Research released by Dynamic Logic reveals that ads integrated into the content of the page are the most effective in driving online ad awareness and purchase intent. Based on 2,390 online display campaigns that took place over the past three years, the study found that half banners and rectangles were more effective than ads that frame the page such as leaderboards and skyscrapers.

Ken Mallon, Dynamic Logic’s SVP of Custom Solutions, commented: “We continue to believe that creative quality is the most important factor driving the success of online advertising… (but) based on the current data, bigger doesn’t always mean better, but these new ad formats are quite unique…”

The research also revealed that ad campaigns using Rich Media with Video created the strongest brand impact (across most branding goals, including aided brand awareness, online ad awareness, brand favorability, and purchase intent) compared to campaigns using Simple Flash and Rich Media without Video formats. The worst performer was Simple Flash, the format used most often by agencies and advertisers, notes the report.

Mallon concludes that “…strategy and consideration of branding goals is often an after-thought in decisions about creative format… ”

Included in the report, Dynamic Logic offers some guidelines for advertisers and agencies based on the findings:

* Try delivering a Rich Media with Video ad as the first ad exposure to addressable online audience.
* On a tight budget, select less expensive formats and consider frequency capping to extend reach.
* Factor media fees and rich media fees in together and optimize most effective formats
* For message association goals, consider adding the message to every frame of the ad for best results.
* For every branding goal studied, a different rich media format was better than Simple Flash at getting results.

The Report states that the results cited have not been adjusted for exposure frequency, demographics, ad size, Web sites, advertiser industry and other factors that may contribute to brand lift. These findings are aggregate in nature, reflect past results and are not a guarantee of future results for individual campaigns.

For additional information and details about the study, please go here.

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Ahhhhh — social media. Addictive. Fun. Downright social!

But how valuable is it? How do you tell?

There are dozens of reckoning tools online to tally up any and all countable social media elements. Most of them are interesting and some actually useful. Rather than drill down into specifics, let’s take a bird’s-eye view of the types of measurements that might prove useful to the marketing professional.

We’re looking to answer these questions:

1. Did they get the chance? Put up a billboard on the highway and so many thousand commuters have an “opportunity to see” your message — unless they were texting, applying makeup, tuning the radio, disciplining their kids or, heaven forbid, watching traffic. Put an ad on TV and so many million viewers have an “opportunity to see” your message. Unless they were fast-forwarding, texting, applying makeup, tuning the radio, disciplining their kids or, most likely, answering nature’s call. Or the phone.

Send out a message online, and some unknown number of people will have the opportunity to see it if — they have already subscribed, befriended or followed you or know somebody who did. And the glory of social networking is that they might only have known somebody who knew somebody who knew somebody .. who did.

So there’s your first metric: the base number of people who are in a position to get a message from you directly. Your RRS readers, newsletter subscribers, Web site visitors — throw them all into the stew. These are the ones to whom you are directly connected.

2. Did they get the message? Being otherwise engaged is fairly incalculable unless you trust people to tell you the truth when you interview them. “Do you read all my Tweets?” is more than likely to produce 100% positive result. There is a reason Facebook does not tell you when people unfriend you. At least with email, you can get a rough number of opens, but with Twitter, you may as well put your finger up in the air and feel the breeze.

3. Did they get the urge to repeat it? Lots of tools are out there to help you monitor what pearls of your wisdom others deem worthy of retweeting. Between Tweetbeep, trackbacks and Google Alerts, you’ll be able to maintain your vigilant brand-spread watch.

But suddenly, it gets trickier. Did they get your message from others who got it from others? If you’re Susan Boyle, they got the message, but this is where you feel the urge to map out the connections and figure out who are the real influentials. This is not as easy as Tom Lehrer’s social map from 1980. This requires other specialized tools like Sentinal Visualizer that claims to answer questions like:

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Last month I shared what search taught me about running a business. Today, I’d like to list 10 lessons Google taught me — and the rest of the world, for that matter — about marketing.

