PHDiQ New Zealand

The Sky is Falling....

2012-01-19T14:17:00.000+13:00

And in breaking news:

“ComScore Study finds 31% of Display Ads Never Seen”

“UH, OH! Facebook Pages Only Reach 17% Of Fans”

Crikey, I thought over my morning cuppa. We are all doomed. Or are we? Let’s break it down:

The only real new news here is the ‘31%’ in the headline. We all know that a percentage of ads are never seen and that’s ok because there are lots of perfectly relevant reasons for this. We all know CPC media buys deliver squillions of impressions and no-one really expects that every single one of them will be seen. Because the buy is based on clicks, wastage isn’t an issue.

As for ad impressions being delivered outside of geographic areas – well duh. We all know that ad serving isn’t an exact science and that some networks aren’t that rigorous with their targeting.

At the end of the day, if you want a guarantee that your ads will be seen (as much as there is a guarantee) then you need to pay for premium placements in contextually relevant environments. Media Planning 101 is to ensure you have the right mix of high reach/low cost placements which deliver cost effectiveness and premium, contextually relevant placements that deliver awareness and give the campaign a presence. The split is different for each brand/campaign, but a good starting point is 60/40 (and which way round that goes will depend on whether your objectives are awareness or response).

Anyhoo – its all a bit of a moot point as the real story behind this is ComScore’s announcement that they have launched a new “Validated Campaign Essentials” report which in a nutshell reports back on campaign wastage.

So on to the headline that Facebook pages only reach 17% of fans. If some of the brand pages I ‘like’ are anything to go by, this is also no surprise. For a start, some of the “content” they offer is so offputting I have ended up in the -5% propensity to buy category more than once. Secondly – the sheer volume of content appearing on my wall in any 24 hour period is overwhelming. And I don’t even have that many friends.

If you are managing a brand page on Facebook it’s essential to have an always on media budget set aside to support the page outside of wider campaign activity. Your campaign budgets should be used primarily to grow connections so that your always on budget can be used to build engagement through judicious and clever use of the sponsored stories product.

What I loved about the blog was the insight into a reporting metric we could all do with keeping an eye on – “average post visibility”. I’ll be adding this to our reporting metrics from here on in. And we could all do with keeping the “Tips for Solving Facebook Post Visibility Problems” close at hand.

So, I can get on with my work today in the safe knowledge that the sky is in fact not falling. Not today at least.

When 'Likes' are not Loves

2012-01-19T09:17:00.000+13:00

We’ve all had the brief: the client wants to build a fan base on Facebook (new or existing), andwe must challenge the audience with new and exciting (as well as tried andtested) advertising avenues to achieve this goal. Basically, the client wants more FacebookLikes. The success of the campaign ismeasured in Likes, often exclusively.

But what does this actually mean for the client, to havemore people Liking their brand page? PHDiQ attended the MSN Digital Marketing Summit in Auckland in November,and many of the speakers emphasised the role social media plays inadvertising. Thomas Scovell (ClemengerBBDO) discussed the idea that “Likes don’t equal sales” which is something weshould consider when planning campaigns (see clips of his speech as well asothers here).

BBDO in the United States recently conducted a study thatfound people who Like a brand on Facebook are anywhere between +40% to -5%likely to spend money on the brand product. So while Likes certainly drive some sales, many people probably neverlook at the page again, having Liked it on a whim. And some people are -5% less likely to buythe product than they were in the first place (most likely due to irrelevantbrand page posts, or being bombarded by posts).

Carrie Hill has written an interesting blog post on howLikes can be misconstrued. She talksabout how some companies are being paid to generate Likes which are redundant,and the negative effects of redundant or ‘fluff’ status updates. She also mentions that the bounce rateskyrockets by up to 600% when status updates are made which are unrelated tothe brand. You can read her full blog here.

Nobody is suggesting that Likes are useless in terms ofbrand awareness and pushing sales; but sometimes a Facebook Like is used as ameasure of success, when in fact the Like is doing nothing for the brand, or evenworse than nothing.

2012, The year of.....

2012-01-10T15:51:00.003+13:00

It’s that time of year when digital pundits are busy making their picks for the year ahead.

A variety of terms have been bandied around across the last decade: The year of mobile (over and over again), the year of social, the year of gaming, the year of online video etc

So what does 2012 hold in store from a digital perspective?

Mashable recently published their predictions for 2012. They expect to see growth for Smart TV’s and TV apps, big moves in motion gaming, Google + to break 100m users and mobile to become a key media channel and payment tool.

You can view the full article here: http://mashable.com/2012/01/05/mashables-digital-predictions-for-2012

Forbes.com interviewed 15 US based CMO’s of top consumer brands to get their digital predictions for 2012. They expect to see mobile become a much more important part of the overall media mix, social media to become a cornerstone of brands’ marketing strategies, and ‘good content’ to become much more important to digital campaigns:

The full article is published at the following address: http://www.forbes.com/sites/marketshare/2012/01/05/cmo-predictions-for-2012-part-1-dominos-motorola-progressive-radioshack-say-its-mobile-mobile-mobile/

Millward Brown also expect mobile to become increasingly important and predict that the mobile wallet and mobile ‘location based marketing’ will become a reality in 2012. They also expect to see strong growth in social TV (effectively social tools, technologies and platforms that allow people to interact with TV programmes, and other viewers of those programmes) and changing attitudes to online privacy.

A link to the article is as follows: http://www.litmanlive.co.uk/blog/2012/01/top-12-digital-predictions-for-2012-by-millward-brown/

As you can see mobile is again a common theme for 2012. This is understandably so given the growth in smartphone/tablet penetration, the fact that mobile data is becoming more affordable and media owners are getting better at adapting their content to mobile devices.

If NZ media owners and adserving providers can continue to invest in their mobile offering it could become a key part of the overall media mix.

Who knows, the year of mobile may not be so far away after all.

Email - Productivity tool or time waster?

2011-12-09T09:34:00.002+13:00

A French company recently announced it was banning internal email and in typical French fashion, without a trace of irony, it is an IT company.

It an interesting experiment. Sure there is a certain amount of correspondence that needs to be documented [in our industry rate agreements, approvals, amendments], but the majority of these are external and even then probably don't account for more than a small fraction of the daily deluge.

Actual conversations are so important in an industry built on relationships. And unless you are a secretary on Mad Men, talking is immeasurably faster than typing.

So, before you send that email, pick up the phone, or go for a stroll. Have a chat and let serendipity take its course. Some of the best ideas come from an idle chat around the photocopier...

Move Over Justin Bieber!

2011-12-07T15:00:00.001+13:00

Google have today released the 2011 Zeitgeist listing the hottest search terms Kiwi’s searched for this year.

It is of no surprise that the Rugby World Cup made the top of the list as the fastest rising search term of 2011. A much bigger upset though would be that of Sonny Bill Williams trumping Justin Bieber off the number 1 spot as the most searched for image on google.co.nz - and it doesn’t end there. SBW also made the top 10 in the News search, Newsmakers and Fastest Rising People categories!

Besides rugby, Kiwis were also searching for information on the Japanese earthquake, the notorious, bunless Double Down burger and the Nek Minute video on Youtube.

The global search list is set to be released next week. Check out the top search terms in New Zealand here.

The Evolution of Google

2011-12-06T17:21:00.005+13:00

Google has come a long, long way since 1996 – from the research project it was then, to the search engine power house it is today. The search giant recently released a 6 minute video encapsulating 15 years of evolution, highlighting its key milestones and possibilities for the future.

The video comes as a follow-up to one Google posted in August this year, shedding some light into the “methodology” behind search ranking and evaluation.

Underpinning Google’s efforts to revolutionise search is their goal to “get you to the answer you’re looking for faster and faster, creating a nearly seamless connection between your questions and the information you seek. That means you don’t generally need to know about the latest search feature in order to take advantage of it.” (Ben Gomes, Google Fellow)

As part of this release, Google also created a timeline of search features.

In our opinion, the most significant changes to Google AdWords came by way of enhancements to their standard paid search ad format with the inclusion of the advertisers domain name, or description line as part of the ad title and more recently, the shift from displaying ads on to the right of Google’s organic search results to below the last organic listing.

Other improvements worthy of mention include the introduction of Image Search ads which resulted in ads similar to paid search ads, but including an image thumbnail displayed above of search results. Also, the inclusion of Google Local resulted in Location Extensions; which provided advertisers with the ability to feed store information, Click to Call functionality and Maps integration within their ads.

