Tag >> trends
Top Ten Advertisers for Q1 2010
JP Holecka Jun 14, 2010 - filed under: Advertising Comment (0)

Top Ten Advertisers (Q1 2010)

Rank

Company

Jan - Mar 2010 ($Mil)

Jan - Mar 2009($Mil)

% Change

1

Procter & Gamble Co

$772.6

$656.5

17.7%

2

AT&T Inc

$576.4

$455.0

26.7%

3

General Motors Corp

$533.7

$415.5

28.5%

4

Verizon Communications Inc

$517.2

$569.1

-9.1%

5

Pfizer Inc

$396.4

$271.1

46.2%

6

News Corp

$366.8

$340.4

7.8%

7

Johnson & Johnson

$344.1

$390.3

-11.8%

8

Time Warner Inc

$304.3

$265.3

14.7%

9

Walt Disney Co

$267.6

$303.6

-11.8%

10

General Electric Co

$264.6

$261.3

1.3%

 

TOTAL

$4,343.9

$3,928.0

10.6%

Source: Kantar Media, May 2010

Read More...

tags:// trends, Strategy, metrics, advertising
Facebook apps the pet rock of the 2000's
JP Holecka Nov 27, 2008 - filed under: Social Media Comment (1)
Is the facebook app really dead? For at least six to eight months after the apps launched it seemed like everyone was under savage bombardment of zombie armies attacks and requests for Funwall signups. Yes there was no end of hype over the facebook app phenomenon. From facebook users too the numerous big brands that wanted a facebook app of their very own. It was the talk of the interactive community back in 2007 and early 2008. Clients would usually call me at the agency and ask "We want a facebook app. Can you build us one?" Most of the time the clients never new why they needed it or what a facebook app really was but they knew that it was a "must have". Those days are now gone and I can't even imagine trying to sell an app to a client today. That was only 6 or 7 months ago. Things move so quickly in this interactive world.

What killed the app you ask? Well there are a couple of thing in my opinion that put the death nail into the facebook application platform.

The 18 month attention span with all new shinny things. 

Yes that's right. There is a cycle of consumer interest in any given product or service that lasts approximately 18 moths or so. If you look at the Apple product lifecycle it is just under this at around 14 months, giving about 3-4 months for traction. Also I believe the pet rock was around for roughly the same amount of time back in the 70's.

This summer's much hyped redesign of the facebook profile page that put the apps on a tab somewhere at the back of the page.

There was much hype and noise surrounding the facebook redesign this summer. Some reviews were positive but mostly negative. I myself like the new design and think that the site's usability went way up. One downside for many users and app developers specifically was that the new design pushed the apps to the last tab on the profile page. I did not personally mind as I never really used the apps to begin with. Oh sure I tried them out more for the exploration and insight than anything else. I still have a few apps loaded on my page like Tumblr.com and Lastfm.com but ditched the zombies a long time ago.

The iPhone 3G and it's tremendously popular app store.

Apple's launch of the long awaited iPhone 3G with the apps store coincided with the facebook redesign, 18 month cycle of interest and the finite amount of time that a person has in any given day to dedicate to the Internet. In fact the iPhone facebook app version 2.0 was probably a contributing factor as well. To this day it is in the top 25 most popular apps in the iTunes store. 

To coin an overused phrase it was "the perfect...cough..cough...storm" that killed the facebook app. I have a feeling that a lot of those facebook app developers are now immersed in the iPhone SDK trying to stay afloat.

If the facebook app has been replaced by iPhone app store then what will be after that? Maybe look at the Android platform I hear it is going to be hot!

tags:// Web, trends, marketing, iPhone, facebook, advertising
Will shoppers spend more or less this year?
JP Holecka Nov 25, 2008 - filed under: Online Retailing Comment (0)

Here are some numbers that I found to follow up on my anecdotal  shopping bag count of last weekend. I wanted to put the story into the online retailing context.  The Forester numbers say it the most. 45% plan to spend less this Christmas season due to the economic state of the world. Wow that is a huge drop in spending year over year. For the online retailer a number to watch this year is the shipping costs. According to a recent Paypal survey 40% of the people that abandoned their shopping carts did so because of of high shipping costs. In another poll by BIGresearch 60% said that free shipping was very important to them. I know personally that I stopped using Ebay last year due to merchants completely gouging the customer with expensive shipping fees.  I think that if you want to avoid the empty carts online this year you need keep the shipping costs aggressively low if not free all together.

Will shoppers spend more or less this year?

  • 26% of consumers plan to spend less, 11% expect to spend more, and 63% about the same. “For the first time I am predicting flat to declining sales for the holiday season,” stated Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst, The NPD Group, Inc. NPD Group Holiday 2008 Survey
  • 59% will spend less, citing food prices (73%), energy prices (69%) the economy (61%) and job uncertainty (18%) as reasons. 11% are still paying off last year’s holiday purchases. Deloitte, October 2008

How does price play in importance?

  • 60% say that lower prices, sales and special values will dictate where they shop (surveyed mid-September before the stock market’s major downturn). NPD Group, September 2008
  • 70% will shop sale items more often and 53% have become less brand loyal in favor of less expensive brands. Morpace, October 2008
  • 73% will shop where they can find the best value for their money. 72% will look for low prices. Convenient location, quality and selection of merchandise, and customer service/experience all ranked lower. Deloitte, October 2008

Is free shipping important?

Free shipping (95%) and sales/specials (83%) top of the list of what influences online gift buying. e-tailing group, October 2008

  • 75% prefer to shop with online retailers that offer free shipping. 58% claim that shipping prices deter them from shopping online. Forrester Research, October 2008

tags:// trends, shopping, christmas