Perception Analyzer Dial.Log

Advertising: Reinvented

Must read article from Wired on how the media consumption behavior of 18-34 males is changing the world advertising and how companies sell to us.

90-second Television Commercials

As another means of busting through the clutter and holding onto fast-forward-happy DVR viewers, companies are trying 90-second television commercials, according to this article in The New York Times (free subscription required).

We previously touched on the advertising challenges posed by DVR's in this post.

I Want My TV

According to USA Today, a new study found that 80% of men 18-34 would give up their video game consoles before giving up their TV sets. Though this is contrary to a study earlier this year by a video game industry association that showed "about 52% of video and computer game players say they're watching less TV and spending more time on games," others believe it is more about media multitasking than choosing one medium over the other. According to the publisher of Maxim magazine (which co-sponsored the study), "25-year-old guys watch MTV, surf the Web, talk on their cell phones and instant-message their friends — all at the same time. These guys are black belts in media consumption."

via Adrants

Best Global Brands by Value

Interbrand and Business Week have released their 2004 rankings of the world's most valuable brands. Brand Autopsy has a link to the Business Week article (which otherwise requires a subscription to read) and a good summary post.

Eating Habits of Teens

The July/August issue of Quirk's Marketing Research Review magazine published results of a Teen Health & Nutrition study by BuzzBack Market Research (p. 8, content not available online). Over 500 U.S. teens were surveyed and here is some of what they said:

Favorite fast-food restaurant:
Subway (64%)
McDonald's (48%)

Top five snacks:
Potato/tortilla chips (63%)
Cookies (55%)
Chewing gum (47%)
Fresh fruit (47%)
Ice cream (47%)

Top five snack brands:
Oreo (22%)
Ritz (21%)
Doritos (20%)
Coca-Cola (19%)
Snickers (18%)

Motivators for trying new food products:
Curious about it (71%)
Offered a new flavor (67%)
Looked appetizing (63%)
Convenient to prepare/eat (54%)

My observations - 1) I'm very surprised that Subway beat McDonald's by 16%, 2) Combine that with fresh fruit tying for the third place in the top snacks category and it looks like many teens are making good eating choices (though "good" is certainly subjective), 3) I'm not sure gum can really be classified as a snack, 4) I find it interesting how the top five snack brands do not follow suit with the rankings of the top five snacks.

Few Questions For...Howard Varinsky

Renowned jury consultant Howard Varinsky, of Varinsky Associates, took time from his busy schedule for a few questions from me this week. Trained in psychology and having practiced jury consulting for 25 years, Mr. Varinsky is an expert in developing winning trial strategies, voir dire and jury selection, witness preparation and courtroom communication. He is a lecturer, author and has appeared as a commentator on programs such as Nightline and Larry King Live. Mr. Varinsky has consulted for some of the most high-profile trials in recent years including for the prosecution in USA v. Martha Stewart and Peter Bacanovic and USA v. Timothy McVeigh and for the defense in State of Michigan v. Dr. Jack Kevorkian and State of New York v. Bernhard Goetz, among many others. I was interested to learn more about what makes Mr. Varinsky so successful and how his techniques may help others.

DP: Getting a mock jury together of people matching the profile of those you expect will serve on the actual jury is one thing, but how do you account for the individual personalities of the actual jurors and how those personalities will impact deliberation?

HV: In getting a mock jury together it is extremely important to match the demographics of a typical jury in a given venue. It is nearly impossible to account for and anticipate individual personality characteristics and differences of actual trial jurors, since the variety can be nearly infinite. It is much more important to match the socioeconomic status, politics and belief systems of trial jurors than their personalities. Actual trial juror personalities become more important when selecting jurors. They are not as important in pre-trial research.

DP: Much of what you do is based on persuasion - advising your clients on how to most effectively persuade a particular group of 12 people. Many who will read this interview are in sales, marketing and PR and they practice persuasion every day - getting clients to buy their products/services, choose them over the competition or see their company in a certain light. What, in your experience, are the keys to effective persuasion that would cross-over from jury consulting to sales, marketing, PR and business in general?

HV: For persuasion to be effective in any given area whether it is sales, marketing, or trial work it is imperative to be as knowledgeable as possible about your target population. In sales, marketing or PR the target population may be the general public or a particular demographic segment of the general public, where as in trial work the target population is twelve trial jurors and two or three alternates. By knowledgeable I mean that the [person] selling the product [or message] needs to understand the needs, values, and motivations of their target audience as well as how they feel about given "hot button" issues such as politics, economic issues, and current events. It is a lot easier to persuade once you have some intimacy, understanding of and connection to the recipients of a message than otherwise.

DP: What was the most surprising outcome of a trial for which you consulted and in hindsight, if the outcome was not in your side's favor, what would you have done differently?

