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So many forms of media exist today that Media Nerd is absolutely certain that soon the phrase “alternative media” will cease to have any meaning at all. In our quest to make sure that nobody escapes from advertising messages we use every available surface for signage, screen placement, projection, graffiti, murals, until the landscape has no clear, open surfaces. So here are a few ideas about more:

Health Clubs:

• Cardio-workout equipment can be equipped with text zippers on which to read news, stock quotes, and ads.
• Plastic bags in the locker rooms can carry ads, which will cut the cost for the club because the advertiser is underwriting the service.
• Towels can be made with ads or logos and then supplied free or at low cost to the club
• Let’s not forget the back of the restroom stall door, which is already being done in bars and clubs.

Books:

• Bookmarks with ads/coupons can be distributed in bookstores with purchases and/or in libraries with books being checked out
• Put ads back in mass-market paperback books; they had bound-in ads in the middle about 50 years ago. That will help cut the cost of books themselves while delivering an audience that probably reads fewer magazines and watches less television.

Media Nerd recently met with the sales manager of Hercules Networks, a company that makes charging stations for cell phones: You watch news, weather, and ads while your cell phone charges in 10 minutes flat. Bookstores, libraries, and health clubs are three more venues I would suggest to him, since the average user is in each of these venues for at least ten minutes while browsing, shopping, or dressing. Not to mention everyone else who is also there who is exposed to the ads.

Of course, this also needs an approach that a client can measure, since everything is all about results. This has been done with 800-telephone numbers before, so there is a simple answer: All ads carry a variation of the web address so the site administrator can pull reports to log the number of hits by media form. That’s how to measure ROI.

Wellness is the new big American obsession. It speaks to our country’s hunger for continued youthfulness, focus and purpose as different things continue to exert strong pressure on our personal, family and work lives. We’re frankly all a little bit stressed over many things, including the economy, the state of the world, and the environment.

And while technology helps us to catch up by organizing us a bit more, keeping up with the growing base of gadgetry can also add to the worries. As a result we desperately need some space and time to meditate and take care of ourselves. Welcome to America’s heightened search for balance.

This search for the ‘better self’ was begun by Oprah in the late eighties and has increased over the years. Our quest for calm, ironically, is coming at a time when Americans are forced to work and try harder to keep up with the rest of the world. The Asians are kicking our butts in terms of economic growth, and the Europeans and their stronger Euro are putting a break on our ability to enjoy foreign travel. No wonder we’re looking for an outlet to let off some steam.

But we’re looking for a little bit more than just relaxation; we’re also looking for values and meaning. This feeling was drastically marked by the catastrophic impact on our collective identity after September 11th. continue reading ““I Feel Good” : America’s Wellness Revolution”

Innovation, along with the power of execution, is constantly heralded in the business media as one of the cornerstones of business strategies and growth. But how do you attain it. Industries differ in their inherent capacity for innovation. It’s an art form that requires both a culture fit and a set of processes that see business ideas thrive to become profitable initiatives and products giving new life to brands and to the bottom line.

Advertising agencies should be naturals at doing this given their focus on what consumers are looking for. But unfortunately they are more concerned in the day to day of running ads. “Today’s agencies must become more open in everything they do, we need to leverage our uniqueness when speaking to consumers and come up with other innovations besides simply ads to impact our clients. ” states Roberto Ramos, President & CEO of the vox collective, a full service communication agency that comes up not only with campaigns but also with product and business ideas for clients.

The vox collective worked very closely with Regatta USA and Kohl’s to come with a clothing line for model and television personality Daisy Fuentes. The agency leveraged its extensive knowledge of the retail and female market, as well as the growing Latino market to come up with a business plan and relevant communications to launch this brand. It is currently the biggest private label brand at Kohl’s, expanding into categories such as accessories and home décor.

Should we have less actual media placements and just make them the right ones? This is the question provoked by Fox’s recent decision to limit themselves to five commercial minutes per hour in two of their new programs. Media Nerd suspects that these premium units will initially be snapped up at a package rate by long-term big spenders while the network looks at the effectiveness of this strategy. The alternative scenario is that the cost will be sufficiently high to have more :15s being placed into these programs. This certainly won’t solve the clutter problem because of the traditionally-perceived lower recall rate of the :15s, leaving everyone back where they started while paying more for it. Nobody wants their CPPs to double, so the return for this has to be more than twice the sales to make it viable.

The Spanish-language networks already run fewer commercial minutes per hour and more program promos, mostly not cluttering the screen during credits or program time. When you factor in the lower commercial load during most novela premieres, you have an audience that isn’t picking up the remote. Good opening episodes will then mean a loyal audience.

Univision’s forthcoming Video on Demand in 2009 comes as no surprise in a market with increasing media choices and comes as very welcome news to viewers who want to have choices about viewing times. The damper on this good news, however, is that their licensing agreement with Televisa doesn’t allow them to provide their blockbuster telenovelas within the VOD offerings.

No te preocupes, because Televisa’s own viewers have come to the rescue: A few of them are meticulously posting entire episodes to YouTube. Media Nerd saw the first 40 episodes of Fuego en la Sangre prior to its record-breaking US debut and saw numerous posts from regular YouTube users eager for the next installment. The stream count for most of those clips so far is in the low to middle 5 figures, not enough to cut into Univision’s normal viewing audience, most of whom clearly prefer to see their programs on a standard-size or large screen with significantly better resolution.

The ones censored by Univision, however, got over 200,000 plays each.

