Procter & Gamble packs QR codes into print ads for multichannel interaction - Software and technology. By Lauren Johnson November 1, 2012 The Procter and Gamble QR codes Procter & Gamble is loading its print ads with mobile bar codes that not only educate consumers about products, but also drive mobile sales for brands including Secret, Pantene and Gillette. The “Have you tried this yet” campaign is designed to show consumers how Procter & Gamble’s products fit into personal care, family and home needs. The QR codes are appearing in magazines including In Style. “At this point, consumers are more interested in learning more about a product - although I can see the trend moving to direct purchase as mobile is adopted even more,” said Bobby Marhamat, founder of Hipscan, Menlo Park, CA.
“The best campaigns I have seen tie in a non-digital ad to an engaging content piece that allows for mobile purchase as well,” he said. Mr. Procter & Gamble did not respond to press inquiries. Scan for savingsThe print ad features four of Procter & Gamble’s brands — Gillette, Tampax, Secret and Pantene. Old Navy Thanks 5 Million Facebook Fans With A Personalized Touch. Study Finds That the Number of Protestant Americans Is Declining. Shopping Sites Pay Contributors Who Drive Traffic to Retailers. Future of Mobile News. The era of mobile digital technology has crossed a new threshold. Half of all U.S. adults now have a mobile connection to the web through either a smartphone or tablet, significantly more than a year ago, and this has major implications for how news will be consumed and paid for, according to a detailed new survey of news use on mobile devices by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ) in collaboration with The Economist Group.
At the center of the recent growth in mobile is the rapid embrace by Americans of the tablet computer. Nearly a quarter of U.S. adults, 22%, now own a tablet device-double the number from a year earlier. Another 3% of adults regularly use a tablet owned by someone else in their home. And nearly a quarter of those who don’t have a tablet, 23%, plan to get one in the next six months. Even more U.S. adults (44%) have smartphones, according to the survey, up from 35% in May 2011. Among the detailed findings of the study: Diane Von Furstenberg's Google Glasses Bring Geek-Chic To Fashion Week (PHOTOS) Diane von Furstenberg may be 65 years old (I know, right?) But no one can blame her for being behind the times. The special surprise at her Spring/Summer 2013 show, one of the Sunday highlights of New York Fashion Week, was a collaboration with none other than Google.
With Google co-founder Sergey Brin seated in the front row, DVF sent several of her lithe models down the runway with the Glass by Google, the company's much-hyped "augmented reality" glasses, on their faces. For the finale, Von Furstenberg and creative director Yvan Mispelaere emerged for their bow and pulled Brin up onstage, all three waving and smiling in their own pairs of Google Glass. The purpose, reports the New York Times, was for the glasses to record footage from the models' perspective which would be used later for a short documentary film (debuting online this week, supposedly). So will the show inspire fashion's tastemakers to purchase their own Google Glasses?
But the documentary thingy should be cool, right? Cassandra Daily. As November’s presidential election draws near, a wealth of political advertisements and speeches peppered with dubious details have left many struggling to determine which statements they can accept at face value. Now, to complement initiatives designed to drive youth voter turnout, new apps are appealing to Millennials’ desire for transparency by empowering them to peel back the curtain on campaign advertisements. Super PAC App: Using the same audio fingerprinting technology that powers apps like Shazam, the Super PAC App lets TV viewers quickly uncover the source, sponsor, and agenda behind a given presidential campaign ad. The app recognizes commercials by their audio waves, pulling from a comprehensive database of ads sourced via Youtube.
Once an ad is identified, viewers are connected to analysis culled from impartial fact-checking organizations such as FactCheck.org. Settle It! Box Office Report: Summer Movie Attendance Likely Lowest in Two Decades. The number of people going to the movies in North America dipped noticeably this summer, putting increased pressure on the final four months of 2012 to bolster the bottom line. According to preliminary estimates, 533.5 million tickets were sold this season, down 4 percent from last summer and the worst turnout since 1993. The previous 19-year low came in summer 2010, when there were 534.4 tickets sold. PHOTOS: 28 of Summer's Most Anticipated Movies: 'Avengers,' 'Dark Knight,' 'Prometheus' Total summer revenue also slipped. Initial estimates show the domestic box office generating $4.278 billion in sales, down roughly 3 percent from last summer's record $4.4 billion. Final revenue and attendance figures will be released this week.
