Posts Tagged: advertising

1. Will virtual worlds become even more advanced in the future? Will they incorporate social networking and will we be able to create our own avatars that look like us and have all of our information?

2. Could virtual worlds be a new way of advertising for companies with product placement? (i.e. Second Life)

3. Could there be privacy concerns, along with ethical concerns, with virtual worlds?

Video Games.  Pretty freakin’ cool topic this week. Of course, like anything else, they don’t make ’em like they used to, do they? Personally, I think they peaked with the Super Nintendo and fell into close second with the N64, but with their ever-growing popularity, that’s obviously just me.

Anyway, here are a few questions I have on the subject:

1. The idea of video game simulation in the military came up in the readings.  As video game technology advances and becomes more realistic, how effective will these simulations be in terms of field training? Will they ever be effective enough to REPLACE field drills?

2. Video game advertising has become more prominent with the advent of online gaming, and it hit a peak in 2008 when Obama became the first politician to campaign in a game. How do you think video game advertising will change in the coming years?

3. As motion technology like the Wii and the xBox Kinect evolve in the gaming industry, how realistic will the movements become in relation to the real activity? For example, will sports games involve the same full movements of the real sport? And will these technologies allow for adequate fitness plans?

New Revenue Models

If advertising is always going to be the main source of revenues as the report claims, whether companies try to sell news with subscriptions or pay-per-article, I feel like those articles are doomed to fail in the long run. ESPN can their “in” articles which are for paying subscribers only, and as a casual sports reader, even when there’s an article I really really want to read behind a pay wall, there’s no way I’m paying a subscription fee for one or two articles. And those articles are a relatively niche market -sports- a site I’m specifically at for sports news – how would an online news source be able to target the broad array of people reading their articles with pay articles? It would be a lot more difficult because of the wide array of tastes browsing their site. And besides perhaps some pay-per-article revenues, I think the advertising revenue stream is where news companies have to innovate, and where they will. On to advertising!

Reading about “ViewPass LINK” in the State of the Media report, the “targeted marketing” that sites like Facebook use, I can’t help but agree that this is part of the future of online advertising. I can with all certainty say that of all the online ads I’ve ever clicked on, the majority have been on Facebook and they’ve had something to do with my particular interests. Online stores, bands’ new music, new movies coming out, new products being sold, Facebook gathers all this data from the fan pages we “like” and our profile information. And we give it them willingly. So as much as like to think they’re invading our privacy, we freely give them this information. And part of me likes it. Facebook tells me I can win free Sony headphones? Great! That’s something I kind of want. Facebook tells me to check out GoogleTV? I already have but I will check out their new ad for it. A Japanese festival in my area? Awesome. I definitely want to the check that out. Facebook is leading the way in advertising that actually kind of works. It’s not just banners I ignore. I actually look to see what the new ads are.

And Hulu’s getting in on this type of advertising too. Have you noticed when you watch a Hulu ad now, in the upper right hand of the video, they ask you if this is the kind of advertising that is relevant to you?  They’re working to customize ads so if you like car commercials or whatever other kind of ad they’re showing, they’ll show you more of that and less of the ads aimed at not your age group or target audience. I actually appreciate this effort because honestly, I hate sitting through ads that are for products I don’t want or have no use to me at this point in my life. I like that the ads I’m starting to see are things I don’t entirely mind sitting through. It’s still in beta phases I believe but companies are leading the way to try and connect us with companies and products we might actually have an interest in and if the newspapers and news sources can get in on that, I think it might just be possible for them to survive.

It’s always been about the advertising in just about any type of media – maybe newspapers can start doing product placement in their photos? Probably not but they have to start getting creative somehow.

As a student of journalism, it’s startling to think what lies ahead on the horizon for print media.  We could be facing a world that becomes entirely digital with no forms of media on paper.  Information and communication will be made up of ones, zeros, and bits.

Although the budgets and staff of traditional print newsrooms are shrinking in today’s digital world, 60% of all news reported comes from print staffers.  Yet they are the ones that are being the hardest hit.  At first I think it doesn’t seem fair.  These are professional journalists that stock the flow of information to everyone around the world.  But who knows how much longer their efforts will be needed.  What will happen when our main source of reporters is left with no funding to continue?  The only answer is for print to find a replacement for traditional print advertising that can rake in the same amount of profit as before the digital age.  But what is that answer?

