Last weekend I attended BarCamp Houston 3, which had more than 150 attendees including enterpreneurs, web developers, marketers and a few media folks. All in all, it was a great experience with some interesting discussions around social media, Facebook apps, web design, marketing, a new visual search engine, and even biofuels. One of the most interesting aspects was the Twittering that was taking place along the way. At least half of the attendees were twittering, often making comments that were better left unsaid. Yes, you can add “making fun of jerks” to the list of twitter uses.
At the event I was interviewed by local new media guy Mike McGuff who has a video blog site MikeMcGuff.com. Mike interviewed me on the topics of Social Media, our new brand and Lemonade Day. Mike’s a pretty good video blogger and quite handy with his flip camera. I didn’t have much notice but thought it turned out okay. You can view the interview below. Yes, I know, it’s a very flattering title pic… (no worries Mike, I know YouTube doesn’t give you much of a choice).
I’m now wondering if I should add some video to my blog entries. The answer is probably yes, but I don’t know what I’d shoot or how to edit it. So I’ll stick w/ text for now, and take advantage of stuff I can find on youtube.
The Web continues to grow in importance to all of us:
Ecommerce will exceed $550bn globally and $200 billion in the U.S. in 2008, still accounts for less than 4% of U.S. retail sales
IBM reported that adults spend almost as much time online as they do watching TV: 60% of adults spend 1-4 hours online each day (66% watch 1-4 hours of TV)
Teens spend 20% more time online than they do watching television (13 hours / week)
Online advertising remains one of the economy’s fastest growth markets…
Digital ad spend is expected to exceed $26bn in 2008 (up 23% from 2007) and $41bn by 2011.
Digital now comprises 7.5% of ad spend (up from 5% in 2006).
85% of B2B marketers are increasing online budgets in 2008.
GM is shifting 50% of its $3bn ad budget to digital
McKinsey reported that by 2010, 2/3 of CMOs expect to spend more than 10% of ad budgets online. 11% expect to spend more than 50% of budgets online. More than 2/3 of respondents believe online media is more efficient than traditional advertising.
Traditional media channels are struggling (Geoff Ramsey, eMarketer)
Radio ad spending is expected to contract 3% in 2008
Newspaper ad spend is expected to contract 8% in 2008
Many still struggle with online marketing (Chris Vollmer, Booz Allen Hamilton)
#1 pain point: inability to measure effectiveness of online efforts
Also of note: brands need to improve integration of all activities (creative, media, reporting, analysis).
Only 25% of respondents felt they were sufficiently savvy to manage the entire interactive process.
Leaders are taking action to put in place:
Metrics and capabilities to assess impact of digital efforts
ROI dashboards
New positions to coordinate integration of efforts and agency relationships
Leading digital agencies and media companies…
Invest to help marketers “get it”
Link metrics to marketer brand/business objectives
Don’t just sell ad space – they sell solutions
Turn Consumer Insight to Marketer Foresight
Trends
The line between “above the line” and “below the line” is becoming blurred.
The need for accountability and an increase in younger CMO’s will drive digital. Of all media channels, TV may get hurt the most.