Technology and Advertising

I have recently acquired a new cellphone. It is the Blackberry Torch. This phone has so many gadgets! I think most of us have probably played on new phones/gadgets such as the iPad, iPod, iPhone, and other new technological savvy "things". As I sat down with this phone and started downloading all of the apps, wallpapers, GPS, etc, I started to think about this Blog. Particularly the GPS part of the phone I thought was interesting in reference to advertising. GPS is by no means a "new" technology, but it IS becoming something that we see and use on a regular basis. Most new vehicles that we purchase today have GPS located inside of them, just like most of the new phones. Advertisers are beginning to take advantage. I found a video relating to this topic:

This video mentions the idea that radio advertisements will eventually use GPS to target an audience and advertisements will become highly personalized. Imagine driving down the street next to ColdStone and your radio says, "Hey Billybob come eat some ColdStone! You know it's delicious." Obviously if your radio is able to use the GPS in your car to target advertisements directly to you while you are in the vicinity of a particular business , that would be AWESOME. (Parttly because you get to hear your name on the radio)

 Undoubtedly these forms of advertisements may also pose a threat to some privacy issues (which relates to my former post). But, if done correctly, I think it could be a fantastic thing for consumers. Relevant information being provided about products which I am close to would help me to make informed decisions about particular purchases. It may also serve as a reminder to pick up the milk you forgot to get etc.

This GPS/advertising technology has no limits. Just off of the top of my head, what if you made a grocery list on your phone/computer/iPod/any other gadget, and then plugged that into your cars GPS and went for a drive. Anytime you were close to a store with that item, it could tell you, compare the prices to other stores etc. I love technology, I love advertising, and I love when they mix. Check out the first few minutes of that video above, it's pretty interesting stuff!

Here are some links to websites/articles that provide further information about advertising and technology and future possibilities. Enjoy!

5 Trends to Shape Future

3 More Trends!

Even More Trends and a Great Video

3 Consumer-Privacy Concerns

An article I ran into on foxnews.com provided me with an excellent topic for this weeks post and my 1st concern. The article was in direct reference to the possible privacy issues pertaining to new forms of advertising. Even though advertising is progressing,  making its way into all of our "gadgets", its new found convenience may come at a price to consumers. Apple has a new application available called iAd. According to a letter sent to U.S. Rep Edward Markey:

"Information is transmitted securely to the Apple iAd server via cellular network connection or Wi-Fi Internet connection. The latitude/longitude coordinates are converted immediately by the server to a five-digit ZIP code. Apple then uses the ZIP code to select a relevant ad for the customer."

To me, this sounded wonderful at first. If my phone is able to provide me with ads that are going to help me at specific times and locations to benefit me, of course I want that app! After reading further into the article, however, and more research on other new forms of advertising, I was persuaded to reconsider.

The article above mentioned concerns about whether or not the information being provided for this app was being kept confidential. I would prefer to be in control of who knows of my whereabouts. I had planned on purchasing an iPhone eventually. The idea that my privacy will be invaded if I do so is, however, is a little bit of a deterrent.

Moving on to the 2nd form of advertising that may disturb consumers. This article, posted April 21st on alestlelive.com, talks about advertisements that are using facial recognition software. This advertising technique, although super awesome, could be dangerous for the advertising business. According to the article:

"The software is capable of not only recognizing the facial features and demographics of a viewer to push products via artificial intelligence, but also storing that data for future use. That means your face (and your social life) is stored on a network where people can scrutinize it for advertising purposes."

Like I said, "although super awesome", advertisers had better be careful. I feel like this form of advertising may be asking for lawsuits pertaining to racial profiling and things of that nature. This technology and form of advertising is just starting in the United States. In the near future, this may be affecting us all.

The 3rd privacy issue that raised a concern for me came from an April 25th, 2011 pressherald.com article. Even though this article is not in direct reference to advertising, I find it to be relevant to every Internet user. According to the article, Yahoo has announced that they will be keeping search logs for up to 18 months. With this, Yahoo also mentioned that they will also be keeping other information about their users for longer periods of time. Yahoo hopes that this will provide users with better recommendations with shopping and so forth. This will also provide more time for advertisers to reach out for the information relevant to their products. This does sound positive, but where does the intrusion stop? All of the articles above show progression by some form of advertisement into our everyday lives and privacy. Hopefully we are able to come to an agreement with advertisers/government/law/andtowhomitmayconcern of what is acceptable privacy for a reasonable person.

