AOL: African-Americans more likely to use Web for health info

AOL: African-Americans more likely to use Web for health info

 

African-American Internet users are more likely to use the Web to access health-related information than the general population (72% vs. 53%), according to the first AOL African-American Cyberstudy. Additionally, 54% of African-Americans said the Internet provides more information about healthcare issues that are important to them than any other source. African-Americans were also more likely to use the Internet to search for health information (64%) than other sources (53%), according to the survey. In general, African-Americans spend more time online--five hours per day, compared to 2.9 hours per day among the general population. When it comes to ads, 73% said they are more receptive to culturally diverse advertising, and 68% favor companies that benefit the African-American community.

 

For more information and statistics from the survey, click the link below. 

 

 

AOL Survey Finds African Americans Spend Nearly Double the Time Online Than the General Population

Business Wire via NewsEdge Corporation :

DULLES, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 10, 2005-- Nearly 80% of African Americans Surveyed Are on the Internet; Most on Broadband; More Likely to Use Internet for Finances, Healthcare, Entertainment and More

African Americans are racing to the Internet in record numbers, according to the 2005 AOL African American Cyberstudy, conducted for AOL by IMAGES Market Research. They report spending more time on the Internet (5 hours a day vs. 2.9 hours a day for the general online population) and are closing the gap in Internet usage with nearly 80% of African Americans having access to the Internet (vs. 88% of the general population). And two-thirds of online African American households have a high-speed connection vs. 53% of the general population. Those currently not online are more likely to get connected within the next 6 to 12 months.

The study also revealed that African Americans are embracing the Internet as an indispensable lifestyle tool and a tremendous resource. They are far more likely to use the Web to access a variety of information: news (68% vs. 56%), entertainment (55% vs. 26%), health related issues (72% vs. 53%), financial questions/needs (60% vs. 40%) and sports (39% vs. 26%).

Other popular activities include: using a search engine (92%), communicating with family and friends (86%), using the Internet to get driving directions (85%), opening a bank account or online banking (62%) and listening to music online (62%). In addition, 62% of African Americans feel the Internet is helpful with individual career advancement and is a useful education tool (80%) for all ages.

"As we look to offer marketers the most relevant information about online behaviors of various demographics, we are excited to announce the findings of the first African American Cyberstudy," said Michael Barrett, executive vice president, AOL Media Networks. "We are committed to provide the advertising community with new data about the changing nature of online behaviors to better serve their needs."

"The study clearly demonstrates that African Americans have turned to the Internet to save time and make their lives more efficient and enjoyable," said Bret Moore, publisher of AOL Black Voices. "The Internet has truly proven to be a life enhancement tool that African Americans are using to attain their goals and realize their dreams."

However, the study also found that an overwhelming number of African Americans say there isn't enough online content that "speaks" to them as a distinct culture with its own dynamic needs and values. The survey also found that almost three-quarters (73%) of African Americans were much more receptive to culturally diverse advertising. And 68% favor companies that benefit the African American community.

Topline Findings

-- Nearly Eight in ten African Americans surveyed are currently using the Internet - the remaining 21% are more likely than the general online population to jump on the Internet within the next 6-12 months.

-- Already, 64% of African Americans online have broadband access - vs. 53% of the Total Online Population

-- African Americans are far more likely than other online users to use the Web to access a variety of information: news (68% vs. 56%), entertainment (55% vs. 26%), music (49% vs. 21%), and sports (39% vs. 26%).

-- The most popular online activities among African Americans are using a search engine (92%), communicating with friends and family (86%), and getting driving directions and maps (85%).

-- Almost two-thirds (62%) of African Americans feel the Internet is helpful with individual career advancements.

-- Seventy-six percent of African Americans view the Internet as a big time-saver, saying it allows them to access large amounts of information quickly and get more things done in a day.

-- African Americans spend an average of 5 hours per day on the Internet while all others spend 2.9 hours a day.

-- Online African Americans report they use the Internet an average of 6 days per week, compared to 5 days per week for all others.

Researching and Buying Products and Services Online

-- Forty-nine percent of African Americans feel the Internet is the best source of information on consumer products.

-- Almost three-quarters (70%) have researched an item online and subsequently purchased it in a store.

Finding Relevant Information Online

-- Seventy-two percent of online African Americans say the need to obtain general information prompted initial use.

-- Fifty-four percent feel the Internet provides more information about healthcare issues important to African Americans than any other sources. And African Americans are far more likely to turn to the Internet for healthcare-related searches than all others (64% vs. 53%).

-- Sixty percent believe the Internet is the best source for financial information.

-- The Ability to get entertainment information quickly is a big draw for African Americans (75%).

-- Forty Two percent of African Americans go online to learn about new styles & fashion information.

Discovering Entertainment Online

-- African Americans view the Internet as an entertainment medium, using it to view video clips and download music.

-- Seventy-three percent of African Americans feel on-demand entertainment is an important benefit of the Internet.

-- Seventy-eight percent see the Internet as a time-saver allowing them to avoid waiting in line for tickets.

-- The most common movie-related reasons to go online are to look for a movie they may want to see (73%) and to search for a theater or movie time (68%).

Using the Internet to Communicate

-- Eighty-six percent of African Americans use the Internet to communicate with family and friends.

-- Thirty percent of respondents use instant messaging occasionally or more.

Financial Goals and Management a Priority

-- Six in ten African Americans look for information about financial products online.

-- Online banking services are already widely used, with 71% of African Americans indicating it's their leading online financial activity.

-- Forty-six percent are likely to start or increase their investment practices in the near future.

-- Online African Americans earning $100K or more are significantly more likely to track their investments or stock portfolio online.

Automotive Information and Buying

-- African Americans are more likely than all others to cite the Internet as the best source of information for automotive-related issues (63% vs. 44%).

-- Researching different vehicle types (62%) was the most common reason for automotive-related Internet usage.

-- Slightly more than half (52%) have used the Internet to price shop new cars.

-- Over one-third (37%) of African Americans plan to purchase a new or used car in the next 12 months compared to 22% of all others.

Getting Going Starts with Going Online

-- African Americans are avid are avid travelers: 2/3 of African Americans have traveled domestically in the past 12 months.

-- African Americans are more likely than all others to report the Internet as the best source of travel-related information (79% vs. 73%).

Methodology

The 2005 AOL African American Cyberstudy conducted by IMAGES MARKET RESEARCH comprises three phases. In the first Qualitative Phase, focus groups were conducted among African Americans with a home ISP in three cities, Los Angeles, New York, and Atlanta. Six focus groups contributed, with participants in two age groups, 18-34 year-olds(3) and 35-54 year-olds(3).

