Brandeo is an online marketing resource that cuts through the clutter to update you on the need-to-know marketing ideas and insights that help build brands and increase sales.
Three of Tiger Woods’ sponsors, Nike (NKE), Gatorade and Gillette, have expressed their support in the aftermath of his automobile accident and rumored affair. CNN 11/30/09
The founder and former president and CEO of Jones Sodahas founded BoxB, a company that will create nonalcoholic private label beverages for distributors. Owning their own brand eliminates the risk associated with building non-owned brands and then losing the distribution when they become a hit. Brandweek 11/28/09
With Christmas less than five weeks away, Borders (BGP) and Barnes & Noble (BKS) are concerned that the weak economy will depress sales, despite best sellers from Dan Brown, Stephen King and Sarah Palin. wsj.com 11/25/09 May require subscription.
Dress Barn (DBRN) has completed its merger of Tween Brands, owner of the Justice brand that caters to children from the ages of 7 to 14. It will operate as a subsidiary of Dress Barn. Chainstoreage.com 11/25/09
AOL is adopting a new brand identity next month when it spins off from Time Warner (TWX). The triangle is gone, and the uppercase “AOL” is now upper & lower case, punctuated with a period: “Aol.” NYTimes.com 11/22/09 via Media Bistro
Tide has introduced “Stain Brain,” an iPhone app that offers simple solutions on the spot and allows people to share cleaning tips. The move coincided with the launch of Tide’s Stain Release in-wash booster, designed to be added into the regular laundry load to remove a host of stubborn stains. CMDGlobal.com
Calling it the “Killer App for your Appetite,” Pizza Hut released an iPhone app in mid July to make ordering pizza pasta and wings “easy, fast and fun.” As of yesterday, the application has been downloaded over 100,000 times. The app includes a “virtual fridge” which offers coupons, and a free game called “Pizza Hut Racer.” Tasty.
Pizza Hut shows off the app in the YouTube video below:
Virgin Mobile (VM) will cover the full cost of calling plans for three months for customers who get laid off, under a “Pink Slip Protection” plan set to launch April 15. Adage 4/9/09.
Ford (F) plans to launch “Pony Girl for Mustang,” an automotive-inspired, lifestyle-driven licensing program aimed at tween and teenage girls that will include apparel, accessories, home décor, starionery, etc. According to research, the Ford Mustang is the most desired car among girls ages 8 to 16. Who knew? Brandweek 4/9/09.
Italian company Gruppo Compari has purchased the Wild Turkey bourbon brand. The Wall Street Journal says the company hopes to develop a market of young drinkers in California and the Northeast. Wall Street Journal Online 4/9/09
Peeps lovers rejoice! Non edible Peeps branded products are now available as fine china, plush toys, home scents and greeting cards. Brandweek 4/8/09. Btw, if you’re a peep aficionado, visit “Marshmallow Peeps On the Internet---A Study.” It’s a collection of (frequently funny but bizarre) material such as research on peeps, and surgery on Peeps. Via the Boston Globe 4/9/09 And did you know there are Peep fan clubs? Seriously.
Best Buy Co. (BBY) is expanding their Best Buy Mobile chain, in spite of a gloomy enconmy. IIn the company's most recently reported holiday quarter, sales of cell phones helped to expand the electronics retailer's gross profit rate to 24.6% from 23.7%. Marketwatch 4/8/09.
Despite the inexpensive pricing, marketers are finding that brand advertising on social networkingsites isn’t a great deal because it’s either resented or ignored. Turns out that “members of social networks want to spend time with friends, not brands.” New York Times 12/13/08
Concerned about getting the best results for their money in a tight economy, some marketers plan to reduce online display advertising in favor of more immediate results, such as PPC or search. However, the results of a study conducted by SpecificMedia indicates display advertising may help to boost search advertising results by making it more likely that consumers will search by brand and segment terms such as “BMW”and “635CSi.” Marketing Charts 12/08/08
Mobile advertising reaches coveted affluent and young audiences, is measurable, and relatively inexpensive but spending is not expected to grow much in 2009 because it is still in the experimental stages. Adweek 12/01/08
The recessionary climate has increased the number of Fortune 500 firms seeking to barter goods, services and underperforming assets, such as real estate leases on closed stores, for ads. Adweek, 12/01/08
It's never comfortable rejecting potential suitors face-to-face. RHbrands, a mobile and in-call media company, claims "The Rejection Hotline®," located in 200+ cities across the country, including Atlanta (404-260-1318), Los Angeles (310-735-0099) and New York City (212-660-2245), is a “public service” to both the rejector and the rejectee. The rejectee dials the number to hear:
"Hello, this is not the person you were trying to call. You've reached The Rejection Hotline. The person who gave you this number did not want you to have their real number ... So why were you given a Rejection Hotline phone number?
Maybe you're just not this person's type (note: this could mean boring, dumb, annoying, arrogant, or just a general weirdo).