In closing, here is a video about online advertising and personal privacy. Take a look!

iSIGN- Mobile Advertising at its Best

iSIGN is a media company based out of Toronto. The companies new focus has been to "marry" digital and mobile advertising. I found this March 29, 2011 article through Google News, and I was truly interested in its contents.After reading through this article, I followed the link to iSIGN's website, where I learned about much of the following:

iSIGN is focusing on bringing advertising to individuals at the right time AND place. For me, the only advertising that seems to truly work comes from the fast food industry. (Something about those golden arches seem to inevitably draw me in and force me to eat double cheeseburgers.) Other than that, however, I feel that most advertisements are ineffective. iSIGN's new idea of combining digital and mobile advertising is very appealing on a number of levels, and helps to combat the ineffectiveness of some advertisements.

The ability for businesses to reach out to their consumers in a timely matter while they are actively buying their products is extremely beneficial. The following quote is a quick bit of information from iSIGN's website:

All individuals within relative proximity (up to 300ft) of a particular location, retail store, or area can receive media-rich messages just by enabling their Bluetooth® on their handheld device. Customers are open to interacting with us because our permission-based marketing tool requires customers to opt-in before receiving their first message.

Doesn't that sound fantastic? (Yes) The best part is that the consumer must first give permission to the retailers to gain access to their mobile devices. This protects the consumer from overload and unwanted advertisements. I want to be able to go into the best store ever (Best Buy) and receive all of the coupons, sales, bargains, and any information that will help me gain as much knowledge I possibly can in order to make informed decisions about my purchases. Not only that, I want it to come to my phone. iSIGN is making this possible. In the first link I referenced above, I think the CEO of iSIGN says it best:

"With technology that allows digital signs to 'talk and interact' with mobile devices that are in proximity, advertisers can deliver relevant incentives at exactly the right time," said Alex Romanov, CEO of iSIGN. "It represents a powerful union of digital and mobile technologies."

This new technology is good for both advertisers and consumers. Win-win situations are great. These new ideas will make money for businesses and allow consumers to spend it effectively. Go iSIGN!


The following video is an example of how this new form of advertising is working in the "real world".

Charlie Sheen: a Tweeter

According to a March 2011 Sparxoo article, Twitter has 190 million users, generating 65 million tweets and more than 800,000 search queries per day. Given this kind of traffic, Twitter has inevitably become a huge advertising target for companies. Due to all of this traffic, advertising ideas are beginning to evolve, and Charlie Sheen (of all people) is getting involved. 


An article launched from The Atlantic on March 11 stated that, in less than a day after creation, @charliesheen’s Twitter account had more than 1 million followers, a new record for the micro-blogging service. He now has greater than 2.5 million followers. 

According to a 2011 TechCentral article :

"Sheen’s now very public mid-life crisis has become a potential cash cow. Internships.com reportedly paid him to drive traffic to its site, with Sheen tweeting he was looking for an intern with “tigerblood” and providing a link to the recruitment website. Almost half a million people have applied for the job."

Charlie Sheen has now become the first person to be paid to advertise for a company on Twitter. This will open up new doors and opportunities for celebrities of all kinds to make even more money. Wouldn't it be nice to make significant amounts of money for simply tweeting!? Sheen didn't even have to write the advertisement for Internships.com. All he had to do was copy and paste.

 
Twitter has been a social media phenomenon. Now, with even more advertising opportunities coming to the surface, who's to say how crazy this may get? It's going to be very interesting to see who is next to advertise for companies on Twitter. My guess is that Oprah will be getting involved very soon.

Using celebrities for advertising will allow companies to target very specific audiences. Examples: athletes advertising for Nike, Musicians advertising for Fender guitars, Actors advertising for Mountain Dew. The list is literally endless! I can't wait to see the "tweets" that are going to surface. Advertising on Twitter is going to be exciting, hilarious, effective, and at times, probably offensive. My hope is that we can all get involved and enjoy this new form of advertising.