The Quantitative Phase followed in May 2005 with a web survey of 1,016 African American Internet users. A simultaneous study of 550 phone interviews was also conducted to obtain comparative perspective (300 African American sample and 250 general market (GM) sample). The web survey portion was done using a national database of African American panel members. An invitation e-mail was sent to their address and respondents were given a link to access the survey. A combination of RDD (Random Digit Dialing) and African American listed sample was used for the telephone portion of the study.

A Two-Step Cluster Analysis procedure was applied to the 1,016 online completed surveys of African Americans who have online service providers. The resulting four clusters are psychographic groupings that represent respondents who participated in the web survey.

About IMAGES Market Research

IMAGES Market Research is a full service multicultural marketing communications company headquartered in Atlanta, GA. It is a leading research and consulting firm for targeted and ethnic markets, most particularly to the African American, Latino, and Asian markets.

About America Online, Inc.

America Online, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc. Based in Dulles, Virginia. America Online is the world's leader in interactive services, Web brands, Internet technologies and e-commerce services. AOL, America Online and Black Voices are registered trademarks of America Online, Inc.

 

AOL adds 85 blogs and possibility of $1 million annual revenue

AOL adds 85 blogs and possibility of $1 million annual revenue

If you were still working Friday before the long weekend, you read the various reports that American Online bought Weblogs so it could start to offer specialty sites to attract small niche followings. For those of you who extended your three-day holiday to four days, here's the scoop: Weblogs is believed to generate at least $1 million a year from Google AdSense ads alone, report various media. The purchase includes Weblogs' 85 blogs--including the technology blog Engadget, car blog Autoblog, and parenting blog BloggingBaby. The Weblogs' properties attract more than 30 million monthly Web page views and 25 million monthly RSS page views per month, according to AOL. The blogs will continue to operate independently, and AOL's Advertising.com will work with Weblogs to place online ads on the sites.

Yahoo launches podcast search site

Yahoo launches podcast search site

By Elinor Mills
http://news.com.com/Yahoo+launches+podcast+search+site/2100-1025_3-5892159.html

Yahoo launched on Monday a podcast service that offers access to much of the streaming audio on the Web and features user reviews and other information about the programming.

Yahoo Podcasts is intended to enable people to easily search podcasts through keywords, categories or user-generated topic tags. The beta site also highlights podcasts of note, those that are particularly popular and user recommendations and ratings, said Geoff Ralston, Yahoo's chief product officer.

Users who listen to a podcast through the Yahoo site can increase the playback speed to hear the audio at up to twice the actual speed, without the voices sounding like chipmunks.

Yahoo plans to eventually offer tools that will enable people to create their own podcasts, Ralston said.

America Online and Blinkx also offer podcast search services.

Copyright ©1995-2005 CNET Networks, Inc. All rights reserved.

Always follow your dreams

The Winner Is... Fake Dog Testicle Creator

BOSTON - Gregg Miller mortgaged his home and maxed out his credit cards to
mass produce his invention ‹ prosthetic testicles for neutered dogs.

What started 10 years ago with an experiment on an unwitting Rottweiler
named Max has turned into a thriving mail-order business. And on Thursday
night Miller's efforts earned him a dubious yet strangely coveted honor: the
Ig Nobel Prize for medicine.

"Considering my parents thought I was an idiot when I was a kid, this is a
great honor," he said. "I wish they were alive to see it."

The Ig Nobels, given at Harvard University by Annals of Improbable Research
magazine, celebrate the humorous, creative and odd side of science.

Miller has sold more than 150,000 of his Neuticles, more than doubling his
$500,000 investment. The silicone implants come in different sizes, shapes,
weights and degrees of firmness.

The product's Web site says Neuticles allow a pet "to retain his natural
look" and "self esteem."

Although the Ig Nobels are not exactly prestigious, many recipients are,
like Miller, happy to win.

"Most scientists ‹ no matter what they're doing, good or bad ‹ never get any
attention at all," said Marc Abrahams, editor of the Annals of Improbable
Research.

Some, like Benjamin Smith of the University of Adelaide in Australia, who
won the biology prize, actually nominated their own work. "I've been a fan
of the Ig Nobels for a while," he said.

Smith's team studied and catalogued different scents emitted by more than
100 species of frogs under stress. Some smelled like cashews, while others
smelled like licorice, mint or rotting fish.

He recalled getting strange looks when he'd show up at zoos asking to smell
the frogs. "I've been turned away at the gate," he said.

This year's other Ig Nobel winners include:

€ PHYSICS: Since 1927, researchers at the University of Queensland in
Australia have been tracking a glob of congealed black tar as it drips
through a funnel ‹ at a rate of one drop every nine years.

€ PEACE: Two researchers at Newcastle University in England monitored the
brain activity of locusts as they watched clips from the movie "Star Wars."

€ CHEMISTRY: An experiment at the University of Minnesota was designed to
prove whether people can swim faster or slower in syrup than in water.

The Ig Nobel for literature went to the Nigerians who introduced millions of
e-mail users to a "cast of rich characters ... each of whom requires just a
small amount of expense money so as to obtain access to the great wealth to
which they are entitled."

Online health information seekers spend more on prescriptions

(10/6/2005)

A new study finds that consumers who research health information online are more likely to purchase drugs to treat symptomatic illnesses, like insomnia, and generally spend more on prescriptions than offline patients.

According to the latest findings from Ipsos PharmTrends, a syndicated tracking study of consumer health behaviour, online health information seekers are more likely to buy drugs to treat allergies (48% of users vs. 41% of non-users), depression (20% vs. 13%) and insomnia (14% vs. 10%).

But online patients needing treatment for asymptomatic illnesses, such as high blood pressure and heart conditions are less likely to treat their conditions with prescription or over the counter drugs. For instance, only 65% of households who access online health sites purchase prescription drugs for high blood pressure, while 79% of non-users purchased such medications.

The same trend holds for heart medications, with just 12% of Internet information seekers purchasing prescriptions, compared to 21% of non-users.

The findings seem to offer strong clues for pharma marketers for choosing appropriate channels to reach online and offline patients.

“Internet health sites are allowing consumers to control their health outcomes, making it easier to self-diagnose symptomatic illness and understand their conditions,” says Barbara Bernter, vice president of Ipsos Insight’s PharmTrends. “Conversely, patients suffering from asymptomatic illnesses must rely on their doctor’s expertise and office or hospital tests to accurately diagnose their condition and recommend appropriate therapies.”

The study also reveals that households that use the Internet as a health research tool are more likely to purchase prescription pain medications than over the counter drugs.