Maybe you suffer from bad breath, body odor, or a nasty combination of the two.
Maybe you just give off that creepy, overbearing, psycho-stalker vibe.
Maybe the idea of going out with you just seems as appealing as playing leapfrog with unicorns."
RHbrands offers hundreds of humorous hotlines to get people out of sticky situations such as 'Bad Breath Notification,' 'One Night Stand Hotline,' and a 'Confession Hotline'.
The company says they reach 4 million callers each month. Their primary audience is young adults (ages 16-29), a coveted demographic for marketers. Most callers get the hotline number virally from a friend or as a joke. Advertisers can reach this audience through RHbrands’ in-call audio advertising program.
Short Message Service (SMS) refers the exchange of short text messages between mobile devices. It is the technology that underlies text messaging and also serves as a synonym for text messaging even when a different technology is used.
So says Nielsen, based on findings which compared video and TV usage across the ‘three screens’ – television, internet and mobile devices.
As of May 2008, the average American watched 127 hours, 15 minutes of TV per month a 4% increase from May, 2007, while also spending 9% more time on the Internet (26 hours, 26 minutes per month.)
A small but growing number of Internet and mobile phone users are watching video online (2 hrs, 19 min per month) and on their cell phones (3 hrs, 15 min per month.) And the short-term effect of DVRs has been minimal; although ‘timeshifted’ TV viewing has increased, the average user spends 5 hours 50 minutes on timeshifted TV per month, up from 3 hours 44 minutes from last year, representing less than 5% of total viewing.
One of the most interesting findings was that “while the number of mobile video users is relatively small at about 4 million, the video usage these early adopters report is impressive, perhaps due to 'always available' mobile devices. It is an early indicator of how this technology is becoming more commonplace among mobile users.”
Time Spent in Hours: Minutes per Month - May 2008
K2-11
T12-17
A18-24
A25-34
A35-44
A45-54
A55-64
A65+
On Traditional TV*
87:00
89:09
103:27
118:59
124:01
145:03
159:59
177:50
Watching Timeshifted TV*
4:16
3:36
3:55
9:28
8:13
6:46
5:49
2:57
Using the Internet**
4:58
12:01
12:18
29:00
38:47
33:52
34:44
26:01
Watching Video Online**
1:30
1:45
3:41
3:22
2:48
2:03
1:33
1:12
Mobile Video Subscribers Watching Video on a Mobile Phone^
* TV includes live viewing plus any playback viewing; Timeshifted TV is playback primarily on a DVR but including playback on services like Start Over as well as playback from a DVD recorder. ** Internet figures are from home and work. Hours:minutes are based on the universe of persons who watch online video. ^ Survey results reported in April 2008, this is a Q1 2008 estimate of only those mobile subscribers that subscribe to and use video on their mobile phone, over the past 30 days. ^^ Nielsen Mobile’s survey reports mobile video usage for those users 13 and older. Thus, 12-17 is T13-17 for all mobile data. ° A65+ base size too small to report mobile video hours:minutes
The Composition Index compares the composition of a demographic segment that is found within the audience of particular medium---online, application, magazine, newspaper, radio, TV, etc.---to the composition of that demographic segment within U.S. population.
For example, the composition of women 18-34 on the imaginary site QRS.com is 12%. Let’s say that women 18-34 represent 10% of the U.S. population. The composition index of women 18-34 on QRS.com is 120, derived by dividing 12% by 10%.
The composition index (or, simply index) of 120 means that the QRS.com site has a composition of women 18-34 that is 20% higher than the composition of women 18-34 in the U.S. population.
If the index had been 100, it would mean that the composition of women 18-34 on the QRS.com site is the same as the composition in the U.S. population.
If the index was less than 100, it would mean that the composition of women 18-34 on the QRS.com website is lower than the composition of women 18-34 in the U.S. population.
Loopt promises to turn your mobile phone into a “social compass” that enables you to “connect with friends and get alerted when they are nearby,” “share your location, status and photos with friends and AIM buddies,” and “explore places and events recommended by friends.”
Cloud computing describes hand-held (mobile) applications and data storage on remote servers managed by high-speed networks versus desktop or laptop computers.
Some have even suggested that hand-held devices might serve as “terminals to Google’s “supercomputer.” Other suggest that the iPod Touch could be that terminal, backed up by the mobile version of Google Docs, along with Mobile GMail and Gtalk.
It’s not too soon for marketers to begin to learn about and begin thinking how the evolving world of mobile communications and computing will affect their marketing and their brands.
Peeps 
Concerned about getting the best results for their money in a tight economy, some marketers plan to reduce online display advertising in favor of more immediate results, such as PPC or search. However, the results of a study conducted by 
It's never comfortable rejecting potential suitors face-to-face. 
So says Nielsen, based on findings which compared video and TV usage across the ‘three screens’ – television, internet and mobile devices. 
Cloud computing describes hand-held (mobile) applications and data storage on remote servers managed by high-speed networks versus desktop or laptop computers.
