Tag Archive for 'Online Advertising'

2008 Summer Olympics Attracts Oline Advertisers

Published
by
Eric Dudley
on August 15, 2008
in Branding, Media Buying and Online Marketing
. 0 Comments

Beijing Olympics - Phelps Wins Gold

Beijing 2008 Olympics - Phelps Wins Gold

This year’s Olympic Games is definitely one of the most anticipated and controversial events in recent history.  With all of the protests occurring because of China’s treatment of Tibet and China’s harsh censorship rules there certainly has been a lot to talk about in the news.  However, much of the buzz has been positive.  Michael Phelps is aiming to take home 8 gold medals and is well on his way to that goal (3 golds and counting as of right now) while breaking records along the way.  With all of this going on, it’s no wonder companies are trying to capitalize on the captive audience through a variety of marketing campaigns.

This year, there has been a huge surge in online advertising for the Olympics.  Marketers are taking advantage of the many Olympic-related online advertising and sponsorship opportunities because they can attach their name to the games 2008 Summer Olympics Attracts Oline Advertisersat a fraction of the cost compared to actually being an Olympic sponsor.  One of our clients, Ashley Furniture, is even running an Olympic offer.

NBC Universalis running 3,600 hours of Olympic programming, most of it live and recorded on the Internet.  AT&T has partnered with NBC Universal to provide live coverage through PC, mobile phone and TV and will also be offering on-demand content.  Yahoo is also providing display advertising across its Olympics site throughout August, giving primarily large advertisers such as Target, McDonalds and ExxonMobil a unique channel to reach customers.

Although the Olympics is not for all advertisers, mainstream are on board and will be measuring brand interaction and engagement at a minimum.  What’s been your interaction with brands associated with the Olympics?  Please share your thoughts below.

Facebook Marketing Strategies, Food for Thought

Published
by
Tom Dressler
on July 30, 2008
in Branding, Customer Acquisition, Customer Retention, Lead Generation, Online Marketing and Social Media
. 0 Comments

Facebook Marketing Strategies, Food for ThoughtWe as Interactive Marketing professionals, consumer market research professionals, and eBusiness & channel strategy professionals look for solutions that meet the needs of today’s online environment. When posed with this question, Facebook comes up over and over again. So what should we do about it?

As described by Forrester,

Facebook is a media, community, and application platform that offers an existing thriving ecosystem, scalable growth, and quick word-of-mouth marketing. The ability to understand users, their preferences, networks, and helps web applications to quickly segment and rapidly grow.

WebsiteBiz FacebookWow, what does that mean? First off, as a community the opportunity to study your prospects are huge. Are they engaged on Facebook and/or Social Media as creators, critics, collectors, joiners, spectators, or inactives? I find this information to be surprising at times. If your market is using Facebook it provides a targeted advertising platform unlike any we have ever seen before, the ability to provide messages segmented by location, gender, and/or preference gives us the ability to accurately market effectively.

Ideas to be considered when evaluating Facebook Marketing

  • Demographics and trend data
  • Word of mouth and viral growth using Newsfeeds and widgets
  • Groups, sponsored groups, and other community features
  • Harness personal and network information
  • Contextual and targeted advertising opportunities
  • Monetizing your efforts
  • Case studies of success and failure
  • Understanding costs, and strategies to measure ROI

While this can seem intimidating at first, proven strategies do in fact deliver positive results. But a more coherent approach is to start with your target audience and determine what kind of relationship you want to build with them, based on what they are ready for.

Please provide your thoughts and impressions of Facebook Marketing.