By Patricia Wilson, founder of BrandCottage

Advertising is dead. Long live advertising!


Or so the chant continues as advertising spending continues its march from economic doldrums and adjusts to changes due to technological innovations and shifting consumer media habits.

Interpublic Group’s Magna Global recently lowered its 2012 worldwide ad revenue projections, but still predicts total ad revenues to be up 3.7 percent — nearly $153 billion — in the United States. Similarly, ZenithOptimedia forecasts a 3.6 percent growth expenditure for the United States in 2012, pointing to continued newspaper declines and flat magazine advertising,  but increased market share for Internet advertising.


Biggest gainers: digital and mobile ads aimed at driving new revenue from a growing appetite for tablet computers that come in all shapes and sizes, from the innovation-leading Apple iPad to the low-cost Amazon Kindle Fire (see PCMag’s tablet review). However, even within the television and digital ad spaces, changing priorities in ad spending look like the norm for 2012.


(See related BrandCottage blogs: Advertising’s Recovery: Not all Media Created Equal and Advertising Spending Looks Up in 2010.)

TV Advertising Maintains Market Share

Holding its own in the battle for advertising dollars: television.


Cable “cord cutting” is expected to continue in the U.S. at an annual rate of 500,000 subscribers for the next few years,” said Vincent Letang,the executive vice president and director of global forecasting at Interpublic Group’s Magna Global (reported by MediaDailyNews). But dollars won’t be lost as much as they are redirected to other video channels and platforms.

Print Down But Not Out

A poor performance in the second half of last year resulted in an 3.1 percent decline in magazine ad pages for 2011 compared with 2010, according to a report recently issued by the Publishers Information Bureau (PIB). Category declines included food and food products, home furnishings and supplies, public transportation, hotels and resorts and direct response companies.


There are, however, some “pockets of strength” in the apparel, cosmetics and financial sectors. In fact, according to Mediafinder.com, 239 new magazines launched in 2011, up 24 percent from 193 new launches in 2010 (see MediaDailyNews). Business-to-business magazines almost doubled, from 34 new titles in 2010 to 62 last year.

Innovation Drives Advertising Disruption

Three emerging trends are the direct result of disruptive technologies, according to a 2012 market survey conducted by AdMedia Partners:

• The distribution of content across trans-media channels.
• The demand for real-time, more personalized content across multiple devices.
• Exponential growth in the ability to collect, manage, analyze and execute on marketing data.

“As a consequence, digital media and marketing services are experiencing more rapid growth than both the overall economy and marketing spending as a whole,” according to the AdMedia report.


The Internet is and will continue to be the fastest-growing medium, according to ZenithOptimedia. Major Internet advertising trends, worldwide:

• Display is growing the fastest, at 18.9 percent a year, and is driven mainly by online video and social media.
• Paid search is growing more than 15 percent a year, but growth is “slightly restrained by the shift in search behavior from desktop to mobile devices, where costs are currently lower.”
• Google increased its global share of the Internet market from 34.9 percent in 2006 to 44.1 percent in 2010.
• Facebook has overtaken AOL with a market share of 3.1 percent in 2010.

Digital advertising has quickly advanced from a fringe buy to an imperative part of companies’ media mix,” notes Jenna Levy in the Marketing Conversation blog.


Even more amazing, Forrester Research predicts that U.S. advertisers will spend $77 billion on interactive marketing in 2016 (thanks DailyDOOH).


That’s the amount spent on television today!

Patricia Wilson is the founder of BrandCottage, a media marketing company with offices in New York, Atlanta and Washington, D.C.

By Patricia Wilson, founder of BrandCottage

Arguably, in 2008, social media emerged as a marketing staple. So, what have we learned about the benefits of social networking? Does everyone benefit: business-to-consumer and business-to-business companies? Or, is social media just a tool for Lady Gaga and other megastars?


SmartPulse, a quickie poll from SmartBrief on Social Media, asked marketing leaders to identify who has most benefited from social media engagement. Top on the list of beneficiaries:

• Business-to-consumer companies (32 percent).
• Celebrities (31 percent).

In the early stages of social media experimentation, I’d say that’s about right. Does it mean that social media isn’t working for others, such as media companies and business-to-business organizations? Of course not. There are hundreds of case studies demonstrating the power of social engagement for all kinds of businesses.

The Right Social Media Mindset

What is true, frankly, is that business-to-consumer companies are often the leaders in innovative marketing. They’ve demonstrated their prowess in traditional marketing and they continue to lead the way with new media strategies. Why? Because business-to-consumer companies make brand image part of the corporate fabric (think Apple and Ford, for example).


