Lol check out this Mario Bros style video campaign launched by The Leicestershire Teenage Pregnancy Partnership. Hilarious! regardless it's effective or not...

Nielsen Admits Undercounting Web Traffic

by Michael Learmonth
Published: November 04, 2010

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The Nielsen Co. disclosed today it has been undercounting traffic to websites -- for at least the last three months -- due to a flaw in its system that failed to recognize long internet addresses, underestimating "time spent" on the internet and especially social-media sites.

Nielsen is still investigating both the cause and extent of the error, but is advising clients in a letter today that it believes their "time spent" metrics -- or the amount of time visitors spend on a website or watching video -- may be grossly underestimated by the current system.
The flaw affects Nielsen's NetView service, but likely also VideoCensus, MegaView Retail, MegaView Search, AdRelevance, WebRF services as well as custom research. Nielsen believes this flaw has caused the appearance of a 22% decline in time spent on the web over the past several months. The company says the issue will be corrected for December data, which will be delivered in January.

The impact of the error, though, will be felt by the online media and advertising industries, as well as Nielsen. Nielsen data isn't used as buying currency -- like Nielsen's TV ratings are -- but it is used by agencies to plan spending and allocate dollars. Websites or video services that don't have enough scale don't make the plan and don't get dollars. Now, some of them may learn that they've been shortchanged by the biggest brand in media measurement.

In this case, Nielsen's systems were choking on long URLs -- more than 2,000 characters; sessions in which a visitor hit a page containing those long addresses simply weren't counted. These long URLs have proliferated mostly due to social networks, like Facebook, which use URLs to pass data back and forth. However, this flaw would affect websites whether they used long URLs or not: If a Nielsen panelist visited one site with a long URL, all of the other web activity in the session was sometimes lost as well.

"We don't yet know if some properties were more affected than others," said Ari Paparo, exec VP-online products at Nielsen. "That's one of the questions that needs to be resolved."

Media owners have long complained that data from their internal logs was often leagues different than the data they got from Nielsen, and to a lesser extent, Comscore. That discrepancy is usually blamed on the fact that publishers pull audience data from their logs, while Nielsen and Comscore use panels and, more recently, a hybrid panel-census approach.

Nielsen is still investigating the cause of this flaw and extent of the problem and said "every element of our internet measurement methodology, including the panel, collection capabilities and processes" is under review.

"We need to do a better job keeping pace with the rapid evolution of the internet," said the letter, signed by media services president Steve Hasker and Mr. Paparo.

Mr. Paparo joined Nielsen in July after spending many years at Google and, earlier, at DoubleClick. Mr. Hasker, a former partner at McKinsey, joined Nielsen in 2009.

They have also asked the Media Rating Council, which accredits data providers, to review the findings. Going forward, Nielsen will provide progress reports on its investigation, and advises clients to not use the data until the problems are fixed.

From: http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=146899

FCKH8 (Warning - you will be offended)

BBC News - Journalists targeted by extremists in Iraq

BBC News - Journalists targeted by extremists in Iraq

Alisa Miller shares the news about the news | Video on TED.com

What do we get from a series of Old Spice youtube commercials?

when we see a commercial like this, what do we do? we might go to google and search who "Isaiah Mustafa" is; or we might go on youtube and get more similar Old Spice commercials by Isaiah Mustafa, and then send them around to friends. Do we want to share how loyal we are with this brand? no we share them simply because they are funny!
- a very successful example of online world of mouth.

Google’s Latest Moves: Free Phone Calls & Real-Time Search | 80beats | Discover Magazine

Google’s Latest Moves: Free Phone Calls & Real-Time Search | 80beats | Discover Magazine

BBC - Newsbeat - UK soldiers use iPad app to train for Afghan operations

BBC - Newsbeat - UK soldiers use iPad app to train for Afghan operations

The Web Means the End of Forgetting - NYTimes.com

The Web Means the End of Forgetting - NYTimes.com

"According to a recent survey by Microsoft, 75 percent of U.S. recruiters and human-resource professionals report that their companies require them to do online research about candidates, and many use a range of sites when scrutinizing applicants — including search engines, social-networking sites, photo- and video-sharing sites, personal Web sites and blogs, Twitter and online-gaming sites."

Our Un-Social Social Media - Advertising Age - CMO Strategy

A good article about social media by the VP of Nielsen's digital service -

"At the end of the day, social media should be a relationship vitamin and sweetener, not a destination. It should deepen bonds, not defuse or soften them." - Pete Blackshaw

In recent weeks I've been in a state of "digital detox," or better yet, "social sobriety." Ironically, I now feel a bit more in touch and conversational.
My beautiful sister Mary Grace passed away a week ago as a result of complications from heart failure. She was only 55. The extreme shock was mitigated only slightly by spending a week with her in the hospital before she died.

From the first inkling of serious trouble to last weekend's beautiful memorial service in the San Diego area, my life's been a non-stop series of conversations. I'm talking about the real stuff -- deep, intimate, authentic, meaningful, sustaining, raw, emotional, agonizing, intense. And with a diverse cross-section of audiences: my six siblings, multiple relatives, doctors, nurses, close friends of my sister, her son, my Alzheimer's-afflicted mother and others.

Needless to say, this has given me long-overdue pause for introspection. Connecting in meaningful ways over someone you have lost, or are losing, makes everything else we deem "social" seem so ... well, unsocial. Or perhaps just a bit trivial.

Indeed, looking at the word "conversation" through the lens of social media, you almost wonder whether we've allowed it to become cheapened and commoditized.

For perspective, I've ramped up a fair share of connections, thousands of followers and gobs of reciprocating "link love" over the years. Ego gratification notwithstanding, at times it all feels rather superficial. Surely we can't consider all this "social" activity a proxy for real relationship-building.

At the end of the day, social media should be a relationship vitamin and sweetener, not a destination. It should deepen bonds, not defuse or soften them. Remember, volume doesn't always translate into intimacy. Speed doesn't guarantee meaningful connections. Retweets don't necessarily confer respect. Friending doesn't always signal friendliness.

As marketers, we're just starting to emerge from the full force of the first social-media tsunami wave. We blinked, and suddenly 550 million people joined Facebook. We turned our head, and Twitter has become a national compulsion. All the world's our friend. A kingdom for a good tweet.

Moreover, our vernacular has made radical leaps to the language of "relationship" building. "Conversational marketing" is the order of the day. We're obsessed with words like listening, authenticity, transparency and responsiveness.

All well and good, but these practices and forceful words carry real expectations. Amid the social stampede, we may want to step out of line and reflect on what it means to really fulfill our new claims and promises. Importantly, how much credibility do we lose -- both as individuals and brand marketers -- if our real behavior moves in the opposite direction?

One irresistible lure of social media is that it provides an easier gateway to "relationships." A smart paid-media trigger or well-executed word-of-mouth campaign can suddenly put a hundred-thousand incremental followers on a Facebook fan page.

But there's a big distinction between "click-through" and "stick-through." It takes real work and investment -- and even tough head-count decisions (think "community managers") -- to nurture and grow relationships, and even that's not a guarantee of success. This is why getting social media right is fundamentally an "enterprise" -- and not merely a marketing -- endeavor.

I've been a big stickler in this column for "boring basics" like customer service, especially answering the phone, because such acts hit a deeper emotional sweet spot with consumers, often triggering more profitable (or destructive) word-of-mouth activity. And so I was excited to see Best Buy's Twelpforce, one of my favorite marketing programs of the year, nab one of Cannes' top advertising prizes. But looking ahead, with novelty and awards out of the way, I'm curious how the brand will truly sustain the effort. It's really hard to scale intimacy. Relationships take work, whether by handshake or tweet.

There's yet another layer to this humbling meditation. What we also have here, amid our endless connections, is a failure to communicate -- and we barely know it. Conversational discontinuities are everywhere. Few people these days ever look up in public spaces -- on planes, on elevators, in restaurants, even while walking down the street. We're perpetually looking down or escaping into our wireless devices. Heck, "Bowling Alone" seems more social than neckless social-media cocooning. Welcome to Generation Heads Down!