Perhaps the most exciting development was the introduction of ‘blended search’, whereby a combination of the above ad formats as well as video content from websites such as YouTube was offered to searchers, providing a more comprehensive and interesting search results page.

Who knows what Google will come up with next?!

The Polls didn't see Winston coming...but Google did!

2011-11-29T10:03:00.008+13:00

(Click to enlarge)

A look at web search interest in NZ for the keywords "winston peters" and "nz first" during November suggests that public interest in the party rose sharply in second half of the month, and appears to be correlated with the "teapot" tape saga.

Web search interest for Winston picks up following the emergence of the "teapot" tape on Nov. 13, and spike after his claim on Nov. 17 that he is privy to the contents of the tape.

Interest in the keyword "nz first" follows a similar pattern - suggesting that web search interest in the party itself may have been impacted by the publicity gained by Winston.

Source: Google Insights for Search

Google 'predicts' John Key to win the Election!

2011-11-24T14:50:00.003+13:00

In the lead up to the 2008 US Presidential election, search experts noticed that search interest was consistently higher for Obama than McCain, and joked about Google ‘predicting’ the outcome of the election.

We decided to investigate Google searches for the leaders of our two major political parties, to see if Google can ‘predict’ an outcome in NZ as well.

We looked at web search interest in NZ for the keywords “John Key” and “Phil Goff” over the past 30 days. Based on this method, Google is currently ‘predicting’ a win for John Key!

Source: Google Insights for Search

Google+ Pages for Businesses

2011-11-24T12:05:00.008+13:00

Google have released their eagerly anticipated Google+ pages allowing businesses, brands and organisations to have a presence on Google+. Previously, only personal profiles were available, with reports that Google had deleted pages found to be using Google+ for business purposes.

So – does your brand need a Google+ page?

We’ve compiled a list of Pros and Cons from the many recent blog posts on the subject.

Pros include:
• One feature unique to the platform are ‘Hangouts‘; the Google+ group video/audio chat feature. These provide an exciting opportunity for live interaction with fans, although the fact that they can only have a maximum of 9 participants limits their reach. The Black Eye Peas recently hosted a ‘Hangout’ backstage prior to one of their concerts, check out the video here. Note that Google are working on a “Hangouts on Air” feature, which allows a Hangout to be viewed by any users who have added the brand to their Circles. In the meantime, some brands have taken to broadcasting their “hangouts” to a wider audience, using TV and YouTube.
• Integration with search via the 'Direct Connect' feature. Users searching for a brand on Google.com with a “+” sign in front of the brand name have the option to add that brand’s Google+ page directly to their Circles from the results page. See Direct Connect in action in this video.
• Brands can sort their audience into ‘Circles’; segmenting their audience so they can target groups of followers with particularly relevant posts.
• Opportunity to capture more +1’s for your brand; Google aggregate +1’s across your website, ads, search results & Google+ page. Your +1 total is displayed on your Google+ page.
• The potential for integration with other Google products (e.g. Google Search, Places, Maps and YouTube) in the future is another reason to create a Google+ page.

Cons include:
• Smaller user base – Google+ has an estimated 40 million users worldwide vs. Facebook’s audience of 800 million.
• Unlike Facebook pages, running contests and promotions is not allowed on Google+ pages.
• Only one person (or email address) can be the admin of each page; meaning you’ll need to share an email address, and won’t be able to track who posted what on the page. Multiple administrator support is promised in the future.
• The mechanism to follow a Google+ brand page is not as simple as it is on Facebook (where you just click the “like” button). With Google+, users need to add a brand to their Circles in order to see its posts in their Stream; depending on the user’s preferences, this may require creating a new Circle. This requires a little more effort, and may be confused with the “+1” button on the page (which publicly recommends the page, but doesn’t result in the brand page being followed).
• Google+ pages are currently totally separate from a business’ Google Places page, and the two must be managed separately; it would be ideal to be able to link the two pages.
• Vanity URLs (e.g. https://plus.google.com/brandname) are not available, so Google+ URLs tend to be lengthy and difficult to memorise.
• Currently, there is a lack of analytics capability, so it is difficult to gain insight into who your fans are and which content they’re interacting with on your brand page. 'Ripples' (a visual representation of the reach of individual pieces of content) give some insights, but not to the level of other platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Google say that more advanced analytics tools are coming soon.

Should your company set up a Google+ page?
The short answer is – it depends.

Whilst Google+ pages are lacking in some areas when compared to similar platforms like Facebook, it’s important to remember they’re still very new, and that Google are working on a number of updates. It really is too early to dismiss them!

I feel that future integration with other Google products – and the potential for improved visibility in the search engine results pages (SERPs) – will be Google+’s differentiating feature. This will certainly be something to watch.

Another consideration is the competitive landscape – if your competitors are developing a presence on Google+, it may be wise to consider adding it to your social media activity.
Additionally, the possibility for fraudulent activity may be a motivating factor. It is reasonably easy to set up a fake Google+ page for a brand or company; creating your own page may reduce the likelihood of a fake page being set up in your business’ name.

Like any social marketing activity, brands should ensure they understand their target market and have a clear content and engagement plan in place. They will also require a suitable resource (either internal or external) to maintain page content, as well as specific objectives to measure success.

Want more information?

• Watch Google’s video about the new Google+ pages for businesses.
• New Zealand companies who are already using Google+ pages include Air New Zealand and NZ Herald.
• We found some great blog posts at Search Enginge Watch, Likeable, Search Engine Land, Clickz, Ad Age & TechCrunch, which were used to research our post.

And in breaking news...

2011-11-24T11:52:00.001+13:00

The HMS Rawalpindi has just been sunk by a German battleship - exactly 72 years ago today.

How do we know? And why do we care?

We know because a 24 year old history grad Alwyn Collinson has embarked on a six year project to Livetweet the entire second world war.

And we care because this is the most creative use of Twitter we've heard of in a long time. Emerse yourself @RealTimeWWII.

Gorgeous Girls, Gunslingers & Kung- Fu Masters: Heineken makes big NZ ‘Entrance’ online

2011-11-15T10:25:00.019+13:00

By now you would have seen him on your screen. Perhaps you watched enviously as he dazzled those around him with an array of quirky talents that earn the admiration of both men and women as he ‘does the room’ in style….

I’m talking, of course, about the colourful protagonist of Heineken’s new The Entrance campaign.

The immaculately produced series of character vignettes that make up The Entrance are the key components of Heineken’s global brand piece for 2011/2012 and we here at PHDiQ were only too happy to help bring the campaign to life in the New Zealand digital space.

The NZ adaption of The Entrance sees five character mini-stories eventuate from their encounters with our lead man in the principal 30” and 60” pieces. While the digital activity utilises the fundamentals of video banners, bespoke interactive video units, homepage takeovers and a variety of On Demand spots, here the advantage of a large and impactful online campaign launch is an ability to provide thematic sense for our viewers with the use of sequencing in adserving - a simple yet very effective tool.

By ensuring a serving of the principal 30” or 60” piece and introducing the main character foremost, we are able to set the campaign platform and provide key linkages to the remaining content. Following this with a fresh character story on each Entrance impression (up to six, then repeated) our audience are more inclined to remain engaged with the campaign and enjoy a narrative cohesion difficult to achieve across other mediums.

To date, full video plays across the campaign’s multiple formats are totaling over 200,000 and engagement rates among banner units are far exceeding our pre-launch expectations. It goes to show how beautifully produced creative and a simple approach to banner/video sequencing can work together to provide consistent entertainment and engagement for an audience and a great campaign entry for Heineken.

If you have not already, meet the man and view the story.

The Google +1 Button

2011-11-10T09:10:00.015+13:00

If you’ve been searching on Google recently, you may have noticed the Google +1 button accompanying Paid Search advertisements. As you know, Google’s focus is to constantly provide users with results that best match what they are searching for (organic and paid) and in order to achieve this are now looking to leverage social referrals (think Google Buzz and now Google+).

So, what exactly is the +button and how does it work?

In short, the +1 button is a link that offers a Google account holder with the ability to recommend content (websites, images, articles, ads etc…) to their social circles (think the facebook “LIKE” button). In turn, this assists Google in best matching its search results to a user query by factoring in the recommendations of an individual’s social network.

To quote Google’s rational behind the +button; “we believe that incorporating personal recommendations into display ads has the potential to change the way people view advertising. A display ad becomes much more powerful when people can see which of their friends and contacts have chosen to endorse it.”

