When planning for your next fiscal year or campaign, are you shifting more dollars into digital media? If so, is your media team searching out sites/blogs/networks where your target audience is convening online OR are you replicating your print buy to online? Depending on your goals/objectives, either strategy could work for you. But, before you replicate your current print buy you’ll want to see an audience comparison. Sometimes there is an assumption that the audience demographics of readers of print publications translates to the same audience who view the content online or on mobile devices. This isn’t always the case. For instance, readers of the print edition of The New York Times and consumers of the same publication’s online content are roughly the same age (median age is 49) with the male/female split practically even, but[...]

Built by Unruly Media, Viral Spiral captures the most buzzed about online videos from the past 5 years, stemming all the way back to Dove’s infamous ‘True Beauty’ campaign. This interactive info graphic is one of the coolest we’ve seen yet. Using their technology, Unruly scans the sharing of the most popular branded videos each year, and then presents them with real time updates, displaying their actual share counts via Facebook, Twitter, and the blogosphere.

By moving your mouse over each circle, the relevant ad[...]

In the days after the Costa Concordia disaster, we have begun to see more cruise line advertising in more mainstream media, at least anecdotally. Companies such as Norwegian Cruise Lines appear to have added special offers to their TV placements in the hopes of counteracting the disaster. It is also possible that cruise lines’ media strategies have not changed significantly after the disaster but that consumers such as us are more aware of cruise line ads, thereby actually increasing their effectiveness.[...]

As Luminosity looks towards the new year and starts our annual goal setting process, we decided to reestablish our company values. Here are the values we decided upon for our company:[...]

Fact: Media consumption changes over time.

So, why does media cost tend to stay the same or increase? When planning for a campaign, it’s extremely important to take into account the number of people who actually consume a type of media (digital, print, OOH, broadcast, TV) or particular publication. When buying media, if visitors, circulation or GRPs remain consistent over the previous year, media cost would respectively stay consistent as well. But, if reach of media is declining then cost should reflect this as well[...]

In the book “Peak,” Chip Conley, Founder and CEO of Joie de Vivre Hospitality, presents an overview of his career focusing on the success, downturn, and revitalization that his company underwent amidst the economic downturn in the post-dot.com and post-9/11 economy. As the upscale business he worked so hard to build began to crumble, Conley referred to the writings of psychologist Abraham Maslow for inspiration. Using Maslow’s theory of the Hierarchy of Needs, Conley took the key points to stimulate an environment of self-actualization that encouraged peak experiences in order to keep his business flourishing[...]

ComScore reported recently that online holiday shopping increased by 15% versus last year (nearly $35.3 billion had been spent online for the 2011 holiday season) indicating consumers are becoming even more comfortable conducting business online. This is likely a result of increased consumer convenience as well as marketing strategies such as special offers, free shipping with minimum purchase, and the advent of rebate sites like ebates.com and fatwallet.com. The comScore report is based on the most current holiday season, but this trend speaks to how overall consumer shopping and spending is shifting towards e-commerce.

Does this mean all businesses should move to conduct their business transactions online?[...]

As the new year is fast approaching, let’s review the top stories that our avid readers have enjoyed over the past year. Check out some of our top blog posts and hottest white papers.

We hope you all have a wonderful holiday season!

Using Competitive Analysis to Understand the Prospective Student’s View of Your Institution
Today’s universities often need an outside consultant to help identify and craft a clear target audience definition and
marketing direction. This case study gives you an inside look at how our competitive
intelligence drove growth for the New York Institute of Technology M.B.A program in Vancouver…[...]

Recent reports have shown that affluents are spending more and more time online, especially on social media sites. In the last year, Facebook usage among affluents has seen an increase of over 20 percent. What’s even more interesting is what affluents are doing online. They are turning to the Internet to “investigate brands, form connections and make purchases.” Recent reports have also found that these affluents are becoming more influenced by social media when purchasing luxury items. Of individuals with assets of $1 million or more, affluents said that comments and information on social media sites influenced which retail stores they visit (56 percent), what designer brands they buy (57 percent), and what websites they visit (59 percent). This is good news for luxury marketers. Not only will they be able to zero-in on affluent audiences on Facebook and other social media sites, but they can affect their friends and family too.

According to a recent Mendelsohn study of affluents with an annual income of[...]

In Chasing Cool: Standing Out in Today’s Cluttered Marketplace, Noah Kerner and Gene Pressman address one central question that many companies seek to answer: “How do we make this thing cool?” Their answer is not a blueprint for how a company can be successful and become the next Apple or Nike. Rather, they suggest that being cool consists of following one’s gut, listening to one’s instincts, and not trying to mock what others have done. Trying to follow somebody else’s path to success is not a good tactic for achieving success. As Martin Puris says in the book[...]