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Advertising has always been about creativity and “pushing the envelope” but it also used to be about brand management. Lately, we have seen a lot of brands having to apologize for their advertising. There’s the argument that it creates a “viral” nature of the ads that gives them much more push than the paid media of the campaign ever would, but to me that sounds like an agency trying to (as my dad would say) polish a turd.

The longest lasting backlash so far this year is the Summer’s Eve “Hail To The V” campaign. The campaign, created by Dallas agency The Richards Group has taken a lot of heat for their “talking vagina” ads featuring what can best be described as ethnic sounding accents saying stereotypical things relating to the racial makeup of said talking vagina.

I would be the first person to say that coming up with a campaign for a feminine hygiene product would probably be the challenge of my professional career. But, that should not be an excuse to come up with creative that an agency promotes as edgy or has viral potential but in reality is a campaign that is offensive and damages a well known brand.

Sadly, it’s happened again this week. Nivea is apologizing today for a print ad in Esquire called “Re-civilize Yourself.” As soon as buzz started about the ad it was negative. The power of social media means something can go viral very quickly. It also means once one person is offended and they have a large social media following it can become a mob mentality that grows into an all out PR nightmare.  This happened to other brands this year. HomeAway got into it because they threw a doll that looked like a baby up against a window in their Super Bowl commercial. Once it was reported that families were “horrified” by the commercial, it was only a matter of time that HomeAway issued an apology.

It’s hard to know sometimes if something is going to offend. But, an agency should have the strategic and seasoned industry professionals in the room to protect the brand and straddle the line between edgy and offensive. Snicker’s is an example that did a great job with their football ads featuring Betty White. No one was offended that Betty White got tackled and thrown in the mud because it was clear it was funny and was not advocating elder abuse. The ads still went viral, but in a good way for the brand.

Agencies are under great pressure to keep their accounts and build brands and grow sales in a tough economy and tough competitive marketplace. Losing sight of protecting the brand they work for with no one checking the creative team and inserting some strategy and wisdom in the process is blame I place squarely on the agency leadership (not the creatives). Too many hire young and inexperienced because they want to get people that understand new technology. I do that, too. But, someone has to manage and guide those young and inexperienced people even when it seems like you’re throwing cold water on a campaign that you don’t get because you’re old.  What I do get is protecting the brands we work for with a professionalism that sometimes means our campaigns may not be edgy, they may not go viral, but they don’t force the CEO of the clients we have to issue apologies for the work we did on their behalf.

Charlie Ray is the CEO of digital media agency Broad Street Interactive and has to apologize for his own gaffes a lot, he prefers to not have to do it professionally. Follow him @CharlieDR

It is hard to believe it’s time to start thinking about the holiday shopping season as we sit in air conditioned conference rooms complaining about the heat in the dog days of summer. But, holiday thinking is already on the minds of many of our clients.

It’s well known that retailers count on the holidays to make their year, and even in a down economy that is still the case. US retail e-commerce spending for the entire November – December 2010 holiday season reached a record $32.6 billion, marking a 12% increase from $29 billion last year and an all-time record for the season. (comScore)

For the first time since comScore began tracking e-commerce activity in 2001,

Cyber Monday (Monday, Nov. 29) ranked as the heaviest online spending day of the year at $1.028 billion. It also registers as the first online spending day on record to surpass the $1 billion spending threshold.

Green Monday (Monday, Dec. 13) ranked as the second heaviest day at $954 million, followed by Monday, December 6 at $943 million. Free Shipping Day (Friday, Dec. 17) ranked fourth at $942 million, while Thursday, December 16 rounded out the top five with $930 million. Eight days in total surpassed $900 million in spending for the 2010 holiday season.

While it is too early to forecast holiday sales for 2011, it is not to early to have a strategy in place for the season. Online consumers are more savvy than ever and are searching for a “deal” to make a purchase and more and more that “deal” has to be even better than just free shipping.

It was 2008 that “Free Shipping” first took the online shopping segment by storm and since then it has gained in popularity and is now a major deciding factor in making an online purchase.  comScore asked consumers how important free shipping was to them when making a purchase and 55% of respondents indicated that they would be at least somewhat likely to abandon their shopping cart without that promotion.

While retailers debate free shipping as a reduction to their margins, during the third quarter of 2010, the average order value for transactions involving free shipping was 41% higher than transactions without free shipping. Free shipping can help make or break an online retailers season.

More than free shipping, consumers are looking for deals and special offers that provide the appearance, if not reality, of deep discounts. In an economy with declining consumer confidence, bargain hunters ratchet up the expectation on retailers for cost savings.

There is reason to hope for a holiday sales season that is not all bad news. June retail sales saw a modest jump as opposed to a projected decline.

In order to make the best of a tight retail season, online retailers must plan ahead for their online campaigns to secure inventory at prices that can be locked in now and put together strong incentives to entice customers to spend online this season.

