2009 Marketing Industry Trends Study

Equation Research Presents a Marketing Industry Trends Study Created By, and For, Marketers

The 2009 Marketing Industry Trends Study is unique in that Equation opened up survey development to the Marketing Community - drawing the survey questions directly from marketers.

The feedback was outstanding - spurring diverse and thoughtful questions. Over 1,450 marketers representing clients (brands), agencies, consultants and non-profits responded to the survey.

And while the crowdsourced approach to research may in fact be the most ground-breaking aspect of all, the study delivers important findings that confirm the growing significance (and momentum) of social media and digital marketing tactics. Some of the key findings include:

• Social media adoption rates - The adoption of social media is well past critical mass--with nearly two thirds of brand marketers (59%) currently implementing social media in their marketing plans.
  
• Tools and platforms - Facebook, Twitter, online video and blogs are the 4 most popular social media tools. Yet none of these are being used in isolation--on average, there are 5 to 7 other social media tools being either actively used or dabbled with by marketers at the same time.
  
• Current marketing spend - While traditional media channels account for the largest proportion of marketing spend; Online, Search and Social Media as a group are approximately a third of all current spend. For smaller companies this increased to over 40%.
  
• Forecasts in spending - Looking towards 2010, brand marketers forecast a shift in spend towards digital tactics, feeling the areas most likely to increase will be Social Media (60%), Online Advertising (53%), Search Engine Advertising (49%) and Email Marketing (41%).
  
• Mobile marketing - While current adoption of Mobile Marketing is low (only 11% of brand and agency marketers had it as a line item), there is interest in experimentation.
  
• Uses of market research - Online ad testing is the type of research most likely to increase in the near future, with a third of marketers planning to spend more in this area.

For additional information and to download a copy of the 2009 Marketing Industry Trends Study, please click here

Making a difference for Myrtle Beach

We spend a lot of time thinking about ways to make research truly actionable and how insights can make a real-world impact on a client’s business. And while much of the work we do provides important information and guidance, it’s not every day that we can see (and quantify) the direct economic results of research -- as was the case in a recent project for Myrtle Beach.

Myrtle Beach, like most U.S. tourist destinations, has been affected by the economic downturn and as a result of state budget cuts, their tourism funding budget was reduced this year from $18 million to about $5 million. That cut severely limited the ability to advertise to the tourist market within driving distance of Myrtle Beach, putting the destination at a distinct competitive disadvantage.

That’s where Equation came in. Earlier this year, we were asked to conduct a study to gauge the economic impact of tourism in Myrtle Beach. The goal of the research was to quantify tourism activity/behaviors in order to project what that meant in terms of actual revenue produced by the Myrtle Beach area.

The results were eye opening to say the least. Referencing the data from our study, a leading local economist concluded that if the economy caused consumers to spend 10% less in 2009, Myrtle Beach’s tourism business could lose 7,000 jobs and about $400 million in local business revenue.

This finding emboldened local politicians to go to the state capitol and fight for additional tourism funding, to be derived from a 1% increase in consumer taxes. Long story short, the state agreed and moved quickly to put the tax increase into effect. As a result, the new tax would raise an estimated $15 million or more for tourism efforts for Myrtle Beach and lenders became willing to immediately fund MB’s marketing efforts against the projected tax revenues. Now that is making a difference!

A key recommendation in this case that Myrtle Beach took to heart and something we’ve seen consistently across different clients and industries is that the best time (and some here at Equation might argue, the only time) to gain market share vs. competitors is in a down market. When times are good, everyone is marketing, client attrition is low and market share is unlikely to change drastically. However, when the broader economy or specific events in a given category cause the players to hunker down, cut budgets and avoid risks - THAT is the time for a brand to go on the offensive to increase market share.

So while the economic turmoil of 2009 poses huge challenges and hurdles for many companies, it also provides an even greater opportunity for those willing, able and smart enough to take the risk of actively pursuing a greater piece of their market.

The real originators of social networking?

Maybe not, but I think Coleman is on the money with this new campaign.

Great idea and they were able to pull off the message that Coleman invented social networking without coming off as arrogant. This works for Coleman mostly because they are staying true to what the brand really stands for and what it means to people. It’s also nice that their core products don’t get lost in the mix.

The old looking footage (real or not) and tongue in cheek tone help make the ads feel down to earth. On the other hand, I could easily see another brand trying a similar creative idea (alcohol/spirits come to mind) and coming across as egotistical or over the top. Just kind of feels right coming from Coleman.

There are lots of cool ways that they can and are starting to take this idea further. The iPhone apps are a terrific start – lantern and campfire story apps are fun and make sense coming from Coleman. The Facebook group is also a nice way to bring camping enthusiasts together while at the same time tying things back to the brand. Where else could they extend the idea?

A lot of brands are trying to figure out how to join the social media conversation. In an effort not to be left out, it’s easy to run with a “Just do something!” mentality, but misguided attempts can easily do more harm to a brand than just staying on the sidelines. It’s easy to spot a fake and consumers are a lot smarter than many advertisers give them credit. Nice to see a brand doing things in a thoughtful way, and from a credible position.

Research for marketers, by marketers

It’s been a while since our last post, but an exciting new project we’re working on seemed like the perfect excuse to get back in the game. With a good deal of help and inspiration from our friend Paul Soldera, we’re about to launch a first of its kind study (to our knowledge at least) designed by and for the marketing community.

Paul was able to hook Equation up with CK (Christina Kerley) who was drawn to the idea of developing a survey on industry trends with input directly from the marketing community. We’re very excited to be involved and CK has been absolutely great to collaborate with. She was able to help make this happen both through her own site and also via her blog on Marketing Profs.

