Marketing Thoughts by Domus Inc.

Led by the iPhone and now other smartphones (and devices such as the iPad), mobile web traffic is increasing exponentially and many expect it to surpass desktop web usage in the near future. So what does that mean for web site designers and advertisers?

For one, Flash is still out of the picture. Apple, especially, has steadfastly refused to embrace Flash for their iPod (and iPad) platform. Even Google’s Android (currently) does not support it. So, every web site and banner ad based on Flash is basically unreadable by smartphone browsers. If you’re not taking this into account in your internet marketing efforts, you’re doing yourself a disservice.

How about other rich media advertising platforms? Whatever technology you use, it behooves you to test it on the iPhone and other popular smartphones. For example, for almost a year now, PointRoll now offers distribution of its rich-media ads on the iPhone. Microsoft, similarly, has recently demonstrated streaming Silverlight videos on the iPhone.

Over the course of 2010 there will be many new announcements of mobile web technologies and platforms, but between now and when those are adopted, we as marketers need to understand who is visiting our target sites and distribute our content accordingly. Otherwise, a good portion of our intended audience will be excluded for no reason other than our inattention.

Domus, Inc. is an advertising agency, PR agency, and digital media agency based in Philadelphia. For more information, visit us at http://www.domusinc.com.

Yesterday, AdAge had an article predicting that, as with past product introductions, Apple will significantly bump up its advertising spending to support the introduction of its Tablet being announced today. Other sites have picked up and repeated the story.

What’s interesting, though, is that today’s introduction is Apple’s first since the full explosion of social media usage. (The iPhone was introduced in 2007, which, although in the age of social media, was still at the very beginning of the explosion.) So how will Apple advertise their new introduction? Obviously, they’ve done a great PR job thus far, getting stories and opinions with increasing frequency and anticipation for months leading up to today’s announcement. But once they start advertising, which media will be their dominant focus?

In all likelihood, they will spend most of their money on traditional media, especially television. They’ve been successful at it, they continue to use it (e.g., Mac vs. PC ads), and it’s the best vehicle to cement the Apple brand image onto a new product. But, whatever they do, it will be interesting to see how one of the best brand positioning companies of our day executes its marketing plan.

Domus is a full-service marketing communications and advertising agency based in Philadelphia. For more information, visit us at http://www.domusinc.com.

First they duke it out in the marketplace. Then the advertising starts getting fierce. Then they go to court. AT&T vs. Verizon? Nope. This time it’s Weight Watchers vs. Jenny Craig. This past week a New York court just issued a temporary restraining order against Jenny Craig forcing it to pull its current ad comparing its weight loss statistics vs. Weight Watchers’ statistics.

If Jenny Craig is smart, though, now is the time to pull out all of the stops in its advertising campaign. Unfortunately for what we’d like to believe, attack advertising does work – if grounded in reality and pursued aggressively enough. So either Jenny Craig’s advertising claims were completely made up (which should also tarnish the reputation of their advertising agency, Young and Rubicam) or there is some basis to them, but the wording in the ads stepped over some legal line. If the latter, rework the ad, rerun it, and get the most out of the existing PR.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Domus is a full-service advertising, PR, and digital media agency based in Philadelphia. For more information, please visit us at http://www.domusinc.com.

OK, so I’m a little bit of a technophile (OK, a big one), so excuse my enthusiasm. But today is the end of the last week before the Apple tablet is introduced (hopefully – they haven’t actually confirmed that that is what their January 27 announcement will be about). After next week, computing as well as information and media consumption will begin its dramatic shift into a new era. This week is the end of the old era.

Strong predictions, but consider that virtually every major Apple introduction (when Steve Jobs has been at the helm) has fundamentally changed some aspect of our lives. Apple’s first machines ushered in the personal computing era. Apple’s MacIntosh ushered in computing’s graphical user interface. Apple’s iPod changed how we listen to music, iTunes changed the entire music distribution industry, and the iPhone/iTouch changed our concept of mobile phones. Apple wasn’t always the first in a category, but their innovative products consistently propel nascent industries into integral parts of our lives.

Companies (Microsoft and its partners in particular) have tried for years to make tablet computers a successful market segment, but they’ve always come up short. Next week, however, Apple is ready, and (according to rumors) not just with a product but with partners and supporting services to make the offering another potential market changer.

As marketers, there are so many lessons we can learn from Apple, from their ability to create innovative and exciting products, to their marketing efforts. Mostly, though, I’m in awe of how so thoroughly and completely they’ve created a branding position, and solidified it year-after-year in an industry where 10 years is the equivalent to a lifetime in other industries. When you think of Apple, what do you think of? Innovative, cool, must-have products? Is there anyone, anywhere who doesn’t share that image of them? I’m sure even Al Ries tips his hat to Steve Jobs.

Domus is a full-service marketing communications agency based in Philadelphia. For more, please visit our web site at http://www.domusinc.com.

With the election of Scott Brown in Massachusetts, we’re all reminded that the 2010 US election cycle is barely around the corner (if not already started). As such, candidates need to start planning their (marketing) campaigns, and as with other marketing (of products, services), political marketing today needs to have a strong internet component – SEO, SEM, social media, rich media ads, etc.

Even with the strong growth of social media sites, the centralized web site (for a brand, for a company, for a politician, for a political group, etc.) is still a critical marketing component. These exist for people at the final stages of their decision process, for people who are searching for information to make up their mind. Therefore, it’s essential for the site owners that these sites are prominent when people search.

