Forty percent less budget, same effect

Kobalt presented research that indicates that brand owners can do with 40 percent less media budget while still obtaining the same result. With the analysis of data of thousand + campaigns the media agency concludes that cutting away the waste and advertise in a more selective way will result in a decrease of the TV budget of 5-20 percent. The online and radio budget can decrease with 10-20 percent and outdoor even up till 40 percent. Print is already very selective, cost can only be reduced by 5-10 percent. Managing Director Beijer of Kobalt adds that for FMCG's 76 percent of the total effect is derived from only 23 percent of the media target group. Time to make bold changes, but the marketing and advertising world is slow. And of course this piece of research calls for other research to confirm such dramatic changes.
Maybe another figure will make marketers and advertisers change their mind. Also in The Netherlands the number of "No Brochures" mailbox stickers has increased dramatically. Last year 14.6 percent of all Dutchmen did have such a sticker, an increase of almost 10 percent. On average every family receives 34 brochures and folders per week. Consumers are probably reacting on the overload of brochures, folders, flyers and door-to-door newspapers.
Both pieces of research call for a more personalised approach. This will probably be more expensive per contact, but also more effective because more relevant. Today's media options offer plenty of possibilities to become more personal in advertising.

Books take flight

This month much has been written about books. Most recently Amsterdam was announced the World Book Capital by UNESCO. The city thrives on a long history of freedom of expression since the start of the first book printer in 1506. Because of this freedom of expression and the fact that guilds were in that time open to foreigners Amsterdam became the center of books. Today for every 4.000 residents of the city there is one bookshop. The Amsterdam World Book Capital theme is therefore Open Book, using icons as Spinoza, Anne Frank and Annie M.G. Schmidt.
The city also hosts a beautiful exposition of 3.500 posters on how books have been promoted during the years. Worthwhile a visit.
A unique partnership between publishing houses, libraries and booksellers stimulates readership in The Netherlands. One of the activities is the Book Week. Since 1932 this event is organised, resulting in handing out a total of 25 mio free books. Last month during the Book Week 960.000 free books were handed out.
Despite the surge of the internet, books are selling well. In Flanders sales in 2007 increased with 8 percent, resulting in a total sales of 11 mio books. On average every family bought 4 books in 2007. (In the Netherlands this figure is 6,4 books). In the UK sales of books increased with 9 percent. The biggest increase was among the new titles published in 2007, 36 percent more titles came to market, more than ever before. And as Nielsen states Print-on-Demand is driving this growth, proving the Long Tail.

New campaign The Guardian

A beautifully designed campaign with a quality message for this leading UK newspaper by Wieden & Kennedy.

Wake-up call paper industry

Papyrus organised this week in Brussels an evening program on the future of print. Creative minds, printers and brand owners gathered to listen to presentations from a Hendrik Kaa Andersen (Arjowiggins), Erik Kessels (KesselsKramer), Richard Owers (Pureprint Group), Pierre Bernard (Atelier de Creation Graphique) and Oliver Salge (Greenpeace). The overriding theme of the evening was the growing importance of sustainable business. An increasing number of brand owners include paper specifications for their print work. Printers start to produce in compliance with the ISO 14001 norm. And paper manufacturers produce paper that is FSC and PEFC certified. The need for sustainable forestry was clearly demonstrated by Oliver Salge. Although he prefers of course no use at all of paper. Inviting him to a paper conference was daring, but during the drink after the presentations it became clear that the participants much appreciated his presentation. It remains of course difficult for brand owners and printers to define proper action to limit the carbon footprint. Papyrus made a carbon offset for the paper presented in the handout. But that is no structural solution either.

Agfa introduces "paper" at DRUPA

Today Agfa held its pre-DRUPA press conference. It announced a new high-end wide-format digital printer, Anapurna XLS, besides many other hardware and software introductions. Probably the most surprising news is the announcement of a synthetic paper: Synaps. This is a polyester-based, synthetic paper for use in offset printing presses. It has a superior printability and an exceptionally fast drying time. The hyped book " Cradle to Cradle" (C2C) is also printed on this type of paper. It will be interesting to see whether this development will impact the market. The stock market in the meantime reacted positively to the product news which is good for the troubled company.

Need for accountability in marketing

At the recent ON DEMAND conference the US Direct Marketing Association (DMA), mentioned five key themes that will emerge in the next years. Some of these themes have been around, other will certainly gain interest.
1. It's a multi-channel world, no real news though, we all know that the age of commercials -broadcast on one TV station and reach 80% of the audience- are over.
2. It's a data-driven world, also no real news, but possibilities keep on increasing.
3. It's a personalised world that requires relevance and timing, these are interesting concepts that gain interest. For example personalised URL's (pURL) allow advertisers to become personal with their offer online as a response to a hard copy mailing.
4. It's a world of accountability, this is becoming center-stage as marketing ROI needs to be delivered. Plenty of companies are delivering solutions that integrate the creative, delivery, production, procurement, asset management and evaluation part of online and off-line media mailings and brochures. And these will help to boost the integration of online and off-line media.
5. It's good to be green, with the combination of digital print and multi-channel communication. I'm not yet convinced that the digital printing process is greener compared to traditional printing. However waste management for example is becoming an issue for high volume printing and digital printing might therefore be a solution.

