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The trends are all over travel and tourism: more than ever, the internet drives the bus when it comes to personal travel planning.But what really motivates and influences today's internet travel planner? It's not just pretty websites or multi-star ratings, but just as much word-of-mouth recommendations that help determine one's final destination.According to a recent study by research firm Guideline, both "standard vacationers" (those spending less than $2,000) and "luxury vacationers" (spending more than $2,000) are highly influenced by:1. Reviews by other travelers. 35% of luxury travelers and 34% of standard travelers feel this is most influential.2. Articles about the destination. 34% of luxury travelers seek editorial regarding their destination, as do 25% of standard travelers.3. Photos or slideshows of the destination. Another important element according to one of four luxury travelers, and one of three standard travelers.Lessons? If you're seeking to influence your travel and tourism audience, be sure to include personal and editorial commentary of your destination in their search.SOURCE: Marketing Management, NOISE
All of us at trendspottings have reverent admiration for the ingenious minds at Google. So it's with great genuflecting that we report on Google's newest, latest and (yet another) free way to better integrate its way into your world.It's called Google Analytics.With Google Analytics, now anyone and everyone with a website can have a highly sophisticated, highly detailed, extremely useful and (did I mention this?) free web analytics program. With your free account (available at googleanalytics.com/getstarted), you can add tracking elements to your website that provide on a daily basis:• Unique Visitors• Pageviews• New Visits • Referral Source Visits• Geographic Visitor Map• Top 5 Sources, Keywords, Campaigns• Top 5 Entrances, Exits and Content (Including Pageviews and Average Time)• Marketing Summary• Conversion Summary• Marketing Optimization Reports (With a Host of Tools)• Content Optimization Reports (More Tools!)All of this includes a really cool site overlay of your website, where every clickthrough on your page appears as a box, and all you need to is scroll over the box to see your report.Of course, Google Analytics works with Google Adwords and you're encouraged to participate. But why not? Google Adwords is a complementary component to many marketing campaigns, and this valuable free service from Google almost makes you want to give them money.SOURCE: NOISE, Adweek
From our point of view (which is generally an aisle seat), there's no question: AirTran Airlways advertising is by far the funniest, coolest, hippest around. Read their witty billboards or, better, fly 'em one time and check out the back of the bag of peanuts.This December 24, at 10 am, 3 pm and 7 pm, along came a three-part series of AirTran news releases (now in its third year) which outlines important information on the company's "Satellite-based Aviation Navigation Tracking Apparatus" (S.A.N.T.A) report. Delivered with the same tongue-in-cheek approach as AirTran's ad campaign, the S.A.N.T.A. report provided updates on the travels of Santa Claus' international one-night flight, with AirTran technicians "mysteriously losing radar contact as Santa's sleigh entered airspace off the coast of Bermuda" in apparent approach to the United States.The fact that AirTran's S.A.N.T.A. report is issued via national newswires and picked up by many news bureaus shouldn't be lost on any marketing professional who might Scrooge the idea or its cost. As msn.com noted in picking up the entire release (including AirTran stock, flight and promo info), it's all "delightfully fun." And that translates into good feelings toward AirTran by the consuming public. Which influences selection. Which influences sales. Kudos to AirTran's creative marketing minds for realizing that for PR and promotion, the sky's the limit (pun intended). Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all.SOURCE: NOISE, eTurboNews, msn.com
As if there isn't enough advertising in the world, now Google has purchased dMarc Broadcasting with the goal of integrating radio advertising into its search engine similar to its AdWords pay per click program. As Kevin Leff of ClickZ sees it, Google will most likely "implement its famous auction methodology for radio ads, replacing traditional ad rotation with an ad-spot auction running in real time. Soon media buyers will bid for each defined group of ad spots against all the other marketers who want to reach the same audience. Media buying is going to get a lot more interesting." And searching for information, potentially a lot more noisy.SOURCE: NOISE, clickz.com