1.  Relevance rules. The reason Google became so popular is simply because its search engine displayed the most relevant results. For marketers looking to leapfrog to the top of Google or have your product earn Google-like market share, the key is make your brand relevant. Apple is one company that manages to stay relevant — read: build a cult-like following — by continually releasing products that operate best when used with other Apple products, or simply work better than previous versions. It also aligns itself with its audience’s passion points like music and design.

2.  Tap the wisdom of the crowds. How does Google achieve the most relevant results? Its proprietary algorithm looks at the number and quality of inbound links for every Web site it indexes — essentially tallying votes cast by other webmasters. Similarly, it ranks paid search advertisers not just on CPC but on click rate, among other factors — essentially tallying votes cast by its users. One marketer successfully leveraging the wisdom of crowds is Doritos, with Super Bowl spots created and voted on by consumers. Threadless is another company that gets the power of the community — printing T-shirts suggested and voted on by consumers

3.  Keep it simple, stupid. Some people — namely MediaPost publisher, Ken Fadner — assert that Google’s dominance from a usage standpoint is due not so much to relevance as simplicity. During a time when the trend was towards cluttered portals, Google stood out with its clean white page and clear call-to-search. So, too, must marketers use simple and overt calls-to-action (e.g., tell a friend, buy now, ask your doctor) and de-clutter the environment to which they drive people (e.g., store, Web site, phone). Although it’s not as easy as, say, Ford just telling people to “Drive One.”

4.  Mindset matters. Google’s been so successful because it allows advertisers to reach people when they’re in a commercial mindset — that’s commercial as in looking to spend money, not watch commercials. Sure, sometimes searchers are just looking to be entertained or conduct academic research — but many are looking to find a place to eat, shop, or otherwise transact. Marketers take heed! The reason your ads on social networks don’t drive direct ROI is because people aren’t thinking about buying stuff when they’re stalking their high school classmates or poking their friends. Although the same could be said for airport security — but Zappos made it work, so it just goes to show that strong contextual relevance can sometimes change the mindset.

5.  Be where your audience is. Toolbars, desktops, third-party sites, docs, spreadsheets, email — you name it, if you’re online, Google’s watching… I mean, available. For marketers, the lesson here is that you can’t just “build it and they will come.” You have to get guerilla and seed your brand into the conversation wherever it’s happening — blogs, social networks, coffee shops, bathrooms, etc. This was something the Obama campaign did brilliantly.

6.  Don’t interrupt. Even though Google is as omnipresent as that other Big G, it very rarely interrupts people from what they were doing to push a message for one of its products or one of its advertisers. Google, and search in general, is very much a pull-marketing channel. For marketers, it’s important to remember that there’s a fine line between seeding the conversation and disrupting it. Best Buy is one company that’s showing signs of understanding the difference.

7.  Act like content. Part of not interrupting is not acting like advertising. Acting like content — which is, ironically, a phrase I cribbed from Brian Morrissey’s blog post making a case for interruptive advertising — is what search engine optimization is all about. And Google certainly rewards it. Create compelling content — and, by compelling, I mean relevant and link-worthy — and you’ll stand out not only in the Google index but by winning over customers. Make people feel like you’re giving them what they want and not selling them, and you’ll earn their business. American Express does this well, with its Open Forum initiative acting as a resource for small businesses.

8.  Test everything. If there’s one thing that Google’s obsessive about, it’s testing. This is a company that tries 41 different shades of blue on its toolbar to see which drives the most clicks. And as any search marketer can tell you, testing — new keywords, new copy, new landing pages, you name it — is part of the daily SEM protocol. The ramifications for broader marketers are clear — take nothing for granted. A little thing like the background color on the last frame of your TV spot can be the difference between recall and relapse. Malcom Gladwell wrote the book on this, citing brands like Airwalk and institutions like “Sesame Street” and “Blue’s Clues” for their attention to detail.

9.  Track everything. Of course, the yin of the testing-yang is tracking. There’s no question Google gets how important tracking is to marketers. That’s why is bought DoubleClick and Urchin — or is it? The bottom line for marketers is that as more and more media is delivered digitally, it’s inherently trackable. These days, it’s a sin to not know which half of your advertising is working. The classic examples here are your direct marketing advertisers like Kaplan who tack unique identifiers — unfortunately sometimes a bit clumsily — onto their TV spots to track response.