Summer 2012 was marked by dramatic highs and lows. PHOTOS: Behind the Scenes of Marvel's 'The Avengers' PHOTOS: Batman's Onscreen Villains: 10 Greats From the Joker to Bane The summer saw several all-out bombs, including Battleship, Rock of Ages and Dark Shadows. Publications Pinterest Interest 08/31. A new survey by The Creative Group shows few organizations are ready to promote in Pinterest despite the virtual pinboard's increasing popularity. 61% of advertising and marketing executives interviewed are hesitant or not interested in using Pinterest for business purposes. Only 7% reported they're already using it. Advertising and marketing executives were asked, "Which of the following statements best describes your agency's/firm's attitude toward Pinterest? " Advertising executives at large agencies were more active on Pinterest than those at smaller agencies and their corporate marketing counterparts. 24% of advertising executives at agencies with more than 100 employees reported they are already using Pinterest as part of the marketing mix, and another 6% said they plan to create an account.
The report offers some tips for using Pinterest to display: For more information from The Creative Group, and to access the complete study, please visit here. Can Square Remain Hip? Square Register uses the company’s reader and an app to turn an iPad into a credit card register. It’s not exactly a hip question right now. But what exactly is Square? Excitement is building around the payments company, which is led by Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s co-founder. It’s close to raising $200 million of new capital, and Starbucks said in early August that it was going to use Square’s technology. Disappointed by Facebook and Groupon, technology industry watchers at least have hope for Square.
But it may too early to anoint Square as the firm that will lead us into a cashless society. Yes, on the surface, it’s a company that provides payments to hardware and software to merchants. Square is almost certainly working to develop a much bigger revenue source. As innovative as Square is, it cannot easily get around the established fixed costs charged by the payments industry, which comprises processing companies, banks and firms like Visa and MasterCard. Square declined to comment on Mr. Facebook Users Worldwide: 3.2 Billion Likes And Comments Per Day. Celebs With The MOST Followers On Twitter on Perez Gallery. How Nestlé’s GMO debacle makes the case for corporate transparency.
This week, food-production giant Nestlé lost a legal battle in Brazilian court over its use of genetically modified organism (read: genetically modified food) ingredients. The Swiss brand fought to keep the fact that many of its ingredients are GMOs off the labels, but the court mandated that it label anything with more than 1% GMO ingredients sold within Brazil as such. The lawsuit came as a result of public outcry regarding the safety of GMOs. Many studies have been published linking consumption of GMOs to serious health repercussions. While Nestlé’s studies show different results, the brand spent a lot of time, money and effort in Brazil fighting to keep from being required to mention on labels that its products contain GMOs.
The Brazilian lawsuit sparked further dialogue about the safety of GMO food and the transparency of companies that sell it. Facebook and Twitter have erupted in conversation about Nestlé and GMOs, including countless negative mentions of the brand. Seven Themes for the Coming Decade. Understanding long-term trends is an important tool in identifying opportunities and risks. STEEP analysis looks at the world through five different perspectives – Social, Technological, Economic, Ecological, and Political. The following are the major themes that are presently shaping the future... 1) Go East! The economic center of the map is shifting once again – this time toward the East. A report by the McKinsey Global Institute says that in 1,000 A.D., the economic center of the map was in central Asia, just west of China. At the turn of the last century, it shifted to northern Europe, due to the influence of the industrial revolution. By 1950, it had reached its westernmost point. In the past decade, the world’s economic center has shifted to northern Russia.
From Urban World: Cities and the Rise of the Consuming Class. Implications: The fastest-growing sources of demand for consumer products are now outside of the U.S. 2) Urbanize 3) Good to the Last Drop 4) Digitize Me 7) Gray Boom. Fandango Has The Best Summer Ever. Online movie ticketer Fandango announced Monday that summer 2012 was the best in the company's history, thanks in part to an increase in mobile ticket sales. Fandango says that summer ticket sales — that's May-August for movie theaters — were up 26% year-over-year, thanks to blockbuster hits such as The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises. The company credits mobile with helping drive ticket sales to its theaters. Fandango says that downloads of the apps were up 43% year over year, bringing total downloads to 26 million.