At the end of the day, the more accurate and relevant Google’s search results are, the more likely an individual is to click on an ad and the greater the potential ad revenue for Google (be it from Paid Search or adisplay advertising).

What does this mean for AdWords advertisers?

Firstly, it is important to note that advertisers will not be charged for clicks on the +1 button.

Secondly, if a particular ad receives more +1’s than another then it is possible (but not guaranteed) that this ad will receive a higher number of impressions and improves its chance of success.

Also, for Paid Search, Google have stipulated that +1’s will have no impact on Quality Score, so you do not have to be too concerned with competitors attempting to manipulate their ad positioning within the search results deceitfully.

Furthermore, because +1’s are trackable, advertisers will be able to see how many people have +1’d their ads. This means that an ad’s +1’s can be used to evaluate that ad’s performance and because an ad which has received more +1’s is likely to have resulted in a greater percentage of clicks should be used to optimise Paid Search ads.

Finally, you may be able to improve your campaigns performance by educating your existing brand loyalists about the benefits of the +button as they will then be sharing their affiliation with your brand amongst their social circle. So consider ways to encourage your customers to +1 your ads and organic listings.

6 Common Mistakes NZ Businesses Make When Spending Money Online!

2011-11-01T11:13:00.012+13:00

Whether you’re driving traffic via display banners, paid search, social media sites, organic search engines or mobile platforms, it’s highly likely you’re leaving thousands of dollars on the table.

Many companies both small and large throw up a swanky looking website, invest thousands of dollars in paid traffic and think they have a robust online marketing strategy - but they miss an opportunity to maximise conversion through poorly optimised landing pages.

Driving targeted, cost-efficient traffic to your website is only half the battle. Increasing the on-page conversion rate of your landing pages can explode sales numbers halve acquisition costs and propel you years ahead of your competition. This post includes invaluable information to help you evaluate the effectiveness of your landing page to ensure every cent of your online budget is being spent effectively.

Six Tips to Turn More Visitors into Customers
• The Structure of an Optimized Landing Page
• Why Headlines Are So Important + The Magic Recipe
• Long Copy or Short Copy – Follow Amazon.com’s Lead
• Images – 7 Styles of Photo That Convert the Best
• Extracting information – How To Avoid Scaring Them Away
• Plug the Leaks – Don’t Let Them Escape

Conversions vary for every website but there are several techniques that can drastically increase the conversion rate of landing pages.

1. The Structure of an Optimised Landing Page [1]
The structure of a highly optimised landing page varies greatly and depends on many variables such as the target demographic, the conversion type (lead application, purchase, download etc.) or traffic source you use, just to name a few. However, a well optimised landing page should include some of the following elements.

A simple design to make it easy for the prospect to follow the path you wish them to take. The page should be uncluttered and clean (important)
A bold, prominent headline that includes the biggest benefit (important)
An image (not always)
Bullet points that include key benefits (3-5 is a suitable number)
Social proof (e.g. testimonials, Facebook likes, reviews, positive comments from customers etc.)
Authoritative logos or endorsements (e.g. endorsements by a well-known association, membership or news logos)
A strong, clear call to action which appears multiple times on the page include one above the fold (is visible to the user without having to scroll down).
Animation such as flashing buttons, graphics or borders.

Urgency. Create urgency with a limited time offer which expires on a certain date or time.

2. Why Headlines Are So Important + The Magic Recipe [2]
People scan pages especially when reading online. A good headline will capture the reader’s attention and draw them in to read further. If your headline is too long or complicated, you’ll lose their attention.
Check to ensure your headlines communicate the biggest benefit and are written in “plain” English – clever headlines may be creative but they don’t reassure the prospect that they are in the right place. Try to avoid using product features in the headline; people don’t care whether your company has 500 staff, or whether revenue grew by 10 per cent last year. They want to know “what’s in it for them!” A good headline should be relevant to the prospect, clearly communicate the end benefit, the problem you will solve and build interest.

3. Long Copy or Short Copy – Follow Amazon.com’s Lead [3]
We’ve all seen the landing pages that scroll for ever but, do they convert? They do, but it depends on the type of conversion you’re optimising toward. If you’re selling a product or service – where the prospect requires a higher level or persuasion – try testing well written long copy on your landing page; it will often result in higher conversion rates.

Often, websites undersell on their landing page by not including enough information about a product – conversely, others bore their prospects with too much information! The optimum length will vary depending on the value of the product, the length of the consideration cycle, and your target audience. Therefore, the best option is to ‘split test’ different landing pages with short, long and medium length copy.

A good example of a company utilising optimised landing pages is Amazon.com. Amazon.com is a prolific split tester, and due to the sheer volume of traffic the site receives, a small increase in conversion rate for a top-selling product can yield tens of thousands of dollars in incremental revenue.

The length of an Amazon product page varies and tends to include social proof such as Facebook ‘Like’ buttons, customer ratings, product recommendations, forum discussions, multiple calls-to-action and images of the product in use – all of which increase conversion rates. See examples below:

• Amazon long product page for a high-value product, such as a camera
• Amazon short product page for a low-value product, such as a pack of batteries

A general rule of thumb is that when a prospect is investing a reasonable sum of money in a big ticket item, they need more convincing, and therefore longer landing pages tend to be successful. Whereas, the risk of buying the wrong packet of $10 batteries is less of a concern and therefore, less selling is required and a shorter landing page is adequate.
Ultimately, we recommend testing to ascertain the optimum length for a landing page.

4. Images – 7 Styles of Photo That Convert the Best [4]
Using appropriate imagery on landing pages can improve conversion rates significantly. Conversely, removing imagery from a landing page can raise interest and increase conversions too; so the secret, again, is to test. Action shots (i.e. showing the product in use) often perform better than static product shots; whilst images of children, animals, celebrities, women with babies and food are also generally considered to grab attention and be more persuasive.

Using images that are relevant to your target market or the product/information they are searching for will increase relevance and on-page conversions rates. For example including an image of a European car on a landing page promoting a product or service targeted at European car owners. If you’re targeting an Asian demographic, you could test images of Asian people versus other nationalities (e.g. Pacific Island, Caucasians) to see if this resonates with the audience, and in turn, results in more conversions.

Building relevance by communicating consumer benefits, using trigger words in headlines and using relevant images on landing pages will reassure your prospects that you offer what they need and that they are in the right place.

5. Extracting Information – How To Avoid Scaring Them Away [5]
In general, the less work a visitor has to do, and the less information they have to surrender, the more likely they are to convert.

If you require a visitor to supply their full name, address, home and mobile phone numbers and credit card details in order to download a free PDF report, chances are they’ll hit the back button faster than Google will charge you for the click! Ensure that all requested information is necessary and reasonable. If capturing an email address and first name is all you need to continue a sales conversation if the prospect abandons the sales funnel, then it’s best to just ask for this. By asking for less information, you will increase the number of visitors who complete your online form, and you’ve still got another opportunity to pitch them again via their email address

Obviously, there are times when capturing more information will improve the quality of your leads. In this instance, I suggest capturing this information across multiple forms starting with the prospects name and email address and ending with the more sensitive information such as their age, income or financial details (if required). It’s more likely a prospect will complete the last page because they have invested their time completing the first few pages.

6. Plug the Leaks – Don’t Let Them Escape
Including unnecessary links on a landing page gives your prospect an easy way to escape the sales funnel. This is common as web developers often use the main website template for landing pages which includes the main navigation and other unnecessary links. Ask your web developer to exclude them and any other unnecessary links, to avoid distracting your prospect. Ensure there is a clear “path to purchase” on every page.

The #1 Tip to Increasing Conversion Rates
The online environment is dynamic, so what works for one website won’t necessarily work for another. I have only included a handful of known techniques used to increase on-page conversion rates but the most import part is to understand your sales process. Understand how your customers research information. Know what information they require during the different stages of purchase. What are their needs, concerns and desires? What are their emotional triggers? Why did your current customers buy? The following information is vital to the process and should be the first thing you do.