In fairness to social media, I was deeply touched by the groundswell of love and support from folks who left condolences about my sister Mary Grace on Facebook. I was similarly touched when my father died several years ago, and a blog I created in his honor precipitated nearly a hundred comments and testimonials. I was so moved I wrote a column titled "Death, Social Media and Remembrance."

But in those rare instances where the fuzzy fog of social-media friendship and conversation finds authentic voice, how do we take it to the next level -- with real meaning and sustained traction?

My sister Mary Grace would probably remind us that that the shiny lure of new technology can sometimes blind us to simpler steps and more obvious truths. Like my father, she nurtured and grew relationships in ways that humbled social-media pontificators like myself. That much was obvious listening to some of her friends reflect on the depth and substance of their relationships with her during the service on Saturday.

Interestingly, Mary never forgot the simple things like birthdays, and she religiously sent the family reminders months in advance for all seven siblings, a dozen or so nieces and nephews and other relatives. I never seem to remember birthdays.

Nurturing real conversations and real relationship-building with consumers isn't necessarily difficult. It might be right under our nose. But it's very easy to get distracted or even veer off the road.

Original Post: http://adage.com/cmostrategy/article?article_id=144993

Apple Making New Push Into China - NYTimes.com

SHANGHAI — Although Apple is widely admired in China, most fans of its products here have been buying their iPhones, iPods and Mac computers from smugglers who operate through underground electronics markets. The company has few sales outlets in the country and only one Apple Store, a branch in Beijing.

But with Apple set to open a flagship Saturday in Shanghai — one of its largest stores in Asia — the company is embarking on a concerted effort to raise its profile in the world’s biggest mobile phone market and tap more directly into China’s fast-growing consumer electronics market.

Apple intends to open 25 retail stores in China over the next two years, starting with the Shanghai outlet, which it previewed for reporters Thursday.

“We view this store as a kind of launching pad,” Ron Johnson, senior vice president of retail operations at Apple, said Thursday.

By opening retail outlets in China, Apple is following other global brands eager to market to the country’s increasingly affluent consumers. While overall retail sales in the United States and Europe are weak, China’s economy is booming, and companies like Best Buy, the Gap, Nike, Starbucks, Zara and most of Europe’s big luxury brands are opening new stores in China.

Analysts who follow Apple say that China offers a huge opportunity for the a company because Apple’s market share in the country is tiny — less than 5 percent in most major categories.

“Apple plans a major invasion of China over the next 18 months to two years,” said Charles Wolf, an analyst who follows Apple for Needham & Co. and credits its retail stores with significantly bolstering Apple’s brand. “To date, Apple has not been a force in China. But it will be.”

But other analysts say Apple faces significant hurdles in China. The company’s product releases have been dogged by delays. Sales through official distributors have been weakened by prices that are substantially higher than in the United States, fueling a brisk underground trade in smuggled goods.

The iPhone, for instance, was officially released in China only late last year, nearly two years after it was introduced in the United States. By then, analysts say, more than one million iPhones had been brought into the country by tourists or smugglers.

Apple also faces stiff competition from Nokia, Motorola, HTC and other mobile phone brands that use Google’s Android operating system. Those companies have been aggressively marketing their products in China, which has more than 650 million mobile phone users.

Even Lenovo, the Chinese computer maker, has entered the smart phone market by introducing what it calls LePhone, which is priced far below the iPhone.

In an interview published Monday in The Financial Times, Liu Chuanzhi, the head of Lenovo, said Apple was missing a huge opportunity in the Chinese market because the company was spending too little time serving Chinese consumers and understanding their needs.

Apple would not comment on the Lenovo statements. But Apple executives hope that building stores in China will give the company more direct contact with its consumers and duplicate the excitement Apple has generated elsewhere. If Apple opens 25 stores by 2012, China would most likely become the company’s third-largest market after the United States and Britain.

Retail stores could also help China Unicom, a state-owned telecommunications company that now has an exclusive multiyear deal to sell the iPhone in China.

Analysts estimate that China Unicom has sold about one million iPhones since late last year. They say the company had expected to sell far more by now but that the high price of the iPhone (5,880 renminbi, or about $864 up front for the 3GS model with a complicated calling plan and refunds over a two-year period) have prevented stronger sales.

“The price of the official iPhones is too high compared to that on the grey market,” says Sandy Shen, an analyst at Gartner, a research firm based in Stamford, Connecticut. “Also, Apple has too few retail stores in China. It is inconvenient for consumers to find one when they want to buy the iPhone, iPod or Mac.”

China Unicom recently introduced a cheaper plan, and sales have improved, analysts say.

Black market sellers say that even with new Apple stores, they have an advantage because Apple has been delaying the international release of new products like the iPhone 4 and the iPad.

“They won’t have any impact on our clients,” said Yang Zijie, a vendor selling Apple products Thursday at an electronics market in Shanghai. “Their price for the iPhone 3GS is much higher. Customers who already got used to the price of smuggled goods won’t turn to them. And they don’t have the iPhone 4 or the iPad at all!”

But many analysts say consumers will flock to Apple stores. Apple products are widely and comically imitated in China, and the large number of phones smuggled into the country is an indication of pent-up demand.

Apple will get a taste of that demand on Saturday, when the Shanghai flagship store is set to open in an upscale mall in the Pudong financial district near some of the city’s gleaming new skyscrapers.

The shop is designed in Apple’s sleek, minimalist style and punctuated by a cylindrical glass shell 12 meters, or 40 feet, tall that echoes the company’s iconic Fifth Avenue store in New York.

The entrance to the store, which has about 175 workers, is through a winding staircase that takes customers into an underground area that sells computers, smartphones and accessories. It is outfitted with the company’s trademark Genius Bar (where customers can get technical support) and a “briefing room” intended for business seminars.

Mr. Johnson was beaming Thursday as he introduced the store’s features to about 100 journalists, saying that the shop offered “all the hallmarks of an Apple store experience plus a couple more.”

At the end of his briefing, even the members of the news media could not hold back their enthusiasm; the group broke into loud applause.

Bao Beibei contributed research.

Original Post: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/09/technology/09apple.html?_r=1&hp

Twitter Gets Into E-Commerce - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER

Last year, we wrote that Twitter was considering e-commerce as one of its revenue models. On Tuesday it unveiled its first foray into selling products.

The company announced @earlybird Exclusive Offers, which will be time-sensitive deals on products and events that will appear on the @earlybird Twitter account. People can follow that account to get access to the deals.

The idea borrows from private and limited-time sale sites, like Gilt, Groupon and Woot (which Amazon.com recently acquired), a recent trend in online shopping. It also takes advantage of what companies like Dell, which attributes millions of dollars in sales to posting deals on Twitter, are already doing.

The deals could be on products, like iPods or diapers, or on events, like concert tickets or travel. In a post on a company blog, Twitter hinted that it could filter deals by category, like apparel or gadgets, in the future. Twitter stressed that it would be selective about which deals were offered and “try and make these deals interesting and of value to you.”

The retailers will determine the price of the items and how many are available. Twitter will earn money from the sales. It is experimenting with different models, like a cut of each sale or a fixed price per deal, said Sean Garrett, a Twitter spokesman. The retailers will collect shoppers’ credit card numbers and otherwise fulfill the transaction.

This is a different approach to e-commerce than the one we wrote about last year, in which retailers could offer transactions on the site based on what people are writing about. A running shoe retailer, for example, could offer shoes to people who asked about the best shoes for running on trails. This might still be possible with annotations, a new service that Twitter says it is rolling out soon so that people can add so-called metadata, like a way to make a purchase, to Twitter posts.

The first deal will appear soon, Mr. Garrett said. They will initially be nationwide, but Twitter is considering offering deals specific to cities or countries later on. If @earlybird takes off, Twitter could become a competitor to Groupon and the many other local daily deal sites, as well as to Woot, Gilt and others.