Fandango has apps for iOS, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone. Perhaps the biggest indicator of mobile's importance is the fact that almost 30% of all ticket sales sold in the summer of 2012 were from mobile. Fandango tell us that its previous best summer was in 2011, when only 16% of ticket sales were from mobile devices. Fandango has been on a tear over in 2012. Do you buy movie tickets on your mobile phone? Empire State Building Shooting: There’s No ‘Crime Scene Filter’ on Instagram. The politics of photo-sharing in the summer of the gun. By Steve Huff 8/24/12 5:08pm Share this: Don’t do this. Around 9 a.m. Every smartphone owner in the vicinity began tweeting about the drama, many uploading photos taken on the fly–to Twitter and, perhaps more strangely, Instagram. Instagram even posted a blog entry highlighting some of the photos taken at ground level and from offices several stories above the scene.
Posting witnesses’ and bystanders’ amateur smartphone pics of unfolding and newsworthy events may by now seem encoded in Twitter’s DNA. But there’s something slightly surreal about uploading your hastily-shot iPhone pic of a bloody white sheet over a mysterious shape on the sidewalk to Instagram. Instagram seems to have signaled they want it both ways: to let us prettify memories as if we’re living in a hazy, bygone era but also have a Tahrir Square news moment in the spotlight.
Follow Steve Huff via RSS. shuff@observer.com by Taboolaby Taboola You May LikeFrom The Web Undo. Publications Hispanics Prefer At-Home Entertainment 08/17. Hispanic consumers prefer at-home activities versus more costly out-of-home options, according to a report from Mintel. The research shows that cost is the primary driver in how Hispanics decide to enjoy their leisure time.
“Watching a movie on TV or reading a book or magazine is taking a front seat to more financially driven experiences, such as dining out or going to live sporting events,” says Adam Jacobson, multicultural analyst at Chicago-based Mintel. Thirty-six percent of Hispanics say they watch a movie on TV more than three times per week. About one-third of respondents would rather curl up with a good book or magazine in Spanish in the same time frame. Forty percent of the surveyed Hispanics say they enjoy dining out, but only do so one to three times per month. Thirty-four percent of Hispanics in the U.S. say they will attend a sporting event, and 30% plan to attend a street festival in the next three months. Publications Baby Boomers Control 70% Of The U.S. Disposable Income 08/20. Brad Pitt is a Baby Boomer. George Clooney is a Baby Boomer. Madonna and Bruce Springsteen are Baby Boomers. Not exactly in a wheelchair or using a walker. Do I have your attention? If you are under 30 and reading this, it’s your parents, ages 47 – 66.
Change your thinking and understand Baby Boomers are vibrant, healthy and a very lucrative audience. The brands and agency executives that understand this will increase their bottom line. Baby Boomers represent close to 80 million U.S. consumers and hold 70% of the U.S. disposable income. Baby Boomers are spending the most time and money online each month, more than Gen X and Gen Y. Consumers ages 47 – 66 (Baby Boomers) Facts: Your marketing campaign creative should engage the Baby Boomer. I travel to Detroit, Minneapolis, New York, San Francisco and meet with media planners, buyers and brands. Sources: Pew Internet, Deloitte, Forrester Research, GfK, MRI, Nielsen and BoomerAgers August 2012 Report.
Publications Ad Dollars Shift As Boomers Age 07/06. Nielsen says three key consumer groups are rapidly changing for marketers: baby boomers, moms and lower income consumers. At Nielsen’s Consumer 360 Conference, the media and consumer research company said there are 100 million baby boomers -- a number which will climb by a third in 2030. Most are growing out of the key 18-49 demographic into the 50+ number. Right now, they control $230 billion in sales -- about half of the total for the U.S. overall. In five years, they will control 70% of disposable income. But Beth Brady, Nielsen’s leader for marketing effectiveness, warns advertising dollars are being funneled elsewhere: "It's a missed opportunity. " For marketers, the role of moms and their kids are shifting.
