Australian click through rates indeed in line with US

In line with our last post, more evidence that Australians are echoing digital behavior witnessed in Nthn America. In fact when it comes to clicking, AUNZ (along with NA) are amongst the least inclined in the world.

Full study here:

download here

Natural Born Clickers latest release

Starcom in the US have once more collaborated with Comscore to better understand those who click (online that is!).

Whilst the study is US based, we can pretty safely assume that as a market Australian 'clicker's would exhibit similar behavior. This is evidenced by declining overall click through rates.



The good news is, we can and do offer digital measurement techniques & tools built to provide deeper performance analysis. An example of this is Starcoms Digital Pathways, which provides us the ability to understand the impact of all digital tactics and particularly their inter relationships (eg display, performance, search).

More holistically, Starcoms Intentrack was developed to measure "performance" across all communications touch points (also inclusive of their inter relationships). We have robust Intentrack category learning's available in Australia now and have client based performance projects in field.

As the media landscape continues to evolve at such a rapid pace, so does the way we measure it. At Starcom we are fortunate to have the Global scale and resource to make measurement evolution a reality. For more information, feel free to get in touch.

Talking about a brand revolution

Written by John Sintras for afr.com and published in afr.com 08.10.09

Digital and social media continue to change everything from consumer behaviour to marketing communications. For anyone still unsure of the impact of the social media tsunami, look no further than than Vegemite’s latest product launch, the curiously named iSnack 2.0.

Within days of announcing the name, the consumer backlash over the Internet in the form of blogs, video clips, Twitter and Facebook protest groups, was sufficient to convince Kraft to publicly admit that they got it wrong. Isn’t it ironic that a name selected to appeal to a younger, digital savvy generation has been condemned using digital media itself?

People do care about brands, and when marketers tamper with iconic brands that are loved by multiple generations, they must do so with extreme care and ideally with public consultation and buy-in.

What is particularly sobering about this example, is the speed of both the public outrage and the marketer’s reaction. The old days of waiting months for consumer feedback and sales data are behind us. Digital media is allowing consumers to have their say, with mass scale, at a frighteningly fast pace.

Interestingly, Kraft has already announced it will ask consumers to help select the new name, so it might end happily after all. Or perhaps it was all a deviously clever scheme to get people involved all along?

It’s worth noting, however, that social media, or more importantly, word of mouth, has always been the most powerful medium in the world, and digital media only represents part of this broader communications opportunity.

The digital revolution doesn’t live in a vacuum, it lives in a human context. Successful technologies have satisfied fundamental human needs and desires – to be informed and empowered, to communicate with people more easily, more often. Digital and social media are going gangbusters because people love to talk, to be heard, to validate and give meaning to their existence.

But people have always loved to talk. Digital measurement, and social media specifically, is allowing us to be more aware of what people are talking about, and more specifically what they are saying about brands and advertising. But the reality is that most conversations about brands are not digital, but traditional. We know now that digital is just the tip of the word of mouth iceberg.

Starcom recently conducted Australia’s most comprehensive study into word of mouth (WOM) marketing, called Branded Conversations.. It utilised both qualitative and quantitative techniques to scope and understand what people are talking about and why, how they are talking, and what impact it is having on their intentions and actions across various marketing categories. The results reinforced the critical importance of ‘branded word of mouth’.

On average, 50 per cent of people are having two ‘branded conversations’ each week in each major marketing category. The results vary markedly by category – 79 per cent of people talked about TV programs, 62 per cent about movies, 56 per cent about supermarkets, 48 per cent about cars, and 35 per cent about skin care.

Digital (online and mobile) contacts represented only 10 per cent of these conversations, the majority (80 per cent) are happening face to face, with the remaining 10 per cent happening over a phone conversation.

Most of these conversations happen within people’s inner circle: family (33 per cent), close friends (32 per cent), spouse/partner (19 per cent) and co-workers (16 per cent).

Most of these branded conversations are positive, with 62 per cent of people saying they were likely to pass on positive word of mouth.

Surprisingly, most branded conversations are triggered by marketing and advertising activities, and the subsequent impact is significant, although it varies considerably by category.

Successful brands of the future must realise that word of mouth is not an un-plannable by-product of marketing activity, but something that needs to be at the core of marketing and media strategy – the dynamics for each category need to understood, and communications need to be designed to generate positive WOM. People talk about brands they love, and people love brands people talk about – they feed each other.

Marketers and agencies must realise that people are a media channel in their own right, and that we need to start taking advocacy far more seriously. Let people in, help them to help you create something. Start to think of people as a media channel and you end up doings things very differently.