The tech blog ReadWriteWeb first reported on @earlybird last week, and Twitter announced the details on a company blog on Tuesday.

Original Post:
Twitter Gets Into E-Commerce - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Update of BP's Oil Spill Case - Obama: BP Is Responsible for Spill, Offshore Drilling Will Be Regulated | Fast Company

Obama: BP Is Responsible for Spill, Offshore Drilling Will Be Regulated | Fast Company

Posted using ShareThis

Barack Obama's Rant Against New Media

“WITH iPods and iPads and Xboxes and PlayStations—none of which I know how to work—information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment.” In a speech to students at Hampton University on May 9th, Mr Obama did not just name-check some big brands; he also joined a long tradition of grumbling about new technologies and new forms of media.

Socrates’s bugbear was the spread of the biggest-ever innovation in communications—writing. He feared that relying on written texts, rather than the oral tradition, would “create forgetfulness in the learners’ souls…they will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves.” Enos Hitchcock voiced a widespread concern about the latest publishing fad in 1790. “The free access which many young people have to romances, novels and plays has poisoned the mind and corrupted the morals of many a promising youth.” (There was a related worry that sofas, introduced at the same time, encouraged young people to drift off into fantasy worlds.) Cinema was denounced as “an evil pure and simple” in 1910; comic books were said to lead children into delinquency in 1954; rock’n’roll was accused of turning the young into “devil worshippers” in 1956; Hillary Clinton attacked video games for “stealing the innocence of our children” in 2005.

Mr Obama is, at least, bang up to date with his reference to the iPad, which now joins the illustrious list of technologies to have been denounced by politicians, and with his grumbling about the crazy theories circulated by the combination of blogs and talk radio. But such Luddism is particularly curious in Mr Obama’s case, given that he is surgically attached to his BlackBerry, his presidential campaign made exemplary use of the internet, and he has used YouTube to great effect to deliver his message directly to viewers, circumventing the mainstream media in the process. Presumably all those are examples of good information (the empowering sort) rather than bad (the distracting or misleading sort).

This distinction, of course, is bogus. Anybody who has ever taken a meeting knows that trying to hold the attention of people with BlackBerrys is like trying to teach Latin to delinquent teenagers. And the devices Mr Obama denounces have many constructive uses. Lectures, language lessons and course materials are among more than 250,000 educational audio and video files available on iTunes. iPads and their ilk may yet turn into a practical alternative to textbooks. Video games are widely used as educational tools, not just for pilots, soldiers and surgeons, but also in schools and businesses. And Larry Katz, a Harvard economist, suspects that video games and websites may have kept the young and idle busy during this recession, thus explaining the surprising lack of an uptick in crime.
Devices and desires

Mr Obama complained that technology was putting “new pressures on our country and on our democracy”. But iPods, iPads and suchlike are not to blame for the crazy theories—about, for instance, politicians’ birth certificates—that circulate in the blogosphere. People have always traded gossip: the internet just makes it easier and quicker. The culprit is human nature, not technology. And new communications technologies tend to strengthen democracy, not weaken it, as revolutionaries have known ever since Thomas Paine and others used the printing press to argue for American independence.

At least Mr Obama got one thing right: the idea that educating people is the best way to enable them to adapt to technological change, and use it for good. But technology is not an alternative to education and empowerment; it can, in fact, help deliver them. America’s first web-savvy president should understand that.

Original Post:
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=16109292

A Good Article about How BP is Handling Its Newest PR Crisis

According to BP, it is the Gulf of Mexico oil spill but according to the environmental protection activists and even President Obama, it is the BP oil spill. Below is an article about how BP handles this oil spill crisis in different ways.

Oil Stick
By Christopher Beam

BP faces two crises. The first is stopping the spillage of 200,000 gallons of oil a day in the Gulf of Mexico. The other is convincing people it's trying to stop the spillage of 200,000 gallons of oil a day in the Gulf of Mexico.
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BP has long been famous for its public relations—in good ways and bad. Its "Beyond Petroleum" rebranding campaign, first launched in 2000, earned plaudits from the P.R. community. It also drew mockery from journalists and environmentalists who saw the campaign as "greenwashing." Now, in the midst of the biggest disaster of its disaster-laden history, BP is experimenting with new ways to get its message out. Its traditional efforts—official statements, press releases, morning-show interviews—have been hit or miss, according to crisis communications experts. But it appears to be having more success with social media.

Since the initial explosion on the oil rig in April, BP has made some missteps. For example, the company initially told reporters that the rig was leaking 1,000 barrels of oil a day. The real figure turned out to be 5,000 barrels, after a new leak was discovered. Even then a BP spokesman downplayed the number as somewhere between 1,000 and 5,000. "That hurt their credibility early on," says Timothy Coombs, who teaches public relations at Eastern Illinois University. "People wondered, How much can we trust you?" It also violated a rule that Larry Smith of the Institute for Crisis Management tells his clients: "Don't speculate. If you know, say so. If you don't know, say you don't know."
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Nor should BP have tried to deflect blame for the accident. Its first press release after the spill emphasized that the oil rig belonged to drilling contractor Transocean Ltd. and that BP offered its "full support," implying that it wasn't at fault. The company also referred to the accident as the "Gulf of Mexico oil spill," whereas others—including President Obama and the Environmental Protection Agency—called it the "BP oil spill." BP then tried to distinguish between blame for the accident and responsibility for cleaning up after it. "It wasn't our accident," CEO Tony Hayward said on the Today show, "but we are absolutely responsible for the oil, for cleaning it up."

That may be literally true: BP owns the oil but not the rig. But it's a shoddy communications strategy, says Smith. Wherever the fault lies, BP shouldn't be splitting hairs. Companies should take the fall and work out recriminations behind closed doors, says Coombs. For example, when the chain Taco Johns had an E. coli outbreak, it didn't publicly blame the lettuce supplier. It took responsibility. And, of course, sued the lettuce supplier later.

BP also needs to grasp that though it may not be a villain, people perceive it that way. Hayward initially said that BP "will honor all legitimate claims for business interruption." A reporter asked what an illegitimate claim would look like. "I could give you lots of examples," he said. "This is America—come on. We're going to have lots of illegitimate claims. We all know that." Michael W. Robinson of Levick Strategic Communications recommends a bit more self-awareness. "You have to recognize that everyone, from fishermen to congressmen, is going to look at you with a jaundiced view," Robinson says.

When it comes to social media and the Web, though, communications experts give BP high marks. BP created a section of its Web site dedicated to the spill, complete with photos, video, and maps that track the cleanup. "I'd have to give it an A+," says Smith. In one video, a sweaty, fatigued Hayward explains the cleanup while a roomful of busy-looking employees buzzes behind him, giving viewers a glimpse into the hectic cleanup process that they don't get from an interview with Katie Couric. Same with Deepwaterhorizonresponse.com, a new Web site created by the coalition of organizations pitching in to clean up the mess, including BP. The company also posts constant updates to its Twitter feed.

Putting your propaganda on Twitter and Facebook doesn't make it any less propagandistic. But it does help a company respond faster and more precisely to new developments. When reports came out that BP was trying to get fishermen to sign waivers holding BP harmless from certain claims related to the cleanup, BP backpedaled on Twitter: "We've assured fishermen's association that fishermen offering services are not required to sign a waiver. Any signed won't be enforced." Twitter also helps build trust in small ways. For example, BP tweeted a hotline for people to call if they see oiled wildlife.

BP isn't the first company to handle a crisis via new media. When two employees of Domino's Pizza posted a video that showed one of them sticking food up his nose, the company's president posted his apology on YouTube. Nestle, meanwhile, showed what not to do by snarkily responding to critics on its Facebook page.

But BP appears to be embracing the more-is-better ethos of new media more than any other troubled company. "The old saying is true: You can never overcommunicate in a crisis," says Robinson. By that measure, BP is doing just fine.