Sixty-two percent (62%) filled a prescription for arthritis medication compared to just 55% of offline patients, while 80% filled prescriptions for back medication, versus 68% of offline patients. For general pain relief, 66% of internet health information seekers purchased a prescription drug, compared to just 59% of offline patients.

“Part of the reason for the increased consumption of prescription medications by Internet-using health information seekers is likely the proliferation of websites sponsored by pharmaceutical companies and online and televised direct-to-consumer advertising,” Bertner says. “But also, consumers using Internet-based health information may be more likely to request prescription medications from their physicians because they are engaged, active health consumers, who inform themselves of their treatment choices and drug benefits and side effects before visiting their doctor.”

Among those respondents who visited health-related websites, most (51%) went directly to the pharmaceutical company website or drug-specific website to research their new prescriptions. Users also frequented hospital and physician sites (44%), government sites (43%), retailers (41%), and online magazine and newspapers (40%) for prescription-specific information. Respondents were less likely to rely on sites dedicated to a specific condition or disease (37%), general health information sites (37%), and their HMO or insurance company’s site (34%).

And those respondents using the Internet to help in their health and wellness choices consume slightly more drugs than others, averaging 7.8 prescription or OTC purchases, versus 7.6 during the study period. And, not surprisingly, the out-of-pocket amount online households spent also was slightly higher, with $114 spent on prescription and over the counter drugs between May and July, compared to $103 in offline households.

The results of the diary-based survey also reveal that 52% percent of wired households have researched general health information online. Sixty-three percent (63%) of households used the web to get health-related information on a specific condition or disease during the three-month study, and 36% looked to the Internet for information on a specific prescription or over the counter drug. And those who participate in this information-seeking behavior are more likely to request a specific drug from their physician (19% versus 15%).

To learn more about the study, visit www.ipsos-na.com .

Perfect 10: For 10th Anniversary, Webby Awards Founder Reveals 10 Tips for Creating a Winning Pharmaceutical Web Site

Perfect 10: For 10th Anniversary, Webby Awards Founder Reveals 10 Tips for Creating a Winning Pharmaceutical Web Site

NEW YORK, Oct. 4, 2005--Does your pharmaceutical site have what it takes to share the spotlight with 2005 Webby Awards winners like ParkinsonsHealth.com and Pfizer?

From now until December 16, 2005, pharmaceutical sites of all shapes and sizes have an exciting opportunity to become a part of history by entering The 10th Annual Webby Awards, "the online equivalent of an Oscar," according to The New York Times (June 21, 2005).

As the web enters its second decade as an integral part of everyday life, you'll want to speak with Webby Awards founder Tiffany Shlain, who can tell your audience how to score a perfect 10 applying her 10 tips for creating a winning pharmaceutical web site.

Based on the best practices and success stories of The 9th Annual Webby Awards winners, Tiffany's Perfect 10 tips include:

1.      Show community spirit Increase loyalty and sales by providing customers with ways to connect and communicate with each other. Café Press (Best Retail) uses message boards, chats, offline events and vendor spotlights to build stronger relationships with its customers.

2.      In people we trust.   Make your site customer-centric by allowing users to rate and review products, services, and content. IgoUgo.com (Best Travel) and Target. com (People's Voice for Best Retail) allow customers to speak their mind and provide their thumbs up - or thumbs down.

3.      Less is more Avoid bells and whistles that slow users down and prevent them from quickly and easily completing what they came to do, Google (Best Practices) and Muzak (Best Professional Services) demonstrate the beauty and power of a clean, simple interface.

4.      Consider a blog While you may use traditional marketing and advertising strategies to attract your customers, integrating a blog like celebrity chef Jamie Oliver (Best Celebrity/Fan) or a podcast will give your site a life and voice of its own.

5.      Stay on course Keep your navigation bar consistent and prominent on every page so that your customers don't get lost. Apartments.com (People's Voice for Best Real Estate) uses guides to show users both where they are and how they can get back to where they started.

6.      Make contact Put a clear link from the home page that leads to your company's contact information. E*Trade.com (Nominee for Best Financial Services) gives customers a range of choices for getting in touch - from telephone to email. Customers will place more trust in your company if they know you are easily accessible from various mediums.

7.      Set expectations When it comes to online customer service, it's critical that you set your customer's expectations. New York Times Online (People's Voice for Best Newspaper) replies to all customer queries with auto response email that confirms their message was received and when they can expect a response.

8.      Keep up appearances Unlike a movie or a book, a web site is a constant work in progress. Consumer Reports (Best Guides/Ratings/Reviews) keeps visitors coming back by updating its home page regularly breaking news and information. You can easily link to other sites to receive fresh content.

9.      Be resourceful Increase the value of your site and position yourself as authority by providing information and services that enhance your site's mission - like tools, surveys and industry news. Jiffy Lube (Nominee for Best Services) offers its customers safety information, tips for road trips, and much more.

10.  Make searching easy Give your customers the ability to search both within your site and on the web. The search functions on Fortune.com (Best Financial Services) and Pfizer.com (People's Voice for Best Pharmaceutical) make finding information - no matter where it's located - simple and fast.

The 9th Annual Webby Awards attracted worldwide attention with a star- studded New York City ceremony showcasing five-word speeches from more than 60 Webby winners, including former Vice President Al Gore, who was on hand to receive The Webby Lifetime Achievement Award from internet founder Vint Cerf. (Gore's headline-grabbing speech: "Please don't recount this vote."). A full list of winners, which were chosen from more than 4,400 entries from 40 countries and all 50 states, can be found at http://www.webbyawards.com/webbys/current.php

For more information on past Webby Award winners or how your readers can compete for Best Pharmaceutical Site of the year, please visit www.webbyawards.com. The deadline for entries is December 16, 2005.

To arrange an interview with Tiffany or if you have questions, please contact Jill Feldman at (212) 627-8098.

 

 

 

Merck, BMS' Pargluva recommended for approval by FDA advisory committee

A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee voted 8-1 in favor of approving Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and Merck & Co. Inc.'s oral Pargluva (muraglitazar) as a monotherapy for treating type 2 diabetes, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

The panel also voted 7-2 in favor of the drug being used in combination with metformin, but voted 6-3 against its use in combination with sulfonylurea drugs.

The Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee was convened to discuss potential cardiovascular risks associated with the drug, which, if approved, would be the first in a new class of drugs called glitazars.

Pargluva studies were conducted in more than 3,000 patients and nine cardiovascular deaths were observed, Dow Jones reported, adding that an FDA reviewer said "the agency could not conclude the deaths were linked to the drug."

Panel member Dr. Thomas Aoki, an endocrinologist at the University of California at Davis, said he thought the potential risks could be monitored and managed, according to Dow Jones. An example he gave was that if patients rapidly gained weight as a result of fluid retention, they should call their physician and be taken off the drug.