Kodak defines "business of marketing"

"Marketing is the neural system of the company, and the critical business function", says Kevin Joyce, the new Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of Kodak Graphic Communication Group. He puts marketing at the center of the company and underlines its role of creating value. He sees a clear task for Kodak and the entire industry to move upstream and to help customers to understand the role of print and to advice on how best to leverage print. The focus on the business of marketing will help Kodak to change the perception of producing a commodity. An interview with Joyce reads like an interview with a marketer from a FMCG company.
Next to the output devices as the Speedmasters, Kodak will put more emphasis on workflow tools that provide productivity and revenues. Key in this strategy is the capability of Kodak to get respect and gain credibility for its position as a service provider.
This is not an easy tasks as plenty of other players fulfill this role today. Initiatives as Print Sells and Sappi's Life with Print also promote the use of print media by the advertising industry and are changing the way the industry talks with its main clients.

Indicators of "Green" Drupa

Océ announced the launch of the "Green Reprographer of the Year" Award. Winners will be announced just two weeks prior to the start of DRUPA. The US branch of Océ Wide Format Printing Systems invites print-for-pay reprographers to enter this competition that rewards the use of products and services that reduce the impact on the environment and employee programs supporting environmental conservation.

Postal news

Postal services are well covered in the news. However not always in a positive way. The Washington Post wrote about a threat in the USA: do-not mail lists that are pending approval in 18 states. As the figures demonstrate, standard mail (advertising flyers, catalogues, fundraising letters, etc) is soaring: from 101 billion items in 2005 to 104 billion in 2007. (The impact of email and electronic billing is clear from the decline in first class mail: in 2004 98 billion items to 96 in 2007). The increase in standard mail has caused the consumer reaction to create do-not mail lists. The US Post fears the impact of this decision and forecast already an operational deficit of $ 1 billion.
Recently Royal Mail announced that between 1997 and 2007 the total number of mail items did increase from 25 billion to 30,66 billion. Growth is explained by the volume of invoices and statements, for example of mobile companies.
The Dutch Postal Services (TNT) were also in the news as they announced closing down the remaining 250 post offices. Postal services are provided via a total of 2500 retail points, and dedicated post offices do not longer fit into the retail strategy of TNT. Traditional post offices will probably get alternative destinations, like churches have over the last years also become libraries, ad agencies and apartments.

Google to take lead in media integration

Google announced it will introduce a broad new strategy that will help advertising agencies to plan, buy and manage all types of media. At the AAAA Media Conference, Google's advertising and commerce president Tim Armstrong announced that Google will enable media planners to manage mixes of off-line ad online media. This so-called "Dashboard" will automate a difficult task for today's planners and buyers.
It is striking to notice that a company that started to influence the entire media scene only a few years ago, is now taking the high ground in this most-discussed subject. The discussion is not only about comparable measurement of online advertising but also about the dominant role of media agencies vs. creative agencies. And Google obviously want to play a role in this latter discussion as well.

Creativity the new driver of the economy?

Countries start to understand the importance of the creative industry. Richard Florida's book on the Creative Class did motivate the Flemish government to launch Flanders DC. This initiative inspires companies to integrate creativity in their business.
The Dutch Association of Designers (BNO) is supported by the Ministry of Economic Affairs in its activities to promote Dutch design abroad. Visits and presentations are done in various countries to present the specifics of Dutch design.
The British government launched a program to support the creative industry, that accounts for 7,3% of the GDP and employs over 2 million. As the sector has grown twice as fast as the rate of the economy the government is eager to capitalise on the sector. The creative industry should become mainstream of economic and policy thinking and should start with providing children creative education. Many other activities should lead to the position of Britain becoming the creative hub for the world.

Wanted: online identity thieves

It becomes increasingly important to protect your corporate brand online. McAfee (a security software company) calculated that there are 1,9 million registered variations on 2771 most popular domain names. These variations are based upon small typing errors (typo's). Google for example had a number of variations of its brand name online: googkle.com, ghoogle.com and gooigle.com This technique called typosquatting makes fraudulent use of the well known company and can create a false and wrong image of the company. Typosquatting sites piggyback on the popularity of the heavily trafficked website and refer to porn sites, include gambling links or worse infect computers with viruses. What can happen to your brand is illustrated when you type www.microsoft.cm You will enter an election site of Barack Obama! A questionable technique of a Presidents candidate. The Republic of Cameroon -with 10.000 people online- and with the suffix cm understands that it can earn money from people mistyping. It now sells it cm suffix to companies and organisations outside of Cameroon that want to benefit from typo's.
Protecting the online brand and controlling the content of the online brand continues to be a challenge to brand owners.

Information stress reduction tools

I was reading about life hacking (programmers productivity tricks) the other day and that made me think of the way we select, process and memorise information. It seems to me that the abundance of information on the Internet suggests the illusion that we can know and learn everything. However because of the enormous amount of information that is scattered over the Internet we will never be able to maximalise our know-how. What is lacking are these life hacks that help us to select and collect the most relevant information. Search engines help us to identify the articles, images or video on the net, but we still have to rank them in terms of importance, credibility and accuracy. Most of us do not have the time for that.
Therefore consumers and businesses rely on editors to select the information. The continuous increase of the number of magazine titles demonstrates that consumers value editors that can put together information relevant for specific segments. And it is the credibility of the magazine or newspaper brand that is the reason to believe the information.
Online consumers and businesses develop other tools: lists, social networks and referrals are the new tools to select and optimise their information need. I believe that the need for editors will continue to exist and that they can help reducing the information stress related to the information overload.