10. Let the data decide. This could easily roll up into either of the last two points, but it’s worthy of its own spot on this list. Too often, marketers use testing or tracking merely to prove an idea to which they were already married. In other words, they — or their agencies — come up with a concept that sounds spectacular and “just feels right” and then set up some experiments — read: focus groups — and manipulate the data to help push their idea through. Not Google. Per Marissa Mayer, Google “let(s) the math and the data govern how things look and feel” — some would say to a fault. There’s certainly a spectrum from “going with your gut” to letting data decide, but when it comes to being accountable to your boss — or your shareholders– doing what the numbers tell you is certainly the most defensible position — especially if that data is highly targeted.

FYI, I’ve got another 20 lessons up my sleeve and may continue this series in my next column. I’d love to hear thoughts from the community, though. What have you learned from Google that’s made you a smarter marketer? Let’s see how much wisdom there is in the Search Insider crowd.

Aaron Goldman is founder and managing partner of Connectual, a rep firm dedicated to connecting the digital marketing ecosystem. Contact him here.

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FORT MEADE – A new report the Fort Meade Alliance targets reimbursement rates for doctors, a looming shortage of healthcare professionals and the need for wellness care as top public health concerns facing the new workers moving to the region because of BRAC.

“Diagnosing Health Care” summarized the findings of a day-long seminar held at Baltimore Washington Medical Center in May on development, delivery and accessibility of health care.

“Our goal will be to refine and to challenge people to come up with practical ways to tackle these issues,” said Tim O’Ferrall, [committee ]chairman. “Our goal is to create the stage and hope things will come out of it.”

From the viewpoint of legislation, medical and insurance sectors, panels discussed the impact of tens of thousands of new jobs coming to Fort George G. Meade and the surrounding area because of the base realignment and closure process.

A major issue in Maryland discussed was the state reimbursement rate for physicians, which is lower than surrounding states.

“We produce some of the best professionals in all disciplines. Maryland enjoys very good work force development and higher education,” O’Ferrall said. “Since we’re producing them, we want to maintain them at as high a level as possible.”

The group will reconvene this coming spring to discuss solutions.

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According to a study by Russell Herder and Ethos Business Law, senior US marketing, management and HR executives are concerned about the risks of increased use of social networks within their companies. 51% percent of these executives fear social media could be detrimental to employee productivity, while 49% assert that using social media could damage company reputation.

Despite these apprehensions, says the study, social networking is being accepted as a key communications strategy. According to survey results:

* 81% believe social media can enhance relationships with customers/clients
* 81% agree it can build brand reputation
* 69% feel such networking can be valuable in recruitment
* 64% see it as a customer service tool
* 46% think it can be used to enhance employee morale

The most popular vehicles being used include:

* Facebook (80%)
* Twitter (66%)
* YouTube (55%)
* LinkedIn (49%)
* Blogs (43%)

Much of senior management’s direct experience with social media appears to be reactive versus proactive, concludes the report. 72% of executives say that they, personally, visit social media sites at least weekly:

* 52% to read what customers may be saying about their company
* 47% to routinely monitor a competitors’ use of social networking
* 36% to see what their employees are sharing
* 25% check the background of a prospective employee

The national survey, which assessed social media workplace trends and adoption of policies governing social media, found that fewer than one in three respondents say their organization has a policy in place to govern social media use and only 10% of companies have conducted employee training on it.

Executives believe social media can potentially be detrimental to employee effectiveness and company reputation, sys the report. Those surveyed who are not using social media on a corporate basis say non-implementation is primarily due to concern about confidentiality or security issues (40%), employee productivity (37%) or simply not knowing enough about it (51%).

This may be why many organizations continue to prohibit workplace access to social networking sites. The study found that 40 percent of companies technically block their employees from accessing social media while at work. At the same time, 26% of companies use social media to further corporate objectives and 70% said they plan to increase the use of these new opportunities.

Even though social media communication is growing, only one in 10 executives say they have staff who spend more than 50% of their time on such efforts, and only 13% have included social media in their organizations’ crisis communications plans.