Additionally, the FDA noted that just having diabetes increases a person's risk for cardiovascular problems and that other peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor drugs for diabetes are also associated with "dose-related fluid retention ... edema and congestive heart failure," according to Dow Jones.

If Pargluva is approved, Merck and BMS plan to conduct additional studies on the potential cardiovascular risks, Dow Jones stated.

 

Novartis' Starlix plus metformin may be safer...

Novartis' Starlix plus metformin may be safer initial combination therapy than glyburide plus metformin among drug-naïve type 2 diabetes patients

Novartis AG's Starlix (nateglinide) plus metformin may be a safer initial combination therapy than glyburide plus metformin among drug-naïve patients with type 2 diabetes, according to study results published in the September issue of Diabetes Care.

In a double-masked, two-year study, researchers randomized 428 drug-naïve patients with type 2 diabetes to either 120 mg of Starlix before meals or 1.25 mg of glyburide daily in addition to 500 mg of open-label, daily metformin for the initial four weeks.

During a subsequent 12-week titration period, investigators increased glyburide and metformin by 1.25-mg and 500-mg increments to maximum daily doses of 10 mg and 2,000 mg, respectively, if a subject's fasting plasma glucose (FPG) was at least 6.7 mmol/L biweekly. Starlix was not titrated. Researchers maintained blinding by using matching placebo for Starlix and glyburide.

During a subsequent 88-week monitoring period, researchers measured hemoglobin A1C, FPG and postprandial glucose excursions (PPGEs) during an oral glucose tolerance test.

Average HbA1C levels were approximately the same for both groups at baseline (8.4 percent for the Starlix arm vs. 8.3 percent for the other treatment group) and at week 104 (6.9 percent for the Starlix group vs. 6.8 percent for the glyburide arm).

Results indicated that both treatments achieved similar efficacy with differential effects on FPG versus PPGE.

However, hypoglycemia occurred in 8.2 percent and 17.7 percent of patients treated with Starlix/metformin and glyburide/metformin, respectively.

More than 90 percent of patients in both treatment groups experienced one or more adverse events (AEs); most were mild or moderate. Aside from gastrointestinal symptoms and those typically linked to falling glucose, the AE profile mirrored common ailments observed in the general population, the study authors said.

"Similar good glycemic control can be maintained for two years with either treatment regimen, but [Starlix]/metformin may represent a safer approach to initial combination therapy," the authors concluded.

How to Use a Podcast to Promote a White Paper That Generates New Business Sales Leads

How to Use a Podcast to Promote a White Paper That Generates New Business Sales Leads 09/07/2005 (Source: Marketing Sherpa) SUMMARY: First it was email newsletters, then webcasts, then blogs ... and now the newest, hippest, marketing tactic is podcasting. But, just because podcasting is incredibly hip doesn't mean it actually works for campaigns targeting high-level execs in the Fortune 1000. Or can it? Check out our exclusive Case Study detailing how one b-to-b marketer tested podcasting this summer. (Yes, includes sample podcast and results data:)

CHALLENGE "There's tons of clutter in the system," says Paul Dunay. As Director of Global Financial Services Marketing for BearingPoint (NYSE:BE), Dunay faces stiff competition from hundreds of marketers also trying to get attention from top executives in the Global 2000. When it seems like every other marketer on this planet is offering a Sarbanes-Oxley white paper, it's hard to stand out. So, earlier this year, Dunay commissioned a series of research studies, partnering with the Economist's Intelligence Unit, to discover what top global financial execs were really thinking about. He figured the data would make great exclusive content, plus he'd discover pain points future white papers could address. He was right -- the results were fascinating. But, given the competing clutter, even the most fabulous content in the world might not garner the attention it deserved. How could his research grab prospects' attention? CAMPAIGN Naturally, Dunay used his proven system for getting out the word about new white papers. (See link below for our Case Study on his system.) But he wanted to take things one step further. So, he budgeted $1000 extra per new white paper for a podcasting test. (see below for links about podcasting.) Step #1. Pick a format Podcasting only started about a year ago, and few b-to-b marketers have tested it yet. Dunay had to invent his format from scratch. He considered three very different formats: Interview format -- The first idea was to use audio clips from some of the survey interviews. Sounds compelling, top execs revealing their thinking. But, Dunay felt BearingPoint's audio quality would be a key part of the brand .. and recorded telephone conversations just don't have a high-quality production sound. Plus, the goal was to demonstrate BearingPoint's thought leadership, not that of other companies' executives. White paper format -- Dunay's second was to turn whitepapers themselves into podcasts. "We tried reading the whole dang thing into the recorder," he explains. Then he listened to the results. "It was 20 minutes long. I *really* wanted to like it. I listened to about 10 minutes but then I couldn't stand it anymore. It was so painful. It was killing me." You guessed it, using one media as shovel-ware for content developed for another media rarely, if ever, works. Content prospects love to read is not the same as content anyone wants to listen to. White paper summary format -- "I realized, the podcast has got to be no longer than that six-to-eight minute zone. We decided to do a Reader's Digest version of the white papers." Dunay started by creating a nifty must-listen title such as "7 pitfalls of..." Then he copywrote a formal script for the podcast. (This is unlike many podcasts which often have that hand-held-film-style casual flavor.) Step #2. Figure out how to measure results As a paper summary, the podcast became the perfect format to offer the full white paper from. So, instead of replacing a normal white paper, the podcast served as a tantalizing preview of what you'd get if you downloaded the entire white paper. In short - the concept was podcast as white paper marketing campaign. Just as they would for any white paper promo campaign, Dunay's team created a vanity URL to track incoming traffic and created a registration form landing page to post there. Dunay didn't focus on the number of podcast downloads. Instead his measurement goals were: a. percent of podcast listeners who download a white paper b. quality of these leads compared to other sources (determined by tracking via the inside sales department who qualified incoming leads.) c. future activities of these leads on BearingPoint's prospect education site section (determined by cookies over time.) Step #3. Develop the audio brand Dunay worked with his interactive agency to create a branded audio logo for the podcast (see link below for info on audio logos), and to select an actor as BearingPoint's official "voice." Worth noting -- just as with your graphic logo, the voice talent you pick becomes part of your brand over time. If you switch actors, it's a bit like switching logos. Prospects and customers can be confused. (In fact Audible.com has told us regular audio-version newspaper listeners complain vigorously when their regular voice is switched during the reader's vacation.) All vocals were recorded and mixed at a local recording studio. Step #4. Promote the podcasts Dunay wasn't sure if the podcasts would be a hit or not, especially as his key prospects tend to be fairly conservative. So he didn't roll out trumpets and strobe lights for the launch. Instead, the team posted the podcasts and announcements at several related sites including Podblaze, FreshPodcasts.com, and iTunes (all of which currently promote podcasts for free.) They also rolled out a press release and an email announcement to the house list. (Link to samples below.) Their first podcast launched quietly July 29, 2005. RESULTS Joy and exultation! Hundreds of executives downloaded the podcasts. Dunay had hoped that 10% of podcast listeners would respond to the white paper download offer. Instead, 30% did. This 30% proved to be just as qualified as other more standard lead generation streams. We suspect one key factor in this was Dunay's choice of topic. While his titles featured catchy-wording, they were specific and niche enough to cause prospects to be self-selecting. Dunay acknowledges that a clutter-breakthrough tactic will only work this well for a limited time. The novelty value will wear off and results will lessen. In response, he's cranking out as many podcasts as he can to grab the attention while it's hot. The team has put published five podcasts so far, with another three due for release shortly. Each is on a very different topic, designed to get new prospects in to read particular papers (rather than being designed as an ongoing series of 'radio shows' to the same audience.) Despite this 18% of listeners have downloaded more than one BearingPoint podcast - a number that startled Dunay. Best of all, Dunay's internal client was delighted with results. "My boss loves them so much he wants them in Chinese, Japanese, German, British English.... Now we have to produce those for our other national sites." Useful links related to this article: Creative samples, including an actual podcast from BearingPoint: http://www.marketingsherpa.com/bearp2/study.html e-tractions -- the Internet marketing solutions company that BearingPoint used to help create and promote the Podcasts: http://www.e-tractions.com Audiolink -- the recording studio BearingPoint is using: http://www.audiolink.com MarketingSherpa article 'The Brave New(ish) World of Audio Logos & Podcasting': http://library.marketingsherpa.com/sample.cfm?contentID=3049 (Open access)