HV: It is always impossible to accurately predict how any given person will vote in a particular case. We can only try to ascertain probabilities based on observational data and cues. However those of us who excel at our craft should be correct much more often than not. If it was baseball the batting average should be around .900. Having said this, I remember one case where close to a billion dollars was at stake and I miscalculated on one juror who looked like he would be favorable to our side, but who in fact hung the jury against us. Our client prevailed at the retrial. However, I still go over that jury selection in my mind trying to figure out what cues that particular juror was exhibiting that I may have missed.

DP: During your 25 years in jury consulting, what tools, techniques and technologies have evolved that have had an impact on how you conduct your research and consult with your clients?

HV: Twenty-five years ago when I first started in jury consulting the field was mostly known for only jury selection. Our knowledge at the time was extremely primitive and our field has advanced tremendously. Our knowledge base on jury behavior is light-years beyond what we knew in the early 1980's and nowadays we utilize sophisticated techniques such as focus groups, mock juries, and community attitude surveys and so forth.

DP: Thinking about the many high-profile trials in recent years, does one move by the prosecution or defense stick-out in your mind as a red flag moment - one in which you knew that event was going to be a liability for them?

HV: My most important red flag moment in a high-profile case was at the end of jury selection in the OJ case. At the time, I was a media commentator and guest on a variety of national talk shows and was not involved in the case. However, it was obvious to me that the case was won in jury selection. The prosecution blew it before opening statements ever began.

DP: Would you please elaborate on that? What was it about jury selection in that case that you believe doomed the prosecution from the start?

HV: In OJ, Marsha Clark thought black women would be great jurors for the prosecution. In actuality, they were great for the defense. As a homicide prosecutor, her experience was as an advocate for family members whose sons had been killed by gang violence. Her job was to bring the killers to justice, thus earning praise from black community and church members, and especially from the victims' mothers. She approached the OJ jury selection from this perspective. She didn't factor into her thinking the fact that OJ was a hero in the black community, or that in high profile cases, all standard ways of thinking usually do not apply because of the unusual dynamics of intense media attention. The defense conducted pretrial research and was fully aware of these factors.

DP: In your years of conducting research, what traits of human behavior prove consistent time and again and conversely, what continues to surprise you to this day?

HV: In my many years of jury consulting what impresses me most is the degree of consciousness jurors bring to deliberations. Nearly everyone rises to the occasion when meting out justice in civil or criminal trials. Contrary to popular belief, jury verdicts are correct in 999 out of 1,000 cases. If you find yourself disagreeing with a jury verdict you see or read in the media, it is a good bet you did not see the amount of detail with respect to the evidence or personally observe the witnesses in that trial. If you did, you probably would have voted the way the other jurors voted. Juries might be the last vestige of true democracy in our society.

Blockbuster May Be Getting It

Since this previous post, Blockbuster has begun testing online DVD rentals to compete with Netflix. And, in a move to beat Netflix at the online DVD rental game, Blockbuster is "offering is an unlimited number of rentals per month, with up to three DVDs out at any one time, for a monthly fee of $19.95. Netflix recently raised its price for the same service by $2, to $21.95." Blockbuster is also sweetening the pot by offering two free in-store rentals with the subscription so customers can grab a quick movie if they can't wait for their next selection to arrive by mail. The battle continues...

via MarketingVOX

HDTV Interest and Content On the Rise

Two interesting bits of HDTV (high definition television) news today:

First, eMarketer summarizes a study by Yankee Group that shows 78% of consumers are aware of HDTV, 20% plan to purchase HDTV sets and predicts the installed base of HDTVs will be nearly 60 million by 2008.

Second, while the major television networks are dramatically scaling back coverage of the upcoming political conventions, Lost Remote reports that HDNet, co-founded by Mark Cuban, will provide more extended coverage of the conventions to its subscribers as well as make "the gavel-to-gavel national high-definition feed of the conventions available to MSOs and satellite providers who wish to provide the telecast to their subscriber base."

As the price of HDTV sets goes down and the quantity of programming goes up, this will continue be an interesting evolution to watch develop.

Corporate Blogging Survey

There is a survey on TheNewPR/Wiki (an extension of Global PR Blog Week 1.0) on corporate blogging. Here are their questions and my answers:

1) Why do you blog for your company?

I blog as a means of providing existing and potential clients information that will be of value to them in hopes they will then want to learn more about what my company offers and either explore working with us or refer us to others when appropriate.

2) What goals did you set for the blog?

No specific goals other than to enjoy the process of blogging (which I do), provide valuable information and insights to existing clients and attract the attention of potential new ones.

3) How do you think your blog fits into your company's communications strategy?

Quite well. We are a relatively small company and without a large marketing budget, most of our corporate communications are rather grassroots. Blogging allows for a greater reach and more flexible tone than most other mediums because I am able to reach anyone on the Internet and change my message, tone and focus at any time.