The process of researching, planning, tracking and implementing an optimisation project takes time and resource to complete effectively. If you don’t have the time or confidence to complete this work, and you want reassurance that you’re using your online marketing budget effectively, contact the digital team at PHDiQ for a no obligation chat.
Get onto it today! Contact PHDiQ

1. Book: “Don’t Make Me Think” By Steve Krug.
2. http://www.marketingexperiments.com/improving-website-conversion/site-headlines.html
3. http://www.conversion-rate-experts.com/scrolling-tips/
4. Book: “Ca$hvertising” By Drew Eric Whitman
5. http://www.searchenginejournal.com/9-effective-tips-for-a-better-landing-page/8413/ (point two)

Cookies

2011-10-21T14:43:00.008+13:00

Most people by now are familiar with cookies. They are the friendly pieces of code that remember you on the web – helping you fill out forms, remembering your location and keeping you signed in. They are also the way we track our advertising - how we discern uniques, how we track sales, how we behaviourally target & retarget. They are in short how the web knows who we are.

Super cookies have been in the news lately. The label is a bit of a misnomer, but generally refer to a type of cookie that is indefinite, difficult to delete and tracks a lot of data.

Most cookies have a limited persistence: 30, 60, 90 days… Advertisers limit cookie windows so as not to over-count conversion. One week, or even one day windows are not uncommon. Super cookies however are indefinite, tracking users across months or years, building a rich data pool about their behaviour. Sound familiar? That’s because they are the cookies often used for behavioural targeting.

In themselves these cookies are fairly innocuous - what worries some people is how difficult they are to delete. Regular cookies are fairly easy to delete as anyone with a slight knowledge of internet settings or a spyware program knows. A supercookie however isn't, it is hidden in the depths of the registry. And their close relatives Zombie cookies (seriously you can’t make this stuff up) automatically recreates itself after a user deletes it.

Also the data these cookies collect can concern people - the news Facebook tracks users across the web even after they have logged out, is a good example [watch this space for another post on Facebook vs Privacy, that is a whole other war]. A supercookie allows a site (or network) to build a profile of a user, sites visited, words searched, products purchased. This seems frightening, but really shouldn’t be. Sure a network might know I have read TV reviews, searched for a Sony Bravia & spent time on Trade Me looking at TVs – but if it means they serve me ads for new TVs, it only improves my browsing experience. All reputable networks or sites selling behavioural data, sell segments -- data aggregated and never personally identifiable.

So what does this mean for advertisers? Any data collected by us as an agency is covered through the Mediamind privacy policy But if you are currently using retargeting – this should serve as a reminder to check your data collection policy & ensure it is clearly defined and easily accessible on your site. It’s important to provide the ability to opt-out - direct your users to this page

Cookies are nothing to fear, they make our browsing experience faster, more relevant and more personal. Just make sure you have the right safeguards in place to prevent a tummy ache…

Digital Media Manager / Senior Planner Job Opportunity

2011-10-20T09:36:00.002+13:00

PHDiQ is the digital media agency for PHD network in New Zealand. We work with some of New Zealand’s leading advertisers, developing innovative and engaging media opportunities on the internet, mobile and in other emerging media.

We are looking for a Senior Planner or Digital Media Manager to join one of our digital teams, working as part of a team of 6 across a broad range of blue chip clients. You will be responsible for day to day client account management, strategy and planning and working with the team to ensure the correct buying, implementation and optimisation of campaigns across all digital media including display, mobile, social, online and search.

Ideally you will have 4+ years experience in media, with at least 18 months experience in digital. It is expected that you will be analytical and inquisitive, have good account service skills and have some experience of third party technology platforms including Media Mind, Google Analytics and Pegasus (or similar).

Please email me your CV if you're interested in the role (christophe.spencer@phdiq.co.nz)

Facebook Page Insights

2011-10-18T15:30:00.003+13:00

There are now 2.1 million Kiwis on Facebook, making it an increasingly important platform for brands. Thanks to changes to Facebook’s reporting platform, businesses can more accurately measure how consumers are interacting with their pages. The most significant change has been the inclusion of “People Talking About This” becoming visible to users. The much improved tool is called ‘Page Insights’, which in a nutshell allows Page owners to understand and analyse trends, demographics and consumption of their content.

This is a long overdue tool that will help page owners to optimize their publishing strategy.

I have created my own page and as I begin my quest for Facebook popularity, ‘Page Insights’ becomes an essential tool to be used every day.

There is only going to be one true measure of success; the ‘page likes’ and ‘talking about this’ figures. I shall keep you posted on my progress in achieving higher levels of fans and how I have utilised the tool to my advantage.

Out of all the Pages on Facebook it turns out Facebook is the most popular page with 54 million likes, meaning 93% of the Facebook population still is yet to like the platform they are using.

Jobs Done - Yeah Right

2011-10-13T13:39:00.003+13:00

Last week Tui seemed to mock the death of Steve Job’s with ‘Job’s Done – Yeah Right’ billboard. That wasn’t what the copy was written in response to, but imagining for a moment that it had been, I would have applauded its sarcastic intent. While he is rightfully mourned by tech nerds, graphic designers, obscure bands, hip mums, hipsters and everyone in between, he’s far from done – Tui were, unwittingly, quite right.

As important as functionary office tools, having a video platform for lol cats, a search engine to find them all and a place to tell your friends what you what you Like are to the world, Steve Jobs provided the commercial bridge of taking computing out of the labs of white coated maths boffins and into the hands of the average Joe Blog (yes, pun intended). His efforts of 20yrs ago look modest now compared to the renaissance of Apple in the last few years with the release of products like iphone and ipad to the adoration of the masses. These devices have drawn audiences to new screens and will continue to influence the way that they consume content.

This is where we as agencies and clients owe our thanks to Steve Jobs. His own vision and innovation, and that that he inspired in others, will continue to influence how we reach our audience, whether it be via Apple products or competitor derivatives.

For example, he is the reason that we are able to offer innovation in the increasingly, and perhaps eventually most, important space of mobile advertising. With this medium he has helped us refine the messages and targeting to our audience. That might only be to 20% of the New Zealand market now, but Jobs has already determined that figure will quickly jump to 50% and beyond.

He is the reason that the magazine industry can see light at the end of the tunnel. And that light is of course the glow of a Vanity Fare on an ipad, maintaining an important long dwell time audience for us to speak to.

So sure, the content, like David after the Dentist, is important of course, but Job’s has not only best designed how we receive it, but makes us want to consume more. He has provided the building blocks of not only how, but where we can deliver messages to consumers. His work over the last 30yrs and legacy assures that he’s not done yet.

Graeme is a Digital Strategist at PHDiQ by day and runs a Steve Jobs cult in West Auckland in his spare time, preaching on street corners about Steve Jobs most weekends.

Smartphones & Mobile Search – A New Zealand Perspective

2011-10-12T21:45:00.006+13:00

I recently attended a BBQ and a friend raised the question “does anybody know the score in the rugby?” to my amazement a friends grandfather pulled out an iPhone, made a search and announced the score.

So, it's safe to say that smartphones and the performing of searches on these devices is not a fad. The following stats back up this view;

A study conducted by Canalys in late 2010 identified that 27% of New Zealanders had a smartphone and Google have predicted that in mid-2011 smartphone penetration reached 35% with the trend to continue.
Based on data published by the IAB NZ, 55% of smartphone users have accessed a search engine via their mobile phone.
Internal Google data indicates that between 7-10% of searches are performed on a mobile device.

The way we use these devices has also started to change significantly as evidenced by these trends;

Until recently, mobile searches were heavily weighted towards quick, low consideration, functional searches for products and services such as movie session times, restaurant addresses, driving directions, etc… but now the time spent online using a mobile device is increasing, with people interacting via social media sites, conducting in-store competitor price/product comparisons, consuming media and making purchases.
A recent Google User Behaviour Study identified that one in three searches on a mobile is locally related.
People’s path to purchase is typically a lot shorter when searching via mobile devices. For example, a recent US study identified that 61% of individuals who made a search for a service on a mobile device called the business and 59% visited the business.

2011 has undoubtedly spelt the rise of the smartphone and we believe that this trend will continue through into 2012 and beyond. The mobile device is closing the gap between generic search based product consideration and purchase. Our recommendation - consult with your agency, prepare your website for mobile users, develop a Mobile Search strategy and take advantage of this ever-growing market.

The Ever Evolving World of Facebook

2011-10-05T15:34:00.002+13:00

Back in 2009, in a quote on Wired.com, Mark Zuckerberg said he “envisions a more personalised, humanised web where our networks of friends, colleagues, peers and family is our primary source of information, just as it is offline”. Yet it seems that Facebook is playing an increasing role in prioritising status updates by dictating what makes it as a Top Story or a Recent Story for each and every Facebook user. I guess those “rigorous and efficient equations that parse practically every byte of on-line activity to build a dispassionate atlas” have some use after all?