Travel marketers would be smart to focus on an ever-growing travel trend: short weekend trips. These getaways are increasingly appealing to Americans, with 225 million such trips taken last year — an increase of more than 10 percent in just five years, according to the Travel Industry Association's (TIA) U.S. Domestic Leisure Travel Report. The shoulder seasons of April-May and September-October have become prime weekend getaway times (32%), about equal to the summer months (31%). According to the study, weekend travelers are much more likely than the typical leisure traveler to stay in a hotel or bed & breakfast. And because they stay just 2.2 nights on average, they don't waste any time — managing to include more activities on their trips than leisure travelers overall (the most popular activities during weekend trips: dining, entertainment, shopping and sightseeing).As expected, a large share (43%) of weekend trips are taken by male-female couples; however, 28% of these trips are also taken by families with children. In addition, weekend getaways are more likely than other leisure trips to be taken by upper-income households (42% by households with incomes over $75,000). Weekend travelers spend an average of $416 on their getaways, excluding the cost of transportation to their destination, compared to $360 for overall trips. Our advice? Map a market within three to four hours drive. Package a package of relaxation, dining and entertainment for couples and families. Then price it correctly, promote it properly and profit handsomely.SOURCE: TravelMole, NOISE
A new Yankelovich Preventative Healthcare Study of 6,000 consumers finds that only 30% of us are legitimate when it comes to actively, positively taking care of our health — leaving a lot of room for improvement, and a lot of opportunities for health care marketers.The study divides Americans into 25 profiles which are then converted to four general health categories. Here are the findings:• "Take Charge." This group, comprising 30% of us, makes health and wellness a priority in their lives and regularly engage in behaviors that promote overall well-being. They're active consumers of health care information.• "Best of Intentions." This group represents 9% of the population and are more advanced in health care attitude than behavior, knowing what they should do about health and wellness but failing to consistently act on their knowledge. • "Middle of the Road." According to Yankelovich, 29% of us fall into this category — persons superficially aware of health risks but only willing to take action in a crisis. Here, prevention is interesting but not a priority.• "Disinterested." The largest group is the worst — 33% of all Americans. If you're one of them, you maintain attitudes and behavior that actually contribute to an increased likelihood of poor health.With information like this, health care marketers and their agencies should be better able to identify the programs and services best suited for each audience, and how to go about promoting them with messages that best reach each audience.SOURCE: Healthcare Marketing Report, NOISE
You've got to pity the poor turkey. First, millions of 'em make the ultimate sacrifice each year in grand American ritual. Now, American travelers snub that sacrifice in lieu of a newer, more attractive holiday vacation — Christmas.That's the news from an American Express Travel poll, which reports that the most popular time for holiday travel this year is not Thanksgiving weekend but the week between Christmas and New Year's — favored by almost 33% of travelers, versus 18% for Thanksgiving and another 8% following the new year. That's only one change in holiday travel patterns, however. "Holiday travel has evolved considerably from the local family gathering to new, exciting adventures as travelers seize the opportunity to create lasting holiday memories," says Audrey Hendley, vice president of marketing, American Express Travel. In addition to the shift in schedules, more than half of the agents in the poll said customers are looking for new destinations instead of the tried and true, with trends including:• Luxury vacations at record high levels. • An increase in five-star hotel bookings. • More first class and business-class airline bookings. The survey found luxury travel this holiday season has increased most among couples and families, followed by mature travelers and singles. American Express agents say that beach resort, cruise, and ski-mountain vacations top the list as favorite getaways. Almost half of those surveyed said the top reason for taking a holiday vacation instead of staying home are that kids are off from school. Other major reasons for holiday vacations are that people are able to take time off, a desire to relax and get away from it all, and an interest in experiencing a new culture or country. SOURCE: TravelMole, NOISE
NOISE Branding Communications is pleased to announce the appointment of Milissa Sprecher (pictured) to the position of Chief Executive Officer of the agency. Previously, Milissa Sprecher had served as Chief Financial Officer. Under her tenure, which began earlier this year, NOISE has attracted significant additional clients in Florida, Wisconsin and Illinois. Sprecher will share management of the agency's 12-person, multi-state staff with Mary Parodo, President. The move allows husband and Chief Creative Officer John Sprecher to more effectively allocate his time toward creative services for an expanding roster of clients.NOISE has also announced the promotion and additions of:• Dave Kotlan to Vice President and Associate Creative Director.• Greg Batiansila to Copywriter and Web Programmer.• Jessica Kolbe to Account Leader.• Chris Campbell to Web Programmer.SOURCE: NOISE
Congrats to Mediawest USA for winning Adweek's "Media Plan of the Year for Out of Home" award for Continental Airlines. In a targeted campaign in Manhattan, New York, Mediawest stepped way outside the box to purchase more than 1,600 out-of-home sites (with more than 1,000 copy variations) including:• Traditional posters and transits• Elevator screens• Taxi tops• Subway wraps• A Times Square building wrap• Chinese takeout cartons that read "New daily nonstop service to Beijing" (Our personal favorite — the strategy, not the sweet and sour shrimp)Post-campaign research found that an impressive 70% of consumers recalled the campaign and an even more impressive 65% were influenced in the decision-making process. SOURCE: Outdoor Advertising Association of America, Adweek, NOISE