Proof! Blogs Influence Medicine Purchases

Proof! Blogs Influence Medicine Purchases

by Tracy Inserra at 11:10AM (PDT) on September 7, 2005

A new report was released recently showing that blogs do influence purchase decisions.  Joe Pilotta of iMedia Connection  shares the findings of a BIGresearch’s Simultaneous Media Usage Survey (SIMM VI), in an article titled Blogs, Purchase Decisions and Race yesterday.  The report breaks blogging influences into three categories:

1. Medicine

2. Car/Truck

3. Electronics. 

The impact for the Electronic category surpasses the others but the influence blogs have on Medicinal purchases is obvious.

From the graph in the article it looks as medicine fares as follows:

• Hispanics are influenced somewhere around 3.5%

• African Americans come in just below 2%

• Whites are less influenced in this category at approximately 1%

This is only the beginning.  A year ago the influence of purchases due to blogs for electronics was much lower than it is today. 

Blogs are entering into the Pharma space

Blogs are entering into the Pharma space

by Tracy Inserra at 03:18PM (PDT) on August 16, 2005

 

Blogs are reaching closer to home for the Pharmaceutical Industry.  Yahoo is driving a strong message about health education with two of its blogs.

Yahoo’s Health Expert Blogs is a consortium of health expert’s blogging on specific topics ranging from yoga to cancer.  The latest diabetes entry as of 3:07 PM mountain time, August 16, 2005 is a hot topic in the drug delivery arena - Inhaled Insulin.  Inhaled Insulin was posted by Simeon Margolis M.D., PhD.  He is a professor of medicine and biological chemistry at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.  This article blog was written an hour and 2 minutes ago and already has two responses.  One which is a suggestion for developing a cure. 

If you are AstraZeneca, you will want to watch the Cholesterol & Heart Disease blog.  On Fri, Aug 12, 2005, 12:42 pm PDT a blog article was posted Crestor: Should You Be Taking It?  The first line reads ‘Physicians have reported more serious adverse events to the FDA with the use of Crestor than with three other cholesterol-lowering statin drugs. This finding obviously raises the question of whether you should be taking Crestor.’ This particular post doesn’t have any comments attached to it.  Is no comment good or a bad? 

Take the patient perspective for a moment and imagine the thoughts going through the Crestor® patient’s mind while reading this article. Then imagine this patient going back to read the other side of the story day after day. Three days go by and still no rebuttal, no answer from the pharma company, not even from another doctor.  Would it make the patient call his/her physician and change medications?  This is a definite possibility.  Can AstraZeneca win in this situation?    

Take these examples 10 fold or 1000 fold and imagine the power and potential a blog can have for your therapeutic area, drug, patient or physician base.  The possibilities are infinite. Blogs do not stand alone they solicit comments, RSS Feeds, Tags, Permalinks and Trackbacks.  Not to mention this is a global medium! 

A pharmaceutical company with a drug in one of Yahoo’s Health Expert categories should ask itself several questions.  The first question should be, do we know the ‘expert blogger’?  If so what is our relationship with this professional?  If the expert blogger is one of your thought leaders is this a good or bad situation to be in?  Are there legal ramifications?

The marketing department may ask questions such as ‘do we know the ‘expert blogger’  should we get him/her a sample?  Should we advertise on this page?

The other notable Yahoo blog is Blog for Hope.  This blog is a temporary blog effort  between Yahoo and the American Cancer Society.  The objective of this blog…promotion… is to ‘connect individuals in the fight against cancer.’  An ingenious idea, the blog has celebrities such as Deepak Chopra, Hillary Clinton, Sam Donaldson, Peggy Flemming and others share their personal stories via the blog.  Fran Drescher writes ‘I got famous, I got cancer, and I LIVED to talk about it. Once you wake up and smell the coffee, it’s hard to go back to sleep.

So let me sound the alarm! We must become better medical consumers. We must challenge our physicians…’  She has 397 comments as of this writing.

This is a great example of using blogs to reach the masses for health education.  

With blogs on the up rise Pharma should expect its patient and physician base to read a posting about the company, a therapeutic area, drug or drug class they manufacture a product for at least once a week if not more often. 

Pharma should ask itself four more very important questions in relation to blog media. 

1. Do we know enough about blogs? 
2. Are we prepared for this new revolution?
3. How do we keep track of this medium?
4. How do we respond?

 

HARTE-HANKS: MARKETERS INVESTING RESOURCES IN E-MARKETING, DATABASE DEVELOPMENT IN 2005

HARTE-HANKS: MARKETERS INVESTING RESOURCES IN E-MARKETING, DATABASE DEVELOPMENT IN 2005


NEW YORK – August 22, 2005 – A new survey report underwritten by Harte-Hanks, Inc. (NYSE:HHS) and prepared by CSO Insights, Inc., reveals that more than one in five organizations spend more than 45 percent of their entire marketing budgets on "target marketing," and an additional two in five spend between 15 percent and 45 percent on such activity.

