Fall+2008+Section+08-PJ+Week+7

=Class Discussion For Week 7=


 * Topic: Promotion**

- Interstitual Ads: Most of the advertisement on TV, radio, and some print media is interstitual; your experience is interrupted and you are made to sit through paid messages before your experience can continue. The internet also has interstitual advertisement in the form of pop up and, more recently, web sites that force you to see an ad site before reading their content. Much doubt has been cast on the effectivness of interstitual advertisement. People simply change the channel or tone out when it comes to TV or radio, or get used to clicking "Skip this ad" on internet advertisement without paying attention to the ad.
 * Stitual Ads**

One form of internet interstitual advertisement is promising, ads apearing on shows streamed from web sites. These ads are generally shorter, so people aren't so annoyed by them. Furthermore, it is possible select the ad the speaks to the specific viewer, something that is not possible in traditional media. - Vivistitual and Locostituals - Psychostituals

- Google's Ad Sense Ad Sense is a advertising program launched by Google in 2003. Slightly different from Ad words, this program posted ads on affiliated websites. The owner of the website has to subscribe to the Ad Sense program. Then Google will post ads related to the website's content. The owner of the website will receive income from ad clicks generated from their own website. One downside is fraudulent clicking that Google monitors by some type of undisclosed method.
 * Contextual and Placement Targeting**

- Auction for ad placement - The "Ecosystem" standpoint - Idea of Ad Rank (quality score x bid)
 * Google Pricing**

- Experimentation is key. Need more than one ad- see what works and what does not.
 * Google Strategy**

- Traffic estimator, how much will it cost for your keyword?
 * Google AdWords**

I guess MySpace is catching on to Google's advertising approach. A note from Tom the founder.  **Latest Update:** **Oct 23, 11:00am PT** I'm excited to announce the launch of our new [|MySpace MyAds] service - an easy, inexpensive way to promote yourself, your band or your business on MySpace. We've created a simple tool that helps you create or upload ads and target the specific MySpace users you want to reach. The best part - you're only charged if someone clicks on your ad -- not when your ad is displayed.

Get started here: [|http://advertise.myspace.com/] or click "[|Advertise]" at the bottom of any MySpace page.

An interesting perspective in the article "Accidential Influentials" ~ that many easily influenced people are influencing others, instead of a few highly influential people influencing/setting trends to the mass. With the various social networks, it is easier than ever to get people to influence each other. What are some ways that companies can capitalize on this?

- Examining the statistics of the visitors to the wiki such as where the visitors are from, how long they stay, how many visits to the page, how may page views, etc.
 * Google Analytics**

=Don't be evil= Google's motto. Avoid conflicts of interests and promote the greater good. As the company matures can they do it? http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.01/google_pr.html

Product placements aid the self-crafting process. People identify themselves with brands.
 * Anthrostituals**

The 1975 U.S. SEC deregulation of brokerage commissions allowed Charles Schwab to emerge as the first self –service discount broker that allowed investors to decide the fate of their assets and to make transactions independent of their brokers. Hence, Charles Schwab found their niche in the investment arena through giving their investors autonomy and through charging as much as less than 75% per stock transaction than their competitors.
 * Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.: The “Talk to Chuck” Advertising Campaign**

Charles Schwab flourished through its once unique niche for many years. However, just around a few years after the turn of the millennium, Charles Schwab began experiencing flat business growth.

Eager to reverse their business trend, the Charles Schwab rejoined the company as CEO and launched an investigation into the cause(s) of the business slump and a marketing campaign to turn business around.

What were the causes of this business slump? As discussed in our class, Charles Schwab had taken their eye of the ball and completely moved out of their niche. They were one of the lowest priced transaction brokers but other companies, such as E Trade, entered the market, took advantage of internet technology that gave investors the same tools as brokers in real time and they undercut Charles Schwab for transaction fees.

Charles Schwab & Co decided to launch the Talk to Chuck Advertising Campaign in order to create a new niche and to turn business around. Their market research found that their clients along with many potential clients had investor pains that weren’t being addressed by brokers. In this case, Chuck referred to the local Charles Schwab broker that was available to take its clients’ calls and reassure and alleviate their pains. Charles Schwab released many commercials identifying investors’ pains and calling on them to talk to Chuck about it.

On the Charles Schwab website, Chuck talks about how he envisions investing: //Dear Investor,

I'm Chuck Schwab, and I believe that when you look for someone you can trust with your hard-earned money, your kids' money or your grandkids' money, it all comes down to this: who can you talk to? And who will actually listen?

My entire company is built on the idea of listening to people first. Then talking.

I recognized early on that what you, the investor, want most is someone you can relate to; a straight-talking voice who can guide you, advise you and support you. And, at the heart of it all, a fair price.

Today at Charles Schwab, we're carrying that vision forward to every level of investor. From the mutual fund enthusiast to the active trader. From college planning to retirement planning. We're ready to talk to you about your needs and the most practical ways to meet them.

Since the day I started this company, I've made it our business to help people do better. To be better investors. That's what we continue to hear from people. And that's what we'll continue to do.

And to get things started, I invite you to "Talk to Chuck." Talk to any one of our Schwab representatives as if you were talking to me.

"Talk to Chuck" is our promise to you that when you pick up the phone, go online or simply walk into a Schwab branch, you're speaking to someone who does business the way I do. Someone who carries the standard of ethics on which I built this company. Trust. Integrity. Professionalism.

So start talking. We're listening.//




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Charles Schwab chose a rotoscoping technique as the format for their commercials. The choice in medium was evaluated by Seth Stevenson for Slate.com** [|**http://www.slate.com/id/2131287/**] Stevenson notes that animation seems an incongruous choice for Schwab, but that the cartoon effect force the viewer to focus on what we're hearing. He notes that washing out the real-world details present in a live actor's face, and in an actual background set, lets us move past what we're seeing and shifts our attention onto the dialogue. Stevenson has the opinion that having such a distinctive special effect is not wise in creating a long-term signature for your brand, that visual effects become dated too quickly.

Everyday we produce data that gives detailed information about us. Computer scientists can now extrapolate data and in turn predict our behavior and use it in a way to target us more effectively as consumers. Lets look at Facebook for example. Facebook recognizes when you are engaged, single, or married, if you chose to include that information. They also recognize your age, your occupation, how many friends you have and maybe even your frequency to the site. Does it go as far as to read your postings? Possibly. They can turn around and use this information to create a customized marketing plan to you. If you are listed as engaged, ads for wedding planning would appear on the side bar. If you are listed as single, ads for single websites appear on the side.
 * Customized Marketing?**

There is a great book by Stephen Baker called Numerati. This book explains how far we can go with this "big brother" attitude and what is still possible. The idea of "Big Brother" is passé, today we are always being watched and the data mining that both dominates and dictates our lives will someday inevitably control all of our movements. Here is a good review from // Businessweek // on Steven Baker's book, "The Numerati". This article from the September 8th issue of // Businessweek // looks inside the inner workings of IBM and how they maximize worker efficiency through the thourough examination of virtually their employees every movment. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_36/b4098032904806.htm

Another Great Book: By Seth Godin
 * Tribes: We need you to lead us**

This is a brand new book by Godin, who explains: “We see Tribes behind every successful brand, organization, politician, non profit and cause. And yet it seems almost impossible to attract a tribe. In this book, I try to explain that the challenge is leadership, not marketing or hype.” He also has a fantastic blog, one of his most recent posts was about signaling strategies and “gaming” consumers into thinking something is cool by being very strategic about product placement. http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/10/signaling-strat.html

Then we had dinner and Niko had half...