September 19, 2009

Ringtone Advertising

This is very interesting and maybe new information to some. Turkcell, the leading mobile phone operator of Turkey has seen significant gain since launching the world’s first ringtone advertising platform, Tone & Wine or TonlaKazan.

Tone and Win allows Turkcell members to select branded content and let their callers listen to a branded ringtone instead of a regular ringtone. To use Tone & Win Turkcell members can sign up through the Web, WAP and/or SMS channels. In addition to being an advertising platform, Turckcell also acts a loyalty program, offering incentives to its members who download Tone & Win. Turckcell subscribers can win airtime or credit depending on the amount of time their callers listen to their ringtone advertisement. Of course, there are many different ways to offer incentives for the cell phone subscribers, but for now this is what Turckcell is offering.

For advertisers this is a revolutionary advertising platform and I am interested to see if/when ringtone advertising will migrate to the US. Turkcell offers brands exclusive reports containing members' demographics, socioeconomic status, total impressions and total branded RBT seconds listened to by callers. The reason advertisers relay on digital media is for the simple fact that it is easier to track compared to broadcast or print. Advertisers love trackable media platforms; it helps them to gain more insight as to who their target audience is and allows them to narrow in on their specific interests/needs.

July 27, 2009

Viva Vevo!


Vevo can best be described as the Online MTV... or at least what MTV used to be like. It will be a central hub for all things music. Music videos are ranked 2nd in most popular searches on the Youtube website. Vevo is tapping into this large viewership and creating a custom site soly or the use of online music video.

At its launch, Vevo is anticipated to receive more traffic than any other music video site in the United States and in the world.
This will serve as competition for Youtube and will be a haven for advertisers even though prices may be higher. Viva Vevo!!! I look forward to the launch. I think this will be a great success and will help take the music industry into the future.

June 27, 2009

Make Way for the New Wave of Radio

A while back I wrote about the use of Radio. I recently read an article on MediaWeek.com about how brands have seen amazing success with streaming radio.

In the article, Esurance, a Web-based auto insurer invited would be movie directors to create a music video riffing off one of 10 dance numbers selected from recent Bollywood films. Esurance needed to reach hard-core Bollywood fans. They had to find a way to reach a highly specific audience while also keeping the appeal broad and national in scope. The answer was Internet radio. According to the company’s media director, Darren Howard, the choice of streaming radio was simple. “We can go to our streaming vendors and find those specific channels that play that type of music and would draw interest in our contest,” he says. “It’s not something you can do on terrestrial radio.”

There is much potential for Internet Radio but there still remains challenges. While the medium has proven itself a worthy buy for national campaigns, for example, Webcasters have yet to make significant inroads into the lucrative local marketplace. Agencies also complain that in a frenzy to deliver sufficient impressions some Webcasters end up annoying listeners by airing the same spot too frequently. Others mislead clients by padding their advertising proposals with international listeners that are not relevant to the buy.

March 06, 2009

How Do Some Brands Become a Household Staple?

Now, this is an old company but a great example of how a brand becomes a staple. Campbell's soup saw the "niche" market for the magazines they decided to advertise in. By advertising in the Ladies Home Journal they reached out to mothers everywhere. They asked the question "who eats soup?" Kids! Campbell’s Soup was the first canned soup brand and with the help of niche marketing became a household name.

February 20, 2009

Another Word For Creativity Is Courage

“To be or not to be?”- William Shakespeare

Like this famous quote creativity has a plethora of meanings. For me, I see it as being a way of self expression. When I think of the word “creativity” I immediately think of the way a child thinks; simple, curious, inquisitive, and non-discriminative.

Just this morning I read the Forbes 400s richest people. A majority of them share a similar self-made story. They started from nothing, an idea, and turned it in to gold. These are qualities I admire in people not because of their wealth but because of their ability to think and act beyond limitations.

This goes to show that creativity is a personal challenge to oneself. It’s breaking out of your shell; showing your thoughts just how they appear in your mind. This is difficult because our minds are so cluttered with images of how we think things ought to be, leading into creative blockage. Creative thinking is something that is given to all of us at birth but as we become more exposed to society throughout our lifetime our creative insight is narrowed.

As we look into creative thinking we see that it starts from within. You need to be comfortable with yourself; knowing your body, your mannerisms, your thoughts and senses. This is a beautiful life long process. If you can first do this then you can take your personal views and use them in your physical life. It is important to know that boundaries are merely the limits you put on yourself. By breaking through those boundaries the creative possibilities are endless.