Nice post from Contagious about the what, where and why of trusted sources
A lapse in trust between friends and peers, and why all social media connections are not created equal
DHL Online Tracking: To create awareness for DHL online tracking among the business community, a group of couriers with a white silhouette of a computer cursor on their backs were posted around the central business district. As they walked around, it literally demonstrated the possibility of constant tracking of DHL parcels. 'Courier 24 Hours Online Tracking.'
DHL Express - Pit lane: The back of a DHL cargo center in Amsterdam was converted into the biggest billboard in Europe. This huge poster measures 196 meters long and almost 4 meters high. As DHL is the official logistic partner of F1, they made a detailed replica of F1 pit lane. DHL vehicles would drive by day in day out to reach the main entrance of the building. And this would be seen by train travelers from Amsterdam to Zaandam.
DHL Installations: 'If it is where it belongs it was probably delivered by DHL.'
DHL: 'For all your heavyweight shipments'.
DHL Van: To create awareness for DHL online tracking among the business community, a large white silhouette of a computer cursor was installed on the fleet of DHL's runner vans which shuttles around the central business district. As a result there was an apparent drop in parcel enquiry recorded by the DHL phone tracking system while it effectively increased the usage of online tracking among the customers.
DHL - Tunnel box: To draw attention for the superfast DHL Express service from Asia, DHL provided boxes with a special inlay. The inlay, at the bottom of the box, shows another open box and together they make a long 'tunnel'. In one version the person hands over a toy box, in other version its laptop and shoe.
DHL - Maze: A huge three-dimensional billboard measuring 7 x 5 meters was installed directly in front of Schiphol Airport's main entrance, a small ball rolls from point A to B via the shortest route. At the end of its journey, the ball is transported by an invisible conveyor belt within the billboard back to the top to repeat the process, along the same route, again and again. This was done to get the attention of business travelers at Schiphol Airport, where 11 million people pass through each year.
DHL - Ups:
DHL - Fortune vase: 'Next time you will use DHL'.
DHL - Horse:
DHL- Small World: 'It's a small world'.
DHL - Determined: 'DHL express. Nothing stops us'.
(Image credit: adsoftheworld).
(Image credit: adsoftheworld).
DHL Express: 'A direct line between you and more than 210 countries worldwide.'
While most teenagers reject Twitter and blogging, 62% of them like to read their news online, US research reveals
Will the next generation read news reports? It looks like it. Some 62% of US internet users aged 12 to 17 are going online for news and political information or find out about current events, said a study conducted by the Pew Research Center published yesterday. During special events such as general elections news consumption rose to 77%.
This is indeed an impressive number, even more so if you compare it with the 73% of teens who use social networking websites or the 89% of boys and 70% of girls who report they have a game console.
It also stands up well compared with the 72% of adult internet users who get their news online, a number that has held fairly constant since 2002 according to Pew. In general, it says the use of online news has increased dramatically since its first analysis, in 2000, when it found just 35% of online adults were reading political news online.
As was expected in all age groups educational attainment and income are positively correlated with getting news online: 81% of college educated internet users get their news online, a figure that drops to 59% with a lower education.
Blogging, on the other hand, may become more and more of a side issue. In fact, among all the content creating activities the decline in blogging among teens and young adults is striking as it looks like the youth may be exchanging "macro-blogging" for microblogging with status updates. Since 2006 blogging among teens has dropped from 28% to 14% and among young adults (aged 18 to 29) by 24% to 15%. Some 11% of those aged 30 and over now maintain a personal blog, and 14% of them maintain a personal website.
According to the research, 26% of adults post comments online, a while 30% share online content. Teens on the other hand are enthusiastic online commenters within the social networks. A massive 86% of social networking teens post comments to a friend's page or wall on a social network site and 83% post comments on friends' photos posted to an online social network.
They don't really like to use Twitter, though. While 19% of adult internet users use Twitter or similar services to post short status updates and view those of others, only 8% of 12- to 17-year-olds do so.
Young adults lead the way when it comes to using Twitter or status updates as a third of 18- to 29-year-olds post or read status updates, and they are also the only age group which prefers to use laptop computers to desktop computers.
However, the study found out that access to the internet is changing in general. Teens and adults no longer access the internet solely from a computer or laptop but now go online via portable devices such as mobile phones or game consoles as mobile access to the internet becomes more and more important.
