Dead Air More Effective Than Facebook Ads

The broadcast industry has a term called "dead air." It occurs when there's a

mistake or a technical glitch that results in no audio on radio, or no picture

on a TV screen. A blank TV screen is "dead air." In an absolutely

astounding experiment, the banner advertising equivalent of dead air -- a blank

display ad -- performed better than the average Facebook ad; twice as good as

the average "branding" display ad; and only one click in ten thousand worse than

the average of all display ads. Here are the details. AdAge

this week has a piece called How Blank Display Ads Managed to Tot Up Some Impressive Numbers The article was written by Ted McConnell, exec VP-digital for the Advertising

Research Foundation. Ted and a few friends (an astrophysicist from an

online analytics firm, a measurement expert from the Advertising Research

Foundation, and an ad-platform wizard from a buying and optimization company)

decided to do an experiment. The experiment was designed to discover how much

clicking of banner advertising was actual engagement with the ad, and how much

was just noise -- people clicking for no reason. To do this they created

a unique ad -- an ad with no message. A blank. According to McConnell...

"We created six blank ads in three IAB standard sizes, and two colors, white and orange. We

trafficked the ads via a demand-side platform (DSP) with a low bid. We started with run of

exchange, and in another phase trafficked to "named publishers" that would accept unaudited

copy." Here are the results:

The click-through rate on the blank ads was .08%. According to published

reports, the click-through rate on the average Facebook ad is about .05%. The

blank ad performed 60% better.

The click through rate for the blank ad was about double the average

click-through rate for a "branding" display ad (an ad without an offer.)

The click-through rate on the average banner ad is .09%. This means the

blank ad drew one click in ten thousand fewer than an average banner ad.

About .04% of the clicks were mistakes. Since the average click-through rate

for display ads is .09%, this indicates that it is possible that as much as 44%

of banner ad clicks are mistakes. The astounding thing is that with all

the data Facebook is collecting, all the geniuses we have analyzing display ad

results, all the space-age targeting we are constantly being beaten over the

head with, and all the young creative prodigies lecturing us on the magic of

online advertising, empty ads outperformed our online geniuses.

You simply cannot make this shit up.

Accountability,,,

Accountability has always been an important part of the advertising process. So why do the words "accountability" and "ROI" seem to occupy so much more of advertisers’ thoughts and time today? The answer is not a simple one, and numerous factors have influenced corporate attitudes, but essentially, "why" can be boiled down to:

Corporate expectations have changed. and only Interactive communication can provide true accountability



 




 
 



 
 
 





 
 

Brands ‘wasting time and money’ on misguided digital strategies, study

UK social media users are among the most resistant consumers in the world towards brands invading their personal space, according to a new study, which reflects how businesses are wasting time and money trying to reach people online who, in all likelihood, probably aren’t listening.

Data revealed by TNS Digital Life found that 61% of UK consumers do not want to engage with brands in their social networks, a figure that is slightly above average (57%) from other developed markets studied.

In stark contrast, fast-growing markets, mainly across Asia, South America and Africa, are much more open to brands online. About 60% of consumers there see social networks as a good place to learn about brands.

In Europe, however, the numbers seem bleak in comparisonth TNS suggests that misguided digital strategies are generating ‘mountains of digital waste,’ from friendless Facebook accounts to blogs no one reads.

This is being combined with ever-increasing content produced by consumers – the study shows 47% of digital consumers now comment about brands online.

The result is huge volumes of noise, which is polluting the digital world and making it harder for brands to be heard – presenting a major challenge for businesses trying to enter into dialogue with consumers online.

The study also sheds some light on why people do engage with brands online. More often than not, motivations of online commentators can be self-serving. 61% of consumers are driven to engage with brands online by a promotion or special offer.

About 46% of consumers motivated to post comments on companies do so for the simple desire to impart advice, while more people like to praise than complain online (13% v 10%).

According to marketing consultant, Richard Hillgrove the problem for many brands is the message.

“People in the UK don’t want obvious messages. It’s the same way Britain has largely rejected product placement on television. We don’t like things ‘in our face’ – the Americans don’t seem to mind.”

Pepsi Proves You Can Give Away Money

An anonymous blog however worth repeating here

I know I'm like totally old school and out of it and a big old dinosaur, but I thought marketing was supposed to be about selling stuff. Silly me.