With good execution, sound strategy and a bit more consumer confidence we can expect a Merry Christmas for online retail in 2011.

Charlie Ray is CEO of Broad Street Interactive, a digital media planning and buying agency. He can be reached at charlie@broadstreetinteractive.com

I admit when I first heard about Google+ I dismissed it without much thought. But, as I reluctantly accepted an invitation and moaned about yet another social media password and user ID I have to remember and remember to update, something happened that changed my mind. The user interface! Simple! Clean! Easy to navigate! Drag and drop my new people I add into the appropriate circle and that’s it. Then the sharing, easy!

So, that’s enough superlatives about Google+. The release is gaining an estimated 1 million new users every day and is expected to reach 20 million users by the weekend of July 15. A rapid 350% growth in such a short time should make even the most devoted facebook fan do a double take. Facebook is the social media Goliath we all love to hate. Didn’t people feel the same about their seizure-inducing MySpace profile pages at one point? I know I was all about my background and my song and my fonts on MySpace before I abandoned it for facebook. How long before we crave to create “circles” in Google+ that makes us embarrassed about our facebook profile without its own “circles” to manage?

The internet is a fickle place, as are the people that use social media. Google has hit a nerve with me on two points. One, I am never more than 30 minutes away from deleting my facebook profile so I’m a ripe target and two, I’m already on Google for email, search, calendar and feeds so I’m comfortable in their space.

Granted, I am usually an early adopter so that contributes to me signing in and poking around. It’s amazing how quickly things change. Just a week and a half ago, Business Insider was one among many poo-pooing the new social platform.

The debate over Google+ and facebook will rage on and I don’t pretend to know who will be the winner or if the world is big enough for two social media giants. I do enjoy watching it play out, though.

The advertising budget shift to online continues its double digit growth and is projected to reach $50 billion by 2015, according to a new report published by eMarketer.

Several factors support the overall upshift in online ad spending. Search remains a major source of ad dollars, and will gain $2.38 billion in new spending this year. There is also sustained support for banner ads, coming from ad networks, large sites like Yahoo! and Google, and big gains at Facebook. Video continues to be the fastest-growing format.

The report shows that major growth in video contributes to the larger ad spends. Still, digital advertising’s influence far outpaces its budget allocation. Video continues to offer a rich experience and creative story, even in the small screens allocated to pre-roll and original content.

Small business also is a big factor in the continued growth of online ad spending. As small businesses abandon newspapers and yellow pages for online advertising, the growth reaches from increased budgets at large global brands to the local retailer. With self-serve advertising solutions and reductions in the minimum buys across networks and direct publishers, smaller companies can now enter the digital ad space efficiently and affordably.

As even smaller budgets can target online through behavioral targeting, retargeting, conversion tracking and rich media the networks and publishers are responding with solutions that bring results for most budget levels. As marketers become more savvy with their expectations of ROI on advertising, online becomes attractive due to its measurability and affordability.

When you are putting together your advertising budget are you giving digital the same amount of consideration and strategy you are putting into a broadcast or print schedule? When discussing creative are you thinking about how the digital audience is different than the broadcast, print, OOH and other audiences?

We’re here to help. It’s what we do. We work with traditional agencies, marketers and digital agencies to develop, plan and buy digital media that provides the right audience at the right price. Give us a call to help with your next plan.

Traditional media agencies have been placing print advertising campaigns for decades, but many have failed to catch up to the new standards for online advertising (or keep up with the ever-changing online market). As a “niche” digital media agency, it’s our job to stay on top of not only new technology, but also to work with our clients on online advertising strategies-and how they differ from print media.

Recent data from eMarketer shows just how quickly the print industry is losing its audience.  In 2010, people spent 9% less time reading newspapers and magazines as compared to 2009, while in 2009 they already spent 12% less than in 2008. The average American spends only 30 minutes reading newspapers and 20 minutes reading magazines per day, significantly less compared to more than four hours of TV and video consumption and more than two and a half hours that people spend online.

The only two mediums that are taking more of people’s time are mobile and internet.  In 2010, time spent on mobile increased by 28.2% and is now 50 minutes on average per day, while time spent online grew by 6.2% to 2:35 hours.  It seems that mobile and internet are crowding out the print industry. This is where audience becomes important-and where we start throwing around words like “engagement” and “actionable” when it comes to creative display advertising online.

This shift in how people consume media is why it is very important to have creative that appeals to the audiences where they are. Print creative and online creative are vastly different. Not just in specifications, but in content and messaging. It is important to choose a creative team that can build compelling creative in the digital space…and get it right the first time.