When I first jumped into the professional field of journalism in the working world, many news sites were beginning to put up subscriptions wall to their online content.  This in turn drove reluctant readers away and didn’t help bring in any new profits.  As a result this idea was abandoned and all bets were placed on online advertising, or “pay per click”.  This wasn’t much of a success either.  As the print paper shrank, online content grew.  And money woes stayed the same … or worsened.

Today we hear of media sites thinking about the online subscription model yet again.  Maybe this time it will work.  Maybe society wasn’t ready for online payments a few years back when the online media boom was just beginning.  Statistics now show that online news is the most popular source for daily information.  The only problem is, will these statistics still be true if readers are required to pay for their online news consumption.  May people enjoy online news because it can be personalized to their tastes and is convenient.  These factors won’t change.  Media outlets are only asking for some compensation to their reporting.

Keep in mind that it’s not only the reporters that are suffering.  How do you think the paper is printed each morning?  What happens if one of those giant printing press machines breaks or the paper trucker needs to make an extra run for more newsprint?  Regular human workers run all these functions at a print institution.  Usually, the staff in the pressroom outnumbers the workers in the newsroom and advertising department of a local paper.  The reporters are not the only ones that are facing layoffs and company bankruptcy.

I hope society learns that media is an industry just like any other well-oiled machine in this country.  In order to stay afloat, profits need to be made and competition needs to thrive.  I hope I don’t see the day when professional journalism is swallowed whole simply because we want to save a few dollars a year on an online subscription to news.

Week 5: Amateurization

You Are Not A Gadget
– Jaron Lanier

1. Lanier introduces his book by referring to “open culture.”  He explains that web 2.0 promotes freedoms people have never experienced through technology until the twenty-first century.  But who is this freedom benefiting most?  Humans or machines?

2.  According to “You are not a Gadget,” the most important thing about a technology is how it changes people and society.  It seems that every 5 years we are learning to use new technologies that we never knew we needed or would make such a large difference in our lives.  But is all this new technology being developed too quickly and negatively changing people?  Is the pace causing these new gadgets to hurt us in the end?

3.  Of all our outlets, advertising has been able to hold strong during the digital transition.  What type of power will advertising hold in the digital future?

4.  We have become accustomed to free access for most Internet information.  Lanier asks if it’s too late to go back and write new rules.  Once society knows they are at an advantage they will not accept change that seems like a step back.  Did we goof up during the development of the web by allowing free access or is this exactly what the web is designed to do (otherwise we would be going against the logical model)?

Quentin Tarantino’s Star Wars
– Henry Jenkins

1. As I was skimming the article, I began to wonder if some of the media listed (books, cable, film, magazines, etc) would eventually be completely wiped out.  Do you think society will come to a point in the future when everything will be digital?  Radio, newspapers, television have all had to settle into new niches over time as new mediums became available.  Would it be easier to scrap all the old and promote one platform that includes everything?

2. At the end of the article, Jenkins asks what we can expect for the future of digital cinema.  Do amateur filmmakers have a chance at becoming the majority and will big movie producers go by the wayside?

Knowing what we discussed in class this week, I would change my three questions to incorporate the idea of agenda setting in today’s society. The compare/contrast of the different news sites’ versions of the same story really intrigued me and freaked me out at the same time. In this case, the agenda is definitely set by the media, but told in a way to please the specific reader of each site. If a reader of site A slips onto site B, he could be offended by the way the story is told, even though it’s the same news. From this, it seems like there will always be a left/right element of storytelling. You just have to find the one that fits your own views, because otherwise it becomes a sporting event.

As for my actual questions, I think it’s most fitting to answer my third based on our discussions in class this week. On Monday, I asked, “What are some ways we see propaganda being used in today’s social networking sites, such as on Facebook and Twitter?”