Second life for books

Quite some librarians have been dreaming of a World Library System. Organising all books in all libraries so that they would become accessible for everybody. This dream may come it bit closer to reality with the Google Books project. Google has agreements with several libraries in the USA, Japan and Europe to scan entire collections. Google will make all of these books searchable by word and will make it possible to link words or events with Google Maps.

The Bodleian Library of Oxford University for example contains 11 million books and each year the collection grows with 3 to 4 kilometer of book racks. Opening-up these huge collections via electronic versions, will learn us a lot more about the our history. Come the questions of copyright, and the commercial ownership of what is today in the public domain. Most of the libraries objective is to reach a broad as possible readership, but will that objective prevail on these questions?
One point divides then though; scanning is a time-consuming and therefore expensive task. Of older books every page need to be turned by hand before a picture can be taken. (The Dutch use an even more laborious system: they have Philippine ladies retype entire books as that is more reliable than current OCR technology). Sheetfeeding a scanner will be a lot cheaper (€10) than scanning by hand (€ 150) but would need books to be cut apart and thus destroyed. Book lovers will hate the idea as they appreciate much more than the content of the book. The paper used, the type of binding, the spine, the feel and the smell of the book is part of the reading experience. Will libraries allow this to happen, even when they to have to sacrifice a second copy of a book? Will learning the world win out cultural heritage? To be continued online and in your book store.

Selling books and PDF's with a profit

The US-based National Academies Press won the prestigious ISMS Prize at Wharton University. The publisher developed a model that took advantage of the growing number of orders for electronic books. Research showed that 65%-70% of visitors of the website came to view only one page. Visitors were split into online shoppers and buyers of a printed book opposed to who were browsing books that had a PDF version available. They determined that selling the electronic version of a book at 75% of the print price would generate the highest profit. With the book price at the same level and a bundle of print + electronic at an 18% mark-up, total sales rose by 10% (and web sales by 14,4%). In the meantime the electronic books sell at 85% of the print price demonstrating the success of the model.

Green direct mail in USA

A study among 1000 Americans shows that consumers greatly overestimate the environmental impact of direct mail. DMNews and Pitney Bowes found that respondents ranked the delivery of 10-11 pieces of transactional mail per year as the third most polluting activity (in terms of carbon dioxide emission). Only driving a car 1000 miles a month and the electricity usage for a top-freezer was more polluting.
Whereas in reality advertising mail accounts for 2% of all municipal waste, respondents vastly overestimated this: 48% thought that half of the municipal was advertising mail.
There is obviously a lot of work to do to change this perception. When no action taken the perception of the medium might be in jeopardy.
Consumers seem to be unaware of the sustainability programs of organisations as Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) that promotes sustainable forest management. Over 60% of respondents said they would think more highly of the industry if it planted trees to offset paper production. Such a green label would even make unsolicited mail more positive.

Shifting channels

I few weeks ago I listened to a presentation at the annual congres of the Stichting Marketing of Patrick Tillieux COO of the TV holding ProSiebenSat1 and was rather shocked by his revelations. His presentation was on the globalisation of the TV industry and was referring to a program format bought from a US channel. The program, "Are you smarter than a 5th grader?", was put on air in various European countries. The audience metrics indicated that the program was no success in most countries. The channels' audience was reduced to one third when the program started! Just imagine that from one moment to the other readership plummets with 70%.
Also simple phrases can make viewers shift channels. Dutch research demonstrates clearly the impact of for example a journalist covering daily politics. When he says in a life program " Well, nothing really exciting happened today" viewers zap "en masse". A very floating and expensive audience indeed.

Quote 2

"The question is whether we need to push our products or push the marketer as he has problems understanding the online market."
Peter de Mönnink, Chief Strategy and Internet Officer Reed Business Global (In Adformatie).

The Poster Magazine

Imagine a magazine the size of 1.5m by 2m, with no advertising, on display at café's, bars and bookstores, with no strict editorial goal but with a very strong design appeal. This one sheet magazine is called "Is not Magazine" and available in major cities in Australia. It is pasted on outdoor posters sites in Melbourne and Sydney and also available at indoor poster sites in bookstores and bars. The poster magazine can be read like the "wall papers" in China and can be ordered for €17 and will also do great as decoration.

Great creative and venue

This week Amnesty International Belgium launched its end-of-the-year campaign "I save lives "with a major media initiative. Part of the campaign -developed by Air- is this huge poster that has been attached to the scaffolding of the Brussels Palais de Justice. Where to get more attention for human rights than here? The illustration is made of hundreds of signatures and therefore uses the essence of what Amnesty does as part of the creative. A great idea on a unique location. Air developed two other themes on the same idea.

The Power of Print/Posters

On the website of De Standaard -a leading Flemish newspaper- you can choose for a winning cultural poster and win a culture cheque. Of a total of 140 posters 10 were selected by a jury and are now open for voting by everybody.
I'm still experiencing that reducing the message to the essence and reproducing it on a poster is a lot more difficult than doing that on an A4 size advertisement.
This contest therefore demonstrates the Power of Print via the medium posters. It is organised by Prospecta and sponsored by Agfa Graphics.