According to 2005 Executive Report: Target Marketing Priorities Analysis, nearly three of four companies plan higher investments in database management this year; three in five companies are planning to spend more on e-mail, Web design and data quality initiatives; and more than one in two on search marketing.

A total of 281 companies participated in the survey, reflecting a cross-section of vertical markets among them retail, manufacturing, high-tech and services, among other categories. The survey, conducted via the Web in April and May 2005, was distributed to senior marketing executives from a combination of proprietary and commercially available sources. One in four responses represent firms of more than $1 billion in revenues, and nearly 70 percent of firms are located in the United States. Confidence interval is ± 6 percent (for 95-percent confidence level).

The report was co-authored by Jim Dickie and Barry Trailer, both partners of CSO Insights, based in Boulder, CO (http://www.csoinsights.com), with additional analysis provided by market researchers at Harte-Hanks.

"Database and interactive marketing lead all categories in new marketing investments," said Richard Hochhauser, president and chief executive officer, Harte-Hanks, Inc., in announcing the availability of the full study report. "Web sites and e-mail, in particular, really show strength. Yet struggles with data quality and data management remain pervasive. There is more work to do."

According to the study, 43 percent of respondents have a regular or constant program to support personalization and one-to-one marketing; 33 percent feel they are "good" or "very good" at calculating customer profitability; but more than a third rate their database management as "poor" or "very poor" (just 12 percent rate themselves "very good"). Further, 53 percent of respondents believe that their own customer data are at least 75 percent accurate – and 40 percent of respondents believe that less than half their prospect data are correct.

"Disciplined planning still eludes many marketing organizations," said Hochhauser, who noted that 58 percent of firms have an informal or no process at all for direct marketing planning, while 42 percent do.

Other observations from the report findings:

• 'Mission Critical' Web Sites, Search and E-mail: Among respondents, Web sites and micro-sites, search optimization and e-mail marketing are described as "mission critical" by 53 percent, 43 percent and 41 percent, respectively. Wireless messaging and blogs still have not "broken through" – just 7 percent and 5 percent, respectively, rate these interactive media as "mission critical."
• Market Research and Analytics are Priorities: Businesses want more customer insight in the way of understanding perception of product and services (49 percent), knowing reasons why customers buy and respond (49 percent), and knowing the impact of marketing on awareness, attitudes and intentions (49 percent).
• Lists and Segmentation Challenge Direct Mail: The availability of the right "lists" (66 percent) and the ability to mail the right segments (65 percent) are top cited challenges for postal mail.
• Telemarketing Stays the Course: Fifty-six percent of respondents indicated that they have not shifted marketing from outbound telemarketing, despite added government regulation.
• Information Concerns for an Interactive Age: Security (60 percent), privacy (59 percent), spam (56 percent), and data accuracy (56 percent) are among top levels of concern for digital marketing.

An executive summary and table of contents of the report is available from Harte-Hanks by contacting the company toll-free (USA only), (800) 456-9748 or via e-mail at mailto:contactus@harte-hanks.com?subject=. A full 79-page report also is available.

[Editor's Note: A copy of the full study itself and selected charts from the study are available to editorial members of the media. Harte-Hanks and CSO Insights ask that the report not be posted in its entirety until after October 2005, when links to the full report will be public. Contact Chet Dalzell at (212) 520-3232, or mailto:chet_dalzell@harte-hanks.com?subject=, to request a hard or soft copy of the executive summary or full report.]


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Source: 2005 Executive Report: Target Marketing Priorities Analysis, Harte-Hanks

About CSO Insights
CSO Insights is a research firm that specializes in benchmarking how companies are leveraging people, process, technology, and knowledge to optimize the way they market and sell to customers. During the past ten years, CSO Insight's survey of more than 5,000 sales effectiveness initiatives has become the benchmark for tracking the evolution of how the role of sales is changing, the challenges that are impacting sales performance, and most importantly, what companies are doing to address these issues. For more information, go to http://www.csoinsights.com .

About Harte-Hanks
Harte-Hanks, Inc., San Antonio, TX, is a worldwide, direct and targeted marketing company that provides direct marketing services and shopper advertising opportunities to a wide range of local, regional, national and international consumer and business-to-business marketers. Harte-Hanks Direct Marketing improves the return on its clients' marketing investment with a range of services organized around five solution points: Construct and update the database -- Access the data -- Analyze the data -- Apply the knowledge -- Execute the programs. Expert at each element within this process, Harte-Hanks Direct Marketing is highly skilled at tailoring solutions for each of the vertical markets it serves. Harte-Hanks Shoppers is North America's largest owner, operator and distributor of shopper publications, with shoppers that are zoned into more than 1000 separate editions with circulation of 12 million in California and Florida each week. Visit the Harte-Hanks Web site at http://www.harte-hanks.com or call (800) 456-9748.

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ipod gives birth...

http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000153057792/

WSJ: Blog-only search engines popping up online

WSJ: Blog-only search engines popping up online

With the number of blogs estimated to be about 16.5 million and rising every day, consumers and Internet start-ups are finding ways to sort through the clutter, according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). Unlike search giants such as Google and Yahoo! that search billions of Web pages and, as of now, don't allow blog-only searches, new sites use a variety of Web-tracking tools to perform nearly real-time searches of new blog posts. For example, the most popular of these sites, Technorati.com, monitors blogs using a mechanism called "pinging," where bloggers send out an electronic notice called a ping when they finish posting. Some sites comb through news feeds, while others use automated Web crawlers to search for new entries, says WSJ. Other blog-searching sites include IceRocket.com, Feedster.com, DayPop.com, and BlogLines.com.

 

How (and Why) DTCs Can Use Search Engine Marketing

How (and Why) DTCs Can Use Search Engine Marketing

By Scott Delea, SVP and GM, DigitalGrit, Inc.

What’s the most effective tool available to DTC marketers with limited budgets?

The easy answer: Search Engine Marketing. Last year, $7.3billion was spent on Internet marketing, exceeding the spending highs of the Web’s turn-of-the-century heyday.2 In the second quarter of 2004, 40% of all Internet advertising dollars ($947 million) were spent on Search Marketing – a sure sign that smart marketers know where the highest return on investment is.

“Pharmaceutical companies are starting to pay closer attention to advertising ROI and their DTC budgets have shifted accordingly,” says Mary Ann Belliveau, Head of Healthcare in Google’s Vertical Markets Group. “People today spend as much time on the Internet as they do watching television, and we’re seeing brands plan their ad campaigns in a much more integrated manner than ever before. Pharmaceutical companies realize that the wide reach they get with television ads prompt consumers to go to a search engine like Google to research information about both the condition and the brand.”