We often have to send creative back to the client because it doesn’t meet the specs required for online ads or the messaging simply doesn’t work for the online audience. Invariably, it is because the creative person is not primarily focused on digital and may not create the ads the right pixel size or file size or with the click tags inserted correctly. This wastes time and money. We love good creative, but as agency and clients know…creative is an expense and expensive. It’s important that it not get caught up in a loop of changes.

It is important to consider the creative for the campaign when developing a strategy for online advertising. The creative is so important to a successful campaign.

A comScore study last year found that the creative is 4x more important than the media plan for campaign success. First, as a media planner…ouch…we take a lot of pride in our strategic planning, but secondly we get it. We’ve seen some creative that made us whince we try to figure out how we’re going to deliver results based on mediocre creative.

Standard print specs and print ads don’t translate online. As a supporter of the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau), our agency is part of an industry-wide group that helps set standards for online ad sizes and creative collateral in the digital space. So many traditional agencies overlook the opportunities that online advertising offers: video pre-roll, flash, calls to action, and other design elements that make an online ad campaign “clickable.” The creative should have a call to action, offer something to the end user (in print media, the “reader”), and create an opportunity for that user to take the action immediately.

Print is not dead and creative in print is beautiful, but just as I wouldn’t go to a podiatrist about my sore throat clients–shouldn’t rely on a print creative to build their online campaign.

Google suddenly appears to be nickel and dime’ing the small businesses it courts so aggressively with its latest change to adwords. Google plans to begin charging for clicks on directions in the businesses location page in the same manner they now charge for clicks on an ad’s headline or phone number. Their reasoning is, “If your campaign has a high number of these clicks, this indicates that your customers are interacting with your ads to get directions to your business.”

As a business owner this would make no sense for me to pay anything for. If a user is so interested in my businesses they searched for it and they are going to click on “directions” to come buy something from me then it’s a customer I do not need to pay to acquire. They are acquired! In using PPC, we are trying to drive customers that are interested in the products our client sells to purchase them from our client as opposed to a competitor. We know that when they are searching, there is buyer intent. If the intent is so strong they want directions to the store then why in the world would we pay for that?! It does not make sense.

But, since so many small businesses drink the Kool-Aid that Google search is the end all be all to drive customers to them and they do not really understand how search and PPC works, they will wind up paying for these clicks by default.

Therefore, the most important FAQ on this new option is the one we’ve provided for you below.

A traditional agency friend asked me today about reaching men online as opposed to through print. I put together a very quick synopsis and thought I would share it on our blog.

Men are hyper-connected and spend more time online. While men and women are drawn to the same interactive activities-connecting with friends, family, and colleagues through email and social networks, finding information through search and content sites, and seeking entertainment-men spend more time online than women. In fact, the average time spent on a computer over the period of a month was one hour longer for US men than for women.

There are 60.9 million men online age 18-49. Men in this demographic are active, driven, and like to be in the know. They use the Web for sports, entertainment, and to get things done. They tend to be heavy Internet users and are avid online shoppers. These men are also connected on their mobile devices, using them for Web browsing and to be productive on the go.

They Get It Done

• 82% agree one of the best things about the Web is being able to get more things done quickly
• 57% like the challenge of doing new things
• 33% willing to make personal sacrifices for financial success

They’re in the Know

• 44% say they tend to be more informed about current events than others
• 30% say it’s important to stay up-to-date on what’s hot and what’s not

They Shop

• 44% bought consumer electronics online in last month

They’re on the Go

• 36% say it’s important to be able to access the Internet on the go

They Enjoy Offline Activities

• 45% play video games
• 34% exercise
• 26% go to the movies
• 19% play sports

Online Radio

Radio is now an interactive medium, engaging millions of consumers online and via mobile devices every week. eMarketer estimates nearly 80 million internet users will tune in to internet radio stations weekly in 2011.

Video Games

More than four out of five male adults ages 18 to 29 said they played video games, while 23 percent of respondents 65 and older said the same. You can reach more men than ever with the innovative experiences that solutions like Xbox and Xbox LIVE advertising offer.

Mobile

Thirty-two percent of men had made a mobile purchase in December 2010, double the 16% who had done so in November 2009. A substantial portion of this growth had occurred by July 2010, when 29% of men had made a mobile purchase.

I really enjoyed my visit to the American Advertising Federation-For Worth luncheon this week. It has been several years since I was there when I worked for Harris Methodist in Arlington. I flew up to give a speech on the trends in digital media using the latest Pew Internet, Nielsen and comScore research about how media consumption is changing.

The, mostly traditional, agency attendees could not have been a more welcoming crowd. We talked about not being seduced by the shiny new object, how to tell a client they don’t have to have an iPhone app and how not to paint yourself into a corner of measurability of online campaigns. I like to tell them, “How many of you that buy television and radio tell your client that you can measure exactly how many people see the ad and then take action on that particular ad and at what time of day they do it?” The laugh I get equals my reply….”Stop telling clients online advertising is all about the measurement.”

