Hasta La Creative!

A Brief History

Being from the media world, it is easy to forget that not everyone knows what media-philes talk about when they say things like CPP, CPM, Impressions, etc. Likewise, it’s fair to assume that not everyone understands what Nielsen does, or why they do it.

So, here is a quick definition: “Nielsen Ratings are audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States.” There are two methods for obtaining the information; the first is automatic and uses a device hooked to your TV. The second is what is known as the diary method…exactly what it sounds like. Families are chosen nationwide and fill out diaries regarding what they watch, and when, the process is for them to write it down. If you have never participated, it is a royal PITA (Pain In The Ass). The diary system is antiquated multifold cardboard pages, and Nielsen actually hypes the fact that this is a great system, asking viewers to write down every network they watch. If I remember correctly, one of the larger problems that we had was trying to figure out shows recorded on DVR. Did Nielsen update the diaries from the1930’s, when they started? It doesn’t look like it. Obviously, the diary method needs to be replaced, but for now, it’s what we have.

Glitches In The Gears

Nielsen’s problems stem from two main sources:

• They are the ONLY game in town.
• When mistakes are made, they impact the entire TV industry…from the
  networks and agencies to clients.

Last week, Nielsen had another infamous “server” problem and was not able to deliver ratings for four days. So, many think “big deal.”

Believe it: it is a HUGE deal. Ratings determine prices for spots. They also report how each show does on an overnight basis. Thus, when Nielsen could not provide ratings for four days last week due to a the malfunction, that left media planners and buyers with nowhere to turn for optimizing their clients TV buys, potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of “unknowns. To put it into perspective, the television industry relies on $60 billion in ad revenues yearly…all depending on Nielsen.

Unfortunately, Nielsen also announced that the data provided by People Meters (hooked to TV’s in Nielsen households) underrepresented the number of viewers actually watching TV.

Nielsen says it’s “working around the clock” to fix things and get back on schedule, but the networks who use the numbers to help set ad rates and schedules are, not surprisingly, pretty upset. The system failure “couldn’t
have come at a worse time,” NBC research boss Alan Wurtzel told The New York Times. “This comes at a particularly tough time of year because all of us are making evaluations about bubble shows and time periods and so forth.”

Forward on Three Legs

Improvements do not seem to be coming soon…Nielsen has been laying off employees to keep expenses low. Those jobs have been outsourced to Tata, and India-based consultancy. How Nielsen expects to fix everything that is broken with the five people still working at the company remains to be seen.

But until then, are we to take ratings with a “grain of salt?” Not only late, but incorrect?

Jeff Louis: Strategic Media Planner, Project Manager, and New Business Coordinator. His passion is writing, contributing to BMA as well as freelancing. He’d love to hear from you: linkedin.com/in/jefflouis or twitter.com/jlo0312..

Google, Google, Everywhere…

There’s probably not a day in our lives for the last five years that we have not come in to contact with Google in some way or another; a very charismatic and sticky brand, here is where we daily find Google:  from trade pubs (IT, Advertising, and Marketing) to our home and work computers, Google has become a brand that has become a staple of our day to day online interactions. There are, of course, purists out there that use other search engines simply because they are not Google…but they are few and far between.

Google excels in bringing brand extensions to the user…thus, they are able to capture non-search users with Google Reader (an RSS Feed plugin). They never stop innovating, which is most likely the reason for their success. Some of the company’s newer products include Google Health, Google Finance, Google Labs (very cool), Google Blogs, and even a program for purchasing TV advertising nationally using the AdWords utility. And recently released, there is Google Chrome.

Will Chrome Be The Gold Standard?

Google Chrome is the company’s answer to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Compared head-to-head with IE8, my choice would be Chrome. It’s super fast, does not use a ton of memory, “hangs” infrequently, and is extremely simple to use. It does have drawbacks: no zoom, no status bars, and managing bookmarks is a challenge. Other than that, I dig it. I also have IE8, which has a ton of features, but thus it’s never really worked correctly…

As Seen On TV

But the real reason that Google Chrome is in the headlines is for another reason entirely: Google Chrome has the honor of being the first Google product to be advertised on television (although search has made “appearances” in other advertiser’s spots).

Touted as an experiment, Google states that they will use the Google TV Ads system, which includes cable systems and networks that allow Google to sell some of their inventory. Echostar’s Dish Network and NBC Universal cable networks like CNBC, Sleuth and Chiller are some of their available networks. The entire endeavor will be low cost.

Google started a marketing campaign for Chrome last month in which it commissioned 11 videos from small creative firms that were initially posted and promoted on YouTube. Recently, Google started placing those videos on websites through ad buys, including an expandable ad on the front page of the New York Times’ website.