Original Post:
http://www.slate.com/id/2253099

Content is Back - Study Shows Marketers Shifting Online Budgets to Content Sites

Below is a very informative article about ad spending trends.

A couple of key facts that I find important:
1). Content is king - it is arguable but I believe when it comes to Advertising, both the content of the ad itself and the content of the media context (whether the content is relevant to the brand) are very important. Especially with the popularity of viral marketing nowadays, if you don't have a outstanding content, your commercial will not become viral. As in this article, marketers are shifting their ad dollar from the ad networks to content site.

2). Online video are taking a share away from broadcast TV. Now, it doesn't mean that TV is dying. But it is a fact that as more people using youtube, hulu, and even TV networks own webisites to watch different shows or videos, part of the ad dollar will flow to the internet naturally. However, advertisers still need to figure out a new way fit the ad in the right content and target the right audience.

3). As a vestige of TV advertising, demo targeting IS still the most used. One of the reasons mentioned in this article is because the legacy of TV ad planning is typically geared toward demographics, not behavior. However, with the budget shifting from TV to Internet, marketers need to realize that they can't copy everything from the TV Ad planning. I think when it comes to the Internet, it is possible to obtain all kinds of behavioral information and behavioral metrics are more effective anyways.



Study Shows Marketers Shifting Online Budgets to Content Sites

By Edmund Lee

NEW YORK (AdAge) -- With their ability to cheaply reach eyeballs, online ad networks have commanded more money and attention from marketers in the past few years, thus edging out content sites in the conversation for ad dollars. A recent study, however, claims content is back.


WebMD is cited in the study as an example of a content destination.
A survey of agencies and marketers revealed that 52% of them plan to spend more on content sites this year, whereas only 35% said they were likely to increase budgets for ad networks. As examples of content destinations, the study cited ESPN and WebMD.
"In the last two years ad networks have taken advantage of the recession, but what's missing from that is why advertisers advertise in the first place -- it's all about brand," said Randy Cohen, president of research firm Advertiser Perceptions, which conducted the study. "Content sites may not have efficiencies, but they have more context and more relevance to brands. There's a changing ecosystem for online display advertising."

Video takes TV share
The report also found that online video will take a share away from broadcast TV this year, with 57% of respondents saying they were likely to shift ad dollars in that direction. The reason is similar to the shift that favors content over network. Sites like Hulu.com are enticing marketers with clean, professional content.

"I also see it as part of the rising tide for cable networks versus broadcast -- cable has some of the leading content sites around video," Mr. Cohen said. "And, secondarily, the technology is actually working. The issue now is just how much more you're putting to online."

The study showed that among big ad spenders -- those budgeting $10 million or more -- 70% were likely to move money from TV to online video.

Flight to content
As always, surveys like this reflect intentions of marketers and agencies and is not a necessary indication of actual plans. But respondents pretty consistently said that as recession-bound budgets loosen, they'll be looking to spend more to increase their brands' associations online, something ad networks have not always been able to accurately deliver.

"We still see tremendous growth for ad networks," Mr. Cohen said. "The only thing is, there are a lot of great tools and research but not a whole lot of intelligence about how to make it work. They need to think more about what marketers are trying to do with that information."

One of those tools includes behavioral targeting, widely bandied about as the best way to engage viewers online. Typically, the method involves tracking a user's click stream to determine his likes and dislikes, a practice that some privacy advocacy groups have brought to the attention of Washington.

Demos over behaviors
Whether any political fallout was a factor, 70% of marketers more commonly preferred to target based on demographics, vs. 59% who more commonly used behavioral metrics.

Though Mr. Cohen's research firm did not unearth the reasons for this preference, he suspected it was because of the legacy of TV ad planning, typically geared toward demographics, not behavior. It may be a further signal that people in the industry are either not convinced of this new metric, or don't know how to rejigger ad dollars accordingly.
"It was a somewhat surprising finding," Mr. Cohen said. "So much behavioral information and context and geo-location information out there, and demo targeting is still the most used. It's still a vestige of TV advertising. It's pretty amazing."

Original Post: http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=143403
By Edmund Lee

Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir - 'Lux Aurumque'

Nielsen: Facebook's Ads Work Pretty Well

BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) -- It pays to have fans on Facebook if you want your ads to work there too, according to the first public study to come out of the collaboration of Nielsen Co. and Facebook.

The study of more than 800,000 Facebook users and ads from 14 brands in a variety of categories shows a marked increase in ad recall, awareness and purchase intent when home-page ads on the social network mention friends of users who've become fans of the brand in the ad.

The impact on awareness and recall is even more pronounced when a home-page ad coincides with what Facebook and Nielsen term "organic" social advocacy, i.e. an item in a user's news feed indicating a friend has become a fan of a brand.

In short, so-called earned media generated when people mention or advocate brands makes the paid media considerably more effective, according to the study. Nielsen and Facebook plan to discuss results of the study in a session at Ad:Tech in San Francisco on Tuesday.

Increased recall
Facebook-home-page ads on average generated a 10% increase in ad recall, a 4% increase in brand awareness and a 2% increase in purchase intent among users who saw them compared with a control group with similar demographics or characteristics who didn't.

But the increase in recall jumped to 16% when ads included mentions of friends who were brand fans, and 30% when the ads coincided with a similar mention in users' news feeds. Brand awareness saw similar bumps: up 2% from just a home-page ad, 8% with a "social ad" bearing mentions of friends who were brand fans and up 13% when a home-page ad appeared along with a mention of friends who were brand fans in the users' news feeds.

Purchase intent was 2% higher among viewers of home-page ads vs. nonviewers, but got a four-times-bigger bump, up 8% either from social ads or when ads appeared alongside organic mentions of the brand in the news feed.

Earned and paid media
One major takeaway from the research is that paid and earned media work together in ways that could have implications well beyond Facebook, said Jon Gibbs, VP-media analytics at Nielsen. "The market has been talking very much about how to buy paid media and earn earned media, but there's been very little attention to the types of hybrid impressions and hybrid experience that blends these two," Mr. Gibbs said.

While Facebook's social ads present a fairly unique way of blending the paid and earned impressions, Mr. Gibbs noted that it's not a totally isolated example. He cited rich-media vendors that allow for Twitter feeds, social commentary or other kinds of consumer input within their ads. But he said having specific friends linked to a brand, as Facebook does, appears to have more impact than just incorporating social commentary broadly.

The recall levels for home-page ads on Facebook appear "slightly higher than standard norms we've done on other projects," Mr. Gibbs said. "What we've seen in both social ads and organic [mentions] are much higher than we've seen in other campaigns along these lines."

Results 'unremarkable'
Rex Briggs, CEO of the analytics firm Marketing Evolution, which has conducted numerous online advertising effectiveness studies, called results for Facebook's regular home-page ads "unremarkable and in line with banner ads [generally]," but he added that the results for social ads and the impact of organic mentions make for "a really interesting story."

Nielsen appeared to employ a good methodology used since the first online ad effectiveness studies in the mid 1990s, Mr. Briggs said.

"It does what Facebook wanted to do, which is legitimize the advertising and business model of Facebook," he said. "What it doesn't do is give the cross-media understanding of how does this piece fit into overall marketing plans."

What Facebook also hasn't done, he said, is open its doors and data to a variety of research companies as others, such as Microsoft, Yahoo or AOL have done. That its internal data remain largely under wraps, and its template for creating fan pages remains relatively limited compared to what marketers can do with their own sites or other networks may also be limiting revenue for Facebook, he said.

Paid media cheaper
In all, Nielsen projects around 18 million Facebook users saw ads measured as part of the study,of which around a million also saw organic mentions of their friends in social ads. Roughly another million saw organic mentions of the brands featured in the study without seeing the ads. Based on those numbers, it's still a lot easier -- if not necessarily cheaper -- to buy scale on Facebook than earn it by winning fans. It's also an indication to Mr. Gibbs that marketers need to focus on winning Facebook fans over the long haul if they want to improve their odds of success when advertising there.

