We recently spoke with Jeremy Lockhorn, the director of emerging media and video innovation at Razorfish, about best practices for approaching mobile app development and the importance of thinking about apps as part of a larger mobile marketing ecosystem. Here’s a snippet from the full interview available on eMarketer Total Access. (Read more…)

We recently spoke with Jami Lawrence, associate director of mobile marketing at Publicis Modem & Dialog. Here’s a clip from the full interview on eMarketer Total Access, in which Lawrence discusses best practices for developing a mobile application strategy that can strengthen the relationship between brands and target consumers. (Read more…)

Wired Magazine just released a video promoting their upcoming app for the iPad, and it looks gorgeous. We’ve all heard about how large-format e-readers such as the iPad and Amazon Kindle DX can deliver a truly immersive experience, but this video gets that point across visually. I was especially struck by interactive features embedded in the ads – something we haven’t heard much about because we’ve been understandably focused on editorial content. Delivering this type of rich media advertising experience will be crucial for publishers threatened by a sluggish economy, competition from other forms of entertainment, changes in consumer behavior, and the inexorable march of technology. (Read more…)

We recently spoke with Chris Epple, senior manager of media strategy at PepsiCo, about the company’s Propel brand of low-calorie flavored water. Here’s a clip from the full interview about the brand’s new mobile app, and how along with product enhancements and various promotions, Pepsi is working to streamline the lives of busy female shoppers (and sell more Propel). (Read more…)

We recently spoke with Tina Sharkey, the Chairman and Global President of BabyCenter, a Johnson & Johnson company and online community reaching millions of expectant and new moms. She spoke about how motherhood changes a woman’s shopping habits and purchase criteria, and how women use mom-centric online communities to get personalized advice on baby products and brands. Here’s a clip from the full interview: (Read more…)

The UK’s Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) published a statement today supporting the Grocery Supply Code of Practice. The code aims to deter retailers in the UK from forcing brands to slash prices to damaging levels.

As the financial squeeze continues to shape consumers’ expectations and buying habits, the IPA is concerned that brands may be suffering unfairly. While retailers lean on advertisers to keep prices down, shoppers too are anxious not to pay over the odds.

Price promotions have been an obvious weapon for advertisers during the 2008-2009 recession. A spokesman for the Institute of Sales Promotion (ISP) noted that the proportion of goods sold at discounted prices in the UK rose by 25% in 2009, and reached a value of £14 billion ($22.3 billion) in the month of November.

The ISP also noted that 70% of sales directors polled recently said they expected significant discounting to continue in the near future.

But the IPA’s October 2009 report, “Pricing for the upturn: How can brands fight back?” argued that advertisers and their brands could suffer long-term damage if they depended too much on discounts to attract shoppers.

The IPA had already explored the potential impact of discounting in an earlier report, “Price promotion during the downturn: shrewd or crude?” Data collected for that study indicated that price promotions eroded consumer loyalty toward brands.

The WARC’s coverage of the later IPA report also discusses further implications for advertisers. Worth a look.

More consumer packaged goods brands are getting into the online video content game. Take the case of consumer products giant Clorox–its Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing brand has produced “Garden Party”, a series of original Webisodes extolling the virtues of fresh, seasonal veggies. The series of Web shorts star actress Jennie Garth of “90210″ fame, a mom of three and an advocate of healthy eating. The Webisodes are being distributed via iVillage.

(Read more…)

Today, Apple will unveil the latest in a line of evolutionary moves to reinvent an existing product category. As detailed by Silicon Alley Insider, Apple has a steep hill to climb if it hopes to overcome a long history of failed attempts in tablet computing. Then again, with the iPod and iPhone, Apple has proven that it excels at polishing up a readily available product with superior design and a pleasing, intuitive user interface and then promoting it with the company’s trademark marketing prowess.

(Read more…)

Proctor & Gamble announced plans to launch a retail Website powered by e-commerce service provider PFSweb that will sell popular brands such as Tide, Pampers and Gillette for a flat $5 shipping fee on all orders. The site will start soon as a pilot for 5,000 consumers before opening to the public in the spring. While P&G says the site’s main purpose is to study online buying habits, it wouldn’t have launched the site if it didn’t believe people are ready to buy consumables online.

Consumers have primarily used e-commerce to purchase discretionary goods—items that are nice to have but non-essential—such as digital cameras, books and videogames. But if people start to purchase diapers, household cleaning products and other consumables online that would create a large, new e-commerce spending stream.

(Read more…)

The annual CES extravaganza is over, the elephants have left Las Vegas, but the buzz is still going about this year’s big product, 3D TV. Critics and fans weighed in during the show and this week, the wrap-up articles are in (the best is David Pogue’s in the New York Times).

In a nutshell, 3D TV sets will be prohibitively expensive for most consumers, each model comes with its own proprietary technology for viewing glasses (also expensive) and there isn’t much to watch in 3D, at least until ESPN launches a 3D sports channel this summer.

But there’s already a real game-changer on CE store shelves, one that consumers are ready for now: Internet-enabled TV. My recent report, The Digital Home: Emerging Trends in TV/PC Viewership shows consumers are hooking up their laptops to their HDTVs. Some are cancelling or cutting back on cable and other TV services, others just want to watch online entertainment on a bigger screen.

Since the report was published, even more data on this trend has come out. Deloitte’s “State of the Media Democracy, Fourth Edition” detailed who wants this technology: 65% of US adults surveyed in 2009. Or, just about everyone.

The key is ease-of-access, as Deloitte pointed out. CE manufacturers have finally leaped that hurdle, and content publishers are ready to provide news, weather, sports, shopping and video entertainment, with the click of a TV remote.

Every month, comScore and Nielsen report higher and higher consumer demand for online video–and they don’t wear funny glasses to watch it, either.