Here is a quick video showing how much buzz Sheen is getting on news networks. This is one of many on YouTube:

In-Your-Face Advertising

It is easy to say that the connection between advertising and social media is now firmly embedded into society. It used to be difficult to go anywhere without being subjected to some form of advertising, but now it is impossible! We are surrounded by advertising constantly. Think about how many advertisements you see a day. As I sit in the computer lab at the library, I can literally count 100's of advertisements in front of me. Pop labels, coats, computers, cell phones, clothing, not to mention the multiple tabs I have opened on the desktop of my computer with thousands of advertisements screaming, "CLICK ME" inside of them. Oh yeah, and my smartphone just received an Email saying, "Your Playstation Update is available".

We cannot escape the world of advertising. Well, I guess we could lock ourselves inside a basement somewhere, but you couldn't have windows, visitors, gadgets, and certainly not television. Our inability to control the amount of advertising we take-in leaves me with a question: Who controls advertising standards? Someone or something must protect the general public from advertisements, right?

The answer is yes. The easiest and most current example of how standards are changing comes from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). Even though they are the UK's regulator of advertising, their recent actions are a fine example of how advertising standards are changing. According to a March, 2011 fresh business thinking article:

 In a press release, the ASA stated that "The UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising, which includes rules to make sure advertisements do not mislead, harm or offend, will be applied to all UK based company websites regardless of the sector or size of business or organization.

This means that businesses will need to apply the same standards to the content they distribute on their own site or through social media feeds as they already do to more traditional forms of advertising. We will continue to see these changes in the regulation of advertising. The need for advertising to be regulated increases daily. Without these regulations, we would be constantly (even more than we already are) hit with advertisements. Our lives as we know them would be wasted by exiting pop-ups, deleting texts, and waiting for 30 second advertisements to disappear so we can watch our favorite YouTube clips.

Thank God (or the ASA) for advertising standards and regulations!

The Future of Advertising

In the past, advertising was a relatively simple concept. Advertisers simply put their advertisements in busy places where consumers were likely to see their products. Billboards, signs, posters, and other forms of advertising were usually a physical item that the consumer was able to reach out and touch. Moving forward in time, advertisements moved to television screens as well. Commercials were introduced to society and took over the advertising industry. The ability for advertisers to reach an wide audience through television made their industry A LOT more complex.

Now, looking at our society, we know that advertising has become even more complex. The opportunities and options for advertisers to reach diverse audiences is almost unlimited. This diversity in advertising and people have created the need for advertisers who have the ability to reach specific target audiences.

Advertising options such as Facebook, Twitter, and smartphone apps, are just a few examples of how many different areas of advertising are present in today's society. The list is almost endless, and it keeps growing. This article from Mashable gives us even more predictions for digital advertising in the future.

Obviously advertising is changing, along with other industries. I am excited to see the changes in advertising in the next few years. I think the changes will include a lot more interactive advertising that allows for the consumers to participate. The video below talks a little bit about that, along with some other details that relate to advertising and public relations. ENJOY :)

PS This Article gives further information that I found to be interesting. It gives us yet another possibility for what advertisers might be doing in the future to reach more audiences.

New York's Fashion Week

This year, more than ever, advertisers are utilizing social media at New York's Fashion Week. Fashion Week tends to be an exciting time for advertisers because it involves a key demographic for many: wealthy, young women. By engaging and interacting with this audience through social media, advertisers can spark a sincere conversation and interest about their brands. For example, this Article from Mashable talks about how advertisers specifically used Twitter and other social media sites to provide live, real-time coverage during Fashion Week.

This link will take you to a live stream of Fashion Week's runway performances on YouTube. Along with the video, are live Twitter updates from fans and viewers. Letting viewers interact with the YouTube video through other social media was brilliant!

Advertisers have taken advantage of the space around the video to show their products. Maybelline advertisements have been rotated through, one after the other. A fashion show is quite obviously a great place to attract the attention of women who are interested in wearing makeup. Advertisers have also taken advantage of the "down time" between shows. Advertisements have been running as still-frame and live commercials. This way, the live streamed show is non-stop action.

A new article from Mashable posted recently talks about how big of an impact new social media is playing on this years Fashion Week. This article raises interesting facts about social media and how it has made Fashion Week both more accessible to the public and more competitive for advertisers.

I never thought I would be writing a blog about Fashion Week in New York! However, the links and video here are interesting nonetheless. Enjoy....