Media Nerd, having seen some of the badly edited DVD sets of a few past titles, would happily watch them on YouTube. Even with commercials. Muchas gracias, amigos.

Parents often have an image in their heads about who might offer their kids drugs that has nothing to do with reality. The members of Generation Einstein, as children born after 1988 are being called, have a good grasp on perception management. You see it in the popular teen shows like Gossip Girls; you hear it in their references to what is, or what isn’t “off brand” for them.

This is making it harder for innocent parents to discern who is a menace to their family and who isn’t. This challenge taken to another level when you throw into the equation the fact that these parents are not American ex-hippies, well aware of the subject at hand, but 1st generation Latinos, more familiar with kidnappings & violence than they are of the slow burning social ills that plague our urban centers. They face an uphill battle of cultural differences as their children adopt the language and customs of American kids, which they often have trouble understanding.

Many such parents prefer to defer such important, but often awkward, conversations to another family member or to the school system without realizing that such procrastination facilitates the opportunity for others to make that first introduction to Mary Jane. Parents also have trouble with the idea that kids as young as 11 or 12 are already getting exposed to pot.

These latest ads were developed with Latino parents in mind to bring precisely these ideas to life. The pictures are sweet and cynical meant to drive a point home. They are meant to be provocative to get kids and parents talking about the subject. The idea is that if we give parents and kids a reason to start talking about the subject, we’ve accomplished half the battle.

In the past, the perception of genius was counter-productive to the collaborative working environment so crucial for most of us today. Yet we’re still enamored with this classic sense of the genius as the steadfast individual that toils on his own towards a huge breakthrough that revolutionizes art or science. Ayn Rand’s hero in “the Fountainhead” embodied this concept, as does the perennial Albert Einstein who has been representing this “genius brand” for the past 30 years.

As defined by Wikipedia a genius is a person of great intelligence, who shows an exceptional natural capacity of intellect, especially as shown in creative and original work. But how applicable is this to our everyday? The idea of the solitary genius working in a vacuum producing breakthrough work on his or her own is swiftly going the way of the VHS players, walkmans, & Cd’s. The notion that some are “born with it” and others are not may be true but at the end it’s those that best pursue the “it” through perseverance and collaboration that will most likely snag the genius title.

continue reading “The Genius Connection”

Thomas Friedman wrote in his modern classic “The World is Flat,” about how the Internet has paved the way for a fluid cultural exchange that defies borders. As a result, young people chat with friends from other parts of the world about common interests such as manga and parkour. Many would argue then that nationalities matter less today and that brands should downplay where they come from. Should brands then have a home country, and how should they behave when they travel?

Let’s start by remembering that globalization is only part of what seems to be a nice balancing act in how people see themselves and how they interact with others. As technology brings us closer, there are other things that keep us rooted and local including business, politics and the steady and powerful tug of family and community. We live in two worlds, the ether world of global integration and the physical world that is home. Brands need to reach that perfect balance; they must be both worldly and rooted, depending on the when and where.

Country brands, or the set of associations that people have regarding a country and its also, also impact product brands from those countries as they seek to develop their brand personality. continue reading “Building a cosmopolitan brand : which flags to wave as your brand travels the world”

I am a huge fan of fashion websites and I must say that one of my favorites is Fashiontribes.com. This site delivers articles on the hottest fashion trends and highlights cool designers. During Fashion Week, it covers the runways too and really gives you a front-row view of the . I love the Chic Steals and Fashion Deals of the Week section that displays a great list of cool finds at reasonable prices. If you’re into fashion and haven’t checked this site out, you definitely need to catch up on what you’ve been missing!!

As the economy forces fashion shoppers to find ways to save while looking stylish, it seems that concern for the environment is also helping to further blur the lines between high and mass-fashion.  Target and Barney’s have partnered in the support of a new eco-friendly line by Council of Fashion Designers of America winner, Rogan Gregory. The line, Rogan for Target, will feature sexy and fashion forward clothes made of environmentally sensitive materials including organic cotton. The collection will be previewed during a week-long engagement at Barney’s before it launches across the nation in all Target stores.  Could this be the beginning of an era of smarter brand collaborations where brands, regardless of price, come together to reflect their consumers’ natural mixing and matching across price points and styles?

Three simultaneous concerts led by global superstar Shakira, will connect Latino audiences worldwide, and launch a branded movement focused on Latin America’s potential.

Latin America and the U.S. Hispanic population comprise one of the largest and most vibrant youth populations worldwide. Their impact is felt in the political, social and lifestyle realm. This presents a challenge and opportunity for governments and brands that want to inspire and engage this important generational bloc. The opportunity lies in leveraging Latino youth’s optimism, entrepreneurship and overall objective to create more opportunities for all.

Alas Foundation is a milestone initiative started by worldwide music superstar Shakira and a long list of music stars along with the region’s top business and cultural leaders. The Foundation was created to generate awareness around the issues impacting Latin America and to generate funds for programs focused on children’s health and education.
And on May 17th, the foundation will host a historic set of concerts in Miami, Buenos Aires and Mexico City to respond to Latino youth’s assertive claim to put Latin America on the map of opportunities.

The “Alas Concerts” will be part of a broader experiential movement tapping into Latino youth. Those participating in the concerts will pledge to conduct community service, focusing on projects that advance the foundation’s mission. The concert, foundation and ongoing community present a strong opportunity for celebrities, influentials, NGOs and brands to create a long-lasting impact with this generation of conscious Latinos.

The vox collective (www.thevoxcollective.com) is managing key aspects of this branded movement, including cause-related branding opportunities and event sponsorships.