With Google and Yahoo! among the most heavily visited sites on the Web, it’s clear that her assertion is true (MSN and AOL, with searches fed by Google and Yahoo!’s Overture network are also among the most popular) 5 . Consumers now turn to the Web, not just for work or entertainment, but for information about health and wellness for themselves and their families. 6 In fact, Google is the top referral site for the Healthcare industry, referring over 53% of users to doctor’s sites and over 49% of users to medical sites.

Why is search so popular? A few good reasons: High ROI, pinpoint targeting and true accountability. With the majority of paid Search campaigns charged by the click, advertisers pay only for the leads they receive. (Click prices vary widely as keywords are typically bid upon. The more popular the keyword, the higher the price.) Astounding results can be achieved with as little as 10% of an existing marketing budget.

The ability to zero in on a target audience makes Search especially effective. By bidding on keywords – or search terms – that relate to their product, marketers can place their information right in the path of consumers who are actively seeking health information. For example, the marketer for a prescription allergy treatment might bid on keywords and phrases like “nasal congestion,” “pollen” and “itchy eyes,” as well as their product name. This way, consumers performing searches on any of these terms will find information on that product.

Also attractive is the accountability of Search. Clicks can be tracked accurately and easily – often within the Search Engine itself. (Google and Overture both offer basic campaign tracking.) So marketers can not only see how well their campaigns are performing, but what time of day their ads pull the most, which keywords are working best for them, and where the majority of their traffic is coming from.

Furthermore, because Search campaigns exist – and can be monitored – in real time, testing and tweaking can be affected easily. If a campaign isn’t performing well, keywords can be changed, copy can be altered, and clicks can be redirected – almost instantaneously.

Touching Consumers at Every Stage “DTC Search advertising allows pharmaceutical companies to reach patients at every stage of the pharmaceutical buying cycle,” observes Belliveau. “These programs can be used to reach the undiagnosed population and drive them to seek treatment; create a dialogue between patients and physicians; educate diagnosed patients; increase brand awareness; encourage patient compliance and build brand loyalty.”

Having a Search campaign, according to Belliveau, “allows the brands to reach consumers when they are raising their hand saying ‘Please tell me more about high cholesterol treatments.’ Search advertising is a powerful DTC marketing vehicle.” Search presents the opportunity for DTC marketers to put their products in front of these potential customers in the most effective way. Search offers a “pull,” as opposed to the uninvited “push” of TV ads. Consumers are trolling the Web, actively looking for product information. Their next step is likely to be a trip (or at least a phone call) to their physician – and you want them to ask about your product.

As an example, a patient who suspects they have a specific illness or condition, say, rheumatoid arthritis, may perform a search to learn more about the condition and available treatments, as 55% of online consumers do11. Similarly, a patient who is already on a course of antivirals may have questions throughout his treatment. He may be too embarrassed to call his doctor and first perform a quick search on “herpes treatment” to find the information he needs. (In fact, 48% of prescription drug buyers with Web access report going online to research a drug after receiving a prescription from their doctor.12)

Both scenarios present the opportunity to create a long-term, loyal customer. By providing relevant, informative Search results (and of course, useful information on your product’s site) you can make this consumer feel safe and confident in his course of treatment. Patients may turn to online Search for answers to the questions they’re too embarrassed to ask their doctors. Marketers have the capability, through Search Engine Marketing, to provide these consumers with answers to the questions they have about their prescription medications – and subsequently create a high-level of brand loyalty.

How does Search Engine Marketing work?

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) may seem a little trickier than other areas of Internet marketing simply because there are three different approaches yielding similar results. Here are some definitions of the key types of search listings as defined by the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO).

Paid Placement: Advertising program where listings are guaranteed to appear in response to particular search terms, with higher ranking typically obtained by paying more than other advertisers. Paid placement listings can be purchased from a portal or a Search network. Search networks are often set up in an auction environment where keywords and phrases are associated with a cost-per-click (CPC) fee. Overture and Google are the largest networks, but MSN and other portals sometimes sell paid placement listings directly as well. Portal sponsorships are also a type of paid placement.

Basically, Paid Placements are brief advertisements that appear as “sponsored links” in most Search Engines. In sites powered by Overture (like Yahoo and MSN), these ads appear as the top listings, as well as along the right-hand column of the page. In Google, through their AdWords program, ads appear only in the right-hand column. Generally, these advertisements are purchased via keyword bidding – selecting a term that best matches your product and a per-click price that you’re willing to pay for it. Based on your bid, your ad will appear higher or lower in the ranking of results. With these ads, you only pay for the traffic you receive. That is, you only pay if someone actually clicks through your listing.

Paid Inclusion: Advertising program where pages are guaranteed to be included in a search engine's index in exchange for payment, though no guarantee of ranking well is typically given.

This is fairly self-explanatory. For site listings with Overture or AskJeeves – particularly if your site has been created with Flash, is frames-based, or features frequently-changing content -- Paid Inclusion is the best way to go. Overture’s SiteMatch option charges reasonable per-page fees for listings, then serves up results based on their relevance to search terms. Google does not offer paid inclusion.

Organic Listings: Listings that search engines do not sell (unlike paid listings). Instead, sites appear solely because a search engine has deemed it editorially important for them to be included, regardless of payment. Paid inclusion content is also often considered "organic" even though it is paid for. This is because that content usually appears intermixed with unpaid organic results.

If you like to play the odds, Organic Search is for you. Results aren’t guaranteed. In fact, if your pages change frequently or were created using Flash, your site might not show up at all. That’s because Search Engines send “spiders” over the Web to seek out text-based content for Organic Search results. For example, if a consumer performs a search on the term “GERD,” the spider will scan the Web looking for Web pages containing that term. The results will be listed in order of relevance – as determined by the Search Engine, not the marketer. Which means if you’re the marketer for a well-known DTC GERD treatment, your listing could be at the top – or somewhere on the fifth page of search results.

And if you are at all concerned about the credibility of Paid Placement or Paid Inclusion listings, you needn’t be. Research shows that the majority of Search users – at least 71% -- are unconcerned about sponsored links and listings.

Scott Delea is Senior Vice President and General Manager of eMarketing Services at DigitalGrit Inc. Scott can be reached at sdelea@DigitalGrit.com.