Lower income consumers -- those that make under $30,000 a year -- are growing -- now around 30% of the country. Publications LG Takes On Overwhelming Laundry 08/06. The average consumer, if they’re lucky, only shops for a specific appliance once or twice a decade. It’s important, however, for the makers of those machines to find ways to stay top of consumers’ minds constantly to ensure they will be in the consideration set when purchase time comes. Along those lines, LG Electronics is launching a social media campaign for its washers and dryers that it hopes consumers will see, share and remember when they’re shopping for their own appliances. “We wanted to make sure we continued to engage with consumers from a brand perspective,” David VanderWaal, director of brand marketing for home appliances at LG Electronics USA, tells Marketing Daily.
“The objective is to create a conversation with consumers by being relevant and authentic and genuine, and not trying to sell anything. The Facebook-based campaign consists of videos depicting a woman, Sharon, whose life has been taken over by laundry. Publications Make Way For Generation Nice 06/15. Publications Olympics Earns More Social Buzz Than Biggest TV Events 08/16. PayPal could heat up mobile payments race if McDonald's test pays off | Agricultural Commodities.
Publications London Is The iPad Olympics 07/27. Publications With Online Video Series, No Appointments Necessary 07/30. Publications U.S. Tablet, TV Usage Spikes 04/06. Your Privacy Is Tested With Every Click You Make. DumbDumb Mixes Ads and Comedy Shorts for TBS Online. Hulu, the Online TV Site, Adds Original Programming. A Gender Reversal On Career Aspirations. Just-in-time Information through Mobile Connections.
IGen Influential With Peers, Household-Buying Decisions | News. News Release Content. Upfronts 2012: Hulu Announces New Shows From Seth Meyers, Richard Linklater, More. On Sundays, the DVR Runneth Over. For TV networks, social is hugely important. Publications Cable Operators Losing Video Subscribers 08/15. A Scandal Threatens Zakaria’s Image as a Media Star. Todd Akin Provokes Ire With ‘Legitimate Rape’ Comment. Gay Male Comics Await the Spotlight. Coming Next - Doctors Prescribing Apps to Patients. Journalists on the Edge of Truth. Supermarkets Try Customizing Prices for Shoppers.
Evidence Grows on Pay-TV 'Cord Cutting' Forget ‘social media Olympics’, these are the mobile games. Olympics 2012: NBC's 5 Biggest Lessons From London. Publications Back To The Future - No, Seriously, Go Back. 08/06. Starbucks and Square to Team Up. Two Apps, TuneIn and iHeart Radio, Put Radio Online. Nadia Ilse, Bullied Georgia Teen, Receives Free Plastic Surgery From Little Baby Face Foundation. New App Delivers Latest Political Polls Instantly to Your iPhone. The bright-young-things hypothesis. Jonah Lehrer Might Have Been Addicted to Lying - FishbowlNY.
After fabricating Bob Dylan quotes, Jonah Lehrer resigns from the New Yorker. Chick-Fil-A and Jim Henson’s Creatures Fight P.R. War via Social Media. Silicon Valley Worries About Addiction to Devices. Apple’s Passbook Could Be A Platform, Not Just Another Mobile Payments Rival. Google Begins Practically Begging You to Use Your Real Name on YouTube. As Pay-by-Phone Advances, Square Takes Another Leap — State of the Art. Pinterest, Tumblr and the Trouble With ‘Curation’
Netflix's lost year: The inside story of the price-hike train wreck | Internet & Media. Police embracing tech that predicts crimes. Twitter Sets New Record During Euro 2012 Final, Tops 15,000 Tweets Per Second. Social Media-Connected Teens Seek Time Offline [STUDY] Older adults and internet use. Publications Pinterest Is Turning Out Brand Advocates 05/21.
Gay on TV - It’s All in the Family. Are Teenagers Better At Solving The Thin Model Problem Than "Vogue" Editors? Every Picture (and Tweet, and Clip) Tells a Story. J.C. Penney Catalog Features Gay Couple With Child, Freakout Ensues. Apparel-Swapping Millennials Eschew Stores and Malls. Keeping veterans off the unemployment rolls. Who Wears the Pants in This Economy?