Of the 18 million users exposed to the ads, only around 130,000, or less than 1%, "engaged" with them by clicking on them. But around 40,000, or around 4%, of users who saw organic mentions of their friends become brand fans clicked on those news items. The higher click-through on organic impressions is another indication of the power of earned media on Facebook, Mr. Gibbs said.

"I do think it requires a level of ongoing investment in social media," Mr. Gibbs said, as opposed to a series of short-term projects. He also said marketers who have large e-mail databases should probably be encouraging consumers in e-mail programs to join their Facebook pages. Mr. Gibbs said he doesn't believe Facebook's plans to move from "become a fan" to the more click-prone "like" as a means of joining brand pages would have much impact on the numbers in the study. And he believes, though it wasn't part of the survey, that users by now have been exposed to enough of Facebook's social ads to realize that when they become fans of a brand, they may also become endorsers in that brand's Facebook ads.

The Nielsen BrandLift polls used to survey Facebook users was a "lightweight" poll, generally with only two questions, aimed at maximizing response rates.

Nielsen didn't incorporate actual purchases, as opposed to purchase intent, "because this is the first generation of this research," Mr. Gibbs said. "We wanted to stick to branding because it's language the market is very comfortable with. In next generations, I would assume we will start incorporating offline purchase and other transactional data as part of the analysis."

by Jack Neff
Original Post: http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=143381

Samsung's 3D TV Commercial - awesomeness !

Rives controls the Internet | Video on TED.com

Jesse Schell: When games invade real life

I should feel excited for this, but i have to admit it is pretty disturbing to imagine this kind of future where branding and gaming are everywhere.

BBC News - Microsoft debuts 'social' phone

Ok, I'll have to play with this phone first because to me, it's really not convincing at all by saying "The phone works with popular social network sites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace." Isn't it a fact that most smart phones nowadays have apps to all the social network sites already?
Plus, I always think phones that target at younger users such as teens are risky because most young users are still in their family plan and it's not up to them to get what kind of phones. If I'm a parent, I wouldn't get my kids a phone that I know for sure will distract them more from school work.

BBC News - Microsoft debuts 'social' phone

Online Social Networks Bridge Gaps for Chronically Ill - NYTimes.com

A former model who is now chronically ill and struggles just to shower says the people she has met online have become her family. A quadriplegic man uses the Web to share tips on which places have the best wheelchair access, and a woman with multiple sclerosis says her regular Friday night online chats are her lifeline.

For many people, social networks are a place for idle chatter about what they made for dinner or sharing cute pictures of their pets. But for people living with chronic diseases or disabilities, they play a more vital role.

“It’s really literally saved my life, just to be able to connect with other people,” said Sean Fogerty, 50, who has multiple sclerosis, is recovering from brain cancer and spends an hour and a half each night talking with other patients online.

People fighting chronic illnesses are less likely than others to have Internet access, but once online they are more likely to blog or participate in online discussions about health problems, according to a report released Wednesday by the Pew Internet and American Life Project and the California HealthCare Foundation.

“If they can break free from the anchors holding them down, people living with chronic disease who go online are finding resources that are more useful than the rest of the population,” said Susannah Fox, associate director of digital strategy at Pew and author of the report.

They are gathering on big patient networking sites like PatientsLikeMe, HealthCentral, Inspire, CureTogether and Alliance Health Networks, and on small sites started by patients on networks like Ning and Wetpaint.

Sherri Connell, 46, modeled and performed in musicals until, at age 27, she learned she had multiple sclerosis and Lyme disease. She began posting her journal entries online for friends and family to read. Soon, people from all over the world were reading her Web site and telling her they had similar health problems.

In 2008, she and her husband started a social network using Ning called My Invisible Disabilities Community. It now has 2,300 members who write about living with lupus, forthcoming operations or medical bills, for example.

“People have good and bad days, and they don’t know a good day’s going to come Wednesday at 5 o’clock when a live support group is meeting,” Ms. Connell said. “The Internet is a great outlet for people to be honest.”

Not surprisingly, according to Pew, Internet users with chronic illnesses are more likely than healthy people to use the Web to look for information on specific diseases, drugs, health insurance, alternative or experimental treatments and depression, anxiety or stress.

But for them, the social aspects of the Web take on heightened importance. Particularly if they are homebound, they also look to the Web for their social lives, discussing topics unrelated to their illnesses. Some schedule times to eat dinner or watch a movie while chatting online.

John Linna, a pastor in Neenah, Wis., did not know what a blog was when his son suggested he start one after discovering he needed to stay home on a ventilator.

“That day my little world began to expand,” he wrote in a post last year about blogging. “Soon I had a little neighborhood. It was like stopping in for coffee every day just to see how things were going.”

When Mr. Linna died earlier this year, people all over the Web who had never met him in person mourned the loss.

Others use the Web to find practical tips about living with their disease or disability that doctors and family members, having not lived with it themselves, cannot provide.

On Diabetic Connect, a diabetes social network with 140,000 members, people share recipes like low-sugar banana pudding, review products like an insulin pump belt and have discussions like a recent one started by a patient with a new diagnosis. “I don’t like to talk to my family and friends about this,” she wrote. “Honestly I feel helpless. I really just need some advice and people to talk to who might have been experiencing the same things.”

Amy Tenderich is the community manager for Diabetic Connect and writes a blog called Diabetes Mine. “There’s no doctor in the world, unless they’ve actually lived with this thing, that can get into that nitty-gritty,” she said. “I’ve walked away from dinner parties with tears in my eyes because people just don’t understand.”

Patients often use social networks to interact with people without worrying about the stigma of physical disabilities, said Susan Smedema, an assistant professor of rehabilitation counseling at Florida State University who studies the psychosocial aspects of disability.

From her home in Maine, Susan Fultz plays online games at Pogo.com and commiserates with people who are frustrated that they do not have a diagnosis for their symptoms.

“There’s no worry of being judged or criticized, and that is something that I know a lot of us don’t get in our daily lives,” said Ms. Fultz, who has Lyme disease and psoriatic arthritis.

Those with chronic diseases or disabilities, like all Internet users, have to be wary about sharing private health information online, particularly with anonymous users.

Research has also shown that emotions can be contagious, said Paul Albert, digital services librarian at Weill Cornell Medical Library in New York who has researched how social networks meet the needs of patients with chronic diseases.

“If you hang out on a message board where people are very negative, you can easily adopt a negative attitude about your disease,” he said. “On the other hand, if people are hopeful, you might be better off.”

Some people also worry that patients might exchange erroneous medical information on the Web, he said. Yet most patient social networks make clear that the information on the site should not substitute for medical advice, and the Pew study found that just 2 percent of adults living with chronic diseases report being harmed by following medical advice found on the Internet.

Instead, the sites are used to share information from the front lines, said Lily Vadakin, 45, who has multiple sclerosis and works as a site administrator for Disaboom, a social network for people with disabilities. For instance, she has discussed with other patients how to combat fatigue by working at home and taking vitamin supplements.

“That’s what the community can give you — a real-life perspective,” she said.




Original post:
Online Social Networks Bridge Gaps for Chronically Ill - NYTimes.com

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Google to Redirect China Users to Uncensored Site - NYTimes.com

Google to Redirect China Users to Uncensored Site - NYTimes.com

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whatup Google?!
A good quote for ya: “China Has the Most Open Internet in the World” - Chief Director of China's state-run Xinhua news agency - LOL

So now, except go through proxy, people in Mainland China can not access Facebook, wikipidia, twitter, youtube, myspace, and now Google! Mhmm, lets see what else is blocked? Blogger.com!!! and of course this blog - AdverComm~ as well

Video Conference with Jon Steel

I was so excited to help Dr. Morris arrange the video conference with Jon Steel, who is one of the great practitioners in advertising today. He's book "Truth, Lies and Advertising : The Art of Account Planning" are considered the "Bible" by a lot of account planners ( although I don't really believe in that word). He worked for different agencies (WPP is the latest one) in UK and US as an account planner. Below is some notes I wrote down from the meeting. He mainly talked about the change of account planning today.

