As the use of digital video recorders (DVRs) continues to rise – the market penetration at the end of 2009 was measured at 32.3% – marketers are looking for new ways to reach TV viewers.  Often, this means weaving the discussion of or appearance of products into the program itself. According to a report by VSS Communications, marketers spent at least $3.9 billion in 2009 to get their “products, services and brands” onto the TV screen.

Arrangements for product promotions and branded entertainment are often established prior to the traditional upfront selling season, May, for the industry. For example, last year, Rob Master, Unilever’s director of North American media  wanted to change the way TV advertising was working for his brands yet still get the most out of the value proposition built on “flexibility, value and quality.” Masters says the “days of simply running a schedule of 15-seconds or 30-seconds and just buying straight [gross rating points] are over.”  During 2009, Unilever asked media companies to come up with ideas for plans to get brands in front of TV viewers but outside the realm of traditional ads. Subaru is another major advertising that has shifted to this strategy.

The use of branded entertainment will grow as TV stations compete with online media for audience share. An early report on the 2010 upfront season indicates that  nearly 4 in 10 advertisers will increase their expenditure on branded entertainment “as an alternative to the 30-second spot.”

And on the horizon, look for advanced TV advertising to come into play over the next few years. As more consumers use interactive devices, such as DVRs to watch TV, marketers will be exploring addressable and interactive marketing strategies.

[Sources: Atkinson, Claire. Preview: Handicapping the Upfront Stakes. Broadcastingcable. 15 Feb 2010. Web. 17 Mar 2010; Media Trends Track. TVB. n.d. Web. 15 Mar 2010; Neff, Jack. Upfront Not Working for You? Try Reversing It, Like Unilever. Advertising Age. May 2009. Web. 15 Mar 2010; Quinton, Brian. Pride of Placement. PromoMagazine. 1 Dec. 2009. Web. 17 Mar. 2010]

The good news is fewer B to B marketers are cutting marketing budgets in 2010. But nearly half (43%) anticipate only level funding for marketing expenditures when compared to last year. That’s the findings of the Target Marketing‘s Media Usage Forecast 2010.

Based on the class of customer served, planned  level funding for marketing among survey respondents breaks out as follows:

• B-to-B: 55%
• B-to-C: 42%
• Serves both types of customers: 40%

The better news is that these businesses, on average, plan to increase marketing expenditures by an amount ranging from 22%-23%.  The greatest number of businesses plan increased spending on specific media forms as follows:

• E-mail 68.4%
• Direct mail 31.8%
• Advertising on Web sites 32.9%
• Affiliate marketing 22%
• Search engine optimization 47.7%
• Search engine marketing 45.2%

Customer acquisition remains a key goal of marketing investment. And survey respondents indicated that their top forms of acquiring new customers in 2010 will be e-mail (84.6%) and direct mail (70.4%). It’s the same story for customer retention, though businesses rely even more heavily on e-mail (88.6%) than direct mail (65.6%) for this purpose.

[Source: Mummert, Hallie. Media Usage Forecast 2010. Target Marketing Mag. March 2010. Web. 15 March 2010]

Ad-ology Research recently updated their Industry Marketing Insights report for Full-Service Restaurants. The following are the predicted Top 5 Opportunities/Challenges from the report for this industry for the upcoming 12 months:

• Full service restaurants are promoting their green practices, such as reduced energy use, to appeal to consumers.
• Politicians and thought leaders are calling attention to the level of sodium in restaurant food.
• Restaurants, including full service, experienced at least a 3.9% drop in consumer visits in 2009 but anticipate some improvement in 2010.
• Locally-sourced produce and meats, along with concern for sustainability, remain top concerns in 2010.
• Full-service restaurants must promote value meals to compete in the new economy.

The Industry Marketing Insights report for Full-Service Restaurants is available on Ad-ology.com (Research Store) for $195 USD with local market data for any U.S. market.

[Source: Ad-ology Research. March12, 2010]

More than ever, large companies are focused on cutting costs and measuring performance. At the same time, Chief Marketing Officers  (CMOs) are struggling to adopt best marketing campaign management (MCM) principles. This topic is the focus of a new book Data-Driven Marketing – the 15 Metrics Everyone in Marketing Should Know by, Mark Jeffery, senior lecturer of technology at the Kellogg School, Northwestern University.

Jeffery’s research shows that “four out of five senior marketing executives have not adopted best-practice marketing campaign management.” For the most part, Jeffery had studied companies with an average marketing budget of $400 million. At these companies, senior managers are not using business cases or  return on investment (ROI) metrics to make funding decisions. Here’s why these businesses are not adopting strict measures to use in making funding decisions:

• Senior managers use instinct and ‘gut feel’:  63%
• Lack employees to track and analyze data: 64%
• Organization lacks knowledge on topics such as ROI, net present value (NPV) and customer lifetime value (CLTV): 50%

Jeffery classifies the steps necessary to achieve effective MCM as follows:

• Defined:  The organization establishes processes and procedures to achieve stated goals
• Intermediate: The organization is centralizing marketing resources and developing specific metrics for measuring investments and outcomes
• Advanced: The organization is  tracking and monitoring investments and results and then acting on the data as it becomes available.

It should come as little surprise that achieving the advanced level of MCM “provides real results to a firm’s bottom line,” said Jeffery.  As more companies tighten the funds flow, look for marketing departments to invest in better ways to measure outcome.

[Source: Kellogg School Study Finds CMOs Still Struggling to Make Marketing Campaigns and ROI Transparent. Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. 2 March 2010. Web. 11. March 2010]