Jeff Louis: Strategic Media Planner, Project Manager, and New Business Coordinator. His passion is writing, contributing to BMA as well as freelancing. He’d love to hear from you: linkedin.com/in/jefflouis or twitter.com/jlo0312.

Nicole Kidman revisits her Moulin Rouge days in a Schweppes ad where both innocence (personified by a smiling Indian girl) and sexuality (personified by a beguiled house-hubby) vie for her attention.

Just in time to ride the hype, Crispin Porter + Bogusky launch this geektastic Burger King spot with a Star Trek spin.

I have a love/hate relationship with the aggregators that provide the news feeds to my lap top. I’ve been using two…one that is on my desk top that is on pretty much all the time. It works well, but some of the sites that I want feeds from don’t load correctly. So, I also have my feeds set up on iGoogle, and Google Reader. Actually, looking at it new light, it’s not the aggregators; it’s the state of the advertising industry that has my panties bunched up in a wad. Just to give you an idea of what we, as an industry face, I went back in time and pulled some of the juicier headlines from the last couple months:

TV Revs to Decline 21% in Two Years

Media Industry Job Cuts Soar 57%

The number of job cuts in corporate America between January and April was up 9 percent from the same time period last year. In the media industry, job cuts are up 57 percent over last year, according to a survey from consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Although analyst’s state that it’s not time to panic, what is it time for? Tea & Crumpets? (These statistics are from 5/2/2008)

Media Jobs Disappearing

The job market for U.S. media employment has dropped to it’s lowest point in 15 years. Much of this has to do with the dying throes of newspaper industry, as well as the automotive and housing industry “set-backs”, which were not what would be commonly known as beneficial. However, one bright spot is that the market consultant profession gained the bulk of new jobs last year, according to AdAge. Media positions are low compared to levels in 2000. It’s estimated that newspapers, nationwide, have cut 25% (1 of 4) positions since 1990, when newspapers made up half of the media jobs available in the U.S.

Analysts Expect More Major Media Company Cuts to Come

The U.S. Labor Department reported that some 530,000 jobs were lost in November of 2008 which, at the time, brought the unemployment rate to 6.7%. The media industry did it’s best ensuring the numbers were high, as Viacom and NBC combined to chop 1400 postions.

Viacom and NBC both cut jobs last week. Viacom dumped 850 workers, while NBC cut jobs at its NBC News and broadcast ops in an ongoing effort to hack a total of 500 jobs. And those cuts are just the tip of the iceberg, says Barclays Capital analyst Anthony DiClemente (via Mediaweek). “Further work-force reduction announcements should be expected from the other large-cap media companies,” he says.

WPP to Trim Thousands, Ogilvy Already Feeling the Knife

WPP announced that they would be cutting around 7,000 jobs worldwide. The media giant employs approximately 100,000 people. The U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain were cited by the company as markets under pressure, writes Reuters. The cuts have already begun. Adweek reports that WPP’s Ogilvy Group reduced 10% of its staff today. The cuts affected Ogilvy & Mather, OgilvyOne, Ogilvy Interactive and OgilvyAction. 

Omnicom Group is bracing for cut-backs, estimating that 3,500 of its 70,000 workers will get tossed.

Conclusions

The competition is fierce, to say the least. Right now, even receiving a phone interview is a victory. There is a lot of demand, and zero supply. The bright light at the end of the tunnel is that advertising and media professionals tend to be extremely flexible, strategically creative, and work well under pressure–all huge assets. Think progressively, and be bold; after all, what is the worst that could happen?

Jeff Louis: Strategic Media Planner, Project Manager, and New Business Coordinator. His passion is writing, contributing to BMA as well as freelancing. He’d love to hear from you: linkedin.com/in/jefflouis or twitter.com/jlo0312

“Birdhouse” is a painstakingly detailed spot about a relatable life chez bird, decompressing after a long day flying from branch to branch or whatever it is birds do.

There’s something ballsy about the UPS Store comparing itself to complex acrobatics or death by amphitheater. So, props for being flagrant.

Did you get the RFP?

Did you receive Current’s RFP? The cable network is in search of an agency to “…formulate a brand/ad strategy that communicates who Current is through compelling, inspiring, and even controversial advertising.” Sounds like a client that would be great for your roster, right? One that would challenge the creative department’s expertise, and possibly land your agency on the front page of Creativity.

The RFP wasn’t selective…it went out to everyone. It’s understandable that you could have been missed…things have been crazy, especially with most of your effort being spent on cost reductions and reviewing financials. You’ve made difficult decisions lately; downsizing, reducing benefits, cutting pension plans, ending bonus payouts, maybe even dumping the “not-so-free” coffee service. Decisions affecting real people, a responsibility greater than many could bear. The only solace: you’re not alone.