New strong evidence for magazine effectiveness in media mix variants

When magazines are added to a mix of online and television advertising purchase intention increases with 7% (vs TV and online 5.6%), brand favourability increases with 7.3% compared to 4.5% with TV and online. On other brand metrics as aided brand awareness and advertising awareness the effect of adding magazines is important but less impressive.
Recent research of 32 cross-media campaigns across ten categories by Dynamic Logic (a Millward Brown research company) provides strong evidence for the use of a mix of different media. And the important role magazines play in the effectiveness of advertising investments. Magazine effectiveness represent for example 62 % of the combined effect on brand favourability. The research also shows the limited value of online advertising on the five metrics. The incremental effect of the online investment tops at 22% of the combined effect.
This is the second analysis made by Dynamic Logic, I have reported on earlier research (17 cross-media campaigns) in the Sappi publication Life with Print. Comparing both pieces of research the striking decline of effectiveness of online media becomes apparent. Online advertising' share topped at 38% on the brand favourability metric.
It seems that this new research -based upon more cases- includes the effects of diminished newness and therefore attention of online media.

Company documents remain printed

A survey from EDSF indicates that the budget for printed documents (invoices, bills, statements, explanation of benefits) companies use to communicate with clients modestly increases. Almost 43% of respondents of the survey say that the budget for paper-based communications increases by approx. 10%. This despite the fact that more than half of the companies already make more than fifty percent of their documents available over the Internet. Transactional documents will make increased use of digital colour. Half of the companies will increase the use of colour by 5% or more in the future. A new trend in the use of transactional documents is Transpromo, this is the use of colour on documents as bills and statements and integrating selected promotional offers.
EDSF concludes that electronic delivery will only have a limited impact over the next years as firms will have to address legal and compliance requirements and security/privacy issues.

Mind mapping with Tony Buzan

I was invited by Gino Togni of IMS to attend an interactive session with one of the worlds promoters of mind mapping: Tony Buzan. This 65 years old energetic and gifted Englishman is one of the best presenters on a hugely interesting subject of brain functioning and learning. His full-day workshop covered insights in how our brain functions and also on how we can best describe what we hear or read by presenting it in a mind map. A visual description of the information makes it stay longer in your brain. He did not refer to how that relates to obtaining information via audio-visual, electronic or print media. Probably an interesting subject for a research project.
In the meantime media are already using the technique of mind mapping and showing it in ads to illustrate for example the profile of its radio listeners.

Magazines increase web traffic

The MPA (Magazine Publishers of America) published a week ago further proof of the effects of integration of media. I've written about integration before, the various pieces of research confirm with strong evidence that magazines boost traffic to websites. And have a strong effect on purchase intention. The effect on website visits, after having seen an automotive ad in magazines, was strongest, traffic almost doubled. Online media need offline media to generate traffic was confirmed by a survey of BIGresearch. Magazines scored best among the Top 10 media to trigger online search, TV scored second and newspapers third. Internet advertising scored only a ninth place at slightly more than half the score of magazines. Magazine brands are strong brands as another study showed. After having watched an online video ad on a series of sites, consumers turn most to magazine sites for further information, significantly more often than going to online portals.

Integrating media and the interaction between media is making media planning a lot more complex and interesting. Understanding the role of print media in this new media landscape goes beyond readership surveys. Tools need to be put in place to trace the path consumers follow after reading.

One title, one million copies, one country, free

In October 2001 the Mockingbird was the most discussed bird in Chicago. Not the animal but the book by Harper Lee titled To kill a Mockingbird. The book was selected to cultivate the culture of reading and discussion in Chicago and inhabitants were suggested to talk with friends, family and neighbours about the book. The idea was that everybody in Chicago would read the same book at the same time and discuss it.
This idea was picked-up by the Dutch and is now organised for the second year. Talking about this years book will not be too difficult with the title "De gelukkige klas". All public library members can receive a free copy like all fourth graders but on the condition that they read it. A total circulation of almost 1 million free books! (A luxurious copy is also available for € 10). Plenty of activities in 100 cities are organised to get people to read and discuss the book. The popular and sometimes clumsy news anchor Philip Freriks is touring with a theater show, 10.000 people can get a book with a blank cover that they can design and a nostalgic train will tour in Holland.
Last year 725.000 copies of the book "Dubbelspel" were handed out, over 1 million people participated in Nederland Leest and public library visits increased with 20%.

A great marketing idea to boost reading and using different media to announce and stimulate talking about literature.

Print Sells campaign launched

This month partners of the United Print Chain launch a pan-European advertising campaign to support the use of print as an advertising medium. The campaign, that runs in 13 European countries, presents print as the perfect medium to build a brand image. The unique combination of partners from the paper, printing and printing machine industry, magazine publishers, Postal Associations and Cepifine allows industry-wide support and a major investment to change the perception of print media.

Very much like the Life with Print programme from Sappi this campaign combines emotional aspects of printed communications with hard facts and cases about effectiveness.
As perceptions will not change during one advertising wave, it is necessary that the Print Sells campaign continues over a longer period. Advertisers and their agencies are, despite what is often believed, conservative decision makers. And we know that advertising works through repetition.

Systematic creativity?

I joined a workshop about creativity thinking some days ago and became quite impressed. I'll explain you why. The Israeli company SIT developed a methodology for creating innovative ideas based upon the idea that innovations share a certain pattern. (The basis for this thinking comes from a Russian engineer who analysed thousands of patents). Starting as a tool for engineering Systematic Inventive Thinking has now become a tool to the advertising world. It identifies five ways of thinking that explain 70% of all successful innovations. Innovation and creativity can for example be achieved by taking away certain product features, or by combining some. In doing so SIT follows five principles of which "form follows function" is probably the best known.