Carol Russell, CEO of Russell Herder, says “Ignoring the need for responsible guidelines can leave an organization open to unnecessary risk and can impede efforts to use social media proactively and competitively in the marketplace… ”

And, according to Ethos President David Baer, good social media policies are organization-specific, taking into consideration the philosophy and culture of the organization. Good policies should include, he says, “the need to respect confidential and proprietary information, as well as the sensitivity of potential conflicts of interest.”

To view the balance of the Whitepaper in a PDF file, please access it at (rhp_089_whitepaper.pdf) with this link.

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A year ago and six months ago the Association of National Advertisers polled its members to determine how marketing and advertising budgets were being impacted by the tough economic conditions. ANA repeated the survey again in late July/early August 2009 and found that marketers are still pressured to reduce costs and spending. Today, 87% of the respondents indicate they are identifying cost savings and reductions, the same as one year ago, and only slightly improved from 93% six months ago.

The top four ways marketers are reducing costs and spending remain the same:

* 81% are reducing departmental travel and expenses
* 74% are reducing advertising media budgets
* 71% are challenging agencies to reduce internal expenses and/or identify cost reductions
* 64% are reducing advertising production budgets

Reducing agency compensation continues to gain greater consideration by marketers:

* 56% are planning to do this today
* 48% six months ago
* 32% a year ago

Fewer marketers are eliminating/delaying new projects, compared with past surveys:

* 53% in the most recent survey versus 58% six months ago and 61% a year ago.
* 30% of respondents today are planning to reduce their budgets by more than 20%.
* 37% of respondents were planning to reduce budgets by more than 20% six months ago. The deepest cuts may already have been made

Marketer spending in first half 2009 was worse than forecast in ANA’s previous survey:

* In January/February 2009, 49% of marketers thought their advertising budgets would be reduced in the next six months, when actually 62% experienced a budget decrease
* 43% thought their budgets would remain the same, but only 32% did indeed stay the same
* 8% thought they would see a budget increase, whereas 7% did

Marketers continue to forecast lower spending for the balance of 2009:

* 39% think their advertising budgets will be reduced (versus 49% in the last survey)
* 44% think budgets will stay the same (43% in last survey)
* 17% are hopeful their budgets will increase (8% last survey)

For additional information, please visit the ANA here.

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Veronis Suhler Stevenson (VSS), in its newest Communications Industry Forecast covering the years 2003-2013, predicts that total communications spending will decline 1% in 2009 to $882.6 billion, but grow 3.6% per year over the next five years to over $1 trillion making communications the third fastest-growing sector of the U.S. economy over that period.

In summary, says the report:

* Institutional end user and alternative media grows as traditional media advertising declines
* Institutional end-user spending isexpected to remain largest, fastest growing sector, 5.6% future annual spending gain driven by business information services and for-profit higher education
* Communications will be the 3rd fastest-growing economic sector going forward, rising from the 4th position
* Communications industry forecast to decline 1% in 2009, but to grow faster than GDP in ‘09 and over next 5 years

The study forecasts that institutional end-user spending will remain the largest and fastest-growing communications sector over the next 5 years, rising by 5.6% annually as a result of strong gains in business information services, particularly in the marketing and financial services sub-segments, and the for-profit higher education sub-segment of educational and training media and services. Alternative marketing segments, including branded entertainment and word-of-mouth marketing, will grow at 12.6% annually from 2008-2013 and will contribute to overall marketing services spending growth of 3.4% annually in the period 2008-2013, says the report.

Jim Rutherfurd, Executive Vice President and Managing Director at VSS, says “The prolonged economic downturn has accelerated changes already underway in the communications industry… driven by a confluence of factors… (including) the growth of digital end-user businesses and the shift from broad reach traditional advertising to targeted alternative advertising and marketing services…”

Over the five-year forecast period, 12 of the 20 major industry segments are expected to show positive growth, with the most challenged segments clustered in traditional advertising. However, the long term secular demand for information, education and entertainment will continue, and the bright spot for advertising going forward will be in digital and other alternative and targeted advertising businesses, concludes the study.

