How Much Time People Really Spend with Ads – eMarketer
There’s an interesting report out via eMarketer and Eyeblaster on how much time people really spend with Internet ads. An excerpt:
The difference between clicks and general interaction was huge in 2008. For example, the average worldwide click-through rate for rich media ads studied was 0.35%. The average dwell rate for those ads was a much more impressive 8.71%.

Broken down further, in North America expandable banners had only a 0.3% click-through rate, but a 7.1% dwell rate and an average user dwell time of more than 45 seconds. Other rich media formats saw similar improvements in engagement measured by dwell or interaction rate.

As the report notes, dwell time is an important metric. Internet users in North America spent the longest time dwelling on online ads appearing in the mail category, at nearly 85 seconds. Instant messaging ads were a close second, at nearly 74 seconds, with news, technology and games rounding out the top five.

via www.emarketer.com

I never know how much to trust research like this. You don’t really get that much insight into the methodology and there’s always the concern that the researchers are getting the results that they want to get (yes, that happens in advertising).

However, at least with online advertising we get SOME idea of what really happens when someone encounters an ad message. Over time, I trust these methodologies will be refined and improve. Readership studies in print developed a specific methodology over time, though anyone analyzing those reports knows that you have to really look at them closely to get underneath the data. The one big problem with print readership studies is how intrusive the research is; and even the best of this research is often loaded with built-in biases.

Online analysis has a lot more hard metrics to support it. It will bear watching to see what we really learn about this over time.

Social media needs a few high-visibility campaigns that lead to increased sales to put it truly at the center of contemporary marketing. Maybe it is beginning to happen.

SAN FRANCISCO — Ford Motor has high hopes for Fiesta, a popular model abroad launching in the U.S. next year.

So how does it introduce the subcompact car to Americans? A massive ad blitz on TV? In-house promotions at dealers nationwide?

Nope.

In April, Ford tapped 100 top bloggers and gave them a Fiesta for six months. The catch: Once a month, they’re required to upload a video on YouTube about the car, and they’re encouraged to talk — no holds barred — about the Fiesta on their blogs, Facebook and Twitter.
via www.usatoday.com
There is no ready handbook on how to run a social media campaign. In just a matter of months, social media has moved from being a faddish curiosity to a complex strategic option.

There are all sorts of interesting things going on here. Like any burgeoning movement, you see countless evangelists popping up all over place claiming to be experts. (Just spend time gathering a few followers on Twitter and you’ll have them knocking on your door.) Some of them are, some of them are not.

The agency I work for has launched a campaign like this on behalf the employment brand at Nestle Purina Pet Care. You can see some of the components at these links:
Website: http://www.nestlepurinacareers.com/CollegeStudents/Default.aspx
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nestle-Purina-StepOne/134998738273

Twitter: http://twitter.com/steponeprogram
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/steponeprogram

In the coming months, social media will begin to employ tactics that are clear and proven. The playbook we follow will emerge with greater clarity.
It’s good to see the major players out there realizing that “it’s where customers are.

It’s nice to see myths get debunked occasionally. We tend to think of young consumers as hyper-brand-conscious. Of course, the Great Recession has sobered a lot of people.

- Mark DolliverNEW YORK Settling into adulthood amid the Great Recession, today’s 20somethings are a practical-minded bunch, according to a J.D. Power and Associates study.

Examining the online discussions of 22-29-year-olds, the research firm found them particularly focused (relative to other age groups) on “value brands,” which are “competing with trendy brands for share of mind.”

This phenomenon is reflected in a ranking of retailers and quick-serve restaurants that get the most favorable online mentions from the 22-29s (dubbed “early careerists” by the report). “For example, among retailers, value brand Old Navy closely follows trendy brands Anthropologie and Bath & Body Works in terms of positive discussion volumes among early careerists,” says the report. “Among quick-serve restaurants, fast-food chains Arby’s and Subway receive particularly high volumes of positive discussion, along with premium ice cream chain Cold Stone Creamery.”

The report notes “a strong degree of disillusionment” among the 22-29-year-olds, with the economy the obvious culprit in this. There’s also an element of resignation in their online chatter: “For many early careerists, the idea of moving back in with their parents after college graduation is accepted as a natural next step.”

With unemployment now especially steep among 20somethings, it stands to reason that they’ve developed fresh respect for the concept of job security. Thus, says the report, “although early careerists consider job-hopping a necessity for moving forward in a career, they strongly desire long-term stability and security within their chosen professions.”