SIT analysed winning advertising Print campaigns at the Cannes Advertising Festival and came to the conclusion that in 2000 77% could be explained via a SIT tool. In advertising ten creative techniques like extreme result, metaphor, inversion or extreme promise are used to present products. Winning Print campaigns use in 38% of the cases extreme result as technique. Not only does SIT help to be creative and innovative it also helps in analysing creativity. I find it a most helpful tool in my work.

Illiteracy levels boosts direct mail response

The Frankfurter Buchmesse, that just closed its doors, revealed that the illiteracy level in western Europe and developing countries is perceived as one of the biggest threats to the publishing industry. Professional visitors listed the threats to the industry, the list also includes other media competition, over-publishing and piracy.
At the Buchmesse cases of new and traditional media integration were discussed. For example launching new children books via SMS and podcast. Creating a community of children and extending the experience of reading a book proved to help stimulating literacy.
Not taking any action could make this threat a self-fulfilling prophecy. Plenty of research indicates the declining number of young people reading printed information. It should become a task of the government, education and the media industry to develop programs to correct this evolution.
There is however also a positive side to this threat; internet savvy young people seem to be more interested in hard copy direct mail. At the DMA congress in Chicago research was shown that relates high internet usage and response rates to direct mail. It all comes down to the long-known advertising adage: surprise people by standing out.

Inkjet printing into new applications

I was just reading about an interesting new application for the inkjet printing device we all have at home. As the inkjet head can print micron small dots on different surfaces Panasonic has lodged a patent for an electronic spraying device to apply liquids on skin. This could become an alternative way to apply make-up and would allow for sensational make-up effects comparable to airbrush. Buying blush or foundation will never be the same once the product has been introduced!
But inkjet is also going into very different applications. Most of these applications use electronics. And because inkjet heads can print pico millimeters, integrated electronic circuits can be printed. Printing will go beyond simple colour and coatings printing, but will include printing of electronic conductive materials. In this way circuits and sensors can be printed on various substrates.
Probably the best known application is the integration of RFID on paper or film. When I visited the LabelExpo in Brussels this was one of the highlights of the fair. However most of the RFID tags were still made separately and not immediately printed on the substrate. Inkjet printing will allow to do that directly on the substrate offering higher flexibility and smarter paper. This paper can be used to develop smart products like packaging that integrates diodes that light-up when the date for consumption is approaching or paper that is sensitive to pressure or can light up.
It sounds like a science fiction application but is reality: the elaboration of cells, tissues and so called bio paper for veins in medicine

User generated content: earn money or reward readers by publishing their name?

Consumer or user generated content was a hype the last 12 months. It was considered the new thing in journalism, opened-up new ways to have readers and viewers participate in media and to get access to information close to consumers. However Ohmynews.com or NowPublic.com, the best known user-written publications, are not yet earning money by using consumers providing the news. One might question whether the motivation of readers or viewers of seeing their names in the press is a guarantee for interesting, credible and relevant news. There is quite some research that confirms that Internet news is not perceived as trustworthy as printed news, and consumer generated news might just prove this point. BlueLithium - a research branch of Yahoo - concluded on the basis of 1.7 billion impressions from 716 ads that although the cost-per-conversion was lower for ads placed on user generated sites the conversion level on non-user generated sites was 32% higher. These figures also prove the point of the importance of branded conten.
Newspapers are looking at smarter ways to use consumers as a source of information. I read about the Guardian that is looking for experts among the readers as they know that somewhere on the Internet somebody can provide answers. This might be very helpful for example for travel advice. TED, a Dutch multi-media platform for youngsters - offers a mix of user generated content and journalist content for their free newspaper, interactive online platform and TV channel. The free newspaper has a total circulation of 150.000 and is distributed via "ambassadors" at schools. TED uses the interactivity with readers to the benefit of advertisers who want test new products in TED lab. The largest Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf uses a very different model, it set up a dedicated website for local news, opinions and emotions provided by readers. The site WUZ.nl is a continuation of the readers letters item in the printed newspaper. Access to local news is extremely easy: just type in the postal code. Although an interesting initiative this might also fall short in attracting enough readers and advertisers to make it profitable.

Quote 1

"When paper would have been invented yesterday, everybody would have said: great new technology! Unimaginable!"

Olaf Olafsson, author of best selling books and executive VP TimeWarner

Audi winner of Euro Effie and Sappi Award

At the Euro Effie Awards the special Sappi Print Media Efficiency Award went to the launch campaign for the Audi Q7. The campaign won also a Gold Effie Award.
The Sappi Award goes to Effie winning campaigns that spent a dominant part of their media mix on print media. The Audi campaign integrates print, TV internet and CRM activities with a 40% budget allocated to print. The campaign demonstrates the increased importance of well planned and structured integration of media. Print and TV to create awareness and traffic to the website and highly personalised direct mail to follow-up visitors of the website. This approach resulted in a 10,2% higher sales result than originally planned. When checking the media strategy from the other Effie Gold winners (Adidas and Nike) the point about integration was confirmed. Both campaigns make use of a broad spectrum of media albeit with a lower percentage allocated to print media. But Nike for example achieved over 800 press articles by a very intense PR campaign. When I talked with Marco Eikelenboom, Sappi's European Marketing and Sales Director, he concluded that these results confirm the efficiency of print media.

Towards a sustainable world

Last week I was present at the Awards evening of the Euro Effies, where ACT (Advertising Community Together) had an exhibition of their worldwide collection of responsible communication advertisements. ACT believes that advertising is a powerful tool that can change people's behaviour. It promotes therefore responsible communication and practices on sustainability. The exhibition "Taking Care of our Future" showcases work from all over the world on how companies, NGO's and public services use advertising to influence our society for the good cause. Like the above ad from JWT Manila for Greenpeace.