• Planning’s changed a lot .
• There are different kind of planners, strategic planners, digital planners, ….
• It’s all about social media. “Everything is digital” is overstated.
• Social media will not change everything.
• Planning is less affordable nowadays.
• The agency has to be committed, to get the advertising right, getting a real idea whether the product works before they give to the clients.
• Agencies choose to measure things that’s easier to measure not bc they should do it this way.
• “we knew more about the brand than the marketing people in the clients company”
• Nowadays, agencies don’t involve as much in the clients busisess (brand management).
• Agencies nowadays don’t say no to clients.
• The training culture does not exist in agencies today as 25 years ago.
• Two types of people – that simplifies and that complicates
• Take a pile of data and bring me data with just an idea in the back of it. – Simplify it.
• Its vital for planners to spend as much time in the real world as they spend time in the agencies, planning is about talking to people, about watching the program the customers watch, getting to know people. You have to do that in the context of real life.
• Take time out of the agency and go think some stuff. Allow yourself to switch off
• To figure out how to let everyone interpret your message in their way. Allow people put themselves in the message/ campaign. Let people personalize advertising campaign/ message/ response.
• The future of planning lies in the history. No matter what media, the best stuff is stuff that engages people, make ppl talk about it. Encourage people to response / interact.
• Even for the digital media today, you really need to know how communication works.
• A good planner tell stories, they have a journalist idea of a story. Another modern trend of planner is that
• Involves a lot of working and gathering information. It’s not just about coming up with good ideas. There’s a logical process before you get to the creative stuff.
• As a planner how do you know whether you’ve done a good job:
• Consumers do not always say what they really feel
• Those guys know how communication works.
• Know how to read body languages
• The effectiveness of your campaign;
• Good planners make themselves useful. If Clients are pleased to see you, they want to see you.
• Create an environment where clients are comfortable to see you, be yourself.

• Where do you get creative and big ideas, when your taking a shower, jogging, … make sure You’ve got the time and space to make that happen.
• Planning to creative good 30 – sec. tv commercials is not different than a website or a facebook campaign.
• For focus group or interview: Most experiences moderators sit back and let people be quiet and be uncomfortable, because some ppl are thinking and creative idea always come from the uncomfortable period of science.
• An example : 63 Million * avenue per customer = number too large to display.
• Retest is very important – nike commercial + got milk campaign in Spanish.
• Right kind of quantitative research and if it’s done well. I don’t agree with quantitative with pretesting commercials.

• Books recommended by Jon Steel.
• The book of Gossage
• More bull more.
• Brand planning - Stephen king
• Painting by numbers.

OH SNAP ~ Bank of America's Most Recent PR Crisis

Jon steward rips the Bank of America and their exorbitant credit card fees. The daily show also interviewed a former Bank of America employee who was fired after she took a stand against the bank's $15 "convenience" charges and $39 over-the-limit fees. This former employee Jackie Ramos also made a Youtube video talking about this scandal. Lets wait and see how the BOA reacts to this PR Crisis.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Make it Rain - Bank of America
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

Feeling like posting some funny ads - Two condom ads and two Bud Light ads - Enjoy.

Condom Commercials:





Bud Light Commercials:

How Twitter and Facebook Make Us More Productive | Magazine

I don't entirely agree with the author's point of view. But this is a good topic I had with my advertising students last semester. No matter whether Twitter and Facebook enhance or cut off productivity, fact is people tend to get on social network sites more often when they have more work, or more paper/assignmentto do. At least it's true to my students and a lot of friends I talk to. It really is an interesting argument about whether social media make us more productive and also why we get on these sites to find distractions.

How Twitter and Facebook Make Us More Productive | Magazine

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Commercial Analysis - Just found a paper for my first advertising class from two years ago

Advertising is more than simple words; it is a complex process, intertwined with the local culture at which it aims. In this paper, I am going to analyze five commercials from China - my own country of origin.

China’s culture stretches back over 5,000 years and their people are proud of their splendid culture and history. That is true to the young generation as well, although they have been greatly influenced by the Western culture.

The first two commercials in this analysis are Pepsi ads. Both of them are endowed with the profound Chinese historical and cultural aspects, and both are very familiar to the Chinese people. One can say that traditional culture elements always make Pepsi’s commercials stand out.

Pepsi 1 ---http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHtPzkk5Tv4

This commercial is about a young boy who is brough to a buddhist monistary. There he is tought the ways of of Kung Fu and learns how to be a monk. The final scene is of him doing his final test in order to become a monk., His final task is figuring out what the symbol on all of their heads means. As he looks down at the Pepsi he just drank, he realizes that crushing the can with his head would give him the same symbol. In this commercial, there are five factors that I would like to focus on:

1. Kung Fu. It is a symbol of Chinese culture. The origin of martial arts (Kung Fu) is surrounded by the vague mysteries of the Shaolin Temple and the Shaolin monks, who also play an important role in this commercial.

2. The Shao Lin Temple. It was built in 495, is the most famous temple in China, and has many legends and mysteries, Chinese people are very familiar with it because there are famous literature and movies about it.

Both of these factors are not new to Chinese people. Actually, there are tons of ads relevant to Chinese Shao Lin Kung Fu (we always connect their name together). Sometimes, we get bored or even offended when we see a monk staring at a young lady in a perfume commercial or yell on the cell phone in a Nokia ad. However, in this commercial, we see respect for Chinese culture and the good combination of story and music.

3. Music - Unlike other Pepsi commercials, which always use pop music like R&B or rock, it uses the music played by a btraditional Chinese instrument here, very effective.

4. Use of non Asian actors. More and more foreigners appear in commercials in China now. They attempt to convey modernity, openness, high quality (or advancement), and amusement. Chinese people feel good when they see foreigners engage in their culture and sometimes even feel less offended by the commercial because they think it’s funny and different.
5. Time. The little boy in the commercial grew up as a real monk after 10 years hard work. According to the Geert Hofstede™ Cultural Dimensions, China has the highest Long-Term Orientation ranking in the world. This Dimension indicates a society's time perspective and an attitude of persevering; that is, overcoming obstacles with time, if not with will and strength. This commercial conveys an important message to Chinese audiences --- just like the Shao Lin spirit, Pepsi also has a spirit of hard working, strength and long-term orientation.

Pepsi 2 --- http://youtube.com/watch?v=eghLtMwylxw&feature=related

This commercial was about an ancient chinese ritual where two different powerful beings, one representing fire and one representing ice, use their power to create two new Pepsi beverages, one blue and one red.

Again, this is a good example of value paradoxes. By using the same strategy, Pepsi attempts to get young people attracted by the past. However, compared to the previous one, there are more modern elements in it.

Celebrities --- they use two pop stars that are very popular among young people in China and Southwest Asia.
Music --- Western style music well accepted by young people.
It is Pepsi’s strategy to use pop stars and rock music in its commercials in China to attract young people. However, there are some factors that make this ad more interesting.

Fictitious Kung Fu Art--- like in many Chinese movies, there are some magic things like people flying in the sky, jumping, playing with fire balls, etc. as part of stage fighting. To Chinese people, although they are not real, they are all originated from Kung Fu and are parts of Chinese culture. People in China are culturally very used to it.

Value paradoxes reflect the desirable versus the desired in life. They reflect people’s motives and include the elements that trigger people’s feelings and emotions. Similarly to what happens with the Harry Potter series, people are addicted to it because there are some magic skills that create dreams for them in the real life.

Water and fire --- a smart combination of blue and red which also are the colors of Pepsi. In addition, water and fire are very important elements in Chinese culture or philosophy. In traditional Chinese philosophy, there are Five Elements, including water, fire, metal, wood and earth, which were used for describing interactions and relationships among phenomena. Pepsi successfully combines these two elements into its brands.

Both of these two commercial convey Chinese tradition, philosophy and practice of martial arts, as well as Pepsi’s brand, very well. However, not all of the commercials that use Chinese traditions are successful. Below is a commercial that aroused a dispute in China.