Marketers who target teens should expand their broadcast reach beyond traditional television to online viewing — or risk losing a substantial and growing audience. That's according to a new study from MindShare Online Research group, which found that clearly one out of every three teens ages 12-17 (and one in four tweens ages 8-12) watch television programming online. Not surprisingly, television was the medium that would be most missed if taken away, followed by video games and internet. Newspapers and magazines barely registered a single percentage point. SOURCE: MediaBuyerPlanner Daily, NOISE
Here's a tip to any company that desires to extend its brand in new and unique ways: follow the example of Starbucks.In conjunction with an announcement that the venti retailer aims to double its U.S. size in the next five years, and ultimately grow to 40,000 locations worldwide (10,000 more than previously planned), Starbucks has announced a strategic partnership with Apple Computer to offer its unique blend of coffee house music on iTunes. Plans are for both parties to split the profits. The mind begins to whirrrrrllllllll, like on a triple shot of espresso, at the cross-promo opportunities.The lesson's pretty simple. If you're a brand leader, surround yourself with like brand leaders, leverage each other's cachet and explore every potential, logical, profitable extension.SOURCE: Brand Noise, NOISE
How good is your agency's advertising? So good that you'd make a video game of it? Not too many campaigns can claim this — in fact, I can't think of another — but Burger King's (in)famous subservient chicken is soon to come to gamers. Word is that come November, fans of The King, his love interest Brooke Burke and Subservient Chicken will all be featured on Xbox 360 video games, available for $3.99 (plus a meal, of course) at Burger Kings. According to sources, the games will feature five different theme parks and "challenging scenarios" (like wolving down BK food, perhaps?). Silliness aside, you've got to give it up to a campaign that's so successful it transcends advertising into mainstream society. If you want to call Subservient Chicken mainstream. For those who haven't a clue what the fuss is all about, visit subservientchicken.com for a (pardon the fowl pun) hoot.Source: Adweek Interactive, NOISE
Every serious marketer needs an online media center. Much more than a fact sheet or about us page, an online media center makes it easy and virtually pain free for journalists to acquire more than just the facts, ma'am — but industry trends, meaningful research, credible authorities and, most of all, editorial ideas that can inspire editorial placements.According to Bacon's, one of the world's leading publicity information agencies since 1932, the key is for the marketer to "think like a journalist" (a line that begs "insert joke here") — by offering information that's timely, relevant, easy to access and fluff-free. Specicially, Bacon's suggests you place your media center in a prominent position on your website and include the following:• Fact Sheet• Frequently Asked Questions• News Clippings (previous, specific to your company)• Press Releases (last 12 months)• Story Ideas• Company Background• Executive Bios• Quotes• Photos, Graphics and Charts (password may or may not be required, your call)• Impartial Source List• Contact InformationWe're passionate proponents of public and media relations as part of any organization's overall marketing mix. Not only is editorial exposure three times more credible in the public eye than advertising, every bit of exposure you garner should be merchandised and marketed again and again — on your website, in your literature, even on your walls — as evidence of your newsworthiness and noiseworthiness.SOURCE: The Navigator, NOISE
Here's important news for any health care marketing exec who's been asked to justify why his or her hospital needs to spend money on marketing: the hospital's perceived reputation plays a major role in the patient's care decision, which should be information that you can take to the bank (along with the marketing dollars you need).According to J.D. Power and Associates 2005 National Hospital Service Performance Study, which measured satisfaction among 2,500 recently discharged hospital patients nationwide, a whopping 75% reported that reputation-related information was their primary criteria in selecting a hospital. Adding to that decision was the hospital's overall reputation (48%) and the perception of skilled doctors and nurses (25%). Just as importantly for marketers, this research applies to a majority of today's health care purchasers — with 59% of survey respondents noting that they were, in fact, involved in the choice of hospital, either solely or with a physician.While all of this would suggest that an outstanding brand-building promotional campaign can solve any hospital's utilization woes, don't forget the old ad adage: nothing kills great advertising better than a bad product (or service or experience). Hospital marketers, therefore, should follow the physician's lead, and look for the cause of every symptom.SOURCE: Healthcare Marketing Report, NOISE
