lukeM|V.com

In my office we have this box with buttons and lights. This box is my company’s personal communication line with a small restaurant. Every morning at 10:30 this box spits out a menu—it is dependable and informative. What I did not know is that this mystical box is not our version of the Cold War’s Washington-Moscow Hotline; instead this communication line is open for anyone to use. Even though the first computer fax board was released in the early 1980s it blows my mind that not only people use them for unimportant communicable means, but also as a means to market.

There are lots of ways that e-mail marketing is a prominent marketing strategy now, for example you are able to send a highly detailed message, with images and links, with a custom tailored message that targets the recipient. E-mails can target certain demographics such as, sex, age, or zip code. Beyond being able to deliver the correct message the correct person, e-mail marketing (if set-up properly) can be used to track efficiency. Because e-mail communication is a two-way digital road, bounce-backs and the likes allow us to track if our databases are up to date—and provide an instant means for recipients to a desired take action. It is a great way for businesses to have customers willingly sign up to receive direct communication (shameless sign-up example seen here, with e-mail example seen above). Businesses should take advantage of e-mail marketing, but also go one step further by using e-mail marketing as a focus group to better know their audience. Plus, if we stop using the fax machine, then maybe the Bank of America in Ashland won’t be evacuated as frequently.

Thanks again to Joe Cappo’s The Future of Advertising for this quote by Keith Reinhard, Chairman and CEO of DDB Worldwide Communications Group inc.,

“Let’s face it. We made a mistake a hundred years ago. We should have never been paid on the basis of how much media we bought. And when we asked the client if they needed a little help writing and ad, and we did it for nothing, it was a mistake.”

Enter Google’s AdWords Radio. Just as post script and post script printers helped to enable the casual computer user to be a publisher, Google Radio Ads (now in beta) is ripping yet another facet of the business from the hands of commission-based advertising agencies, by allowing the casual computer user to be a national broadcaster.

The way it works is that you create an audio advertisement, help is available through the Google AdWords site, choose the market or demographics and choose the days and times, and then your audio clip will be played on one of the radio stations that participates (part of the Arbitron Inc. network).

The best part is being able to track effectiveness. A fundamental problem with traditional broadcast advertising is measuring how many people actually perform your desired action from hearing your message? Google’s AdWords radio can track a lot of information on when it’s played, etc. By creating a clever radio ad, tracking web data, and correlating determined conversions, a company can best choose how to spend its ad dollars, and what works best.

Next step? Probably with Google using the same AdWords formula with television advertisements. Why are ad agencies even needed? (Hopefully, the answer is for its creativity and marketing capabilities to create an effective message to be disseminated to the masses.)

Thoughts?

Joe Cappo cited a Pew Research Center for the People and the Press survey done in June of 2002 in his book The Future of Advertising, and I felt it interesting to share with you.

The most interesting stat is the consistency of National Public Radio usage. Now, if you correlate NPR demographics, you might find a powerful audience for your product.

I will post this years numbers as I find them.

I know this isn’t directly related to advertising, but my rationale is that advertising needs to break free from the clutter in order to be effective… d u t c h t u b does just that. This new portable hot tub, which has an interesting design is a new crave. Although, coming from overseas, it will cost you nearly $6,000 if you don’t want to buy one, you can rent one for any function you might be having. The web site also shows people busing their dutchtubs on ski-trips with them. Different and new.

Running on Boston’s Channel 7 news (WHDH-TV) in the morning. A follow up to Starring - ME!. I don’t know about you, but this makes me want to open an account…. (also, take a look at the new site that we did for them http://www.agreatbank.com, what you can’t see is the 100% customizable admin side to manage content, ads, product experts, and the other “great” stuff).