4) Tell me about the publishing mechanics of your blog. How often do you publish? How do you decide what to publish? Any special publishing techniques?

I try not to set any artificial goals so as not to post just for the sake of posting. Ideally I like to update the blog daily, but that is not always realistic. Some days there is just nothing that I would consider blog-worthy and other days I just don't have the time. I usually decide what to publish based on what I see, read, hear, think and discuss with others on a daily basis. Based on how those things parallel with the focus and categories of my blog, I'll decide what I think my readers and potential readers will want to see. It's a gut-feel really and I jot down ideas all the time. Some make it into the blog and others never develop. I also try to have a balance of what I see as the three main types of posts - straight links to posts by others (where I have little or nothing of substance to add, but feel the content will be of interest to my readers), links to posts by others with the addition of my input and unique content based on items I find or topics that I think will be of interest to my readers.

5) Who writes the blog? Who contributes to the blog on a regular basis?

I am the primary writer, though others in my company do occasionally post when we are writing about something specific to their areas of expertise.

6) Have you achieved your original communications goals?

While I don't yet have the reach I'd like, the blog is only four months old and we're getting there. Readership is increasing daily as a result of other bloggers linking to me, me linking to them and new readers finding my blog through search engine searches of keywords and phrases that match my posts.

7) Were there any any unexpected communications or learning consequences as a result of publishing your blog?

Only that I am now able to touch people worldwide with the click of a mouse. While our website has always offered one-way contact, blogging offers two-way communication that is tremendously valuable. I am always amazed when I receive comments and emails from readers around the world who discovered my blog and have a similar point of view or, even better, a unique contrasting view. I have also personally (and professionally) benefited from the new circle of friends and acquaintances I have made through blogging.

Online Shopping Stats

Not only do women control or influence 80% of all purchases, they also account for 52% of online buyers according to a study by Forrester Research. Other interesting stats from a recent Promo magazine article:

• Teen girls spend 22% more time online than boys
  
• Online retailers convert only 3.2% of browsers into buyers
  
• Girls account for 53% of "teen influencers" (the 17% of teens who average eight hours per week online)
  

via MarketingVOX

Change is Good

Talk about a topic that lends itself to all kinds of cheesy post titles!

The company behind those change machines, Coinstar, has partnered with Starbucks to begin converting change into Starbucks cards in lieu of cash. This is a very clever idea. While I am always someone who would take the cash that could spent anywhere as opposed to value on a card valid at only one retailer, the incredible popularity of gift cards (a la Border's, Home Depot, etc.) shows that not everyone shares my position. And, with over $2 billion in change passing through Coinstar machines last year, I suspect we will see a lot more co-marketing to come.

This reminds me, I have a big jar of change that when full (as it is now) generally yields $100 or so. Time for a Coinstar run myself. I remember when I was a kid, sitting on bedroom floor rolling my dad's change in exchange for a few bucks when he cashed it in. Now I get to take my son and let him pour change into a machine. Probably more fun for him than all that rolling was for me, but one of these days I'm going to sit him on the floor with a big pile of change and those wrappers from the bank and let him at it - just for kicks.

link via Peter Davidson

UPDATE - In an email exchange with Peter he pointed out that a key element of the Coinstar/Starbucks deal is that customers opting for the Starbucks card get the full value of their change as opposed to otherwise being charged a service fee by Coinstar for cash back. This is a smart marketing move and does make it financially advantageous to opt for the card instead of cash.

OneLook

Just discovered a great website called OneLook which is described as "a search engine for words and phrases." Search for definitions, translations, patterns and even download a utility that allows searching from any web page using the right-click menu in Internet Explorer. Very cool and useful site.

Micromarketing

Two great links today via Experience Economy Evangelist:

The first is the cover story of the July 12 Business Week that profiles, in depth, the shift from mass market advertising and marketing to micromarketing and highly targeting campaigns. This is a must read!

The second is an Atlanta Business Chronicle profile of The Coca-Cola Co's. slow and steady shift from the traditional 30-second TV ad to more "alternative marketing." Coke has been getting a lot of attention for this lately and being one the world's strongest brands with a $2 billion marketing budget, we'll all surely be interested to see how this effort further develops.

Inspired

In reading the July/August 2004 issue of Men's Health magazine (page 74) this weekend, I came across a brief interview with Jim Koch, founder of Boston Beer Company and its famous Samuel Adams beer. The topic of the interview was business risk-taking and one of Mr. Koch's six tips was to "remember what's real." He said:

"A company doesn't exist. A corporation is a legal fiction that lawyers have created. What does exist is a collection of great beers (most of us would substitute 'products and services') and a group of people who come together for a part of their lives - people who have common goals and objectives. The company can never be better than the people."

I've had this quote in my head all weekend and I wonder how it will make me look differently at my team and workplace when I return tomorrow from the long holiday weekend.