Digital Marketing in 2012: Year of Application

PumaPulse Curated By ZenithOptimedia, The ROI Agency Find out more at http://puma-pulse.blogspot.com

With less than a month to the new year, how will digital marketing shape up in 2012? What challenges and expectations do advertisers and agency professionals need to look out for next year?

To put it simply, 2012 will be the year of application. With all the changes in 2011, applying all you learned would be the key theme for 2012. Here are four areas to consider:

1. Mobile. 2011 may be the start of the mobile marketing era. However, advertisers and agency executives are still working to integrate mobile more effectively with an overall marketing plan. From better online and offline integration to measuring mobile ROI, there’s huge room for improvement in these areas.

Mobile marketing is no longer one of many marketing channels to choose from. With consumers spending much more time on mobile devices, it will become indispensable in all marketing campaigns for 2012. The key challenge for advertisers and marketers is how to leverage the “persona,l” “portable,” and “interactive” elements of mobile and integrate them to your overall marketing activities. Just like how online marketing used to be considered an option in the marketing plan, consumers’ media habits will dictate the direction and mode of marketing. Therefore, marketers need to consider the role mobile will play in consumers’ lives and find an effective way to integrate it into the marketing mix. In 2012, I look forward to seeing more and better case studies of integrated mobile marketing campaigns!

2. Deeper ROI. This year, advertisers have started to ask for more measurement metrics, mostly based on price, “cost per click,” and “conversion rate.” With heavier investment in digital marketing, advertisers will naturally require even more direct and efficient return on the business. “How much money can my investment bring?” In Western markets, they have worked out a system to count the return, and some media agencies in China have also highlighted its importance. Take the bank business for example, apart from promotions, digital marketing can help an enterprise in its day-to-day marketing and customer service. Would it also be possible for the bank to leverage digital marketing to provide more services to clients to enhance their loyalty and preference? Could this be done using a software or app to integrate all services with payment notice? Such functions could not only reach the clients, but also help with the bank’s core business, such as reducing dead debts. An open platform that enables clients to manage all bank accounts (at least with a reminder function) may be surprisingly welcome. Isn’t it the best return?

3. Research. Although digital marketing ad spend increases year by year, advertisers do not pay enough attention to marketing research. In the past, when we have a $2 million budget in digital, it does not seem cost-efficient to spend $0.5 million (25 percent) on research. But now, with digital investment usually exceeding tens of millions a year, spending $2 million on research would only occupy 4 percent in the $50 million investments – bringing deeper understanding on the future trends and consumer insights. Wouldn’t it be better to work out more effective investment decisions based on reliable research results? Digital marketing still lacks an industry-acknowledged standard like TV audience ratings. Advertiser-initiated research would help to collect data and figure out a way for their own digital marketing metrics.

4. Integrated marketing. This topic is not new and has been discussed again and again. Constrained by execution, current cross-media integrated marketing is more like a combination of all media, which is actually not integration – but the first step to it. We can see an OOH ad is used to promote the company’s microblog or mobile app, and TV commercials will include a link to search or an official website. All these attempts only combine the various media channels. But once we understand the concept of how to combine various media, then we can start thinking about how to leverage each of these channels to integrate them into the entire marketing plan. For example, when planning for digital marketing on outdoor ads on bus shelters (or subway stations), we should include consumers’ waiting time into the plan and choose the best way to present the OOH ad. With the iPad becoming more popular, what format and how should we engage consumers on this platform? All these emerging trends require more comprehensive research, bold ideas, and more effective executions. What I may predict is: once realized, cross-media integrated marketing will not let advertisers down. In the coming year, I believe more advertisers will pay attention to these emerging platforms and step into the blue ocean of digital marketing!

From a strategic viewpoint, social media, mobile, video, and search will continue to be the four key trends in 2012. However, with the increasing number of new technologies and formats popping out, the challenge for all advertisers and agency professionals is how to apply them effectively in your marketing plan. Whoever can think of a way to overcome this challenge will herald a new wave of digital marketing. Infinite possibilities await. Let’s strive together!

Source: http://www.clickz.asia/5446/digital_marketing_in_2012_year_of_application  

Reebok 2012 Spring/Summer Collection Lookbook

PumaPulse Curated By ZenithOptimedia, The ROI Agency Find out more at http://puma-pulse.blogspot.com

Reebok’s newest lookbook for Spring/Summer 2012, is finally out. The brand highlights their Always Classics and New Classics collections to present an interesting assortment of apparels and footwear. Featuring re-introduced and modernized pieces including one of the brand’s most iconic silhouettes – the Workout – which will celebrate its 25th anniversary next year, alongside standouts Kamikaze III and the Pump Fury HLS. A new men’s Basquiat apparel line from the brand’s artistically driven Affili’Art collection and a cute and playful mini Sushi pack rounds out the extensive seasonal arrangement. 

Source:http://www.thesource.com/albums/view/1634/106038?thesource-prod=vf67mlovgvf9nn5dga38dkh125 

Smart Adidas shoes let you mimic your favorite athlete

PumaPulse Curated By ZenithOptimedia, The ROI Agency Find out more at http://puma-pulse.blogspot.com

A new “intelligent” soccer cleat from Adidas promises to allow you to compare your performance with the game’s greatest players.