People talk every day, so this means a far more nimble and flexible approach to communication – the old days of annual planning are becoming archaic and ineffective – we need to move to real time planning, activation and optimisation.

Those marketers who understand human relationships, and seize the word of mouth opportunity, will be the most successful brands in a complex future. Listen, influence and evolve is the new media mantra for successful brand and media communication.

Vegemite and cheese anyone?

Digital spends outstrip TV in the UK

We are still along way from this in the Australia, however, I read with interest this morning that the UK has become the first major market where advertisers spend more on internet advertising than on TV.

UK Digital $ link

In the Australian market, last year internet investment over took both radio and magazine $ for the first time, however, $ are still a distant 3rd to press and TV.

Australian marketers are definitely changing gears in this direction and despite economic barriers, growth continues in the digital space. The question is, will we ever see internet over taking TV $ in this market? And if so, when?

Tracking "word of mouse"

It’s been proven time and time again, that the most influential marketing tactic in a brands tool kit is positive word of mouth. Whilst marketers are aware of this fact, the challenge until recently has been driving word of mouth at scale.

Social media has shifted the communication landscape on this front. Of course people still have many one to one conversations; however, they also now have the ability to wax lyrical about a brand/product to virtually hundreds of their ‘friends’. And this ‘word of mouse’ is proving, (like off line WOM), to be very influential.

From a brand perspective, this represents a huge opportunity. If you were a brand wouldn’t you want to listen to what your consumers were saying about you? And, as a consumer; wouldn’t you welcome that brands response to your feedback? Enter social media tracking!

Today, even without a social media strategy in place, all ‘brands’ can harness the opportunity to listen to what consumers are saying about them online. And if a brand REALLY listens to what consumers have to say (and respond honestly to their feedback) there’s a strong chance ‘it’ can expect a deeper level of loyalty (or if loyalty is not the goal, potentially even, sales, awareness, or more word of mouth).

So, it’s clear that tracking/listening to social media (ie online conversations) can offer brands the power to capitalise on, or at least learn from digital conversation.

To really take advantage of the digital social space, however, brands are required to start a conversation with their target market. Or in other words employ a social media strategy.

A social media strategy is designed to open the dialogue between the brand and consumers and in doing so to deepen the relationship. That’s right, not talking to/at, but real two way dialogue.

Once a social strategy is in market, tracking consumer response is critical for success, as it provides the brand fast access to where and what is being said, important tools for continuing this dialogue.

So how do you track social media?

Technology providers and research companies have rapidly responded to the markets desire to listen/track online conversation.

As a result, there are many tools available to facilitate this need, ranging from the simple (shallow dive) to the complex (deep dive).

From a shallow perspective, all brands can (and should) embrace free tools that are readily available on the internet. For example, manual and regular searching of social sites for fan pages, daily brand twitter searches, and ongoing Google trend analysis. This is social tracking in its most basic form.

To more fully take advantage of the social media space, however, a robust (deep dive) tracking solution is recommended. This typically requires a monthly investment from the client to engage a social tracking specialist. These specialist solutions use technologically sophisticated programmes to trawl and report on activity across the www and report back in real time.

Further, the right solution will do more than simply track conversation it will also analyse that conversation providing enabling us to answer questions such as:

- Is anything being said?

- How much is being said?

- Are there geographical conversation skews?

- How does the brand compare ie ‘share’ of mentions to the competitor set?

- How are mentions trending over time?

- What is the split between a brands positive/neutral/negative sentiment – how does this trend over time?

- How can we understand what the conversation means in relation to the brand?

- What are the implications for how the brand communicates?

- What conversation warrants a response from the brand?

- Are there negative comments? Should & how can the brand respond?

- How can we take positive dialogue and share with more potential customers?

- From a consumer perspective, what is the brands position in the market?

In selecting the ‘right’ social tracking company/solution, its important to have a clear understanding of the relevant market dynamics ensuring the solution can deliver the subsequent required depth of response/analysis.

Of course, ultimately, a brand/s digital social activity should be designed to integrate with overall messaging and advertising initiatives. It should therefore also play a role in delivering to the brands over arching objectives (eg sales). Hence, tracking and levering social media or ‘buzz’ in isolation is only part of the picture. To complete the picture requires a much deeper understanding of how that online conversation then influences overall performance. But I believe, that’s a subject for another time.

(written by Yvette Mayer for the MFA education newsletter)

IT STILL PAYS TO BE GREEN

Have you been too stressed lately to worry about putting out the recycling bin? Has ‘global warming’ been replaced by ‘cooler spending’ as your favourite topic of dinner party repartee?

The Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) is busy working on a new Environmental Claims Advertising and Marketing Code for release later this year. The new Code will help ensure that advertisers and marketers develop and maintain rigorous standards when making environmental claims in advertising and marketing communications.

With the hullabaloo about the global financial crisis over the last year, it feels like there hasn’t been the same amount of coverage or interest in ‘greenwashing’ or environmental issues, even with the emissions trading scheme debate. Has the general public been so absorbed in its own economic concerns that they have put environmental concerns on the top shelf for now? And if so, do we still need a new ‘Green Code’?

Starcom’s weekly social tracker, PeoplePulse provides a good indication of peoples’ thoughts on this issue. PeoplePulse launched earlier this year as an ongoing research methodology to trend the way people are feeling about a wide range of social issues, lifestyle trends and financial decision making.

It turns out most Australians do not believe being green is just a fad, with only 12.5 per cent agreeing with this statement in the month of July. Only a quarter of us believe there is too much talk about green these days.

The majority of us are still concerned about the environment despite the GFC and, interestingly, regional Aussies are more concerned than their metro city cousins, with 54.3 per cent claiming they were concerned about the environment, compared with 47.7per cent in the metropolitan cities.

This concern is translating into action with 53.9per cent of metro Aussies claiming to make a conscious effort to be environmentally friendly, and 57.6per cent making an effort in regional Australia.

Importantly for marketers with ‘green credentials’, a good deal of Australians prefer to buy environmentally sustainable brands, 41.7per cent and 43.5per cent in metro versus regional respectively. Even more importantly, more than a third of Australians would like to learn more about environmental issues, and over a third say they would pay more for products that are genuinely environmentally friendly. This is particularly compelling given this same survey identified the cost of living as the highest ranking social issue at the moment. Clearly many consumers are willing to trade off other luxuries to support a sustainable future.

These significant numbers provide ample justification of the need for the Environmental Claims Advertising and Marketing Code being developed by my colleagues at the AANA, which I’m sure is a relief given the amount of work that’s already gone into its development.

More generally PeoplePulse is gradually picking up increased positive sentiment, with 60per cent of Australians selecting positive versus negative mood statements in the last two weeks of July. This compares with levels of 51 to 55per cent for most of the weeks from March through to June this year. There is, however, some evidence of continued concern.

As referenced earlier, the cost of living continues to be the largest issue, and after trending down in early June it has started to creep up again in late June and July, co-relating with concern about rising interest rates which is now the third largest issue having been as low as sixth earlier this year.

Irrespective of overall sentiment, it appears that concern for the well-being of our planet remains an important issue for most Australians, and that’s both a comforting thought and a marketing opportunity for products with genuine green credentials.

John Sintras is CEO of Starcom Mediavest and a Board Director of the Australian Association of National Advertisers.

Written by John Sintras and published in afr.com 04.09.09

Australian internet usage grows 16% over night!

Now that I've got your attention, I must say that the headline is somewhat misleading. Having said that the news is still rather exciting.

Nielsen today announced a revamped version of NetView, incorporating a new meter, new methodology, hardware and processing improvements and most importantly an increased / (ie more accurate) sample panel.

Up until this point, the market have made do with digital media planning data that did not accurately reflect the true extent of online usage, due to a panel that was strongly weighted towards at home usage. As a result, we all suspected that reported figures were likely to be under cooked (given enormous office based use).

Well, we were right, Nielsen data released from July 2009 shows a 16% jump in 'unique audience online'. By Publisher/site there are some significant variances, however, all (we think) have grown.

Of the top 5, the biggest gains were achieved by Fairfax @ +49% and Yahoo7 / Sensis both @ +41%. I'm sure all will be out beating their drums in the coming week.

Despite their numbers increasing, however, we don't expect this news to drive major change in share by Publisher. Perhaps some more competition regarding home page take overs, but little beyond that. If we are paying on CPM/CPC/CPA, we are still buying impressions or actions, not "total" audience.

The bigger story for us is in the TOTAL numbers and beyond total unique audience, there is more news. And that is, that reported average time spent online figures have actually doubled. This is huge news for the industry, illustrating more accurately just how much time individuals are engaging with the medium.

To end, it's all good. The quality of our planning data is becoming much more accurate. And there's more good news. The next step for Nielsen will see a Hybrid of their MI cookie based system and the improved NetView panel data re calibrated. Once the Hybrid system is released we can expect mobile and 'other' (library, Uni, cafe etc) data to also be covered. Again reported numbers will grow.

Note - Planners be warned, historical monthly trend data will not be relevant and will show a jump between June and July 2009. If presenting this data, a separation needs to be identified and an explanation of the changing measureument system foot noted.