CK explains the idea much more eloquently here but in short, we’re opening up the floor to questions from the marketing community for a survey to be sent to over 50,000 marketing and advertising professionals. The feedback has been great – quite diverse and very thoughtful questions including lots of good ones around social media and new ways of connecting with consumers.

We’re now in the (happily tough) process of picking ten questions that best reflect what resonated most with the community. These questions will be the focus of our annual Market Trends survey which we do to keep a pulse on what’s happening in the marketing and research world. Once the results are in, CK and her readers will get access to the information before it’s available anywhere else (it’s their data after all!)

As for Equation, we’re thrilled to facilitate this and to be part of a new way to think about research. Huge thanks to Paul, CK, Marketing Profs and especially the community for posing some great questions. We look forward to seeing the results and hopefully, making this an annual tradition.

Stay tuned!

Value Meal Marketing Invaluable for Restaurants

Check out the great article by Kenneth Kein (khein@brandweek.com)

Subway's $5 Footlong, McDonald's Dollar Menu and Outback's $9.99 "Steak the way you crave it" are among the deals that are keeping the restaurant industry in the black, per a new report from the NPD Group.

Total restaurant industry traffic is up 1% for the quarter ended Aug. 2008, per NPD, Chicago. The modest gain is being drive entirely by meal deals, per the report.

"More so than we've seen in many years, consumers are looking for savings and ways to stretch their dollar," said Bonnie Riggs, restaurant industry analyst at NPD. Nearly a quarter (23%) of all restaurant visits were prompted by price discounts. This was up from 9% the year prior. Non-deal restaurant traffic was down 1%.

Subway's $5 Footlong, launched in March, has helped spur significant growth in sales and traffic for the world's largest restaurant franchise. "Our research shows that consumers' expectations of what is an affordable price have shifted as first gas prices skyrocketed and then the economy moved toward recession which caused consumer confidence to plummet to all time low levels," said Jeff Moody, CEO Subway Franchisee Advertising Fund Trust. "Consumers are looking, more than ever, for high quality food at reasonable prices and our freshly made in front of you $5 Footlongs are fulfill that need perfectly."

While Subway and McDonald's continue to do well in lean economic times, others are suffering mightily. In fact, Ron Paul, president of the food-service consultancy Technomic, thinks the NPD findings may be a bit too rosy. "I'm not sure restaurants are in the black," Paul said. "Public companies are reporting negative same store sales almost universally. I have no reason to think the independents are faring any better."

Regardless, value menus help stop the hemorrhaging, Paul said. "Absolutely we've seen this work in the past. That's no surprise. In past recessions, combo meals have always become important. Whether it's given them a lift to offset these other forces, I'm skeptical."

Either way, price discounts have become "the cost of doing business," said Arjun Sen, president, Restaurant Marketing Group, Centennial, Colo. "In the short-term it helps brand. You want make sure traffic continues because it may be more expensive to get them back later on."

McDonald's Launches Mobile Promotion for the McRib

By Elaine Wong (elaine.wong@brandweek.com)

McDonald's this week is bringing back the McRib and has partnered with Myxer, a hyper-targeting ad service, to market the seasonal pork sandwich to mobile phone users.

A promotion for the McRib, which has been offered by the restaurant chain for limited periods since the 1980s, will run regionally through January in cities including Dallas, Austin, Texas, Salt Lake City and Durham, N.C. McDonald's is spreading the word via ads that invite consumers to text the word "MCRIB" to 69937 to get free mobile content, such as ringtones and wallpapers touting the McRib. Moroch, Dallas, handles the regional account and reached out to Myxer for the mobile platform.

Unlike traditional media like TV or print, the promotion targets consumers ages 18-34. Myxer's Bullseye platform allows McDonald's to narrow the demographic down by gender, age, music genre and mobile preferences. As the platform is entirely mobile, 65% of visitors to the site are between the ages of 15 and 28, said Myxer's vp-marketing Steve Spiro.

"With mobile, the audience demographic tends to skew younger," said Spiro, adding that Moroch tapped the company because they "liked the concept of being able to take their brand with them."

Shawn Gurn, new media director at Moroch, said the McRib sandwich was chosen for the campaign because "it has a cult following." In November 2005, the chain kicked off a viral marketing ploy by announcing that the McRib would be removed from the menu. The sandwich went through two subsequent "farewell tours" and is currently sold in select states. Gurn said the company was trying to leverage this "farewell" buzz in the latest marketing effort.

YouTube ad strategy under threat as Viacom brings $1bn lawsuit

by Gareth Jones Marketing 28-May-08, 08:30
LONDON - YouTube's fledgling video advertising service could face 'certain death' should
Viacom successfully sue parent company Google for copyright infringement, according to
experts. Media conglomerate Viacom has brought a $1bn lawsuit against YouTube that, if successful, could scupper the video-sharing site's commercial strategy, which is currently being rolled out globally. Google has outlined plans to recoup the £880m it paid to acquire YouTube by allowing brand-owners to run ads around videos on the site. The service is currently limited to clips from partners, including Universal Pictures, NBC and EMI, but YouTube is widely expected to extend the model to user footage, 10 hours of which is uploaded to the site every hour.However, YouTube may be forced to remove hundreds of millions of clips from its site
if US courts side with Viacom in what could be a landmark case. Analysts believe that this would have a 'serious impact' on YouTube's ability to generate revenue from advertisers keen to tap into its huge global user-base.

'Restricting the amount of video content on YouTube will mean certain death for its commercial model,' said Jim Clark, senior technology analyst at Mintel. Google claims that the suit, which centres on 150,000 'unauthorised' clips, could threaten the free exchange of information via the internet.