Corporate Eye

Online Content Consumption Shows No Signs of Slowing Down

Susan Gunelius — Tue, 15 May 2012 03:30:37 +0000

Online Content Consumption Shows No Signs of Slowing Down

Content marketing is so hot right now that every brand is trying to figure out how to become an online publisher. Unfortunately, most are still struggling because they’re trying to fit traditional push marketing techniques into the pull marketing environment of the web. Since consumers’ demand for online content continues to grow so quickly, even brands that are publishing inferior content are reaping benefits simply because they’re “in the game.”

Research from JZ Analytics puts some numbers to online content consumption among American internet users. In a November 2011 study for Broadcom, JZ Analytics found that one out of 2 people who responded to the poll indicated that they consume at least 12 hours of digital content per week, and nearly 9 out of 10 survey respondents consumed 11 hours or more of online content per week. Americans are consuming online content (including online content and email) both at home and at work.

Here is the breakdown of the time per week survey respondents spend consuming online content:

40+ hours per week = 15.1%
31-40 hours per week = 16.0%
21-30 hours per week = 23.0%
11-20 hours per week = 32.7%
10 or fewer hours per week = 12.2%
Not sure = 1.1%

Online video continues to be one of the fastest growing forms of online content in terms of consumption rates with web-based streaming services from user-created content sites like YouTube being the most popular forum of online video for American internet users. 58.1% of respondents to the survey indicating that they watch content on these sites, while 38.3% claim to watch streaming video content embedded in other sites (such as blogs and Facebook — note that some of that content is likely to have originally been published on YouTube and similar sites). Web-based streaming video content of television programs and movies offered on sites like Hulu, Vudu, and Netflix were viewed by 36.0% of survey respondents, and 19.3% viewed video downloads such as iTunes TV shows and movies.

Just 26.6% of American internet users who participated in this study indicated that they do not watch online video content of any kind. However, this number will continue to decrease for the foreseeable future, so it’s not surprising that brands are focusing on video in content more than ever and that eMarketer cites online video as the fastest growing online ad format in the United States. What is surprising is that some brands aren’t creating online video or any other kind of branded online content yet.

Image: Ramasamy Chidambaram

Corporate Eye

The Advertising vs. Social Media Debate

Susan Gunelius — Thu, 10 May 2012 19:34:08 +0000

The Advertising vs. Social Media Debate

In a recent speech, Nike vice president of digital sport, Stefan Olander, urged brands to stop focusing on “old metrics” like clicks and likes. As Nicola Clark of Brand Republic reports, Olander stated, “A whoe industry is stuck on trying to force old metrics on to new channels. Advertising is a new model that is being squeezed into the new framework of social media, when the fact is that people don’t want to be interrupted.”

There is definitely truth to what Olander says. The power of social media marketing for brands comes from leaving the old-school interruption marketing tactics behind and leveraging opportunities to enhance the online experience instead. However, that doesn’t mean there is no place for advertising within social media.

Olander says, “Nike has moved away from investing in advertising to the creation of digital services such as Nike+. Once you have established a direct relationship with a consumer, you don’t need to advertise to them.” However, that only tells part of the story to brand managers.

The key term in his statement is “once you have established a direct relationship with a consumer.” If you don’t have a relationship with a consumer, advertising plays an important role as part of an integrated marketing plan to increase awareness, recall, trial, and ultimately loyalty. Social media helps to increase the value and depth of those relationships. Furthermore, advertising plays an important role in reaching beyond an existing customer audience.

With that said, social media is a space where brands can deliver meaningful content, conversations, and experiences that enhance people’s online activities, and it’s incredibly effective for pull marketing. Advertising is an example of push marketing. There is still room for both in a marketing plan.

The next step is to create social media experiences that not only add value to consumers’ lives but also add value to the brand’s bottom-line. That’s the piece of the puzzle that most brands haven’t found yet. However, brands like Nike that have had great success with digital services like Nike+ are perfect for benchmarking and learning how to deliver consumer value and revenue value.

What do you think? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Image: Evan Wander

Corporate Eye

South Korea Rebranding the DMZ

Susan Gunelius — Thu, 10 May 2012 03:32:23 +0000

South Korea Rebranding the DMZ

Sixty years ago when the Korean War ended, a four kilometer zone (2 kilometers on either side of the cease fire line) and spanning 248 kilometers was identified as the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) where no military equipment or personnel could enter. Of course, that didn’t stop both North and South Korea from lining up millions of soldiers and landmines to guard either side of the DMZ.

Fast forward to 2012 and the DMZ still exists, and has become a popular tourist attraction (complete with lines of observation binoculars, gift shops, and T-shirts for sale) where BBC News reports that 6.5 million people visit every year. The DMZ and approximately 8 kilometers next to the DMZ on the South Korea side has been virtually untouched for six decades because public access to the area has been highly restricted.