And finally some more background figures: 75% of teens and 93% of adults aged 18 to 29 now have a mobile phone. Some 93% of teens aged 12 to 17 go online, as do 93% of young adults aged 18 to 29, and even an impressive 74% of all adults aged 18 and older. Among them, Facebook is currently the most commonly‐used online social network as 73% of online adults have a Facebook profile. More than half of them say they have two or more different profiles.
So what do these figures say, apart from the fact that teenagers obviously like to read the news?
Mobile access to the internet is on the rise, and the reading of news on the platform is likely to follow this development. Offerings such as the New York Times's Times People or the HuffingtonFacebook are likely to become more common to encourage young people to share articles and debate with their friends. Post's deep integration of
That might be a reason why social networking sites such as Facebook are taking over from blogging – as it appears that blogging has levelled out at a figure of about 15% of internet users.
Pew Internet drew data from a survey conducted in the second half of 2009 among 800 young people aged between 12 and 17, and compared these figures with previous research.
Pew’s Report surveyed 2,253 American adults and 800 U.S. teens to get a reading of how they use the Internet, which gadgets they own, and which social media tools they use the most.
Some of the data will surprise you.
Here’s a no-brainer: Young adults use the web far more than older adults. In its study, Pew found that 93% of teens and young adults go online, compared to only 38% of adults over 65 years of age. It surprises us that 7% of 12-29 year olds still don’t browse the web, but some just don’t have or can’t afford access.
Among those teens going online, 63% say they go online at least once a day, with older teens more likely to go online than younger teens.
Most are connecting with high-speed connections as well. Seventy-six percent of families with teenage children have broadband connections, while 10% still use dial-up, 8% have no computer and 4% have a computer but no Internet access. For comparison, 49% of families used dial-up in 2004.
The Internet’s getting faster and more accessible. As computer prices drop and Internet access becomes more readily available, we should see these Internet usage numbers continue to rise.
In terms of gadgets, more teenagers have cell phones (76%) than a computer (69%). More than half of 12 year olds own a mobile phone, while a rather impressive 83% of teenagers carry a cell phone in their pockets. That number only rises with age — a full 93% of 18-29 year olds own a cell phone.
The mobile trend even continues into the computing realm: Laptops have overtaken the desktop for those under 30. Sixty-sex percent of adults 18-29 own a laptop, while 53% own a desktop. Other interesting trends: Males are more likely to own a cell phone, income dramatically affects computer ownership but not cell phone ownership, and race is a non-factor when it comes to the percentage of adults using cell phones.
As you might have guessed, Pew found that teens are avid social networkers: 73% of 12-17 year olds, in fact. They are posting pictures, commenting on status updates and sending IMs.
What they aren’t doing much of, though, is blogging and tweeting.
Pew’s study finds that blogging has dramatically decreased in popularity with the younger crowed since 2006, where 28% of teens reported that they were bloggers. Now that number has dropped to just 14%. Interestingly enough, lower income households (under $50,000) report more blogging than higher income ones. With Facebook (), Twitter () and other social tools to keep your friends updated about your life, blogging just isn’t as necessary.
Perhaps we shouldn’t include Twitter in that list of social media tools teens use, though. As we’ve reported on multiple occasions, teens don’t tweet, and Pew’s numbers don’t disagree with that assertion:
Yes, only 8% of teens use Twitter, remarkably small when compared to most social networks. Only one in 10 high schoolers use Twitter. Among this small group though, the girls are more likely to be microblogging: 13% of 14-17 year old girls reported using the service.
First, it’s important to note that most of this data was taken from September 2009. A lot changes in social media in a five-month period.
With that said, though, the trends seem clear: Teens love to be online, but they’re not terribly interested in writing blog posts or maintaining a stream of tweets. Creating content takes time and energy that they’d rather exert on Facebook, texting, YouTube () or other online activities. And of course, they have school and friends.
Let’s face it: Teenagers haven’t had the time to build up expertise, life experiences or a career that would merit content creation. Without that expertise, fewer people are inclined to listen to what they have to say, and without that knowledge, teenagers have less to talk about.
As my colleague Barb Dybwad also brings up, a teenager’s social circle is far smaller and more closely defined than an adult’s network. Perhaps this is why more closed networks like Facebook are more appealing to teenagers than Twitter, which is a completely public experience. Blogging was a more intimate experience a few years back, which could also explain why more teens have abandoned personal blogs over the last few years.