So what does this mean for brands? Quite simply, it’s not the size, it’s what you do with it that matters.

At first brands were obsessed with how many friends they had on Facebook. Then they turned their focus to increasing their engagement rates. And now they’re realising that engagement rates doesn’t tell the whole story either.

Recent disclosure from Facebook on their Edgerank and Graphrank algorithms has sent many brands (and those that manage brand pages) into a tailspin. And so it should. If your objective with each and every post ISN’T to elecit some kind of response from your community, then you may need to rethink your objectives.

Edgerank is made up of three variables (is this starting to sound familiar?):

• Affinity – people/brands you engage with most often, or share interests with, will be given priority
• Weight – the types of content you like to engage with most will be given priority
• Time Decay – how recently the content was posted

(Graphrank, the algorithm for apps, does the same thing, but twice over - once for the app itself, and once for whether the user likes to interact with apps).

Using the question function on a page is a great way to get your average engagement rate up for the month end report, but it’s really missing the point. You have to treat each ‘type’ of status update as equally important, regardless of what engagement rate it delivers.

By posting a question you are increasing your Edgerank score but only for those people in your community who like to answer polls. Asking people to tag themselves in a photo might get what you consider to be a poor engagement rate, but it has just increased your Edgerank score for those who like to look at photos, and those who like to tag photos.

Brands need to continue investing in page growth – that’s a given. But to be truly successful they also need to invest time and resource into planning for participation and developing a range of bespoke content designed to deliver engagement from their existing community.

And it doesn’t seem like there will be too much help from Facebook on this score. For the first time they have a real competitor in Google Plus which has seen their focus shift from making it easier for brands to connect, to ensuring their users don’t jump ship.

Watch this space – it’s going to get interesting!

NZ online TV viewing

2010-11-09T11:56:00.009+13:00

Last week I presented a NZ digital landscape document, and as I was working through the data, and developing my notes for year on year comparisons, I came across a really interesting (but in hindsight not suprising) piece of data.

According to Roy Morgan research, 8.3% of NZ'ers aged 14+ streamed TV in August 2010. Whilst this doesn't tell us how they were using it (catch up versus choice) and for how long, it now moves the online TV viewing well along the 'early adopter' category. Online TV streaming has experienced growth of 113% over the past 12 months, up from 3.9% of NZ'ers aged 14+ in September 2009 and is great news for the TV networks.

Drilling further provides more insight however, with significant demographic skews - nearly 20% of all 14-24 year olds, both male and female, watch TV online. This is significant, espectially in the fragmented youth TV audience space and the percentage drops as the age groups increase. I'd guess that the younger age groups are also the ones who are able to correctly identify watching TV online and viewing video online (e.g. YouTube). As the age groups increase, the skew towards males becomes marked.

With recent innovations from TVNZ towards their ondemand platform, and the recent upgrade to the TV3 media player, New Zealand now has high quality video distribution platforms. Of course, iSky is launching sometime within the next few weeks also.

Combining this usage data with the ever increasing broadband speeds should be positive news for the TV networks. However the current cost discrepancy between broadcast and online TV (despite the platform nuances) will continue to hold back significant investment.

If all movies had smartphones

2010-11-09T11:52:00.008+13:00

This is a clever video on the College Humor website - rewriting the plotlines to a few classic movies if smartphones had been available.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Hat-tip to the Futurelab blog

NZ Media First on Youtube

2010-08-21T09:26:00.022+12:00

This week, BNZ became the first NZ advertiser to make use of Youtube’s quick launch programme.

The quick launch programme gives brands the opportunity to get a video masthead execution (example above) live within 5 working days – considerably shorter than Youtube’s standard 9 day turn-around time.

The quicklaunch programme also allows brands to incorporate some really nice interactive features within their advertising.

As above, BNZ were able to include a video carousel within their ad that hosted each of their 30” Whalewatch TVC’s (something that had never been done in NZ previously).

Given that we wanted to make it as easy possible for Youtube viewers to watch and scroll between the three Whalewatch executions, we’re pretty happy with the end result.

A big thank you to Sugar, Youtube and naturally the team down at BNZ for helping make this happen….

PHDIQ is the MSN Advertising Partner of the Year

2010-08-19T10:13:00.002+12:00

There's a few sore heads in the IQ team today after celebrating last night at the Microsoft Partner Awards, where PHDIQ was awarded MSN Advertising Partner of the Year.

This is the first year for the category, which recognises the MSN partner agency that "...shines above all others, demonstrating best in class online advertising practice, successful innovation and overall business success"

Specifically, PHDIQ was recognised for exemplary performance in the following areas:

Great work that was judged to deliver powerful cut-through and brand building qualities
Campaign results that outperformed expectations
Best practice campaign integration with MSN's network
Consistently thorough briefing, including campaign objectives and expectations
Business growth, including client acquisition and agency revenues
Provision of MSN case study opportunities

It's an honour to be recognised for the excellent work we do, thanks to Liz, Dan and Nic from MSN.

Campaign Manager Job Opportunity

2010-06-08T08:14:00.006+12:00

PHDiQ is the digital media strategy agency of the PHD network in New Zealand. We work with some of New Zealand’s leading advertisers, developing innovative and engaging media opportunities on the internet, mobile and in other emerging media.

We are looking for a Campaign Manager to join one of our planning teams, working with a Digital Strategist, Digital Media Manager, and day to day with a Digital Planner. You will be responsible for the correct buying and implementation of campaigns across all digital media, mobile, social, online and search. Depending on your level of experience you may also be asked to plan some small campaigns.

Ideally you will have 1-2 years experience in buying, implementing and reporting on online campaigns. It is expected that you will have solid experience with adserving platforms including Eyeblaster Media Mind and Google Analytics and also with Pegasus for invoicing.

Please feel free to contact me at christophe.spencer@phdiq.co.nz if you have any queries about the role.

Junior Search Engine Marketing Specialist Job Opportunity

2010-06-04T10:45:00.004+12:00

PHDiQ is the digital arm of SparkPHD, the 2010 CAANZ Media Agency of The Year. We work with some of New Zealand’s leading advertisers, developing innovative and engaging media solutions for online, mobile and other emerging media.

This role will see you join our established Search Team. You will be responsible for SEM campaign management, reporting and data analysis for a set of high profile clients, working as an integral part of the wider Digital Media Team.

We are interested in applications from people who have exposure to Online Marketing, including Google Analytics and Google AdWords. Experience running small SEM campaigns, is preferred, however, we will consider graduate applications if you can demonstrate an understanding and desire to specialise in Search Marketing.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions in regards to the role at emma.kieselbach@phdiq.co.nz.

Unravelling The Myth of Online Privacy

2010-06-04T08:56:00.007+12:00

Following on from Alysha's post about Facebook Privacy, the debate has heated up in recent weeks - forcing Facebook to change it's policy.

As we have already seen awareness of privacy issues has grown with searches for Facebook Privacy changes reaching *breakout* level (over 5000% growth in a year).

The info graph on the right showed the labyrinthine structure - no wonder users were confused. Not to mention the fact that the privacy policy is now an epic 5,800 words long - longer than the US Constitution.

The other issue of course, is that once you post something on Facebook, you give them the IP. See a little-read clause in the T&Cs:

For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos ("IP content"), you specifically give us the following permission subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide licence to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook ("IP Licence"). This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it.

There are two things in there that should strike fear into any avid Facebooker. 'Transferable' - means they can pass [read sell] your content to any third-party they please. And 'unless your content has been shared with others' so something like your profile photo, which is by default shared with everybody, friend or no, could feasibly end up in a shiny Facebook TVC and you couldn't do a thing about it. Like this unsuspecting US family found out:

Fortunately for them, the Czech company quickly pulled the billboard down - but do you trust Facebook to be so accommodating? When this is the exchange from their CEO, I wouldn't count on it....

Zuck: Yeah so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard
Zuck: Just ask.
Zuck: I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, SNS
[Redacted Friend's Name]: What? How'd you manage that one?
Zuck: People just submitted it.
Zuck: I don't know why.
Zuck: They "trust me"
Zuck: Dumb fucks

The backlash was bad enough, with sites like quitfacebookday emerging and mainstream press like the dailymail (you don't get more mass than the mail...) helping whip up hysteria, that Facebook back-tracked and changed their policy. They have simplified the maze of settings, but it remains opt-out rather than opt-in. Time will tell if users eventually get fed up and Facebook goes the way of previous social media darlings, Friends Reunited, Myspace, Bebo et al - but in the meantime we should keep an eye on that other digital behemoth who are busily doing no evil...