As we all know, there are a number of techniques to ensure that your information is prominent, including SEO, SEM, and banner advertising. Of these, only SEO involves no point-of-click costs, but we also know that SEO takes the longest to be effective. It can take months to move a site from a relatively obscure position to the top of page one of the search engines’ results pages.

Well, we are now “months” away from the 2010 November elections. Therefore, those of us marketers who are involved or who want to be involved promoting campaigns or causes should be starting our SEO campaigns now (as well as building our social media connections). And those campaigns that don’t see this happening should quickly start looking for search engine and social media marketing partners to help them. SEM, banner ads, and other paid components can be initiated later, but organic components must be grown properly, and that means starting now.

Domus is a full-service marketing communications agency based in Philadelphia. For more information, please visit our web site at http://www.domusinc.com.

It was only a matter of time before big consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies started marketing directly to consumers, bypassing their traditional retailing partners. For years, those partners have been squeezing the CPG companies as much as possible. And, if that wasn’t enough, retailers have been offerring more and more private-label alternatives to their CPG “partners”.

So now Procter and Gamble just announced that they are setting up their first ecommerce site, initially as an “experiment” rather than as competition to their partners. But I presume private-label brands started out as an “experiment” by retailers also.

The shape and pattern of consumer purchasing continues to evolve, and as marketers, we have to remain nimble in our approaches. Otherwise, the share and power of our brands will erode. On the other hand, the opportunities for those of us with a pulse on the market should be exciting.

Domus is a full-service marketing communications agency based in Philadelphia. For more information, visit us at http://www.domusinc.com.

The “Place” (Distribution) and Promotion components of the marketing mix are proving themselves to be critically important when it comes to cell phones. Let’s look at three big-name phones on the market right now – the Apple iPhone, the Motorola Droid, and the Google Nexus One. All three have gotten great reviews for their product features. All three have a big name brand behind them. (And of the three names, Apple and Google probably have the leg up over Motorola.) Yet the Nexus One is off to a very slow start (only 20,000 sold in the first week) compared to massive introductions by the other two – and continued strong succes by both (especially the iPhone).

What’s one thing the Nexus One does not have that the other two do? The first thing that comes to my mind is a phone carrier that is actively backing it. Moreover, both the iPhone and the Droid are beneficiaries of strong advertising campaigns, whereas Google relied principally on PR and word-of-mouth for its release.

Although in the long run, a good product design and strong PR will ultimately prove the Nexus One successful, partnering with a phone carrier and investing heavily in advertising could have dramatically sped up that process.

Domus is a full-service marketing agency combining both traditional and digital disciplines. For more information, please visit our web site at http://www.domusinc.com.

This isn’t a political blog, but with the extremely partisan and fractious state of the US government right now, small changes in the political spectrum can have wide-ranging impact throughout the rest of the country and the economy overall. The Democrats – with their fillibuster-proof majority – are taking the country in directions diametrically opposed to the directions the Republicans would like, and they’re doing so at an aggressive pace. Every new law and new directive is having profound effects on the economy, on businesses, and hence on marketers.

So, as smart business people do, we adjust. We plan – for better or for worse – based on the direction we see the politicians taking us over the next year. But what if the fundamental basis of our bets suddenly changes? Will our marketing plans have been ruined or will we be able to adjust? That answer, of course, is partially dependent on how well we are informed and prepared for the possibilities.

What is that possibility we might want to prepare for? The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Republican Scott Brown has a reasonable chance of winning the special election in Massachusetts to fill Ted Kennedy’s seat. If he does win, that takes away the Democrats’ 60th seat, which might represent a fundamental power change. No longer would they be able to push through any legislation they want without a single Republican’s support.

From a business person’s perspective, if we were betting on a sure thing before with regard to legislative actions over the next year, now might be a time to hedge our bets.

Domus is a full-service marketing communications agency based in Philadelphia. For more information, visit us at http://www.domusinc.com.

Every year seems to bring us new and exciting techie gadgets. Some we knew right away that we wanted and some that grew on us over time (and some that mercifully died away). One device, though, has periodically made an appearance in one incarnation or another, yet neither dies nor hits it big – the tablet PC.

This year, though, might be different. Both Apple and Google appear ready to announce later this month their tablet PC offerings. Given that both Apple and Google are on hot streaks, it’s likely that one or both of their products will be successful. Moreover, although Microsoft has been noticeably quiet these last couple of months, there was a leaked report at the end of the summer that they also had a new tablet in the works.

From a consumer’s perspective, I’m pretty excited to see what the new generation of tablets look like. But from a marketer’s perspective, I’m also interested in studying what might or might not have made this next generation of the device succeed where previous ones had failed. There will probably be some good lessons here for those of us looking to introduce new, cutting edge products in the future.

Domus is a full-service advertising agency, PR firm, and social media marketing agency based in Philadelphia. For more information, please visit our web site at http://www.domusinc.com.

December, 2009 was the month that Google’s Chrome finally passed Apple’s Safari in the browser market share wars. (See Browser Market Share.) From a marketer’s perspective, one thing should immediately be added to everyone’s to-do list this January. If you’ve been paying less attention to Chrome than the other browsers when testing your web sites, it’s time to change that. Chrome is not only here to stay – Google is on a roll and will continue to push its market share upward.

So, download Chrome and start testing.

Domus is a full-service advertising, PR, and social media marketing agency based in Philadelphia. For more information, please visit our web site at http://www.domusinc.com.