Nike -- Failure
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q22VEviS-Os

The commercial portrays NBA star LeBron James fighting his way through a pagoda of dangers and temptations. LeBron "keeps his mind on his game and his game on his mind" and conquers all. The problem is that all the dangers and temptations are Chinese people and symbols of China like dragons. Thus, despite the fact that the commercial is quite clearly a pastiche of Bruce Lee movie scenes and video game clichés, it has been branded as insulting. Not only that, the commercial symbolically portrays the US as ruling supreme in the world, despite China’s efforts to grow. In other words, the commercial is not only insulting – it is propaganda, purely and simply.

This Ad called “Chamber of fear” was actually banned in China after it was considered disrespectful to Chinese culture and demeaning to certain cultural symbols.
• LeBron James defeats a Chinese ancient kung fu master.
• Two women in traditional Chinese attire are defeated by LeBron James in the commercial.
• James also beat a pair of dragons, which have long been a potent symbol of auspicious power in Chinese folklore and art.
Conflict will occur when you are ignorant about another culture. In addition, the whole commercial is too aggressive. China has a lower individualism (IDV) ranking. What is deeply rooted in the Chinese society are the concept of being harmonious and the need of belonging and conforming to a unit. Although Nike is a sport brand that represents passion and energy, and aggression is valued at the basketball court of the NBA and in the U.S., it should follow the Chinese way because the important value paradoxes vary according to different cultures; value-adding advertising cannot be exported from one culture to another without losing effectiveness.

However, there is another Nike commercial that is very successful in China.


Nike -- Success
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EMXZNyDN4A

There are 10 typical scenarios in this commercial. Each of them has two Chinese characters -- 随时 , which means, any time. The whole ad conveys a message to Chinese people: “use your creativity, anytime, if you want, just do it!”

Nike's “Just do it” campaign seems to be one of the best commercial campaigns ever created. This one is very creative, especially because it uses the idea of taking everyday’s activities and turning them into something "just (to) do it." I recommend it to many of my Chinese friends.
In the first scene, a student is late to class, and his teacher points at him with a ferule: “why are you always late?” It is very common in China that teachers use a ferule to blame students, yet it is not common that a student dare to fence with his or her teacher. There are actually two scenarios in this series that are about students’ behavior, by rebelling against the tradition in class.
This is a value paradox, as mentioned before, Confucianism revolves around the concept of harmonious relationships, and the sense of belonging and conforming is very important. Respect and honor for teachers is a virtue in the traditional Chinese culture. A “good student” is supposed to obey his or her the teacher. At the same time, China ranks very low in Individualism (IDV) and high in Power Distance ranking (PDI), and, added to that, the Chinese respect leadership and are tolerant and loving people. There is a high level of inequality between teachers and students. However, advertising often appeals to what is lacking in society. Where individualism values are lacking, advertising will show being independent or following your own way. Actually like in other regions in the world, young people in China tend to be more individualistic.

The commercial also brought back to people their early familiar scenarios. Many audiences were moved by those good memories.



Sex appeal in Chinese advertising


The last one is a printed ad. It is a commercial of a Chinese auto company-- Chery. Early this year, they launched a new car, whose name, translated into English, means Oriental Son. In the pictured ad, a half-naked woman is looking with lustful eyes at the reader. A car and traditional Chinese flower painting are tattooed on her back. The headline is "Oriental son, I love you!" This seems quite normal in the U.S. and many other Western countries. However, Chinese people are very sensitive to sex-related commercials because they are deeply influenced by Confucianism which sees sex as a dirty thing.
For example, there was a TV commercial of a gum called Qing Zui with the opening line of: "Do you want to feel the taste of kissing?" This Advertising using explicit sexual messages did not go further on Chinese TV: few months later, a government agency released a statement banning TV commercials with obvious sexual imagery.
Nevertheless, printed ads are less tightly monitored. This commercial is a good example of it because it conveys neither more nor less than information.
Cars in China represent more than a vehicle. rather, they are used to show the position and status of a person, because unlike what happens in many Western countries, only people in middle to upper class have cars in China. In addition, Chinese culture places a lot of emphasis on a person's social status (Di wei). We have a popular saying now in China: “you can get a wife only if you have a house and a car”. That might be the reason why some people comment about this commercial: “Maybe she loves his wallet even more.”

A good mix of new technology and traditional art

CCTV Ink from Troublemakers.tv on Vimeo.

5 Insightful TED Talks on Social Media

5 Insightful TED Talks on Social Media

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Apple- Redefining Mobile Advertising

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- With the iPhone, Apple changed the face of mobile devices. Can it do the same for mobile advertising?


CEO Steve Jobs is reported to have said, "Mobile ads suck," and in the wake of its purchase of mobile ad network Quattro, all signs point to Apple exerting its considerable clout on the mobile web to make the ads, well, better. "Static banners aren't very Apple," said Krishna Subramanian, co-founder of mobile ad exchange Mobclix.
But one question is reverberating around the industry: Will Apple use its dominance to squeeze out other so-called premium ad providers?

Taking control
Last week Apple showed it won't be shy about setting new standards. In a blog post, the company warned developers that it will reject apps that serve users location-targeted ads. "If your app uses location-based information primarily to enable mobile advertisers to deliver targeted ads based on a user's location, your app will be returned to you by the App Store Review Team for modification before it can be posted to the App Store," the post said.

Location-based ads are often the most attractive for advertisers looking to drive foot traffic into stores. "If I'm looking at my phone, I want to see an ad for the restaurant around the corner, not for something without context," said Michael Becker, Mobile Marketing Association's managing director, North America. "Situational relevance for mobile users -- and for marketers -- is essential."

Apple claims the controversial post was only intended to protect user experience. Regardless, to some, this move looks like a preview of what Apple has planned for its new ad network. It has been building out a global sales team, and Quattro CEO Andy Miller is Apple's first VP-mobile advertising, reporting directly to Mr. Jobs. It's the first time Apple has been in the ad business, and this move indicates how seriously the Cupertino, Calif.-based company takes it.

"Clearly, Apple is going to do everything it can to redefine mobile advertising," said Eric Litman, chairman-CEO of ad network Medialets, who also said he sees merit in Apple's defense of users in its location-based ad restriction. "Obviously they're going to want to leverage unique capabilities of their device as an advantage to them and not their competitors."

Restricting competition?
How would that happen? Since all applications must go through a stringent approval process before hitting the App Store, Apple could reject apps with non-Quattro ad network code. But restricting outside ad networks would also mean cutting into developers' profits, because many already partner with multiple networks to monetize their apps.

It is also likely that Apple will integrate Quattro into its software development kit, giving developers a default ad network that's built into the app toolbox. With an already embedded ad network, developers would have an automatic revenue stream on approved apps, and would then have to contract networks beyond, or instead of, Quattro.

The iPhone claims about 25% U.S. smartphone market share as of December, according to ComScore. An Apple spokeswoman declined to speak directly about plans for Quattro or Apple's position on mobile advertising.

Apple has cast the deal as a way to make money for the developers whose apps have made the iPhone popular. Right now, Apple reaps 30% from music and paid app downloads and, like the existing mobile ad network model, could take a fee for passing ad sales on to developers.

Redefining mobile ads
Developers could also stand to benefit from Apple meddling in mobile ad formats -- better ads could mean better results, happier clients and, eventually, more money. With Apple's characteristic design and usability expertise, it could reinvigorate the ad category so mobile doesn't get stuck in the same banner doldrums as its interactive predecessor, online advertising.

"There's no doubt that Apple will add functionality around advertising," said Mike Sanford, president-CEO FlipSide 5, a developer whose apps, including Touch Hockey, have been downloaded 26 million times.

Mr. Sanford said the current purchasing experience on iPhones is clunky. But with a mobile ad network backed up to the phone's operating system and the almighty iTunes, Apple could work some of those kinks could out. Imagine ads that click-to-buy to iTunes, a purchase platform consumers already use and trust with their credit card information.