The innovative shoes, which contain an embedded chip that records and analyzes a player’s performance, have already been worn by star footballer Lionel Messi. The technology allows the German sporting goods giant to show you what you did and how it compares to previous efforts, friends and world-class players.

(No word on how the shoes will help you get over the bout of depression you’ll face with that last one.)

The cleats are the product of two years of research and development, Adidas says, and are yet another attempt to gain a competitive edge over American rival Nike, which counts star soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo among its stable of top-flight athletes, has a similar product in its Nike Plus platform and whose gains in the sport have been sizeable, at Adidas’ expense.

The smart shoe is a digitized version of the company’s f50 adizero, introduced in 2010 as the lightest cleat on the market, at just 165 grams. Now, it carries an eight-gram chip slipped beneath the sole that wirelessly transmits data, including maximum speed, distance covered.

The company is marketing them as the “football boot with a brain.”

The footwear runs on a modified version of Adidas’ miCoach platform, which was first introduced in 2006 for runners. Soccer, which involves 360-degree movement that’s more complicated than simple forward progress, represents the next step for the technology.

Unsurprisingly, the company says it’s investigating similar applications for basketball, tennis and American football in the first half of next year.

The shoes will go on sale in Europe, Asia and Latin America on Nov. 15 for 245 euros, or about $338. The U.S. receives them Dec. 1.

Source: http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/smart-takes/smart-adidas-shoes-let-you-mimic-your-favorite-athlete/20309

 

Nike’s ‘Lunar Runs’ Encourage Chinese to Run at Night

PumaPulse Curated By ZenithOptimedia, The ROI Agency Find out more at http://puma-pulse.blogspot.com

Nike has rolled out a new ad campaign in China that  calls on people to run, even at night. Nikes effort to challenge Chinese, especially from big cities, to put on running shoes is reinforced with a new web video featuring runners who talk about why they run. A highlight of the video is the story of Salad, a stressed-out 25-year-old office worker who lives in noisy Shanghai and decides to run at night.  

The video asks people to submit their own reasons, says Ad Age. Runners submitted their stories to Nike’s microblog account on the Sina Weibo platform, and the AKQA, the agency behind the campaign created a collection of professional videos based on the best entries.

The idea behind the campaign is to show running not as a painful and poor initiative but to demonstrate its cheerful and dynamical nature.

“We wanted to make sure it wasn’t necessarily Nike telling [consumers] why running is good, so the whole entry point with the communication is really leveraging stories of the few runners who are out there,” said Johan Vakidis, exec creative director at AKQA in Shanghai.

As part of the campaign, Nike hosted ‘Lunar Runs’ in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Wuhan. The nighttime events featured fitness instructors, live music and a few celebrities, to remind college students and young professionals that running is a fun activity that can be done at night, after classes or work. The event also promotes Nike’s Lunar Glide running shoe. The ‘Lunar Glide’ campaign also goes on in the USA calling on Americans to ‘never stop running’. The maximalistic slogan coincides with another Nike’s current campaign ‘Basketball never stops’.

The campaign seems to raise interest in running among young Nike’s audience as Nike engaged with more than 35,000 potential runners during its Lunar Runs and during a four-day Festival of Sports event in Shanghai.

Source: http://popsop.com/50679

 

Adidas : To Install The World’s First Virtual Footwear Wall At Flagship London Store

PumaPulse Curated By ZenithOptimedia, The ROI Agency Find out more at http://puma-pulse.blogspot.com/

To mark the release of the incredible adiZero F50 miCoach football boots, adidas are installing the world’s first Virtual Footwear Wall in their flagship store on London’s Oxford Street.

One of the great innovations in football boot technology, the miCoach was unveiled in September and in keeping with their technological advances, adidas are set to launch the world’s first Virtual Footwear Wall.

The VFW uses state of the art touch-screen and precision real-time 3D rendered products allowing customers to select footwear on a virtual shelf, pre-ordering in a fully immersive experience. The wall is fully interactive allowing you to rotate the football boot to look at the product from multiple angles, zoom in to see the finest detail and get additional product information as well as watching supporting video material.

The new adidas adiZero F50 miCoach football boot, which will feature on the VFW, is another technological breakthrough from the leading sports brand. The boot is equipped with an in-built miCoach chip enabling both professional and amateur footballers to analyse their speed, distance and work rate during a game.

The VFW is now available for customers to use from today in adidas’ flagship London store at 415-419 Oxford Street, where they can pre-order the hugely anticipated F50 adiZero football boot featuring miCoach, as worn by Lionel Messi.

Shoppers can complete their pre-order registration of the new boots by using a tablet manned by a sales assistant, arranging delivery to their home, or picking up their chosen product at the checkout at launch on November 14.

The first 250 customers who pre-order in store using the Virtual Footwear Wall from today October will:

Get £25 off the retail price of the F50 with miCoach bundle (£200 instead of £225), receive an exclusive invitation to a private event for the customer and a friend to pick up their new boots and meet a Premiership footballer, receive a free, limited edition ‘glowing F50 boot with miCoach’ memento, have the chance to win an iPhone 4S, iPhone 4 or an iPod Touch

Source : http://www.rwdmag.com/2011/10/adidas-to-install-the-worlds-first-virtual-footwear-wall-at-flagship-london-store/
http://www.gadgetreview.com/2011/11/adidas-adiverse-virtual-shoe-wall.html