Group items tagged

Hybris North America President Steven Kramer said: While social media channels can be valuable awareness-generating vehicles for retailers, they are not currently preferred options for consumers when it comes to purchasing, with consumers visiting retailers' social media sites to gather information that they will then oftentimes use to complete a purchase via another channel. Consumers continue to want information when they want it, where they want it, and how they want it, but when it comes to actually making a purchase, social media is not a preferred or trusted choice. This demonstrates the importance of retailers having a cohesive, cross-channel marketing and commerce strategy, with social media just a piece of the overall multichannel puzzle.

In a reflection of its expanding premium content strategy, YouTube has unveiled two new original channels focused on cars: Motor Trend and Drive. The Motor Trend channel, created by Source Interlink Media, will include original content from the likes of Motor Trend. Meanwhile Drive will take viewers behind the scenes and "[celebrate] the rich culture of cars." Content will include news, reviews and commentary from industry figures such as Chris Harris, Mike Spinelli, Leo Parente, and Alex Roy.

According to a rate card distributed to ad agencies, two hot verticals -- music and pop culture -- were $62 million apiece for one-year sponsorships, a package of sports channels was $40 million, an autos package was $16 million and a mom's interest package $10 million. YouTube has since subdivided the verticals into smaller packages in categories such as "Celebrity News," "Music and Film" or "Geeks, Gadgets and Games," which cost $10 million to $20 million to sponsor. YouTube also lets advertisers exclusively sponsor a single channel for anywhere from $2 million to $4 million on an annual basis.

"The brand identified company-created and fan-created accounts. The results of that first audit: 232 Facebook pages, along with roughly 100 YouTube channels and 30 Twitter accounts. A case was made for why individual markets would gain fans and views if they eliminated local accounts in favor of global Reebok accounts. Some markets were hesitant. To get them onboard, Mr. Bahl allowed test posts on the global Facebook page and illustrated how related-video recommendations can juice views on YouTube. Markets such as Hong Kong quickly realized their customers were already gravitating toward global accounts. Some local accounts, like India's Facebook page, with nearly 1.8 million fans, remain in place. Reebok whittled its overall social presence by roughly half in that first audit as it rolled up the majority of company-created accounts to focus on three Facebook pages, two Twitter accounts and one YouTube channel. It left fan-created content untouched. The brand also established a broader communications strategy, defining who could use trademarks to create accounts and for what purpose. A second audit is now taking place, with the goal of further streamlining Reebok's social-media presence by the end of the year -- just in time for 2013 product launches."

BuzzFeed is launching a social video studio and partnering with CNN on a new YouTube channel.

One of Bleacher Report's new YouTube offerings is dedicated to a year-round discussion of the NFL draft while another offers updates on the college recruiting scene. The weekly shows are made by veteran TV producers and promise to offer penetrating insight into topics like the "NBA's most notorious heckler" and "candid memories from current and former NFL stars on their draft experience." Another channel borrows from Bleacher Report's infamous "5 whatever whatever" formula and offers a daily round-up of buzzworthy stories hosted by minor MTV personality Desi Sanchez.

 DOGTV has launched a 24/7 cable television channel in San Diego which aims to keep pooches entertained with specialist programming.

Yep, they pay for hundreds of channels and only watch a fraction of them.

Under the deal, GetGlue will do its usual thing of offering stickers and rewards for users who "check-in" and watch Channel 4 programs, which will be shared via GetGlue's own portal as well as Facebook and Twitter. The deal, says Channel 4, is exclusive for the time being. Financial terms were not revealed.

When the weather becomes a hot topic on Twitter, the Weather Channel will try to seize the moment with some custom content thanks to a new deal with Twitter. The idea is to draw third-party advertisers to sponsor the content. Under the ESPN deal, for instance, Ford inserted a pitch for its Fusion before replays of college football instant replays tweeted by ESPN. Here, a hurricane, for instance, might be a sponsorship opportunity for insurers like State Farm, which tried its hand at various forms of digital advertising during Hurricane Sandy last year. Other current TWC advertisers include Scott's, Jeep and L.L. Bean. **Could be something for Pennington. Sponsor good spring weather.**

YouTube is prepping to launch paid subscriptions for individual channels on its video platform in its latest attempt to lure content producers, eyeballs, and advertiser dollars away from traditional TV, according to multiple people familiar with the plans

The San Francisco program, which Clear Channel developed with Coca-Cola and Yahoo! involves twenty interactive digital transit shelters that work like giant tablet computers with 72-inch touch screens. The shelters, which are active through January with the Yahoo! program also offer free WiFi in a 3-block radius according to Gordy Ford, VP of digital development at Clear Channel.

tv channel that shows chickens cooking, goal is to get press

"Like seemingly every startup currently exploring an ad-supported business model, Waze has gone native for its ad platform. Typically startups wade into advertising by working directly with brands then erecting a self-serve platform down the road. Waze sped things up. The company began testing ads in its U.S. app over the summer, working directly with Zipcar, Best Buy and a number of fuel brands and convenience store chains; at launch it has added Procter & Gamble, Dunkin' Donuts, Wyndham Hotels, Whole Foods, Jamba Juice, CircleK and Kum & Go to its advertiser roster. The direct sales channel continues, but Waze has also set up a self-serve platform for its most basic ad units. The self-serve platform operates on an auction model with floor prices set at $1 per thousand impressions. In addition to a branded search result, marketers can pay to plot branded pins at their locations on the Waze map. When users click on these branded pins, they can click a link to the company's website, a number to call the location or-borrowing the idea of drive-to advertising popularized by driving navigation company Telenav-a button that would navigate them to the location."

This new version provides fresh tips and strategies to help creators grow their audiences.  It includes brand new sections to address YouTube's recent focus on watchtime, such as, how to captivate your audience and how to create the best channel experience for your viewers.  The latest edition also highlights new tools like paid promotion, Hangouts on Air, and InVideo programming to help you reach the widest audience possible.

""DMPs were initially built to inform display, but more and more marketers understand they have to utilize that data across channels. They're all interested in finding ways to leverage those insights in all the different ways they speak to a consumer," said Cory Treffiletti, senior vice president of marketing for BlueKai. Nevertheless, 64 percent said improved ROI was a main driver for use of a DMP, and 60 percent said the technology would help the company to more effectively centralize, organize and leverage first-party, online and offline audience data for targeting, whether that first-party data was internal or a client's."