More Good Media Ideas

Too many people think that marketing is a siloed function of a company, just focused on the realm of media/communications & advertising. But the best companies understand that there are several things that effect the customer's experience beyond just the Four P's. We tend to agree. Any touchpoint that a potential customers' has with your company is a marketing interaction. As much as we'd like to think only advertising speaks to that, we all know in our experience as consumers that simply is not true. 

We have slacked as of late on highlighting good media ideas we have noticed. But this one stood out to us, especially in light of it being Thanksgiving week with Black Friday right around the corner. This month's idea comes from retailer Macy's and their new mobile app that debuted earlier this fall. The app allows customers to snap a photo with their phone of an outfit or accessory; and then similar looks and items that are on Macys.com are sent to them in-app (Ok, ok - we know. This isn't really a media idea; it's a technology idea, but who's counting?)

This time of year we are gathering information from vendors to put together annual media plans for our clients. Along with that we are evaluating what worked exceptionally well in this year's media plans, but also what has not worked so well. We feel this type of evaluation is crucial to helping our clients grow, make effective marketing decisions and for us to be good stewards of their marketing budgets.  A lot of agencies may shy away from calling attention to any rotten eggs in a media plan, or if they do spin it so it is good news - gotta keep up the farce of smoke and mirrors so they keep paying the retainer, right?! But within these seeming mistakes we feel ourselves and the client can learn a great deal to improve and make better marketing decisions.

A couple of weeks ago, HBO announced that it would begin offering an over-the-top digital streaming subscription service in 2015 circumventing the cable bundle package where it is usually available exclusively.  They did not announce the price, but it will presumably be in the $7-9 per month Hulu/Netflix range. Not to be outdone, the CBS network announced the next day that it would be rolling out a similar subscription service called CBS All Access. For $5.99/month, subscribers have access to streaming on-demand most CBS shows, including CBS Classics like Star Trek and Twin Peaks, and live-viewing via mobile and desktop in 14 markets. With CBS' model, only their classics are ad-free. 

I realize that we often highlight outdoor in our monthly good media ideas, but there's a lot of room for innovation & creativity in this space. This month's idea is a fun one that really only works in the city that it's been done - Seattle. The idea is something that Media Post calls "Rainvertising," and was executed by agency Publicis Seattle. To promote a local music & arts festival Bumbershoot, the ad campaign called for the use of a rain-activated paint called NeverWet that only comes visible when wet. They painted the streets and sidewalks of the city with clever tags and promos related to the festival and rain. Watch below video for a full video of how they pulled this off. 

We are always looking for innovative new ways to get our clients' advertising messages to their target audience. One new media opportunity that we think can be a really good idea is paid social advertising, especially for B2C programs. Whether it's Snapchat, Reddit or (comparably) the mainstays Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, it is hard to deny the viability & value of these audiences as these sites become more ubiquitous. And advertising in this space is constantly updating as each platform tests formats & finds the proper balance of ads to content for their respective audiences. Just like any other type of native advertising though, we think if it's done right-- true to the medium, as a part of an overall content strategy-- it can be very effective.

This is the first post in a blog series called "Good Media Idea Makers," helping you get to know the McCulloch+Company team on a more personal basis. First up is our awesome summer intern!

Any day now* the Supreme Court will be ruling on the decision about the over-the-air/cloud DVR company Aereo. (Read my original assessment of Aereo that I wrote last fall here). At issue is whether Aereo should have to pay retransmission fees to the broadcasters for their content, like most cable companies, or if what they are supplying is simply a technological service for consumers, shifting the digital antenna from their roof to the cloud. We are watching this case because we believe a lot is at stake, for the advertising industry, cable consumers, and the television ecosystem in general. 

Last month, the Alliance for Audited Media released its latest circulation report which was hardly a blip on the radar screen for most of the general public- but for this print media buyer, (and former print ad rep) it was a big deal. (I should probably warn you - this blog may be considered a blant). The report from the effective governing third party of the industry showed significant growth - we're talking in the 76% to 94% range - for some of the most recognizable newspaper brands in the country, like USA Today. So what's my problem? This is great news, right? Newspapers are not dying - they're growing again - yippee! Well, my problem is in the reporting. If you dig into these statistics like Media Life has done in this article, you will see there are major issues with how they are arriving at these "gains."

This is the time of the year that all of the major networks present their "Upfronts" - their dog and pony show of new shows and gimmicks for advertisers and agency media buyers in New York to attract commitments of major year-long deals. They started on Monday of this week with Fox and NBC, today will be CBS. But yesterday was ABC's Upfront and I actually tuned in to the live stream. Here is a brief recap of some of the promising new shows and a few of the trends that I noticed.