Wednesday, 28 January 2009

We're not doomed, thank God

Taken from Marketing week:

A record 2.4 billion ads were watched on television every day in 2008 in the UK, according to new research by the Broadcaster’s Audience Research Board.

The figure means that an average of 42 ads were seen per person every day, and it is up by 6.3% from 2.25 billion in 2007. The rise comes despite an increase in the number of people watching catch-up TV through digital TV recorders and broadband services such as the BBC iPlayer.

The report shows that overall broadcast TV viewing in 2008 was up nearly an hour a week on 2007, with the average person in the UK watching 26 hours, 18 minutes a week, matching the high viewing figures seen in 2003.

The positive research comes ahead of the Government’s Digital Britain report, which is expected to be published this week. The report was commissioned by communications minister Lord Carter, a former Ofcom chief executive.

Twitter error?

Got this from Web strategy by Jeremiah.

It covers a US 'incident' on twitter. A guy called James Andrews, an executive who works at Ketchum, a well known PR agency is accused of bad form, and his company had to backtrack when he posted a tweet on the way to visit his client Fedex: “True confession but I’m in one of those towns where I scratch my head and say “I would die if I h ad to live here!” it caused angst with the ‘location sensitive’ client, and they issued this comment, apparently on this blog, after it was run up the flagpole.

Rule of thumb:
(fitting, if you tweet from a mobile device). When you tweet, you’re publishing, don’t say anything you wouldn’t say to someone’s face, and assume that your current and future boss, wife, and mother are reading it.

Creative Farm

Doomed, doomed, we are all doomed.

Old media will never be as profitable again, warns WPP's Sorrell

LONDON - The profit margins within traditional media, including television and newspapers, will never be the same again, according to WPP chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell.

Sir Martin Sorrell: traditional media will never be the same again says WPP chief
Speaking to more than 250 media and advertising professionals at an IAA event yesterday (January 21), the leader of the group behind some £15bn in revenue last year, warned the media sector continues to be "disintermediated" by low-cost business models.

"The painful thing for old media is it will never be the same again," Sorrell said. "It will never be as profitable as it has been."

To underline his point, Sorrell, drew on the UK's receding ad market, which WPP's GroupM forecast to fall 5.8% and 6% in 2008 and 2009 respectively: "ITV and Michael Grade continually say it (TV airtime) is as cheap as it's ever been and impacts are up, so why aren't they buying?"

Turning his attention to print, Sorrell warned that the "structural changes" - referring to the many job losses, falls in circulations and drops in print advertising across the sector - were set to continue.

He said the seeds of the problem were sown when the people who created the new-media industry in the early Nineties, decided to give it away for free.

While he admitted this was the right move from the consumer point of view, it has changed the nature of the print business model.

"It is impossible to take it back up," he said. "You can always start up here and take the pricing down, but you can't start there and start moving it up."

He also drew on the fortunes of the British regional press, where revenues are set to plummet 19.1% in 2008 and a further 13.2% in 2009, according to GroupM.

Sorrell recalled a time not too long ago when Johnston Press was "the best run media company", noting that now its market cap has "gone from £1.2bn to virtually nothing in a very short space of time".

However, despite the fundamentally changes brought about by new media, Sorrell called the marketing and communications business a "vibrant" industry that remains "front and centre of importance".

"None of our clients will survive and prosper unless they continue to differentiate themselves in either tangible or intangible ways," he said, adding that this is where branding and innovation is required.

"Without innovation you can’t have branding. But the two go together. Differentiation, which is at the heart of everything we do at WPP, is critical."

Brand re-discovering a war time ethic?

Really interesting report about how brands in the US are looking at brands from Landor New York's 2009 Trends Forecast: Market Trends and Their Impact on Brands.

Main thought is that brands are moving away from conspicuous consumerism to modesty and moderation. Put simply, the economy has meant that flaunting luxury is becoming bad taste.

Key points from LANDOR ASSOCIATES NEW YORK's trends outlook 2009

• 'Acceptable consumerism' is the new ethos

• Richer consumers will be less interested in displays of wealth

• Flaunting wealth will be considered bad taste

• Consumers will seek comfort and security rather than status

• Rise of old-world sensibilities in branding

• Home-care segment will be well-positioned

A few good creative men

Men with big ideas. The size of the logo doesn't sell product. Time to pcik up a pencil I guess?

Monday, 26 January 2009

Predictions for 2009

Always worth starting the year with a few guesses at what 2009 might bring. Cheezhead has done a pretty good job with their 2009 predictions. Usual suspect of mobile making it big is on the list. Will iPhone actually deliver the promise?

digg

Hitwise To Go - US

Random Culture