Growth Prospects

* Internet Media
* Word-of-Mouth Marketing
* Professional Information
* Subscription Television
* Business Information
* Mobile Advertising and Content
* Education
* Videogames
* Direct Marketing
* Business-to-Business e-Media
* Event Marketing
* Tradeshows
* Public Relations
* Digital Out-of-Home
* e-Books

Declining Prospects:

* Newspapers
* Yellow Pages
* Consumer Magazines
* Business to Business Magazines
* Broadcast Television
* Home Video
* Radio
* Recorded Music
* Traditional Out of Home
* Traditional Consumer Books

While in 2009 the media and communications industry will endure its first spending decline since the 2001 recession, says VSS, it is expected to rise from the fourth position to the third fastest-growing economic sector in the U.S. over the next five years, and also rise to become the fourth largest sector overall by 2013, up from the fifth largest sector in 2008. The next five years will see the communications industry increase 20% greater than Nominal GDP which will only increase annually 3.0% by 2013.

In early 2009, and as the economy rebounds, says the report, communications spending is projected to accelerate and outperform the economy during the forecast period. Growth will be driven by:

* Pure-play consumer internet and mobile services
* Subscription TV
* Branded entertainment

In addition, gains will resume in a number of sub-segments adversely affected by the recession, such as:

* K-12 media
* Consumer books
* Outsource corporate training
* Customer publishing
* Business-to-business trade shows

The institutional end-user sector is the largest and fastest-growing communications sector. Powered by relatively strong gains in professional and business information services and TV programming, VSS found that institutional communications spending rose 6.5% to $241.06 billion in 2008.

Media usage in the institutional sector gained as the need to access information throughout the day, and in multiple locations, became more important, allowing digital materials in the professional and business information services and business-to-business media markets to climb 13.3%.

Branded entertainment spending grew 12% to $24.97 billion in 2008 as brands engaged and connected with target audiences who are increasingly skipping ads and migrating away from traditional media. As more brands incorporate venue-based media into their mix, overall spending on branded entertainment is expected to grow at a CAGR of 9.3% during the forecast period, reaching $38.88 billion in 2013.

VSS reported that direct marketing benefited from the same trends as branded

Direct marketing registered a 3.2% increase in 2008 to $106.52 billion, and is forecast to achieve a 5.6 % CAGR during 2008-2013. E-mail marketing performed even better, and continues to expand at double-digit rates because of a low-cost alternative to direct mail and other marketing strategies.

VSS forecasts that both alternative advertising and alternative marketing services will continue their growth:

* Alternative advertising is forecast to have a 12.3% CAGR from 2008-2013, compared to a 3.3% decline for traditional advertising, and only slightly outpaced by alternative marketing services at 12.6%.This trend is driven by gains in online advertising and digital out-of-home
* Spending on alternative media as a whole is projected to reach $139.45 billion in 2013, representing 29.7% share of total advertising and marketing spending, up from just 18.2% in 2008

The current economic cycle has accelerated long developing trends away from mass market image advertising and toward individualized, technology enabled access to information and entertainment. Consumer behaviors have led to declining print advertising spend, budget cuts and circulation spending:

* In newspapers where spending fell 13.1% to $54.16 billion in 2008
* In consumer magazine publishing with a spending drop of 5.8% to $22.91 billion

Local broadcast and satellite radio station advertising, dependent upon stressed economic sectors including auto and home, saw their spend fall 7.1% to $20.28 billion in 2008. Consumers are migrating away from traditional radio to online social networks featuring up and coming artists.

VSS found that spending was reigned in on business-to-business promotions as well as outsourced publishing. Business-to-business promotions, including promotional products and travel marketing incentives, fell 7% through 2008. During the 2008-2013 period, the business-to-business promotion market is forecast to show a 2.9% annual decline.

Four of the communications industry’s sub-segments are projected to generate more than $100 billion in spending by 2013:

* Subscription television
* Professional & business information services
* Direct marketing
* Entertainment media

VSS predicts that these segments will lead the communications sector to be the third-fastest growing component of the U.S. economy in the 2008-2013 period, following mining and construction. The institutional end-user sector will continue its growth and will be responsible for bringing the vast majority of the new dollars coming to the communications industry.

For more report details, please visit VSS here.

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