Combined, it means that Twitter just might not be for the average teenager. Let us know what you think in the comments.
One of my previous posts, ‘Measuring the Irrational’, covered the theoretical implications of accepting that people are essentially irrational beings and that brands are irrational constructs. The following brand measures have been developed as a practical next step, they are largely new in approach, but do incorporate metrics that are already in existence. I have to confess, that 2 of the 10 metrics are not new at all, but work to compliment the other 8.
The following metrics have been conceived for a generic FMCG brand looking to gain (or re-gain) iconic status. A familiar, but tough, brief.
The brand in the mind
I believe that the difference between the subjective impressions of a brand can be compared with objectives ones to indicate brand strength in the consumer’s mind. By creating indexes of subjective vs. objective measures, and assessing them vs. competitors over time, we can measure and track the intangible power of a brand in the consumer’s mind.
1. Perceived Quality
Numerous studies and meta-analysis have linked financial success of a brand to perceived brand quality, but how can we measure this and what is it in relation to? From psychological experiments to ‘the Pepsi challenge’, there are plenty of examples of brand effect on subjective experience, e.g. taste. By comparing blind and branded taste test scores, one can create a ‘brand quality index, which measures the extent to which the brand enhances (BQI>1), or detracts >
2. Good Will
Comparing perceived relative price difference to actual relative price difference will provide an index that indicates how much the brand is valued above what is normally paid for it. This is not a measure of price elasticity, it can be used to give a positive (PRPI>1) or negative >
3. Brand Fame (popularity)
Brand ‘fame’ or popularity has been established as both a profitable communications strategy, but also a reliable indicator of a brand’s financial success. Asking consumers ‘how many people out of 10 do you think use this product’ establishes a consumer perception of popularity. This can be compared to actual popularity (penetration used as proxy) to give a ‘brand fame index’. The brand fame index will measure the extent to which the brand is more (BFI>1) or less >
The brand in the market
What we say, think and do can sometimes be completely different, behavioural measures are needed to provide an accurate picture of how a brand effects consumer behaviour. Again, all measures should be assessed over time and compared with competitors.
4. Purchase Behaviour
Purchase behaviour (frequency, weight and penetration, the latter being most important) can provide an important indication of brand’s financial success or weaknesses. However, past purchase behaviour does not always predict future success. Claimed purchase intent alone is subject to a different kind of problem, it tends to be a measure of past behaviour, rather than a predictor of future behaviour. By comparing claimed, with actual behaviour, we not only understand how people are currently buying, we also gain an indicator of the direction purchase behaviour is moving in.
5. Devotion
Loyal customers may buy the brand ‘most of the time’, but the really devoted ones will only ever buy the brand, even if this means foregoing the category we’re out of stock. The Devotion Index will give an indication of the number of buyers who are well and truly bonded to our brand.
6. Share of branded goods
The recession in the UK has seen the branded FMCG goods sector decrease as value seeking consumers down trade to own label products. This means that substitution now occurs across categories as consumers seek limit branded purchases in an effort to reduce the total shopping bill. The total value share of the brand’s products as a proportion of all branded FMCG purchases will give us an indication of the overall strength of the brand that will not be effected by recessionary factors.
The brand at the bank
7. Price Elasticity
The extent to which sales rise or fall given a 1% price increase, when compared to competitor brands this measure can provide a powerful indicator of band strength that is directly linked to financial success.
8. Campaign Efficiency
Movements in share of market (SOM) are directly correlated with movements in share of voice (SOV) at a category level. This allows us to make market share predictions given our media spend. However, strong brands enjoy greater campaign efficiency, i.e. they exceed the predicted SOM growth given SOV. The Campaign Efficiency Index gives a proxy for the strength of the brand based on more than expected movements in SOM given our SOV.
9. Brand Valuation
Discounted Cash Flow
The objective of building a sting brand is to increase its profitability. The long term health of the brand will therefore be measured by its long term contribution to the bottom line. This will be assessed using the discounted cash flow (DCF) method.
Iconic Status
10. Getting into Mark’s and Spencer’s
Marks & Spencer is to break with 85 years of tradition by stocking brands other than those with an M&S label. Although the distribution gains achieved by meeting this objective will not significantly impact upon business in the same way that distribution in the main supermarkets might, meeting this objective will confirm the brand has claimed (or reclaimed) its iconic crown.
This can be downloaded as a document, with references, here.