"People might be hesitant to tap credit card information into their phone," said Mobclix co-founder Sunil Verma, citing the ESPN's app. "But they're already used to buying games on iTunes."

By Kunur Patel
Original Post: http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=142036

Blue ?

I was playing with a new browser button thats help me share the online content with other people on different websites. And I found out that most of the major social media icons are BLUE! Facebook, twitter, tumbre, myspace, linkedin... very interesting. I'm gonna find some paper on color blue and it's commercial use.

How Your Biometrics Can Make Super Bowl Ads Better

How Your Biometrics Can Make Super Bowl Ads Better

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This article from weird.com is based on a very interesting product for testing advertising effectiveness. My colleagues and I are actually applying for a grant that is very similar to what this article is about. We try to use fMRI to measure the effectiveness of commercials. One of the main things is that we only use nonverbal methods such as fMRI, PAD and EEG brain scan to measure consumers' brain mapping and emotional response to commercials.

Malcolm Gladwell on spaghetti sauce | Video on TED.com

I've watched this video long time ago, but the book he mentioned about (Blink) was actually assigned as a required book for my Advertising Creative Strategy class. After I finished the book, I watched this video again and had some new perspective on it. Very interesting talk and book which is about our unconscious judgement - thin slicing. Although I prefer his first book "tipping point" than "blink". I'll post some idea about "Tipping Point" soon.

Think You Know China? Eight Things Foreigners Get Wrong - Implications to advertisers and PR players.

As a public service, here's a thoroughly idiosyncratic, non-comprehensive list of the eight most common misunderstandings about China.

1. China is America in the '50s (or Japan in the '80s, or Mexico in the '90s or ...).Everybody loves a good historic analogy, but China is too big, too complex and too thoroughly integrated with the rest of the world. The country's consumer culture is leapfrogging its own unique path.

2. China's public data are unreliable.
There have been tremendous strides recently in the quality of publicly available data, especially for urban demographics. Pay attention to the development plans of central and city governments. They are clear and ambitious, if vague at times. I also recommend a visit to the Shanghai Museum of Urban Planning to anyone curious about population density, retail clusters or transportation infrastructure.

3. China's internet is like the rest of the world.
As Google's drama has highlighted, China's internet is unique. Global big guys like eBay, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, Skype and, yes, Google are insignificant or non-existent here.

Want to utilize social networks for your brand? Spend a day learning QQ and mastering its roster of functions not seen in the West. I have a soft spot for Douban, which acts as a sort of user-generated index to the global library of music and film.

Empowered by Douban, culturally inclined youth are uncovering everything from punk classics to experimental Dutch cinema, and sharing them with their friends.

4. China's consumers are split between urban and rural.
Technically true. But most global brands are actually dealing with a limited part of China: the mega-urban and the merely urban. China's consumer market is overwhelmingly clustered in cities, many with populations of one million or more. Size isn't everything. The most relevant factor for marketers should be the city's access to a cultural center like Beijing or Chengdu. A mom living in a medium-size city two hours from Guangzhou is likely to be more sophisticated about brands than her counterpart living in the massively populated, but under-exposed, provincial capital city Zhengzhou.

5. China's regional differences are as big as Europe's.
I hear this one from very sophisticated people, keen to show their respect for the scale and scope of China. Their hearts are in the right place, but they overstate the case. There are certainly regional differences, but within a moderate range. All of China learns the same history, takes the same exams, speaks the same language (at school at least) and watches the same news programs. Climate is one big exception, and it does influence food, architecture and even clothing.

6. There are big generation gaps between each decade.
Generation gaps are huge, and they crop up more than every decade. This is a logical result of fast economic growth. Changes in culture and technology result in wildly different formative environments. Today's 25-year-olds grew up watching glossy boy bands like Taiwan's F4. Meanwhile kids a mere five years younger watched gender-bending Li Yuchun (from "Super Girl") and other courageous oddities of the reality TV circuit. Is it any wonder they embrace a weirdness that baffles their elders?

7. China is rapidly Westernizing.
Without a doubt China is modernizing -- just look at all the KFCs. But can we call it Westernizing if those KFCs sell congee for breakfast? While there is a notable increase in Western brands and lifestyle options, it is matched by a comparable increase in historic Chinese culture. Witness the renewed interest in pu'er tea collecting, learning calligraphy and the resurrection of Imperial dishes. There is a strong argument that China is becoming more Chinese. There's one other often-overlooked influence: North Asia. Japan, the world's second biggest economy, sits off China's shore, and its cultural influence is at least as significant as that of the West. Sure, 18-year-olds in urban China are wearing American Nikes. But 15-year-old kids are reading Japanese manga and listening to Korean pop.

8. Chinese youth are divided into tribes.
There is a kernel of truth here, and young people are segmenting themselves at ever-earlier ages. But these tribes look different from their Western counterparts. In the West, we can use magazine, music or brand affiliations as shorthand to describe a group. These don't quite work in China, what with print media being relatively small and the music scene so confused by piracy. Brand preference can be descriptive in big cities, but in the rest of the country brand differentiation is more blurred. So what does that leave? Celebrity preference can be useful. Choice of hobbies, including membership in online clubs, says a lot about a person. But there is a lot of fluidity and change.

A reminder: We enter the Year of the Tiger on Feb. 14. Have a wild tigerful Valentine's Day and best wishes for the New Year.

Original Post: http://adage.com/globalnews/article?article_id=141879

Steve Jobs: How to live before you die | Video on TED.com

Steve Jobs: How to live before you die | Video on TED.com

You can't connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. You have to believe that somehow the dots will connect on the road, you gotta trust in something, your guts, destiny, life, karma whatever, because believing the dots will connect in the future, will give you the confidence to follow your heart.

... if you haven't found what you love to do yet, keep looking, DON'T SETTLE.

... remembering that you are going to die, is the best way to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. you are already naked, there's no reason not to follow your heart.

... no one wants to die, even people who want to go to heaven, don't want to die to get there.

... stay hungry, stay foolish.

Wired.com is considered "too dangerous" for Chinese Internet users?

China Blocks Wired.com With ‘Great Firewall’ - Updated

Chinese authorities have begun blocking Chinese internet users from reading Wired.com, according to a report from the Examiner.

Internet users from Beijing to Shanghai found the site inaccessible starting Friday, reports Glenn Loveland, the Examiner’s Beijing correspondent. The block adds Wired.com to a long list of sites that are or have been considered too dangerous for Chinese net users.

UPDATE Saturday 19:45 PST: Reports of Wired.com’s demise in China may be a bit premature, as readers in several cities in China report being able to read the site. One says that urls that include the words RSS or blog are often blocked, one said we were blocked on a cell phone, while another said Wired.com was fine now but was blocked for weeks in December. We are glad to learn you all can hear Radio Free Wired.com in Beijing and Shanghai, but we promise to redouble our efforts to anger political censors around the world. /UPDATE

Current blacklist members and alumni include YouTube, Facebook, the BBC, Wikipedia, Google and most recently, IMDB, an encyclopedic movie information site. China’s censorship of the net is in constant flux, aided by sets of powerful firewalls marketed to the Communist government by Western technology companies.

We’re not sure if we are supposed to give an acceptance speech or file an official complaint in triplicate at the Ministry of Proper Online Thought.

Wired.com was not notified of the block and has not been able to confirm it independently. If you are based in China, we’d appreciate you letting us know in the comments or by e-mail if you can’t load the site without having to use a proxy or censorship evasion tools likeTor. Another easy way to report this block or others is to use the Berkman Center’s Herdict tool.

Wired.com editors are hard at work trying to figure out what we did to earn a spot on the blacklist. Was it our wall-to-wall CES coverage? Or was it Wired.com’s critical coverage of Chinese internet censorship?

Wired.com is the online affiliate of Wired magazine. Both are owned by Condé Nast, a privately held publishing company based in New York that also publishes Vanity Fair, GQ and The New Yorker, among other titles.

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