iMedia Connection Blog

A quick perusal of the advertising trades over the last six months shows the emergence of a new cocktail: a shot of heady new technologies like social marketing with a splash of old favorites like email and CRM. This is an encouraging development.
It shows that the industry is willing to embrace all that is new and exciting, without sacrificing the focus on ROI. The latter is especially important as the ability to deliver measurable results is what has driven online advertising's growth over the last decade.
Take a look at some of the marketers that are converging branding and performance campaigns:

In what has to be a watershed moment for advertising, Pepsi decided not to advertise during the Super Bowl. Instead, it decided to engage consumers in a two-way dialogue through social networks.  To quote Lauren Hobart from TIME magazine, "It's a big shift. We explored different launch plans, and the Super Bowl just wasn't the right venue, because we're really trying to spark a full-year movement from the ground up. The plan is to have much more two-way dialogue with our customers."

 The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) is using a combination of... Read more

On the surface, the latest research in retail marketing paves a clear road to success. According to an article in ClickZ, back to school searches on Google are significantly up. Specifically, searches that reflect more cautious spending: searches for "coupon" are up 40% over last year; "buy one get one free" are up 30%; "free shipping" are up 20%.
Some more retail research: Based on Deloitte's latest Consumer Spending Index, consumer spending is on the rise (an increase of 2.15% in July, the second straight month of growth). At the same time, shoppers continue to be extremely price-sensitive. The National Retail Federation's recent study conducted by BIGresearch found that over 50% of holiday shoppers consider price to be the most important factor when determining where to shop.
What this looks like for retailers is that for the two major upcoming shopping seasons – back to school and the Holidays – there may be a very straightforward opportunity: shoppers are more comfortable spending, but they need to be motivated though special deals and discounts.
It would be easy to conclude then, that with the right call to action, your problems are solved. If you're offering free shipping, just say so. If you... Read more

A recent AdAge article paints a clear picture of how the recession has changed the online ad industry. As marketers, we've been embattled by the economy for long enough to have learned a thing or two. While things aren't in the clear just yet, they are (hopefully) not getting worse. Though the final outcome is yet to be determined - the one thing that industry experts do agree on is that the way we think about media and accountability has been reset for good.
Advertisers are looking for cause and effect - a demand that won't go away just because budgets return. They want ROI on every dollar spent. Even before the recession, we heard calls for more transparency, more measurability. In response, we looked at new ways to justify old models: buckets of research dollars spent to prove the synergy between search and display, a  surge of ad networks and exchanges to help monetize stagnant inventory. Today, accountability is no longer a nice to have. It's a must. It's not about fixing what's broken - it's about a new direction.
As our industry evolves, so does consumer behavior. With the release of each new media channel and... Read more