However, it’s never good policy to miss out on new business opportunities. If you missed the RFP, read on.

History tells us…

Once upon a time, broadcast television experienced explosive growth; it began at the close of WW II and roughly ended around 1960, with eighty-five percent of U.S. households owning a television set (a 500% growth rate). Decades later, the Internet did the same thing, at a faster rate and in much higher revenues. In hindsight, we wonder, “how could anyone have missed these opportunities?” Yet, some did. The chart, below, compares the first fourteen years of ad revenue growth for TV (blue), Cable (red), and Online (green):

It’s happening again with Social Media (SM), a tsunami that grows daily…(let us pause to let the information sink in). Every day Social Media reinvents itself, converting commonplace consumers into informed users. Exponentially. It’s mashable, interlacing various user “platforms” (Facebook, Twitter, Digg, etc.) together, allowing users to choose one platform and also access all of the others. If you’re so inclined, you can even download a new desktop that will integrate all SM for you. SM is not comprised of stand-alone applications, and if you consider SM as a media tactic, you’re on the wrong track.

What do you do?

Wake up! Your agency is out of alignment: your strategy’s obsolete if it doesn’t capitalize on Social Media opportunities. Scrap the current strategy–even if it’s working. Meet with your staff. You may not be “in the know,” but your employees use SM on a daily basis. Use these resources to determine your SM strategy. Start a Twitter profile. Add your company profile to LinkedIn and Facebook. Begin an agency blog. Ensure your website has an RSS feed. Become content-oriented. If your specialty is automobiles and healthcare, tell the world how to weather the storm. Show them how to succeed. Invite them to contact you. Become the “go-to” for information regarding your agency’s strengths. Connect with your current clients…it is your singular purpose. Once you’ve engaged them, reach out and captivate new ones. In a meeting last week concerning the fall of newspaper, Google CEO Last week, Google’s CEO told the newspaper industry: Innovate to survive.

Today, I’m telling you: Be bold. Do great things.

Jeff Louis is a Strategic Media Planner, Project Manager, and New Business Coordinator. His passion is writing, contributing to BMA as well as freelancing. He’d love to hear from you: linkedin.com/in/jefflouis or twitter.com/jlo0312.

One of the best perks about writing for (or with) the advertising industry is that there is always enough news to regurgitate without beating a story into the pavement. Especially during these economic times when many companies find themselves struggling to stay in the black. There are new campaigns launched every week, agency shake-ups, ethical questions to answer-it’s like having a gold mine of RSS data-feeds loaded in the Google Reader. This morning, over 2000 stories had come in over RSS since yesterday.

The other fantastic reason to work in this business is the community that surrounds: creative, strategic, deep-thinking people that fuel the business with inane, often stupidly funny ideas. Immersed in client strategy and brand building, these ideas that seemed so idiotic during the creative kick-off meeting actually transform in to fantastic campaigns. The latest campaign that comes to mind is the Kentucky Fried Chicken  grilled chicken spots, replete with a new website, a social media following on Facebook (and the obligatory anti-group “Keep KFC Fried”), integrated games, and three new TV spots that engage consumers rather than talking at them.

But, there are also “best and brightest” ideas that start poorly and end with company damage and public relations stepping in to help stop the blood flow. The ideas were innovative and innocuous when they started, but resulted in offending consumers so quickly that public outcry was  immediately heard. This week the award goes to Apple’s iPhone App, Baby Shaker. The premise of this “game” was that the iPhone ”baby” cried and fussed loudly, not stopping until the iPhone user shook the phone vigorously.

Although not created by Apple, (the application was the brain-child of Sikalosoft) they are taking the heat for it due to the rigorous vetting process applications receive before approval. Parents aren’t the only offended parties; reviewers, other developers, and many consumers expressed their disgust on the web. The public has suggested that the employees who approved the application lose their jobs.

Application-review site Krapps wrote in a review before the app was pulled: “Maybe it’s just us, but we would never even joke about child abuse and use it as a form of entertainment. Maybe we’re just square pegs and out of the norm because apparently Apple and the folks at Sikalosoft think shaking a baby is funny.”

Neither Sikalosoft nor Apple responded to requests for comment.

 
Jeff Louis is a Strategic Media Planner, Project Manager, and New Business Coordinator. His passion is writing, contributing to BMA as well as freelancing. He’d love to hear from you: www.linkedin.com/in/jefflouis or on twitter.com/jlo0312

What else to say, this Little Fluffy Clouds spot for Mercedes-Benz is slick as hell.