As BBC News explains, “Environmentalists say that has created a pristine nature reserve, with thousands of species including rare cranes and Korean flying squirrels.” South Korea plans to turn the area into an eco-tourism zone where instead of visiting “the world’s last divided country,” they can experience wildlife.

With its new plan for the area adjacent to the DMZ ready, the next step for South Korea’s Environment Ministry is changing the perceptions people have of that area and turning a negative into a positive. With that in mind, the government plans to rebrand the area around the DMZ as the PLZ, which stands for the “Peace and Life Zone.”

Overall, this rebranding seems like a good idea. If 6.5 million people visit the DMZ each year, it’s safe to assume that the number will increase with the addition of the new brand positioning of the “Peace and Life Zone” which will include nature trails and more.

What do you think? Will this rebranding be successful? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Image: Justin De La Ornellas

Corporate Eye

Pottermore and Harry Potter Brand Exceed Expectations

Susan Gunelius — Tue, 08 May 2012 03:07:56 +0000

Pottermore and Harry Potter Brand Exceed Expectations

Over half a million people purchased Harry Potter ebooks during the first month that they were available through the Pottermore ebook store and digital universe for a total of nearly $5 million.

The site attracted 22 million visits from 7 million unique visitors during its first two weeks, and those visitors liked what they found on Pottermore. The site tracked 1 billion page impressions with the average visitor viewing 47 pages and spending 25 minutes on the site. During those first two weeks, 5 million people registered on the site and half had already been sorted into the famous Hogwarts houses.

To date, Pottermore’s immersive brand experience only includes content for the first book in the series, but Pottermore CEO Charlie Redmayne reports that book two is coming soon. In the meantime, new interactive elements, activities, and community tools will debut in the coming weeks. Redmayne says that the success of Pottermore and the Harry Potter ebook sales are exceeding expectations, which is really not surprising given the emotional attachment that consumers feel for Harry Potter — one of the most powerful relationship brands in history. Redmayne shares, “[Pottermore] has been amazingly successful and shows the power of the Harry Potter brand.”

As such, ebook sales haven’t cannibalized print book sales. Instead, print sales increased after Pottermore launched. And while piracy initially increased, it quickly decreased again because loyal Harry Potter community members wouldn’t accept illegal versions of Harry Potter ebooks. He explains, “We have demonstrated that if you make these books available in a way that people want them, and on a platform that is accessible to them, and at a price they are happy with, then generally people will choose to buy them.”

In typical Harry Pottter marketing style, tease and perpetual marketing will keep consumers wanting more from the brand. That pull marketing coupled with the engaging Pottermore brand experience will ensure that the Harry Potter brands remains top-of-mind among consumers for years to come. Word-of-mouth marketing will continue to play an important role in the success of the Harry Potter brand, and the community aspects of Pottermore (which are sure to evolve in the future) will keep the conversations going.

Harry Potter might be the main character of a children’s fantasy book series, but it’s also a brand phenomenon that brands in all industries can learn from. What do you think?

Image: Pottermore

Corporate Eye

LinkedIn Acquires SlideShare

Susan Gunelius — Fri, 04 May 2012 15:40:50 +0000

LinkedIn Acquires SlideShare

News that LinkedIn acquired SlideShare for over $118 million broke this week (along with a SlideShare presentation explaining the news) — an acquisition that gives LinkedIn access to a lot of content created, shared, and discussed by its target audience of professionals. In March 2012, the SlideShare website received over 29 million unique visitors, which means it’s one of the most trafficked websites for professionals.

Over 7.4 million presentations have been uploaded to SlideShare since it debuted in 2005, and since then, those presentations have been embedded in over 1.4 million unique domains. All of that content represents opportunities for LinkedIn to connect with a larger audience and get access to valuable information about its users.

In a press release, LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner explained, “Presentations are one of the main ways in which professionals capture and share their experiences and knowledge, which in turn helps shape their professional identity. These presentations also enable professionals to discover new connections and gain the insights they need to become more productive and successful in their careers, aligning perfectly with LinkedIn’s mission and helping us deliver even more value for our members. We’re very excited to welcome the SlideShare team to LinkedIn.”

Information is valuable these days, and the SlideShare acquisition certainly gives LinkedIn information. The acquisition represents what appears to be a turning point for the direction of LinkedIn as a company. Undoubtedly, the LinkedIn strategic direction goes far beyond the SlideShare acquisition. Simon Sharwood of The Register speculates, “The [acquisition] could mean ‘this is our cloud storage play’ or ‘our members were spending a fair bit of time using Google Docs and Office 365 and we wanted that time-on-site’.”

One thing is certain, what started out as a simple social networking destination for professionals might just be turning into something far more comprehensive. Let’s just hope that “something” really is useful.

Image: LinkedIn

Corporate Eye