Archive for January, 2009
Another advertiser shifts budget online
Century 21 Moves Its National TV Money Online
Realtor’s Research Revealed Better ROI for Web Efforts
Published: January 14, 2009
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Century 21, one of the first real-estate companies to advertise on TV, is pulling all national TV advertising in 2009 and redirecting its efforts and ad dollars to the web.
With the beleaguered real-estate market showing no signs of a turnaround, the realtor has decided to play the numbers and go where the buyers and sellers are: online.
Beverly Thorne, senior VP-marketing, Century 21, said in years past the company has spent up to half of its advertising budget on creative for TV, but a majority of that money will be redirected to its online efforts in 2009. She said the ability to target a consumer interested in making a purchase in the near term using an assortment of tactics has a lot of appeal.
According to TNS Media Intelligence, Century 21 spent $26 million on U.S. measured media in the first nine months of last year. The marketer spent $2.3 million of that online.
“There are a lot of possibilities online, not only classic display advertising but a lot of methodologies with search, enhanced listings for real-estate properties and enhanced technologies,” Ms. Thorne said. “Our online investment will be spread across all of those and any other incremental innovative approaches we work out with key partners.”
Not because of the economy
Ms. Thorne said Century 21’s decision to shift its focus to the web was a strategic one and did not reflect the current economic situation. The company like most others, has been watching every dollar it spends “to ensure maximum return for our brokers and agents,” she said.
Research from the National Association of Realtors shows that in 2008 “highly motivated” home buyers and sellers used the web as their main source of information and research. The NAR’s 2008 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers showed that most buyers started their searches online. A full 87% said they used the web to search for a home, and the same percentage ended up using a real-estate agent to make their purchase. A 60% majority of buyers said local metropolitan multiple-listing websites were their most common web resource.
Century 21 will make some local TV spots available to the 3,800 offices in its franchise system for use in their markets, Ms. Thorne said.
Leading the online push will be Beyond Interaction, Century 21’s media agency of record, Ms. Thorne said. Alex Tamayo, senior partner-group account director at Beyond Interaction, the digital unit of WPP-owned MediaCom, said he could not comment on whether the agency’s contract with Century 21 had been altered as a result of the increased workload it would be handling. He said there’s “nothing new about clients wanting to make sure every dollar is working, and working better than it did last year, so we are always reviewing the media mix.”
And an increase in workload won’t be much of a change, he said. “They keep us pretty busy as it is.”
Still some offline work
McGarryBowen, which has been Century 21’s creative agency since 2005, will be working with Beyond Interaction on projects. McGarryBowen will not see a dramatic decline in its workload, Ms. Thorne said. She said Century 21 will continue to do a limited amount of offline work such as out of home, radio and selective print, which will be integrated with the company’s online efforts.
“It will be different type of production, but it will be production work,” Ms. Thorne said. “They are also doing some of the integrated campaigns we do in local markets with brokers. It’s just a change in the business and not really a reduction.”
Ken Toumey, account integration director for McGarryBowen on the Century 21 account, said revenue from Century 21 is expected to fall but not dramatically, and that the agency will become much more focused on helping the realtor generate leads.
“That’s the switch for us,” Mr. Toumey said. “We are going spend a lot of time on more strategic work that cuts across their entire marketing platform, and we are now much more of a strategic partner with Century 21 than ever before.”
Relatively easy decision
Century 21’s decision to pull all national TV advertising was reached relatively easily based on data it compiled in 2008 and 2007, Ms. Thorne said. She said the company’s research and testing revealed that its online investments in 2008 were substantively more productive and efficient than its offline efforts.
“In 2008, our year-over-year results from 2007 are that we saw a 237% increase in the number of leads we were able to produce for our brokers and agents,” Ms. Thorne said. “At the same time, our cost per lead dropped 62% year over year because we learned how to integrate our search methodologies with our display and enhanced listings to create a far more targeted and efficient lead process. Our decision from there was very clear.”
Ms. Thorne would not say whether the shift would continue into 2010, only that the company will continue to invest ad dollars in media that consistently drive qualified leads to its brokers and agents.