Social Marketing Comes In Four Flavors

Social Marketing Comes In Four Flavors Consumers' trust in traditional forms of advertising is waning. In 2004, less than 50% of consumers trusted TV and radio ads, and only slightly more trusted print ads. What's more, consumers increasingly say they're bombarded with too many irrelevant ads. These negative attitudes toward traditional marketing have led consumers to take measures to block direct mailers, telemarketers, and TV advertisers from their homes in an accelerating consumer ad backlash. Social or viral marketing -- with its minimal obtrusiveness and trustworthy sources (often other consumers) -- avoids most of the anti-ad reactions that fuel the backlash. By engaging consumers in a dialogue about their products or encouraging consumer-to-consumer dialogue, marketers inevitably lose some control over the message of their campaigns. But what marketers may lose in control, they gain in audience attention, velocity of communication, and much-needed trust from loyal consumers. Tools For Social Marketing How can marketers connect with jaded consumers who avoid traditional campaigns with spam-blockers, DVRs, and Do-Not-Call lists? Four flavors of social marketing can help:

1: Word-of-mouth (WOM) Marketing Disillusioned consumers -- those who've lost trust in marketers -- now turn to each other for trustworthy product information. This consumer-to-consumer "buzz" naturally occurs without the intervention of marketers -- 46% of North American consumers often tell friends and family about products that interest them. When marketers get involved to stimulate WOM activity -- like P&G did when it offered to donate money to an energy-saving charity if Tide Coldwater users sent along product samples -- they must relinquish the control they would have had over a traditional campaign. But this is a small price to pay for the increase in consumer trust created by WOM marketing. While Tide created a buzz arou! nd Coldwater based on environmental awareness, Burger King's successful "Subservient Chicken" Webcast created a humorous buzz for its BK Tender Crisp. 2: Blogs Blogs (think: online journal) provide a venue for marketers and consumers to open a dialogue and facilitate WOM marketing among consumers. Blogs can be a space where corporate executives post their musings and consumers respond, marketers solicit consumers to post reviews of products, or consumers connect and recommend products to each other. Blogs about kids' issues help Stonyfield Farm create a dialogue with parents. Vespa's blogs give its consumers the opportunity to share Vespa scooter experiences. 3: RSS Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is an XML standard that gives consumers the opportunity to aggregate all of their information into one location. RSS provides marketers with many options to reach consumers: Feed sponsorships, ad placements within feeds, and ad headlines are only a few. Though current adoption of RSS is relatively low (only 2% of North American online adults use RSS today), those who use this technology now are the valuable, information-hungry consumers of tomorrow (see figure above). Marketers like Purina and Apple use RSS to inform consumers about new products, send updates about product support, and disseminate consumer-generated content from their Web sites. 4: Podcasting Like RSS, podcasting separates media from a single channel, delivering audio content in a new way. For marketers, podcasts provide opportunities for sponsorships, on-air ads, and original product-specific content. The upside? A captive audience. The downside? A small audience (only 10% of online adults are familiar with podcasting) but a growing one, especially with the addition of a podcasting library in iTunes, which lists more than 600 podcasts about technology and 100 about travel. Marketers looking to repeatedly reach a valuable, younger, tech-savvy crowd should actively explore this new medium. So while traditional one-way marketing campaigns are losing their audience to consumers' ad fatigue, multitasking, and distrust of marketing messages, marketing itself is not dead. It's just gone to the masses. Get involved in the dialogue. If you're interested in learning more about why social marketing works and how to do it, come to our upcoming Boot Camp. Social Marketing: Tapping Into The Power Of Connected Customers with Charlene Li and Jim Nail will take place October 13, 2005, in San Francisco. For details, contact Jennifer Joseph at jjoseph@forrester.com. In the upcoming weeks, look for research on Internet video, mature consumers (55+), advergames, young bloggers, local search, consumer security and phishing, social computing, the CE retail purchase process, mobile music, youth and music, and database marketing trends. Chris Charron Vice President, Research Director Devices, Media, & Marketing Research P.S. If you'd like to suggest research for us to write or if there are data points you're looking to track down, feel free to drop me a line anytime at chrischarron@forrester.com.   Research Referenced In This Issue Best Practices In Market Mix Modeling (35129) Blogging: Bubble Or Big Deal? (35000)    Charting The Course Of Marketing Software (37565) Financial Services Email Marketing Best Practices (37274) Getting Real About Podcasting (37473) How To Build A Word-Of-Mouth Marketing Campaign (37018) Podcasting For Marketers (37016) RSS 101 For Marketers (37422) The Consumer Advertising Backlash Worsens (35123) The North American Consumer: Online Retail Update (36730) The State Of Consumers And Technology: Benchmark 2005 (36987)    The Truth About Teens And Advertising (37574) The Web's Latest Trend: Fashion (37531) Using RSS As A Marketing Tool (35005) VoIP Liberates Voice From The Phone (35749) What Consumers Plan To Do With Content (36741) What's Driving The Hot Consumer PC Market? (37050) What's In Store For Marketing In 2005? (35593) What's The Buzz On Word-Of-Mouth Marketing? (36916) Word-Of-Mouth Marketing Needs Ethics Now (37044)

 

Focus Features Promotes 'Wolf' With IM Game

Focus Features Promotes 'Wolf' With IM Game

by Shankar Gupta, Monday, Aug 29, 2005 6:00 AM EST

IN A SIGN OF THE movie industry's effort to expand beyond traditional advertising, Universal Pictures' Focus Features two weeks ago quietly started promoting its upcoming movie "Cry Wolf" via an online game played on America Online's instant messaging service. Recently, Focus Features has made news for eschewing traditional advertising in favor of blogs and other newer media. The New York Times reported last week that Focus purchased ads for the upcoming movie "The Constant Gardener" on the blog Wonkette, owned by Gakwer Media, as well as Web sites of magazines. For the game, players attempt to identify the "wolves in sheep's clothing," while messaging with other players in an AIM-powered chat room. The game involves dividing players into "sheep" and "wolves." The sheep have to vote on which players they believe are wolves, while the wolves attempt to hide their identities. Players receive clues, but most of the voting is based on comments made by other players in the chat room. The game, which launched Aug. 15, requires a valid instant messenger screen name, and supports six 200-player "lobbies," each of which can support dozens of individual games at a time, with each game hosting up to 15 players. An AIM spokeswoman said the game's concept came from AOL, while development was outsourced to Klear Games. "Cry Wolf," which is scheduled for release Sept. 16, came out of the 2002 Chrysler Million Dollar Film Festival, which offered independent film producers the chance to win a million dollars to produce their movies. AOL was one of the sponsors. The original title was "Living the Lie." The film tells the story of a group of bored boarding school students who invent a story about a serial killer and post it on the Web, only to have their created killer develop a life of his own. The film is being distributed by Rogue Films, which is a division of Focus Features.