As a designer I must know my target audience, what media they like, live and trust online and off. So when I see something changing I need to act on it.
Myspace and YouTube, two sites I have enthusiastically pitched to clients increasingly have less relevance. Now, versus just 3 months ago, a Brand page on either site positions that Client as a follower not a leader, undermining the brand. This is the beginning of the end for what was an interesting and over-reported trend: Brand advertising on Myspace and YouTube.
How it began? The advertising world saw the “success” Wendy’s had with its Myspace profile. Wendys put social networking advertising into media plans. More and more advertisers jumped on that bandwagon. Peter Blackshaw, chief marketing officer for Nielsen BuzzMetrics, warned of the issues that could arise when advertisers blurred the lines between authentic content creation and advertising. He was right.
YouTube’s deal with Time Warner only intensifies this danger. Giving Warner its own branded channel and powers such as the right to censor “offensive” material transforms YouTube into portal. One that may be safer for advertisers, but considerably less appealing to YouTube loyalists - the reason advertisers want to be there in the first place.
The era of putting brand content on Myspace and YouTube is coming to an end. This is not to say that advertising on social networks is ending but its time to re-think how we do it. Create the next new trend, let it be over-hyped and let it die. It is an advertising tradition. And, as long as we can help our Clients successfully ride these waves, which means knowing when to get off, we will have done our jobs.
[tags]Myspace, youTube, Time Warner, social networks, web 2.0 [/tags]
Advertising in video games is not receiving enough attention. It’s a relatively new medium with great potential that marketers aren’t taking notice of because of common questions asked by an advertiser when first introduced to the new concept. Is the target right? Can we grab the target’s attention? Will we increase our Return on Investment? If your target audience is the young, web savvy MySpace and YouTube visitors, then the answer to all these questions is yes.
First we need to understand the development of this new way of advertising. Massive, the ad-serving company that invented the technology for advertising in games is only a few years old and has already been acquired by Microsoft. Not only will Microsoft’s games feature the technology, but Massive has also signed contracts with Electronic Arts and Ubisoft, the top two video game distributors in the world. Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony PlayStation experienced the success of online play with their previous consoles and are building their new consoles with emphasis for online gaming, giving them the capability to use this advertising technology.
A study done by Neilsen found that three-quarters of households with televisions with a male 8-34 years of age own a video game system; and these gamers watch less TV the older they get. But males are not the only ones that you can advertise to through video games. Ubisoft and EA have started trying to appeal to females as well. All this is creating one great resource for advertising.
Outlets such as MySpace and YouTube are over populating the scene and in turn becoming a drawn out trend that will lose consumer interest. So we need to be ready to adapt the next new way to advertise. Video games could be the key.
[tags]advergaming, Ubisoft, EA, Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo, Microsoft[/tags]
He is an older man but with the bright and imaginative mind of a young child…his films can take you away from reality and give you a sense of the surreal with sharp, witty story lines and imagery that stands out on the screen. he captures the essence of human dreams in his works - universal images that appeasl to all ages, i watch through the eyes of a talented film maker
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