Cell Phones, Social Media, Teenagers, OMG!!!

2010-05-17T10:20:00.009+12:00

Some pretty crazy statistics which have just come out of the US, via Flowtown, re mobile phone usage among teenagers. Key findings from the research as follows:

* 75% of all teenagers in the US now have a mobile phone
* 35% of all teenagers send over 100 text messages a day (!!!)

While these findings are US based its worth acknowledging these results in the context of mobile phone penetration (all ages):

*106% mobile phone penetration in NZ
*87% mobile phone penetration in US

Its funny how cell phones (as a bona fide form of media) have become a 'life tool'. In the same way that you wouldn't leave the house without your wallet or your keys, you wouldnt leave the house without your cell phone.

Another piece of research which I stumbled across whilst browsing Digital Buzz Blog was around Mobile Phones and their influence on Social Media.

Key findings:

* 25% or more than 100 million Facebook users access from a mobile phone, and those who do, are more than twice as active on social networks compared to people accessing from a computer.
* The 35-54 age bracket is the most active mobile social user. Alot of resource is going into these studies, with strong evidence suggesting that the use of social media, and particualry Facebook, is really in the realm of an older demographic. This should be a bit of a slap in the face to a lot of big corporates who continue to view Facebook and social media as only for teenagers.

Thats all for now...

Facebook and Privacy - NZ view

2010-05-16T17:07:00.009+12:00

There's been a significant amount of international attention about the amount of private data held by both Facebook and Google in the past few months. The recent announcement of Facebook's Open Graph API had web owners delighting in the possibility of rich customer data available for mining, insights and *shock/horror* one to one communication in the form of email, mobile and physical location.

So do New Zealanders care? According to Google Insights, it would appear so. In the past year, the top 'rising search' relating to privacy was 'Facebook privacy', with growth of 250% over the previous year.

Furthermore, when tracking the search phrase 'privacy' and 'facebook delete', we can see a fairly close correlation between peaks of public interest - particularly in the past eight weeks. Over the past few weeks the NZ blogosphere has been abuzz, and the mainstream NZ media has picked up the ever evolving story. There's now a well meaning but misguided status update doing the rounds in Facebook.

Whilst this setting is turned off by default, the small print below doesn't discount the opportunity for your data to be shared if they are one of your friends - and that depends on the security settings consumers apply to their friends, not to the third parties.

It will be interesting to watch where this goes. Personally, I think the majority of Facebook's 1.6M New Zealand user base will be apathetic to the privacy settings and most advertisers are ethical enough to respect these as the potential consumer insights at a macro level open up a whole new world of targeting. However the worldwide controversy (Facebook had an emergency meeting last Friday to discuss their response) are likely to see the product and privacy settings evolve further.

NZ media - Innovate or die

2010-04-24T16:33:00.007+12:00

Ok, so it's not the most original headline and somewhat dramatic. But local media owner innovation is an issue for me that I'm feeling very strongly about.

As a media agency, we are engaged by our clients for a number of reasons but one of the key ones is cost efficient and effective media purchase across channels. It's the requirement - and in some cases these are tied to our income - for cost efficiency that drives the agency to negotiate hard on behalf of clients.

Invariably most campaigns do include an online display element, however we're now seeing more and more of the NZ based online media owners dropping CPM rates to match those offered by ad networks and international sites with much higer levels of inventory. Of course this is great for us and great for our clients - but how sustainable is this for the local online media market? With sub $5 CPM rates being touted about, even I can do a back of the envelope calculation to work out that the revenue is minimal.

Of course a site like Trade Me is an exception, and interestingly the smaller niche sites are innovating well - for example, Interest.co.nz and Snow.co.nz. This enables them to hold CPM's at a higher rate but the effectiveness (however it's defined) generally justifies these.

If this continues the NZ based media properties who don't innovate with their product and/or advertising propostion are destined for failure. Ad spends are moving faster than ever from local market offerings, because there's very little differentiation in the inventory between local and international players. In fact the international offering is stronger, with behavioural targeting well established and advanced targeting opportunities offered all the time.

So NZ sites - we want to invest with you. You have relevant local content and information which engages our audiences. But you need to start differentiating on something other than price parity. And whilst this may feel like a chicken and egg situation - you need to invest to get additional revenue - trust me when I say that our budgets are following the results and are going to those who can deliver. Being NZ based no longer guarantees you income.

And on to Global Domination

2010-03-20T21:15:00.003+13:00

With media awards all completed and submitted it was time to head off to Ad Tech in Sydney for a bit of much needed inspiration.

Maybe it was just me, but if I didn't know better I'd think Ad Tech was a big old piece of branded content brought to you by Facebook. I can't tell you how many sessions Facebook was mentioned in, but I'm pretty sure it was all of them (except maybe the Channel Planning session - and those of you that were there know what I mean).

In typical conference style, unreferenced facts and figures were being thrown around like impressions on a network cpc buy:

Facebook is now the #1 site in the US - bumping Google from the top position it has held since it took over from MySpace...
In the UK, advertisers are now spending more on Facebook than they are on Google
Australia is the social media capital of the world - 70% of the population are social networkers
This year Facebook will buy Google...

Now that last one was a joke, Or was it. Stranger things have happened as anyone who has been in and around this industry for a few years knows. Who would have thought anyone could be bigger than Google? But for me it raises a few questions:

How are all those UK advertisers managing to spend so much on Facebook?
Does this mean Facebook is working hard to find more ways to let advertisers in? And if they do, will they suffer such a backlash from their community that it will cause them to move onto the next big thing (like MySpace users did)?
What will that next big thing be?

Answers on the back of a postcard please.

Bing puts a sting in Google

2009-12-17T07:55:00.012+13:00

Ok, that's a bit of an over the top headline. But hey, it's a week before Christmas and we've all been too busy to post for the past couple of months so the pressure is on to come up with a cracker to make up for the silence. Not sure that this delivers to that but it did crack me up when it appeared on a large screen to a group of clients a couple of days ago.

So - by default I use Google as my search engine, and balance it out with a preference for IE. (I know, I'm so common). However in the most recent IE update, Google was removed as a search engine from the IE search box.

I'm not sure why I thought that I should type the URL string for http://www.google.co.nz/ into the IE search box rather than the nav bar, but I did (and millions of other people do every day - as I said, I'm common) and here's what appeared:

In case you can't see this clearly....

Goodness gracious, really Bing? Couldn't you just have indexed the URL rather than the dodgy search? My technical knowledge with indexing doesn't stretch this far so if anyone can explain how this happened I'd love to know.

I'll also be more careful with what I search for in future.

iSnack 2.0

2009-10-02T15:54:00.002+13:00

When Kraft announced the name of their new vegemite recipe it was widely met with derision. At first I joined in the jeering - the lowercase apple-esque i, the buzzword 2.0 – it’s brand name smacking of bandwagon jumping, of me-too, of being down with the kids. Big mistake Kraft, big mistake.

Or was it?

The more I think about it, the more I realise we are actually looking at a very clever (if somewhat cynical) marketing ploy. Would Kraft really choose such a ridiculous name from nearly 50,000 entries? Was there really nothing better? Or did Kraft know exactly what they were doing, choosing a name they knew would polarise (much like their love it or hate it spread)?

Why wouldn’t they have a public vote in the first instance? Because to maximise response, you have to get everyone interested & invested first. And now that there is a vote, you know that in order to vote there will be a data capture element, creating an instant eCRM database for Kraft. “We have been overwhelmed by the passion for Vegemite.” said Simon Talbot Kraft’s corporate affairs head for Australia and New Zealand as explanation for the change. Do you really believe Kraft were unaware of the passion for their iconic spread? Or were they using that passion to generate interest in their new spread? Thousands of the iSnack branded jar have already been delivered to supermarkets -after the announcement that they were back-tracking on the name change & opening it to a public vote- these will quickly become collectors’ items. Would there be such public interest in ‘Cream Cheese Vegemite’?

Kraft have taken what is essentially a small recipe change and used it to generate international PR, thousands of blog posts & even several You Tube videos (remember the old adage, all publicity is good publicity). The result is they have managed to launch a whole new brand, with almost no marketing support.

iSnack 2.0? Genius.