Even though we discussed this based mostly on news media, propaganda is all OVER these websites. Look at your Facebook page for example. Open your profile, and the right side is a column of advertisements that involve items and programs YOU are interested in (how do they DO that?).  MySpace has ad campaigns on every page you open, and YouTube ALWAYS has a current preview for a movie or message about a cause at the top of the page.

Why do they do this? They want you to get INVOLVED and spend your MONEY. The sites are free, and they have to pay for everything somehow.

Several aspects of the Institute for Propaganda Analysis’ “The Fine Art of Propaganda” are seen in the way these sites advertise. First off, bandwagon is EVERYWHERE. The movie trailers boast reviews and several of the ads (especially the fitness-based programs) claim to be “the #1 way to do whatever it is we’re advertising!” Well, if that’s the case, I better get on board! Twitter doesn’t directly advertise using this technique, but the feature of the “Trending Topic” makes it hard t o miss the most popular items and discussions of the day, making you feel left out if you don’t get involved.

Transfer/Testimonial are seen in MySpace ads involving celebrities and their interest. These often feature actors and musicians interviewing each other based on what they like, conveying the message of “I’m famous and I enjoy this, so you should check it out.” This occurs all over Twitter as well, but from the celebrity tweet as opposed to direct advertising.

Card-stacking is relevant as well, and mainly seen in before/after images of fitness program advertisements. By showing the after image, they say “this is how YOU could look if you got onboard with our program,” and it makes the idea of getting into better shape more appealing. Of course, they never mention the hard work and commitment that’s involved. They just want you to check it out.

We are definitely bombarded by propaganda every time we look at our social networking sites. Granted, it doesn’t mean we have to fall for the advertisements, and they’re not always in the foreground, but sometimes those random 80’s t-shirts look pretty darn cool.

For my research paper, I am very interested in the location-based services and how they can be applied specifically to marketing and advertising. The ability to directly target potential customers in a certain area is obviously a very appealing aspect for many companies and with increasingly advanced mobile phones, there are many more ways to leverage this technology.

Foursquare, of course, is the “hot” application right now. It has already garnered over 3 million users and has companies, like Starbucks and American Eagle, utilizing it to offer promotions to those who “check-in” with the software.

However, Facebook and Twitter are getting into the game as well and this opens up even more possibilities. Facebook’s Places application has only been rolled out recently but I see the potential power of having a pre-built network of Facebook friends that you can find, and offer suggestions to, in your area. It also encourages business owners to establish “places” in which they can advertise directly to users in the area, especially those who have previously “Liked” their businesses.

My motivation for studying such a topic would be that the idea of location-based marketing not only personally interests me also is being heralded as a game changer in, not only marketing world, but to social theory as whole. Steve Hall, creator and editor of industry blog Adrants was quoted as saying,

“With the ability to target people only when they are within purchasing distance, brands will be able to come that much closer to targeting nirvana. Offers can be made only to those meeting certain location (and even demographic) requirements, reducing waste and actually saving a brand a lot of money by minimizing its old school spray-and-pray mass marketing techniques. In a nutshell, mobile will, once and for all, make it possible for a marketer to target without waste.”

I plan on pursuing a career in advertising and this technology will clearly be a critical part of the job that I want to be familiar with.

As it develops and spreads, this technology will reshape many current social theories and even open up a whole new set of potentially controversial issues such as the idea of having businesses and peers being able to literally “track” us and know our location anytime that we carry our mobile phones. With social networks, our lives have clearly become much more public but would this people-tracking technology and direct marketing finally cross the line?

My methods for studying this topic will be to first research the location-tracking system itself. I want to learn much more how it works and how it has been used in the past. I also want to look more into which applications (Foursquare, Facebook, etc.) are utilizing the technology and what they are planning for the future. I want to conduct some in-depth case studies on certain companies, such as Starbucks, that are leveraging the location-tracking apps for marketing purposes and evaluate their success. I also want to try to predict how it will be used for future marketing endeavors and how people will react as it continues to spread.

Hopefully, in the spring I can use my research to develop a location-based marketing campaign for a client as a part of my Capstone project.

As you can see, this topic would be fascinating to learn more about because of the immense impact it has on the sociological and marketing worlds.