Online is about the branding, it’s about the good creative (don’t just repurpose a print ad for a banner or a TV commercial for pre-roll) and it’s about the overall good stewardship of your client’s media dollars.

The day did start off a little strange for me. We drove right through the really neat Fort Worth Stockyards and historical district towards the restaurant where I was to give the speech and my cab driver dropped me off somewhere on a back alley with a closed road next to an abandoned building. I was a little unsure if I was being setup, but just around the corner was a great venue, Joe T. Garcia’s and boy was the lunch good!

But just to be safe, I did wait inside the restaurant for my cab to pick me up and take me back to the airport.

I’d like to give a virtual standing ovation to this article I read last week (April 27) in City Unlisted’s Pattern Recognition column on consumer relationships in uncertain economic times and the trend towards a “feel good” association with home and Americana during times of trouble. It reminded me of the stiff upper lip “Keep Calm and Carry On” message produced by the British government during World War II intended to raise the morale of the British people.

It is a prevalent media message that we’re seeing these days when our country needs reassurance and a reminder that America has always been able to pull itself up by its bootstraps. For example, the recent Chrysler campaign, “this is Detroit,” “we’re not going to ask you to lower your expectations; we’re asking you to raise them,” speaks exactly to that message. Chrysler is clearly messaging its consumer base that is anti-outsourcing and pro-America: We’re here, we’re not going anywhere, and we’re better for it.

Full disclosure: One of the sites mentioned in the column, Social Primer, is a client of our agency. The style and etiquette site launched an online store to promote products fitting with its brand. We created a very successful campaign called “Shop Like a Gentleman,” designed to drive sales for products targeting the blog’s audience. We love the description of the site, as well as its inclusion in a column about the message of home, comfort, manners, and consumer relationships.

When working with our clients on messaging-at least since 2008-the economy is something we
certainly take into consideration, as well as the necessity of having a narrative as part of an advertising campaign. As the column says, “the declining buying power of the American dollar, concern about carbon emissions and the trend for locally-grown food all feed our fondness for the home fire.” Consider the example cited in the column about J. Crew’s CEO Mickey Drexler and the resuscitation of American heritage brands-making it as much about selling a product as it is telling a story to the consumer about the brand.

Another great illustration of a new return to Americana was in a spontaneous eruption of the National Anthem outside the White House when the news of the killing of America’s number 1 villain, Osama bin Laden.

We’ve worked with retail brands that are extremely smart about their message, particularly those
climbing out of the recession. Are people still spending money on expensive clothes and jewelry?
Absolutely, but branding is key in driving consumers to make that choice. Brooks Brothers is a “comfort” brand. Nearly 200-year-old jewelry retailer Bailey Banks & Biddle actually built a new kind of shopping experience for its customers-but not by ditching its rich history. We were lucky enough to work with both and can vouch for the success of their brand narratives in the results of their online ad campaigns. With retail clients, this type of narrative isn’t just interesting-it works.

While I agree with many of the points of the recent iMediaConnection article, “The Shortcomings of Facebook ‘Likes’,” particularly the idea that campaigns-social or otherwise-shouldn’t put all of their faith into one medium or another, I think comparing SMS to Likes is like comparing apples to car batteries. They are completely different.

SMS costs money, requires engagement and has a definite “ask” for the consumer, unlike a “like.” SMS wants the end user to do something and gives them something in return, usually a coupon or special offer. A “like” is nothing like that. Additionally, the “value” when social media is combined with mobile is unpredictable and faulty. Social media can be an important part of an advertising campaign, but should not be its entire focus.

Consider what social media provides the end user: In some cases, interaction with a brand. What exactly xactly does that mean? Unless companies are taking advantage of Facebook deals or offering Facebook-only coupons (there are some large national brands that do this well, such as Gap and CVS), SMS is going to have a higher value-and a higher ROI for the campaign.

I also agree strongly with this statement in the article: “Brands are winning fans, but without mobile marketing they are losing a generation of buyers. SMS provides five to ten times increased conversion rates over social and traditional campaigns. If your brand is still on the sidelines as it relates to mobile, the best place to start is with SMS. Tying it in with your other media is a sure way to determine if your collective campaign’s efforts are winning conversions. ‘Likes’ alone will only get you half-way there.”

“Half-way there” is a little too optimistic in our experience. We’ve had much better results with mobile to date than with Facebook-only campaigns, though we’ve done them at a client’s insistence. Luckily, the “shiny new object” appeal of Facebook isn’t quite as shiny after we provide clients with end-of-campaign detailed reports and cost-benefit analysis. Once we demonstrate that the conversion rate on a Facebook portion of a campaign is a ROI nightmare by comparison to display, mobile, and other aspects of the campaign, our clients tend to join us on the side of caution when it comes to putting all of their ad dollars into garnering “likes” on Facebook.