Murdoch Street Journal

It's done. Rupert Murdoch has bought the Wall Street Journal. Today the Wall Street announced the deal that has led to heavy disputes in the Bancroft family. The Bancrofts hold 64% of the Dow Jones controlling stocks and at least two thirds needed to approve of the deal.
It seems that the take-over by media mogul Murdoch had more to do with US newspaper heritage and media sociology than with finance. (Money was probably no issue with a proposed price of $60 per share that represents a 69% premium to the pre-offer stock price).The WSJ is one of the oldest family owned newspapers in the US and now becomes part of the stable of Murdoch including media brands as Fox News, MySpace, National Geographic, Times of London and many others. And becoming part of a media conglomerate that produces content for the masses was probably the biggest hurdle to take for the family. What will become of the WSJ stature once taken over by News Corp? Can it maintain it's position as one of the worldwide references for financial news? These questions relate to an interesting discussion taking place the the media industry: is popular culture bad for us? Is popularised news bad for readers and viewers? Some two years ago Steven Jonhson published "Everything is good for you. How popular culture is making us smarter". This book like the book from Gust de Meyer (De beste smaak is de slechte smaak) demonstrate that the popular culture of videogames, television (including reality-TV), film and Internet has made people more intelligent. The complexity of the media and content is posing new challenges to our minds that make our minds sharper. Interesting to watch how the WSJ will continue to challenge its readers.

Google selling newspapers

Google announced last year a test involving 50 US newspapers and a limited number of advertisers to bid online for advertising space. Today the service called Google Print Ads is available for all advertisers and includes over 225 newspapers (combined circulation of nearly 30 million). The Google sales pitch demonstrates the commitment to integrated media campaigns as it presents 4 reasons to consider newspapers as a "important component of any advertiser's media mix". Newspapers give advertisers significant local reach, they reach an attractive demographic audience, they are a key resource for shopping information that drives offline and online purchases and finally newspapers are relevant throughout the entire purchase cycle.
It will be very interesting to see what Google's initiative will do to the top-line and bottom-line results of the participating newspapers. And also to the reaction of the traditional traders in ad space; the media agencies.

News a la minute

We were traveling in England this weekend and while watching the BBC news we experienced the growing importance of consumer generated content. The news had an item on the evacuation of several Tesco shops in Britain. However the BBC didn't know a great deal about what was going on. Viewers were invited to email what they had seen at the Tesco shops. Within 20 minutes the newsreaders could report on details of 5 Tesco shops, including time, reasons for evacuation, what happened to the staff and pictures.
Prior to BBC journalists viewers delivered the news. The newsreaders were reading the viewer reports from the laptops on their desks, apparently without further checking the facts. The news was really brought to you as it developed, and not by a BBC journalist at the spot but by the "consumers".
Although the strength of consumer generated content is clearly demonstrated it also points at a risk. Does opening the door for live consumer input not jeopardise the quality of the BBC brand? When facts are relayed without control to consumers this might influence the status, credibility and value of the BBC brand?
By the way it appears now that the closure of 14 stores and evacuation of hundred of thousands of customers was a reaction to a day of action of an animal rights group.

Who to trust?

I did a presentation two weeks ago to an international company in Belgium about the impact of Internet channels on their B-t-B media mix. During the discussion we started talking about the way consumers deal with the lack of trust related to news or insights presented via the web. The equation "for free = no value = no trust" holds true for a great number of people. A study from Forrester shows that although trust in traditional media as television, newspapers and magazines reduced over the period 2002-2204 , it is still more than double that of Internet. However consumers develop alternative strategies. When asked who they trust for product information, consumers rate recommendations from friends/family, online consumer opinions and requested email updates higher than advertisements on television, radio or magazines. Other research from Forrester shows that more than 20% of European online consumers sent a link to friends or family and also visited links provided by friends or family. It looks like that word-of-mouth and buzz marketing is the driving force behind the growth of social networks. This could also imply a revival of customer magazines on the condition that customers can participate.

Sappi launches new booklet in Life with Print series

Sappi Fine Paper launched at the first Interactive Advertising Bureau Europe (IAB) Conference the third booklet in the Life with Print serie. At the European summit of internet interactivity the paper manufacturer presented a point-of-view on how traditional media and new media integrate to the benefit of effectiveness. This booklet covers interviews with leading people from MasterCard Europe, Carlson Marketing, IAB Europe and Philips, includes international cases from Microsoft, Eurostar, Timberland and Napster, views from Joseph Jaffe, Rupert Murdoch and Pelle Törnberg and research on how integration of internet boosts the overall effect of print campaigns.
The Life with Print programme -developed by Frysk- is addressing advertisers, media and creative agencies and underlines the importance of print media as part of the media mix. The programme is used worldwide with emphasis on Europe, USA, South-Africa and Asia. Other booklets in the series are "Direct Mail in the media mix" and "Brochures and Catalogues in the media mix". The booklets can be ordered via LifeWithPrint@sappi.com

How a logo creates epileptic fits

The much criticised logo for the Olympics to be held in London in 2012 has caused some viewers suffer from an epileptic fit. A short animated sequence in a TV commercial contained rapid flashes of colour that have caused these fits. The London professor Graham Harding, who has developed a specific test on TV images, concluded that the material should not be used any longer because of the risks involved.