ABC plans to reduce ad time for new season programming

2009-09-24T14:03:00.002+12:00

Just in from Ad Age...

ABC has opted to remove the first ad break from new programs including "Flash Forward," "Modern Family," "Eastwick" and others set to debut this week as part of the new 2009-2010 TV season, as first reported by the Los Angeles Times.....ABC execs said the ad-reduction idea is part of a larger plan to get viewers hooked on new shows at a time when they have a dizzying array of entertainment choices.

So reading between the lines, ABC believe that if they remove ads, their content becomes more engaging and appealing. Uh oh. What does this mean for their underlying business model?

Viral infection

2009-09-17T12:20:00.000+12:00

By now I’m sure you’ve all been Kanye’d (and if you haven’t then check out this out: www.draftfcb.co.nz) and it got me thinking about viral campaigns and how often we get clients asking us to plan one for them.

‘Creating’ a great viral campaign is about as easy as planning to win Lotto. In fact, planning to win Lotto might even be easier – all you have to do is get the correct numbers together on one line in the right week.

Creating a great viral campaign has many more factors that need to align in order to get the desired result.

First, you need a good idea. Actually, you need a great idea which also has enough relevance and appeal to capture someone’s imagination. But not just anyone – it needs to be someone who has the time and inclination to forward it on to their friends. And you need to hope that ‘someone’ has an extensive list of friends who also have the time and inclination to forward it on to their extensive list of friends. And so on, and so on.

And finally you need to have a client who understands that a) you only get one shot at a viral campaign; b) the internet community may take your viral campaign and turn it into something completely different and not aligned with your brand and c) whether it ‘works’ or not is in the lap of the Gods. Oh and d) no, you cannot accurately measure results.

There have been some cracking viral campaigns – like this oldy-but-a-goody from 42below http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMxzKQFl7pw which evolved from an award winning radio ad. Or the Cadbury’s Gorilla TVC which over the last 2 years has been mashed up and remade thousands of times by people from all over the world: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cadbury+gorilla&search_type=&aq=f.

But I’m pretty sure that for every great viral campaign out there, there are thousands that never made it beyond the email address book of the account director at the creative agency.

Are celebrities bigger than God?

2009-09-11T09:37:00.012+12:00

As I was getting ready for work this morning, I stumbled across this news headline on stuff -

http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/celebrities/2851918/Are-celebrities-bigger-than-religion

Unfortunately Firefox decided not to load the page so I didn't get to read it - which gave me a chance to ponder this on the way to work, and decided to find out how religion compared to celebrities in terms of online search volumes - the highest worldwide celebrity searches for the past 12 months were:

Britney Spears, Megan Fox (didn't she come out of nowhere!), Kim Kardashian and Angelina Jolie. So I decided to see how they all stacked up against searches for God - after all, he's kind of a celeb in his own right.

The results are obvious - God consistently maintained a high search volume throughout the past twelve months. And the country that has the highest index for searches? Eritrea, a country that is 50% Muslim and 48% Christian*.

*Sources: Google Insights for Search, Wikipedia

We're Hiring! Search Marketing Specialist Wanted

2009-09-03T10:33:00.003+12:00

We're looking for an experienced Search Engine Marketing Specialist to join the team here at PHDiQ.

Our search team are at capacity so we're looking for an enthusiastic person to help run search campaigns for some of the biggest brands in New Zealand.

You'll need to be passionate about online, have strong analytical skills and superior attention to detail.

In return you'll get to work with one of the largest media agencies in New Zealand. We have a great team culture, a work hard, play hard attitute and an environment where proactive and enthusiastic team members are both appreciated & valued.

Find out more and apply online through Trade Me Jobs.

Hey IAB – forget about new recruits, look after the ones you have

2009-08-21T17:03:00.000+12:00

The IAB ploughs on with its education programme, espousing the virtues of online to the die-hard traditionalists who haven’t still haven’t ventured onto the interweb. Whilst a noble (& one wonders how fruitful?) pursuit, it does mean that certain boring, but necessary housekeeping matters are being left to grow wild in its backyard:

1/ Standardisation. Whist we are at a point (nearly) where formats are standard across most sites, creative specs still vary wildly between publishers. Key to increasing spends is decreasing production costs. Often the media / production ratio for online is totally out of whack, too heavy on the production side as a result of having to build multiple versions of the same format to answer multiple creative specs. In some cases, specs within the sites themselves aren’t even consistent. One large portal requires both left & right expansions for a rectangle, as it may appear on both sides of the site. When multiple versions of a creative are required for a single site, let alone a whole plan, you know something is awry...

2/ File weights. I know we aren’t at the forefront of broadband speeds here, unlike Korea where you can download a movie in seconds, but is a 35kb limit on flash really necessary? Small file sizes are limiting creatively & force standard ads to be rich-media adserved to account for the weight. Sure page loading is important – so why not implement iframes, allowing the content to load, with the ad loading in last. Don’t think you would find users complaining about that!

3/ Research. Who can we rely on if not our industry body to provide us with the research to back up our planning decisions. Looking at the wealth of research on IAB UK & IAB US sites, much of it available to members only, makes one wonder why the IAB can’t perform the same service here. After client’s want case studies, planners want proof – you want Brands to spend more online? Give them relevant NZ research, showing how successful other brands have been. Without a prohibitively expensive brand study, we are at a loss to prove the positive effect online advertising has on brand measures – a generic NZ based study, across the industry would do much to help our case.

So whilst fancy breakfasts & Thurs night drinks are warm & fuzzy, we need a focus on less glamorous, but perhaps more important issues.

The industry needs more structure, not more knees up’s (as nice as they are).

Mobile Advertising - Groundhog day?

2009-08-08T18:07:00.005+12:00

Mobile advertising is still in its infancy in terms of share of budgets relative to share of media consumption time, however there are aspects that make me feel like I'm back in the bad old days of early 2000. Remember those? Back when we didn't have third party adserving, when we had to dispatch multiple creative to multiple publishers, when there were ridiculous resource overheads from collating multiple media owner reports to present a single view to a client.

It seems that we've learnt nothing from the growing pains of the past few years and now that online is a proven media channel we're looking for another battlefield to forge.

So how can we accelerate mobile advertising growth? Looking backwards to look forwards is a good start.

We need true 3rd party adserving for mobile. Adserving, not click and impression tracking. Adserving provides targeting options and optimisation flexibility, and as any media planner knows, a centralised reporting structure with up to date data for all publishers is a mandatory for daily optimisation

What's the hold up? Obviously it's chicken and egg - without investment, publishers are loathe to incur further cost, however without technology, it's a harder sell for the media agencies.

Where to? Third party counter tags are a good start, so that we have up to and auditable data. However this doesn't allow for the smarts that we now take for granted in the online adserving space and I think the responsiblity has to be pushed back to the media owners to provide 3rd party adserving for mobile. Can I guarantee that they'll immediately see increased share of budgets? No. But it will remove one of the adoption barriers that currently exist.

Social Media not just for the Kids

2009-08-07T19:55:00.009+12:00

It seems the bright young things have finally discovered an application suitable for older Internet users – although I’m not sure the founders of Twitter quite had that in mind when the idea was first scribbled on a notepad way back in 2000.

In New Zealand Twitter has grown from a base of 9,000 users in December last year to 151,000 in the latest June data released by ComScore. The growth in users is no surprise. News of the plane crash on the Hudson broken by tweets from people actually on the flight certainly had the wow factor. Then there was Obama’s presidential campaign, the race between Oprah and Ashton Kucher to see who could be first to gain 1 million followers and the news of Michael Jackson’s collapse - broken by TMZ using Twitter. So the attraction to Twitter is understandable.

What is surprising is the demographic profile of Twitter users. Since March this year, ComScore has reported over half of Twitter users in NZ are aged 35+. And since April this year there has been significant growth in the 55+ age bracket – from none in April to 21,000 in June. And this isn’t just a New Zealand trend.

We’ve seen growth across the entire social networking category in the older age groups. And while they may have only joined a social media network to spy on the kids, it seems they’ve not just crashed the party, they’ve started their own right upstairs and tweeted all their friends an invite.

So why are the older demographics so keen on Twitter? For a start, the technology is simple and easy to understand, and there’s no need to post personal information and family photos for the world to see. Then there’s the content which can actually be quite useful – serious news from reputable sources and industry news and views from key personalities. Indeed, for the majority of users the real value is in the content that can be received, not in the content that can be sent.