Social media cannot be thought of as just another marketing gimmick. In her SmartBrief blog, social media consultant Mirna Bard is right on target: “It takes a mindset shift, time, willingness to learn and commit, as well as consistency. These elements combined with the right strategy and tools can be powerful for any business or person, whether they are using it for training, internal communication, prospecting or even to become a celebrity.”


In other words, it takes a 360-degree cultural shift and commitment for social media to work. It is no small task for some organizations to move from defensive, controlling, top-down driven organizations to ones that are open to 24/7 engagement and, yes, even criticism.

Looking Ahead on Social Engagement

In The State of Corporate Social Media in 2011, from the Useful Social Media Community, 50 percent of U.S. companies said they still do not have a staff member devoted to social media. However, all U.S. companies surveyed said that social media is becoming a more important part of the marketing strategy and 29 percent project social media budgets to increase by 100 percent or more in 2011.


“Whilst marketing and communications retain their dominance as the main reason companies use social, customer service, employee engagement and product development all see significant growth [in the United States and Europe],” according to the report.

What is Social Media Worth?

Is social engagement worthwhile? The real answer to this question, for many companies, is unknown. Most do not measure social media ROI. But when you look at leading companies — Dell, Starbucks, Ford, Coca Cola and Apple, for example — it is easy to see the power of social media as a marketing tool.

Companies are still learning about social media’s power. For some, the transition has been easy (they had open cultures to begin with). For others, it’s going to require more than establishing a Facebook page or Twitter feed. It will mean substantial cultural shifts.


Or, as Lady Gaga sings: Baby I was born this way.

Patricia Wilson is the founder of BrandCottage, a media marketing company with offices in New York, Atlanta and Washington, D.C.

By Patricia Wilson, founder of BrandCottage

Yeah, the Super Bowl is cool. But as a media strategist, I can’t wait to weigh in on the most important kickoff of all — the sponsors of the greatest game on turf.

A Sneak Preview

Everyone understands the humongous advertising reach gained by a 30-second Super Bowl spot (106 million viewers last year) even if there is debate on the wisdom of spending so much money in one day. In the advertising industry, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other social media channels have been alive — for weeks — with discussions and pre-game anticipation and early predictions on winners and losers.

In fact, all the social media discussion around Super Bowl ads has become an important channel in its own right — expanding the already huge Super Bowl viewing audience with millions of additional online impressions. This allowed unprecedented integration of traditional and digital media.

But here’s what’s new. Advertisers are not only stirring the pot of excitement about the debut of their ads on Super Bowl Sunday, they are even providing sneak previews, via social channels.

Brands such as Audi, Best Buy, Budweiser, CareerBuilder, Chevrolet, Coca-Cola, E*Trade, GoDaddy, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Snickers, Teleflora, 20th Century Fox and Volkswagen “are all over social media trying to drum up interest in the commercials they plan to run during Super Bowl XLV on Fox on Sunday,” according to The New York Times (Before Sunday, a Taste of the Bowl).

The advertising industry  is also capitalizing on the Super Bowl advertising frenzy. Check out Brand Bowl 2011, from Mullen and Radian6. The site, in short, tracks Twitter conversations to determine real-time audience reaction to the spots.

You can certainly expect Tweets from me at @BrandCottage. And I look forward, as I do every year, to engaging with other marketers and ad enthusiasts. You can follow the conversation on twitter and join in the fun with hashtag #brandbowl.

Oh, and good luck Packers and Steelers.

Patricia Wilson is the founder of BrandCottage, a media marketing company with offices in New York, Atlanta and Washington, D.C.

By Patricia Wilson


Where have all the news junkies gone or, more appropriately, where are they going? And what does the migration from print to digital — if its exists — mean for marketers and the advertising agencies that want to reach news consumers?


Consider these transformational changes in news consumption:

• Print newspaper circulation continues to decline. The Audit Bureau of Circulations, in October, found that 379 daily newspapers reported an average 10.6 percent drop in circulation (see The New York Times story).
• Purchases of U.S. magazines at news stands and other retail outlets, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, fell 9 percent in the second half of 2009, while subscriptions fell 1.1 percent in the years second half (see msnbc.com story).
• 28 percent of newspaper executives responding to a recent survey by the Associated Press Managing Editors, a group of newspaper executives, said their publications are considering online fees (see USATODAY.com story).
• According to a survey by Editor and Publisher (itself, a magazine that is shutting down), 55 percent of readers said they would be very or extremely unlikely to pay for online newspaper or magazine content (see News Consumer story).
• At the same time, 81.5 percent of the online paid subscribers of The Wall Street Journal and Consumer Reports consider them to be good, very good or excellent value, according to the Editor and Publisher study.
• To really complicate matters, 26 percent of Americans get news on their mobile phones, according to a new Pew Research Center study, Understanding the Participatory News Consumer.