Digital and screen printing for large formats surging

I visited FESPA, the world's largest trade show on digital printing for large format in Berlin last week. The increase of 20% in visitors demonstrates the growing importance of (screen and digital) large format printing. I listened to a presentation of Bob Holt (Production Link) and Michel Caza (both members of the FESPA Awards) who showed the available printing techniques with screen print. FESPA introduced an inspiration book on this theme called Sensations. This lavishly produced book shows the possibilities with different inks and special effects.
Most exhibitors presented their equipment live at the booths, which made some of these booths look more like small print plants than a branded environment that creates credibility, trust and above all brand preference. Agfa was one of the booths that stood out with a daring colour coding and presented their recently launched C3 concept.

More titles launches to maintain total circulation

Eija Ailasmaa, President and COO of Sanoma Magazines, gave her view on the developments on the magazine markets. Interesting figures about the number of launches (590 new titles in 2005 in UK, 150 in 2006 in Sweden), with declining average circulation figures ( -5,4 % for women magazines in The Netherlands during the period 2000-2006) new introductions remain imperative. But introductions are expensive as Portfolio in the USA shows ( estimates range from $100-150 mio). After free newspapers Ailasmaa also referred to free magazines as a major development, Sport in London is a great example, and also cultural city guides or customer magazines. The growth area is online, Sanoma showed a 42% increase over the last period. However online represent today only 5% of total revenues. Nevertheless it will shape the industry according to Ailasmaa.

Finland invests € 10 mio in Innovative Printing project

I listened last week at the PulPaper conference to a presentation on a unique project: Innovative Printing. This project started last year to support the development of consumer oriented media products. It has a total budget of € 10 mio for 2-3 years and the support and participation of the leaders of the Finnish media industry. Already today research projects have been allocated to 26 different projects. Perspectives on the Innovation Strategy come from very diverse industries, including Bio, Chemicals, ICT and Automation, and will include technologies as micro, nano, screen and material technologies and photonics. The programme has started with the print industry and will expand to the electronic media and mobile services in the next phase. This month a Strategy Team will present the Innovation Strategy till 2010.

Listen to paper

I'm still in Helsinki at the world' largest paper Conference, in the home country of Finnish forest companies that are among the largest in Europe and in the country from which Nokia originates. It might therefore sound as cursing in the church when saying that the future of paper might to some degree be depending on the integration of new technology. My presentation yesterday on the advertising value of print media elaborated on this subject. And yesterday night when checking BBC news I heard about a new form of convergence: paper that can talk to you. The Mid Sweden University has developed a paper with printed integrated electronic circuits and speakers that -when touched- can bring an auditive message. Making posters or packaging interactive. And today's marketing is all about interactivity.
To watch the applications go and watch this video. This 'sounds' very interesting for the paper industry but also for the digital printing industry.

Prima speech in Helsinki

On Tuesday June 5 I will be addressing the audience of the PRIMAPulPaper Conference in Helsinki. This Conference deals with the major developments and opportunities in this industry. This Conference has become the world-leading event in the pulp and paper industry. I will be talking about the changes in the print media world especially from an advertisers point of view. What is the overall outlook and how can media companies and brands anticipate?

Listen through a poster

An award winning campaign for Napster in Japan features a poster wall that allows passerby to listen to music. Music could also be downloaded via a special QR code on posters. This code when photographed with a mobile phone gives instant access to the Napster website.

Poster advertising surges

Recent figures indicates a surge in advertising spending in outdoor advertising in the USA. The new technological possibilities like WiFi, digital messages, Bluetooth and other increase the advertising value of billboards. It will be interesting to see what suppliers in the market propose at the international fair for digital printing FESPA in Berlin this week. In a graphics market under pressure of so many forces innovation pays out apparently.

Agfa' longest poster?

Agfa Graphics installed in Antwerp what is probably the longest ecologically printed poster. The 600 meter poster features a complete novel, photographs, manuscripts and other not earlier published material from Willem Elsschot. Elsschot is a well known Flemish writer who was born in Antwerp. His books have been widely distributed and translated in over ten languages. The poster was the centre piece of the opening weekend celebrating the commemoration of Elsschot's birthday 125 years ago. Agfa announced the project also online via their website (www.switchtoC3.com/Elsschotplein) where the entire poster can also been seen via Google Earth.

Deciphering ads

Creating ads that make people stop - "and do not pass like a ship in the dark"- is great. The Saatchi agency in Argentina developed some great ads for the Zoo of Buenos Aires. Ads that put a smile on your face, that express the intelligence of its creators and of the brand. Ads that create value for the brand.

Back with large media

I've not been posting for a while, as I'm in the middle of a major introduction for one of my clients. More about that later. This project has opened up my mind for what is happening in the billboard business. When you pay attention some very interesting things are happening, which do signal some kind of revival of this medium. That probably has to do with the fact that outdoor media are among the limited number of mass media. At the same time production costs are decreasing, while print quality gets better, so advertisers have a growing interest.
On Friday 13 the new Adidas campaign Impossible is nothing was launched in The Netherlands with a huge outdoor poster signed by a fine selection of Dutch sporters. Participants at the Rotterdam Marathon could add their "impossible" to the poster that was strategically located in the center of Rotterdam. Engaging consumers in a large way.