Whatever it is, it seems that what is attracting the older audiences is exactly what is repelling the younger ones, and if this is the case Twitter could very well have a goldmine so long as whoever figures out how to monetise it does it well.

Going Local with Google

2009-08-04T13:59:00.011+12:00

Recently I’ve noticed that Google Local is still being relatively underutilized here in New Zealand.

Google Local is Google’s answer to the growing call for local information online. It’s a free service that allows you to leverage any local search volume for your products/services.

When a user searches on a localised term such as ‘Auckland Restaurants’ Google shows a map and up to 10 local businesses near the top of the organic search engine results page.

The free listings service allows businesses to define their address on Google Maps and include additional useful information such as opening hours, contact information, photos & even videos of the business and their products.

Google verifies that the listing has been created by the business by sending out a confirmation code either by phone or a card mailed through the post.

Once the listing has been validated and starts to appear online consumers are able to post reviews about the business. Having good customer reviews is a great way for your listing to stand out from your competitors. A good way to encourage your customers to create a review is by having a link on your website that points to your Google Local reviews.

Set up your free listing at Google Local.

Dwelling on the Future

2009-08-04T13:19:00.016+12:00

During our (colder than ever?) winter months I've found myself on the couch turning to 'that other' entertainment medium of TV. I’ve seen one TVC doing the rounds of late, for none other than TVNZ, promoting advertising on TV. For those of you who are not familiar with it, they label Radio listeners as distracted, uninterested zombies (that might be a little bit of an exaggeration.)

For us in digital, we could argue, we have the most active and engaged medium out there. Television audiences are regarded VIEWERS, Radio has its LISTENERS, and online has USERS. Surely by definition, online users are more engaged? How do we show this, and better yet, how do we know this?

Click Through Rates have long been the benchmark of success for digital campaigns. As we have seen CTRs fall, our friends at Eyeblaster have been doing some excellent research in new metrics, Dwell Time and Dwell Rate.

Dwell Time measures any interaction with a Rich Media Ad, whether it be in the form of a user initiated video, expanding media, data capture or any other custom interactions built into the ads. Dwell rate is similar to CTR, action divided by impressions. In a sample of 42 Billion rich media impressions (that’s 42,000,000,000), 8.71% of users actively engaged with the brands for an average 53.08 seconds. That’s the equivalent of two TVCs, back to back, not changing the channel, and actually paying attention to what is happening. Better yet, its within your desired content.

People are willing to be actively engaged with brands online, can do more and be entertained by your brand. Let’s get inventive with what we're putting online. I'm looking forward to seeing dwell time and dwell rates from some of our own clients campaigns.

The full 'Eyeblaster Analytics Bulletin: Trends in Time and Attention' report can be downloaded free from here

Carrot Time (or Bing vs Google)

2009-08-03T15:40:00.003+12:00

If you venture around to PHD at around 3pm, you might see some of us partaking in what is fondly known as carrot time. Whilst carrot time is an important part of the IQ team getting their 5+ a day, it also provided some interesting search insights for us last week.

Some of you might be aware that Google, whilst massively dominant, isn’t the only search engine on the block. Bing, the redesigned & rebranded Windows Live search recently relaunched amongst much fanfare & a 100M USD media campaign. For those of you on IE (& let’s face it, most of the world still is) it is now your default search engine. And to strengthen the assault on Google, Microsoft have (after years of courting) reach an agreement with Yahoo to make Bing the default search across all their portals.

And why should we care? Microsoft have worked long & hard on semantic search (ie the engine understands what you are asking rather than just mindlessly indexing pages). With functionality such as:

• Sports. Bing can directly display scores from a specific day, recent scores from a league or scores and statistics on teams or players.
• Finance. When entering a company name or stock symbol and either stock or quote in the search box Bing will show direct stock information like a stockchart, price, volume, and p/e ratio[17] in a webslice that users can subscribe to.
• Math calculations (e.g., 2 * pi * 24).[18] Users can enter math expressions in the search box using a variety of math operators and (trig) functions[19] and Bing will provide a direct calculation of the expression.
• Package tracking and tracing. When a user types the name of the shipping company and the tracking number Bing will provide direct tracking information.
• Plane ticket info. When 'flights from (to)' is entered in the search box in combination with city names or airport codes Bing provides info on ticket prices and a prediction for the future price trend.
• Flight status. When 'flight status' and/or a flight number is entered in the Bing search box, Bing provides direct current information on the flight status of the particular flight.
• Encyclopedic answers (What is the capital of Germany?). If the search phrase entered in the search box contains a simple question whose answer can be found in the Encarta encyclopia, Bing provides a direct answer to the question from Encarta.
Source: Wikipedia

How is this relevant to carrot time? Well the proof is in the searching.

When another team member tried to introduce a rival celery time, we asked the enginges - carrot vs celery

Top result from Google:

A random recipe that happens to have both keywords on the page

Top result from Bing:

A definitive, audiovisual & comical answer to a philosophical question

I know which result I like better. Try it - Bing, it's not just a funny name

Pencil bookings - a campaign to remove this

2009-08-01T14:07:00.000+12:00

Is there really anyone in the NZ market that actually likes the pencil booking system that exists for premium display media? For those of you who don't know, several large publishers (and a few small ones) maintain a pencil booking system.

How does this work? I enquire about availability for a specific placement on a specific date, and it's available, I have the option of 'pencil booking' the placement. This means that although I am not accountable for confirming the booking, I have first right of refusal on it if another media person 'challenges' for the booking. A challenge means they're committed to buying that spot.

Which brings the second point - if I'm investigating availability, and I get told that something I want is 'pencil booked', I'm more inclined not to bother going through a process to get the client to agree to a date, then challenge the booking. I'll find a way to reach the same audience elsewhere.

Over the past few months I've been struggling to understand what value this system provides to anyone, except the few media people who like the security blanket of knowing that they have first right of renewal on placements, and that their media plan will be able to go ahead if the client signs it off. Or the media owners who have a false economy based forecasting system.

I understand that there are dates - e.g launches where a date is preferable. However it's time for clients and agencies to put their money where their mouths are. If you're committed to a date and ready to book, book. But not hold onto a placement because it 'might' go ahead. Let's leave this hokey system back in the dark ages where it originated.

Michael Jackson

2009-08-01T13:45:00.001+12:00

I am fascinated by the insights that we can develop out of looking at search engine data - as I think everyone in the agency is now well aware of due to random announcements eminating from my person. However the Michael Jackson episode (death + funeral + tribute + legal issues etc) over the past few weeks has been a source of constant amusement and distraction for me.

In June, one of the top rising search terms for searches from NZ, Australia and UK was 'michael jackson jokes'. However we obviously got over this pretty quickly as in July, all three countries then searched for 'michael jackson memorial' as their number 1 breakout search phrase. However, the second highest search term was related to 'michael jackson ghost' - again for all three countries.

The US on the other hand had a little more respect - the term 'michael jackson jokes' didn't enter into the index. And they also searched on 'michael jackson memorial', 'michael jackson service' and 'jackson memorial' before they looked for the ghost! I can then only assume that the searches for 'michael jackson live' and 'michael jackson tickets' were related to his service. Or maybe people in the US thought they could see the ghost perform?

Mashup ads

2009-08-01T13:33:00.001+12:00

The team at PHDiQ have worked hard over the past few weeks to get a campaign live for Vodafone, using Eyeblaster Mashup ads (a NZ first!)

You can see these on NZ Herald, Surf.co.nz and Snow.co.nz websites. The ad unit on the NZ Herald appears as a button on every news story page, and when clicked, expands to reveal a full size Nokia mobile, with the same news story formatted into the mobile phone. You can then scroll through the exact same story as you were viewing online in the mobile, shpwing that accessing content on your mobile can provide a great experience.

Similar on Surf and Snow.co websites, however this time the up to date webcam photos are pulled through along with the surf/snow report for the region selected.

Full credit to the people that made it happen; the team at ColensoBBDO, Eyeblaster, APN Digital and Surf/Snow.co. And most importantly, the client.

Practicing what we preach

2009-07-20T16:53:00.001+12:00

Welcome to the inaugural blog post for PHDiQ, and hopefully the first of many to come.

As a digital media agency in New Zealand, we spend lots of time espousing the virtues of social media, but don't tend to follow through with our own behaviour. This blog aims to change all that, with relevant updates from all staff on topics relevant to the NZ Digital Media business.

Over time, we see this channel providing insights and commentary on many facets of the rapidly evolving digital environment.

Enjoy!