheese, Transformers, magnets and iPhones (yes, he actually obliterated an iPhone), sales of Blentec’s home blenders sky-rocketed 43% in 2006.

It’s even more impressive when you consider that Blentec didn’t have a marketing department until 2006, and launched the video effort on a $50 budget!

Have you considered how social media is changing your business, and your industry? Maybe it's time that you do.

A PR Blog is Born

I’ve been considering joining the blogosphere for some time now, but it wasn’t until attending the T3 PR Conference in New York last week that I felt compelled to take action, and contribute to the social media phenomenon that is revolutionizing the PR industry, the business world and society.

So, here goes . . .

While not considered a profession until the early 1900s, thanks to the work of Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays, public relations has been widely practiced since the dawn of civilization.

Rulers, governments, religious institutions and businesses throughout history have recognized the power of informing and influencing their publics as a means to garner understanding and support.

As Bernays, PR pioneer and author, wrote, “The three main elements of public relations are practically as old as society: informing people, persuading people, or integrating people with people.”

The principles remain the same today. Our job is to effectively communicate and build relationships.

However, the rise of the Internet and social media has changed the rules, and the time has come for a mass-market revolution that makes PR (and marketing) simple, affordable and effective for businesses of all sizes.

The PR industry needs vision and innovation for the profession to continue advancing and gaining the respect (and budgets) it deserves as an integral part of every organization. It needs professionals who understand its history and its power to contribute to the advancement of business and society.

PR 20/20 Insights is a collaborative community to share, learn and grow our businesses together through collective intelligence and peer production. Let’s throw away traditional solutions and conventional wisdom. Let’s Look Beyond.

Stay tuned for consistent updates on the trends, news and technologies affecting us all.