This isn't rocket science because if it were, we'd be talking rocket fuel. But a recent survey of 5,000 American households reveals that gas prices are impacting travel. Almost two-thirds of those queried state they'll now stay closer to home because of higher costs. In addition, another 25% report that they've postponed or shortened their vacations this year. Common sense, you might ask? Certainly. But the reality and takeaway for hospitality, tourism and attractions marketers is: alter your marketing plans now to account for this new trend; focus more on local and regional feeder markets; and brainstorm innovative promotions and incentives to overcome consumer perceptions of and objections to higher travel costs.SOURCE: TravelMole, NOISE
Are e-blasts a part of your marketing mix? If you're like most marketers, they are (or should be). But how best to break through the spam clutter and have your message opened? Here are four top pointers to maximize your open and clickthrough rates:1. Include a successful subject line. Keep your word length between 50-60 words, so most of the subject line is viewable. Create a sense of urgency and spell out benefits. Avoid spam triggers like "savings," "deals," "vacations" and triple exclamation points.2. Consider the day of week. For consumers, open rates peak on Sundays (30.8%), Fridays (27.0%) and Mondays (25.6%) and bottom out on Wednesdays (22.8%).3. Consider the "complete package." Statistics also show that open rates increase with a combination of a) compelling subject line, coupled with b) an attractive preview pane, coupled with c) a discount, incentive, or relevant pull tactic.4. Creativity is king. Clearly, the well-dressed, articulate, attractive e-blast (designed and written by marketing professionals) shows far greater open and clickthrough rates than poorly-presented or text-only messaging.SOURCE: Visit Florida, eROI, NOISENOTE: NOISE Branding Communications is a leader in e-marketing, providing exceptional open and click through rate performance for clients.
Hey all you websites that take our advertising money and in return, claim to deliver a gazillion impressions — the free ride may be over. A number of leading online advertisers — including Colgate-Palmolive, Ford, Pepsi, Visa, HP and more — have united in the proclamation that very soon, they'll only advertise on internet sites where ad-impression counts are audited by a third party (like Ernst & Young). According to theae ad leaders, the deadline for compliance to begin is sometime in 2007, with a drop-dead date of 2008 for publishers to have "third party certification" that their processes for measuring impressions are consistent and reliable. That's good for all of us who utlize web marketing, but wish for greater confidence in reach and delivery promises.Source: Adweek Interactive, NOISE
Kudos to Crispin Porter + Bogusky for breakthrough creative (and creative thinking) in promotion of the VW Rabbit. For an upcoming back cover buy of Playboy, CP+B arranged for the lovely trio of Bunnies gracing the September front cover to make a second appearance in their back cover ad — in an exact, reverse-angle image, with one woman sporting a tattooed VW Rabbit logo on her lower back, in place of the famous Playboy Bunny icon she carries on her torso. And yes, even the typography — including Playboy masthead — is reversed, suggesting a true "flip side" view of the cover. Sell copy reads: "The Volkswagen Rabbit. It's Back."Every agency and marketer should strive for this high level of unique-thinking genius. Not only does this back cover deliver the goods creatively — who wouldn't notice it and the brand it's selling, particularly the young adult male audience Rabbit covets? — it's got great legs, as the accompanying media buzz will add millions of dollars of additional weight to what, for lesser thinkers, might be just a simple, one-page buy.Source: Brandweek, NOISE
As evidence that every creative promotion should be rewarded with free pub for its originator, we lift our hats — or should that be skirts and pants? — to freshpair.com for the buzz surrounding the now 4th Annual National Underwear Day on August 9. Designed to draw attention to the most mundane type of clothing, National Underwear Day will unveil (start counting the puns) "well-built models" walking around high-visibility locations — like New York's Times Square — in their undies. Apparently, according to freshpair.com sources, the public has been inspired to join the festivities in the past. No report on how the public fared, compared to the well-built models, in attracting attention.But as fun as all this is, it nonetheless points out the positive effects that true outside-the-box thinking can bring any marketer, if they dare go there. So take your outerwear off, and put your thinking caps on.Source: Brandweek Daily Insider, NOISE
A recent survey published in PRWeek magazine reveals that almost 50% of senior marketing executives polled reveal that they've paid for editorial or broadcast brand placement. In addition, another 50% of the 266 executives surveyed indicated that they would pay for placed editorial if the opportunity arose.What does this mean for public relations, media relations and credibility? Perhaps a lot for the PR professional, and not so much for journalist credibility — last October, another national survey found that 65% of consumers believed editorial mentions of a product were already paid.Source: Marketing News, NOISE
