@gordonbowman

Internet Radio Increases Ad Response Rates by 200%

Last week TargetSpot came out with some very interesting research studies on Internet Radio.

The TargetSpot research reveals that Internet Radio listeners are what they dubbed a "super demographic."

Here are some of the findings:

• 39% of the US population listens to Internet Radio regularly
• Internet Radio listeners are affluent and influential
• 80% of Internet Radio listeners spend between 1 & 3 hours per day listening
• 45% of Internet Radio listeners listen on a phone and 14% listen on a tablet
• 73% change stations throughout the day. Internet Radio listeners are not exclusive to any one service
• 56% listen to Internet Radio while shopping

Their research also lays out many reasons why marketers should be integrating Internet Radio into their marketing plans.

Here are some of the highlights:

• Response Rate increases by 200% when advertisers add internet radio
• Users who spend the minimal amount of time listening to Internet radio had higher ad response rates than heavy Internet-only users
• 350% higher ad response rates when advertisers add Internet radio to broadcast radio campaigns
• 52% of digital audio listeners recall hearing or seeing an Internet radio ad -- with 40% of that group responding to an ad

This research confirms two things most of us already knew:

• The Internet Radio audience is very, very valuable 
• As a marketing platform, Internet Radio works very, very well 

And this bodes very, very well for the clear leaders in the space. 

What Makes An Ad Worth Spreading

"What makes an ad worth spreading?" 

TED curator Chris Anderson answers that question with:

"It’s a film, made by a corporation, where the community that it’s targeted at actually wants to watch it.  In fact, they want to watch it so much that they’ll tell other people in the community about.  It might be something that’s hysterically funny; It might be something that’s gorgeously beautiful; It might just be ingeniously clever; It might be a big multi-media production or just a single employee talking to a camera, sharing her values and her dreams.  We picture them as short as thirty seconds, as long as five or six minutes, and we’re inviting you—the whole advertising community—to dream about these things, to dream what they might be and to submit to us films over the next few months.”

People who know me well know that I love TED Talks. This is one of the reasons.  

TED, together with YouTube, has launched Ads Worth Spreading, a challenge designed to inspire advertisers to create authentic and intelligent ads that people actually want to watch, and more importantly, share.  

The idea behind the challenge is to eventually have the ads that run after the Ted Talks to be "every bit as compelling as the talks themselves." That is a tall challenge but one that I think can be done.

Creative advertising is spreading. I've written previously about creative advertising in the age of social, with Old Spice and Weiden+Kennedy setting the bar high. As an aside, First Round Capital's play on the Old Spice campaign for their annual holiday card was genius too.

Creative advertising is spreading because marketers are realizing that it takes more than just a print or banner ad to make an impact on a user these days. Marketers now have to go above and beyond in order to resonate with consumers. Anderson does a great job of explaining why that is:

"Simply put, the relationship between consumers and companies is changing. Consumers are more than a mouth and a wallet. We've grown savvier and have access to more information channels to choose from.

We're moving toward a future where advertisers and consumers are part of the same community, sharing ideas and engaging in a learning cycle, together." 

 Anderson's video is here and worth checking out:

Iain Tait, global interactive creative director at Wieden+Kennedy, on the Old Spice campaign

Some Thoughts on the Old Spice campaign

The idea behind it is pretty simple. The beefy Old Spice Guy from the TV spots responds to users on Twitter and from elsewhere around the Web with hilarious YouTube videos of TV spot-like quality. The videos then get watched, re-tweeted, Facebooked and otherwise shared out all over.

It's genius in its simplicity. But the execution is what is really impresses me. According to the ReadWriteWeb article on the topic, here's how the videos are being made:

Iain Tait, Global Interactive Creative Director at Wieden ... says that the primary differentiator between this campaign and others is how closely technical and social media specialists are working with the creative team ...

"We brought social media experts right into the creative process," he told me. "In the room there are two social media guys and a tech guy who built a system pulling in comments from around the web all together in real time," Tait says. 

"We're looking at who's written those comments, what their influence is and what comments have the most potential for helping us create new content. The social media guys and script writers are collaborating to make that call in real time. We have people shooting and we're editing it as it happens. Then the social media guys are looking at how to get that back out around the web...in real time."

Smartly, part of their strategy is also to reach out to users with a significant amount of social influence. They have responded to people such as Kevin Rose, Ashton Kutcher, Alyssa Milano, and more. Their replies then get re-tweeted by these influencers and seen by their many followers.

Here's one of my favorites, a reply to Biz Stone, the founder of Twitter:

The other key to this campaign's succes I think is the real time aspect of it all. The fact that the team can crank these high quality videos out in real time is just stunning and I think that is part of the fascination. "You mean they responded to a user with 25 followers with a video two hours later?"

The steady stream of content also provides a latest-and-greatest effect, where every time a new one comes out people want to be the first among their friends to tweet or share it.

In what appears to be their last tweet and video, the Old Spice guy says that “like all great things this too must end.”

As it does, I imagine other advertisers will be looking to this as a case study in how to leverage a successful TV campaign into a highly viral online one. As Old Spice has shown here, it can be a very powerful combination.

Old Spice and Wieden+Kennedy have set the standard in the age of social media and real time. And we can only be left in awe of its manliness.

Also: What Makes An Ad Worth Spreading

Nike "Writes The Future" with a big bet on Facebook

And it paid off. BIG time.

Nike, in an effort to raise awareness of the brand going into next week's World Cup, launched a new campaign called "Write The Future" with a 3 minute video depicting some of soccer's greats and how their accomplishments and failures on the field affect society and their own lives.

The video features Nike sponsored stars such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Ronaldinho and others. The video also includes other Nike athletes Kobe Bryant and Roger Federer and even a surprise appearance from Homer Simpson.

Using Facebook as the centerpiece for the entire campaign, Nike premiered the video spot on the Nike Football Facebook Page a few days early to give Nike Football fans early access before debuting the spot on TV at half time of the UEFA Champions League final between Bayern Munich and Inter Milan.

Of course, beyond early access, Nike's goal was also to grow their Nike Football fan base on Facebook. On launch day, they had an ad on most users' Facebook homepages prompting them to watch the video. Smartly, they made it so that users needed to visit the Nike Football page and "Like" Nike Football in order to watch the video.

Indeed, according to a recent New York Times article, the ad buy is among the largest in Facebook’s history. But boy did it pay off.

Here's a look at the numbers:

The move caused Nike Football fan numbers to increase from 550,000 to over 1.1 million today.  They essentially doubled their fan base overnight.  

I think this Nike campaign will make for a great case study for other brands. I expect we'll see many brands following suit with this "insider access" approach to social.    

Now let's not forget the video itself. This campaign's success speaks volumes to the creative and once again, the creative team at Wieden+Kennedy killed it. They continue to impress. At the time of writing, the has 12.7MM views.

If you haven't seen it yet, here it is:  

Ah, branding and marketing. You gotta love it.

Rupert Murdoch has it backwards