So wasn't I all red-in-the-face and feeling like a dork when I read an interview in BrandWeek with Pepsi's marketing director. The interview was about their much ballyhooed "Refresh Project" -- which, in my churlish opinion is a big cynical gimmick to get some marketing leverage by giving away 20 million dollars to people with nice ideas.

Now, before you go calling me an ogre, I am all in favour of giving money to help people and communities. I even do a fair bit of it myself.

The difference between Pepsi and me, however, is that I don't go around beating my chest about it. I do it because I think it's the right thing to do.

...Call me cynical, but to me altruism loses its lustre when it seeks bouquets.

Pepsi is brazenly using their "Refresh" project for the purpose of buying their way into social media stardom and "creating buzz on social networks." Double yuk...

The thing that interested me most about the interview was that it focused on the marketing effectiveness of the campaign without once mentioning the word "sales."

"The success has been overwhelming. We have more than doubled our Facebook fans since we started the campaign. We have more than 24,000 Twitter fans"

Now here's the thing. If you're going to give away 20 million dollars to help people and communities, then god bless you...

On the other hand, if you're doing it to promote sales, then don't pretend you're Mother Teresa.

And if you're just doing it to attract Facebook friends and Twitter followers, then you're seriously demented.


This is probably the most expensive social media effort ever. I'm very curious to know what effect it will have on sales. So far all it's proven to me is that if you want to give away money, you can.

Yeah, the success was "overwhelming." I wonder what universe she is living in? I wonder how many Facebook fans it takes to cover a loss of 350 million dollars?

It was just a few months ago that the Pepsi marketing team was taking self-congratulatory victory laps at digital marketing whack-a-thons. Having once worked on the Pepsi business, I would like to give these people a little advice: Stay as far away as you possibly can from the next bottlers'

 Do visit Shopper's Voice and solve all your marketing communications in one fell swoop.   Contact: Paul Ashby on (0044) 01934 620047, visit http://interactivetelevisionorinteractivetv.blogspot.com or email Paul on paulashby40@yahoo.com

The internet has changed the way the world does business.

 Let’s face it. The Yellow Pages are nearly dead. Newspaper readership is at the lowest level ever. Radio is being edged out by MP3’s and satellite radio services. Television is fragmented, making it nearly impossible to reach your target market effectively and affordable. More people spend time using the internet, especially social media vehicles than all of the other media vehicles…combined!

 More than 30 Million businesses in the US alone that are using social media to market and grow their business. In 2011, more than $2.5 BILLION will be spent in social media advertising alone.

If you’re like most small and mid-sized businesses, you are at a disadvantage because:

1. You don’t understand how social media marketing works.

2. You don’t know how to make social media work for your business.

3. You don’t have the time or the staff to manage your social media marketing

The Effective Accountable Communication Company has the experience and the diverse range of service offerings to successfully serve local companies of all sizes via social media marketing, online content development and public relations. This combination of valuable services is helping companies to generate more attention and new business through social media. As social media managers, we help people promote themselves and their business through social media vehicles like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. The results are immediate and always measurable.  most small and mid-sized businesses cannot afford to add a new employee to manage social media marketing.  Outsource your social media marketing to Effective Accountable Communication Company for a fraction of the cost of a traditional employee. We’ll create and manage your social media marketing, which will increase your web site traffic, generating recognition and potential new business. Social Media Management packages are available from £100 to £2,500 per month. http://shoppers-voice.co.uk or call Paul Ashby on (0044)01934620047.  
Visit http://interactivetelevisionorinteractivetv.blogspot.com

And as consumers become desensitized

And as consumers become desensitized to the mobile platform over time, mobile ad effectiveness may go the way of online ad effectiveness. Online ads as a whole only boost brand awareness, purchase intent or message association in the low single-digits, according to Dynamic Logic survey results from more than 3 million respondents about 2,400 online ad over three years.

However Shopper's Voice, On-line;In Print and On TV consistently outperforms all other forms of advertising in total effectiveness.
Contact: paulashby40@yahpp.com or http://shoppers-voice.co.uk

SHOPPERS' VOICE ON-LINE

Yahoo Research states:

"A Large majority of web-users (79|%) demand something of value for heeding ads whether that 'something' is pure entertainment, a relevant message or access to something new."

SHOPPERS'S VOICE ON-LINE IS:
A. Rewarding
B. Entertainment.
C. Relevant.
D. Engaging.

SHOPPERS' VOICE - SOMEDAY ALL ADVERTISING WILL BE LIKE THIS!

Contact: paul.ashby@yahoo.com