For advertisers and marketers who are wondering where to find their target consumers in this jungle of media usage patterns, it’s time to remember:

1. All good marketing starts with clear objectives.
2. Every media can accomplish something….and most often not the same objectives.

Online news is fast, it’s searchable and it saves valuable time. But online news is also highly fragmented. Print, on the other hand, is surprisingly engaging and encourages readers to take deeper dives. They both have their place and, as media strategists, we have to make the right choices for our brands.


For example, I can’t imagine the brand launch of a new car design or Prada jeans without thoughtful print campaigns. Or products for babies without being in Parent magazine, where new moms and dads seek information-rich articles, photos and sidebars. For the same reasons, radio is intrinsically a good bet for fast-food restaurants, just as digital advertising is fabulous for reaching highly targeted segments at places in their lives where they are close to a purchase decision such as taking a trip to Europe, for example.


It’s more important than ever for marketers to get back to understanding what each media type can and can’t do. New media, without a doubt, is growing and important. But there is still a place in the media plan for traditional media.


Patricia Wilson is the founder of BrandCottage, a media marketing company with offices in New York, Atlanta and Washington, D.C.

By Patricia Wilson


Overall, optimism is growing in the advertising industry. However, not all media are created equal in projections for U.S. advertising spending in 2010 and beyond. It remains a difficult time for print, while television seems to be holding its own. Digital advertising continues to grow, and may have even benefited from the recession.


(See related blog: Advertising Spending Looks Up in 2010.)


“The rise of the Internet continued uninterrupted during the downturn — in fact, the downturn probably accelerated the shift of budgets from traditional media by focusing advertisers’ minds on the importance of measurable return on investment,” said ZenithOptimedia, in a press release forecasting ad spending for 2010 and beyond.


Television suffered less than other media, ZenithOptimedia noted, while “newspapers and magazines have clearly suffered the most from the downturn.”

Ad Predictions by Media Type

ZenithOptimedia predicts the following for 2010 global advertising spending by media:

• TV: Up 4.36 percent with 40.3 percent market share.
• Newspapers: Down 3.8 percent with 21.7 percent market share.
• Internet: Up 12.9 percent with 13.9 percent market share.
• Magazines: Down 4.4 percent with 9.6 percent market share.
• Radio: Down 0.5 percent with 7.5 percent market share.
• Outdoor: Up 1.72 percent with 6.5 percent market share.
• Cinema: Up 3.07 percent with 0.5 percent market share.

Communications firm Carat, as reported by MarketingProfs, expects the United States — in specific — to follow a similar ad-spending pattern:

• TV: Up 4 percent.
• Newspapers: Down 8.3 percent
• Online: Up 10 percent.
• Radio: Up 2.5 percent.
• Magazines: Down 5 percent.

Last, but not least, in its April revised forecast (via MediaBuyerPlanner), MAGNA raised its 2010 expectations, predicting a 3 percent rise in U.S. ad spending, including revenues from the Olympics and spending on elections, to 3 percent. This is MAGNA’s second correction of 2010, including a January forecast predicting flat growth for U.S. ad spending.


MAGNA’s U.S. outlook is bullish for the Internet and TV, but bearish for print:

• Search: Up 16.8 percent.
• Local TV: Up 16.2 percent.
• Internet: Up 12.8 percent.
• National TV: Up 10.2 percent.
• Magazines: Down 6.9 percent.
• Local Newspapers: Down 10 percent.
• National Newspapers: Down 11 percent.

Industry revenues will rise from $40.5 billion in the first quarter of 2009 to $41.3 billion during the first quarter of 2010, according to a MAGNA press release.


“Among the various sectors, television remains the largest advertising platform in the United States,” MAGNA said. “The $56.0 billion dollar segment will grow by 9.8% during 2010, slightly higher than our prior 8.5% expectation. This growth will erase 2009′s losses and return the sector to levels observed between 2006 and 2008.”

What Media Executives are Saying about the Future

Overall, ad spending is expected to grow an average of 3 percent in 2010, while interactive ad spending is expected to grow 10 percent, according to an AdMedia Partners online survey of global senior business executives in advertising, marketing services, digital marketing and related industries.


The majority of media executives (65 percent) said that online revenue will account for more than 50 percent of total revenue within the next five years at business-to-business publications. For newspapers, 44 percent said online revenue will outstrip print within five years and 38 percent said that it is likely to take 5-10 years.


Mobile and social media marketing are also projected to grow.


“These evolving media and service offerings are considered to be important growth opportunities increasingly requested by content owners and advertisers,” according to the AdMedia Partners report. “Just like the early days of the Internet, media companies are experimenting with various business models to monetize these opportunities.”


Patricia Wilson is the founder of BrandCottage, a media marketing company with offices in New York, Atlanta and Washington, D.C.