Add comment January 17, 2009
Mobile Marketing Moves From Ads to Apps
Kraft, Nike, Others Keep Users Engaged With Useful Applications
Published: January 07, 2009
SAN FRANCISCO (AdAge.com) — In lieu of banner ads, advertisers increasingly are building mobile applications that provide contained brand experiences along with a usefulness that keeps users interacting with the brand. In the past month, brands such as Kraft, Nike, Gap, REI and Friskies have built applications for everything from planning a dinner menu to downloading snow reports.
As applications — particularly iPhone apps — grow in popularity, tools are emerging to help track their conversion rates and monitor whether clicks on ads lead to completed downloads of advertised apps. Ad network AdMob has just launched such a tool, and in its prelaunch testing, these findings emerged:
- Free applications have an average conversion rate of 10% vs. an average of 1% for paid applications.
- Games generally have higher conversion rates than other categories of applications, up to twice those of nongame applications at similar price points.
- The average acquisition cost for free applications is less than $1, significantly less than the average application download costs on the PC web.
These findings bode well for marketers who say fancy microsites may not always be the answer if the endgame is continuing engagement. Applications have the advantage of living on after the buzz fades from the product launch.
“The object is to build something that has utilitarian value to the consumer that goes beyond just the experience with the brand. It’s the only way to create consistent dialogue,” said Brian Bos, senior VP-convergence director at Mindshare.
Not just passive eyeballs
The move toward applications also comes as marketers realize that users are no longer just passive eyeballs but active creators with an appetite for personalization. “There used to be this mentality: If you build it, they will come,” said Steve Finnie, a marketing manager at General Mills. “But now they’re not necessarily seeking out our brands; we need to fit into their lives. That’s why we’ll see more applications that add value to their life as they’re leading them, and enhancing them.”
Add comment January 9, 2009
MySpace Attempts Leap to TV
The Catch: You’ve Got to Buy a New Flat Screen
Published: January 07, 2009
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — MySpace wants users to update their status while watching TV — literally. While social networking addicts often watch TV and surf the web simultaneously, the News Corp.-owned service has partnered with Yahoo and Intel to create a “MySpace Widget for TV,” which will allow users to interact with MySpace on a new generation of web-connected TVs.
The widget is based on a TV application developed by Yahoo and running on devices with Intel’s Media Processor chip, which will be included in TVs made by Samsung, Toshiba and other device-makers. It’s part of a major effort by the two companies to marry television and the web on a host of new TVs, set-top boxes, and other devices.
“We believe bringing MySpace to the TV will transform the way people think about social networking and provide a seamless experience for users to enjoy MySpace while watching TV,” said William O. Leszinske, general manager of Intel’s Digital Home Group.
MySpace, Intel and Toshiba showed the new service to attendees at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Baby steps toward TV-web convergence have become something of a CES tradition, and this year is no exception. Yahoo and Intel introduced its TV application platform called the “Widget Channel” on Monday, of which the MySpace application is a part; also Monday, LG Electronics announced a new line of TVs that will connect directly to Netflix.
While the widget won’t allow users to upload photos or video, it will allow them to interact with their profile and “friends” in many of the ways they do on their laptops, including: receive friend updates, read and respond to messages, and browse photos and other profiles.
Of course, MySpace anticipates that the widget will be ad-supported. “We are currently exploring how to best integrate advertising into the widget … and do it in a way that complements the viewing experience,” a spokesperson said.
Ian Schafer, CEO of independent agency Deep Focus and an expert in marketing on social media, thinks it’s a good idea for MySpace to get in early and experiment with TV, but is skeptical on this concept.
“I think it’s a little forced; once you get beyond the functional and practical it begins to clutter the experience,” he said. “It’s competing modes of experience.”
The success of this, like many other convergence devices, depends on the consumer’s willingness to upgrade their equipment, a tough sell in this economy.
“The question is are people going to buy a television because of this? If they are buying a flat screen TV they probably already have a laptop at home and it is probably sitting next to them on the couch,” Mr. Schafer said.
1 comment January 9, 2009