Prepare elections with a book

Yesterday I picked up a free copy of the book from the Belgian Prime Minister Verhofstadt about his eight years of premiership. His liberal party printed 300.000 copies of the 194 pages book that were distributed via newspaper kiosks in Flanders. In explaining this surprising move -less than three months prior to the elections- the liberals argue that the budget of € 500,000 invested in the book is more effective than using for example large billboards. Having heard that I'm curious to know how they will spend the advertising budget in the weeks prior to the elections in June. (By the way the book includes some pictures of Verhofstadt with other glasses than his much discussed Gucci designer glasses he received from his wife).

Google Master Plan

In November I wrote about the movie made by The Museum of Media History on the impact of Google on the online and off-line media. Two students from the University of Ulm (Germany) have now produced a movie called the Master Plan, about the power of Google. It is a sceptic view of Google' mission of making the world a better place. Expressed with nicely made graphics and a compelling story.

The paradox of choice in media planning

Media planners have a difficult job, the number of options to "touch" consumers explode. Consumers are confronted with advertising all day long, and creativity is put to the extreme to reach and start a dialogue with them. A campaign in Manhattan for example used HDTVs and Bluethooth technology integrated in busshelter walls to promote Discovery Channel.
Google, Yahoo, MSN and AOL dominate online ad spend in the USA -they have 92% of all spend, traditional media brands go online and online media brands start off-line, the number of television channels and pay per view options increase rapidly, television, video, music and games can be viewed and listened to via different platforms. The choice is inflating.
And the planner has not (yet) the tools to measure all of these new media the way he can with traditional media.
Touching consumers is getting more complicated, less reliable, less effective, more trial-based and above all more expensive. That might explain why certain advertisers decide to stick to the tried and trusted media. Unilever and Heineken announced some time ago that they would do so and recently Gini - a drinks brand from the Orangini Group - also announced that it would shift its media budgets away from television. Television simply requires too much budget to be effectively seen by consumers.
Question is whether the online advertising opportunities will not be doomed to the same scenario. The enormous amount of digital data as estimated by the IDC/EMC research this week illustrates the difficult task of the planner. How can he select the most cost efficient places to promote his clients brands? Today he does so by not choosing - he stays with Google, Yahoo, MSN or AOL.

Martin Lindstrom' extra sense applied

Lindstrom' book Brand sense argues that appealing to different senses at the same time will strengthen the brand experience. Singapore Airlines does so with a cabin scent, other companies think about the sound the door of car makes when closed or the sound of crushing cornflakes.
A 1940's style poster for the Sutton ski resort in Canada applies this thought by using scented pine cones and a poster with a "trompe l'oeil" effect. Together with the Sutton beer the brand experience was complete.
Hope they were having any snow this year.

Mayor Janssens in dialogue with 2% of voters

Earlier this week I attended the award ceremony for the "Gouden Veer" (Gold Feather) for the best written Flemish sales letter. Former colleague and current mayor of Antwerp -Patrick Janssens- introduced and handed over the award.
He "outed" himself as a great believer of one-to-one communication, which was surprising for an ex ad-man having worked on image campaigns for blue-chip clients. He estimated that he answers about 2000 letters a year. All of them are personal. He referred for example to a letter and handmade drawing he had sent to pupils of a local school which generated very enthusiastic feedback from the school. He sees this contact as essential in achieving his goal of creating understanding among the various communities in Antwerp. And acknowledged that the written word in one-to-one communication is probably stronger than an ad campaign.
By the way the award was won by a football club of the third provincial division FC Wieze for a letter to potential supporters.

Newspapers: more titles and higher circulation

The newspaper world is going through a contradictory development. On one hand the advertisers are more and more turning away from newspapers as a medium to advertise their brands. (Newspapers' share of total ad spend was down from 38% in 1996 to 31% in 2006). At the same time plenty of innovation is taking place in the newspaper industry. Just to mention the two most important: the reduction of the size and the growth of the free-newspaper category.
During the period between 2001 and 2005 the number of paid-for dailies worldwide jumped over the 10,000 mark the first time, representing a total circulation of over 450 million copies (+13%). The free newspaper market includes 189 titles with a total circulation of over 28 million in 2005 (+137%). This upswing in circulation includes the decline of one-size-fits-all newspapers. Newspaper are becoming more targeted and complementary to broader audience newspapers.
Now they have secured readership print publishers will need to rethink how to position their brands towards the advertisers and agencies audience. The advertising revenue model will need some rethinking to regain share of the advertising spend.

Paper, pixels and profits

I'm working on a major project that analyses the relationship between (off-line) print media and online media and came across the Deloitte Media Predictions 2007 brochure. Finally a point-of-view that is not over-estimating the hype of what is happening online, but presenting a more realistic and down-to-earth view of position and development of both media. It is clear that online will not substitute newspapers or magazines. Paper and pixels will coexist -and as Betsy Frank of Time Inc mentions- print will be the new new media. The real innovations take place in the print world. New formats, free newspapers, changed editorial approach, product development and integration of online are some of the domains of innovation. Online publishers are also discovering the value of the printed word. Some of them published the web content in books and boost their revenues in such a way. Print publishers should be more aware of the strengths of the printed word: practical, portable, foldable, inexpensive and lightweight. With 439 million people buying a newspaper everyday print is a real mass medium.

Print successful online

I have been writing a couple of times about the revised business model of the print industry, now there is strong evidence that print is successful in this change. Print demonstrates to be a strong provider of local news not only in print but also online. Online video is booming as a local advertising medium and the print news providers are taking a major share of this category. Of the US local online video market the print brands take a two-and-half times higher share than the television news providers.