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Razorfish, one of the largest digital marketing companies in the world, declared in its fifth annual Digital Outlook Report that television has morphed from a mass distribution channel to a collection of interactive and personal experiences. The report,  provides insightful industry commentary on topics such as the future of TV and Social Influence Marketing™ and examines media buying, planning and distribution trends from the past year.

Razorfish publishes the report to help marketers make smarter choices about their digital media spend and investments in digital marketing channels.

“Marketers have been talking over the past few years about the long tail of the Internet, but now we are seeing the development of a long tail of television,” said Terri Walter, vice president of emerging media at Razorfish. “TV is alive and well, but the viewing experience is moving from mass to niche in terms of both audiences and programming as consumers divide their time between computer screens, TV sets, mobile devices, gaming systems and set-top boxes. As viewership fragments, advertisers must find a way to adopt their messages to smaller, but potentially more valuable audiences.”

In addition to exploring the fundamental shift happening in television, the Razorfish Digital Outlook Report offers insights into digital media trends that are affecting the media industry overall, and in particular, search and social media. For example, Razorfish saw a significant increase in client spending in paid search, which rose from 31% in 2007 to 36% in 2008.

“As the economy began to soften toward the end of the year, we witnessed a renewed focus on search because it delivers a stronger ROI than many other tactics,” said Sarah Baehr, vice president and national media lead at Razorfish. “We also saw a continued shift in digital ad spending toward niche sites as clients realize the value of targeting precise audience groups.”

The comprehensive report provides research, predictions and recommendations from agency thought leaders and a stellar group of guest contributors. Key findings include:

• Explosion of Social Influence Marketing™ – Razorfish predicts “Your CEO will join Facebook” this year. The traditional C-Suite is finally responding to the pressure that social influencers have on their brands, and they’re getting onboard. The Digital Outlook Report discusses ways to measure the value of social influencers, including the proprietary Razorfish Generational Action Tag technology.
• Findings on the “connected class” – Razorfish found that those in the digitally savvy, 18-25 age group are becoming more selective and sophisticated in their digital choices, and are not afraid to ignore superfluous online video content or reduce the number of their ‘connections’ on social networking sites. Marketers would do well to respect the discerning nature of the “connected class.”
• Defining a new retail experience – As customers are now demanding the same level of personalization in brick-and-mortar stores as they receive online, retailers need to deploy modern tools such as digital in-store signage, coupons delivered via mobile devices and interactive store floor plans and merchandise directories.
• Annual “Publisher of the Year” award – Razorfish’s media team named New York Times Digital, Yahoo! and FM Publishing this year’s publishers of the year based on their service, creativity, responsiveness and the ability to deliver meaningful solutions to the agency and its clients.

As in previous years, the Digital Outlook Report incorporates essays from guest writers who bring fresh insights into all things digital. The 2009 report includes contributions from Mike Steib, director of Google TV Ads; Davina Kent, director of strategic alliances, Comcast; media visionary and consultant Jack Meyers; Dean Carignan, director, advertising business group, entertainment & devices division, Microsoft and Mark Kroese, general manager, advertising business group, entertainment & devices division, Microsoft; and Alec Gerster, CMO, Navic.
About Razorfish
Razorfish is one of the largest interactive marketing and technology companies in the world. With a demonstrated commitment to innovation, Razorfish counsels its clients on how to leverage digital channels such as the Web, mobile devices, in-store technologies and other emerging media to engage people, build brand loyalty and provide excellent customer service. The company is increasingly advising marketers on Social Influence Marketing™, its approach for employing social media and social influencers to achieve the marketing and business needs of an organization. Its award-winning client teams provide solutions through their strategic counsel, digital advertising and content creation, media buying, analytics, technology and user experience. Razorfish has offices in markets across the United States, and in Australia, China, France, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom. Clients include Carnival Cruise Lines, MillerCoors, Levi’s, McDonald’s and Starwood Hotels. Visit http://www.razorfish.com for more information.
Contacts:
Sally O’Dowd Sally.odowd (at) razorfish (dot) com (direct) +1.312.696.5068 (mobile) +1.773.458.3740
Katie Lamkin Katie.lamkin (at) razorfish (dot) com (direct) +1.312.696.5241 (mobile) +1.773.308.3425

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MOBILE MYTHOLOGY SUGGESTS THAT ALL Europe and Asia are far, far ahead of the U.S. in their mobile technology and media evolution. International case studies hold up examples of sophisticated marketing programs that seem years ahead of familiar mobile campaigns here. Like most mythologies, this one has a grain of truth that we tend to extrapolate into broad maxims and conventional wisdom.

But as increasingly border-less brands start deploying programs internationally, mobile mythology could lead to costly misfires. Even a cursory look at M:Metrics monthly benchmarks of international mobile data uptake shows some vast difference among geographic neighbors. In April, 10.2% of UK mobile customers played a downloaded game, compared to 4.4% in France. Likewise, the level of tolerance and/or exposure to the dominant form of mobile marketing, SMS messaging, is wildly varied. In Spain, 72.5% of users received an SMS ad of some kind in April, while only 28.5% of Germans did.

“People make blanket statements that Europe is more sophisticated — but without any data,” says Michael Foschetti, managing director, interactive and mobile, Mobisix, a mobile marketing strategy firm. “There is a range within Europe in technology and [ad] receptivity. There are big differences, especially on receptivity.” Mobisix recently aggregated and analyzed worldwide data on receptivity to advertising, phone penetration, usage levels, and feature use and came up with some fascinating, counterintuitive insights about local nuance.

The Mobisix research confirms some old canards, of course. “The U.S. is the least advanced and the least receptive,” says Foschetti. When it comes to SMS advertising, less than 20% of us report receiving one, according to M:Metrics. But other pieces are less obvious. For instance, technological sophistication does not translate into advertising receptivity, Mobisix argues. Much of Mexico, Southern Latin America and Brazil are the least developed in mobile technology adoption — but they are far and away more accepting of mobile advertising. Japan, in fact, is not that high on the mobile adoption scale and its acceptance of ads on handsets is only average. Most of the Eastern and far northern European nations have very high mobile adoption rates but are only about as ad-tolerant as Japan. Italy and Hong Kong represent the global sweet spot, high levels of technical sophistication and acceptance of the ad model.

The numbers have clear implications for global mobile media planning. Global is actually very local. Latin America and Italy could be very promising areas for aggressive marketing campaigns that might backfire in the U.S. or France. “Market segmentation must be a top priority,” says Foschetti. “We believe receptivity trumps technology adoption by a significant factor.”

Which is to say also that mobile platforms are shaped as much by cultural environment as they are by technology. Technology adoption (Web, TV, radio, mobile) may be inevitable globally, but the shape they take is quite local. Anthropologists have known this for a long time, and a handful of us in the digital world banged this same drum a decade ago during the rise of the Internet. Technologies (and the media layered onto them) succeed in a market only when the culture finds a proper way to configure it. Marketers really need to understand how a local segment uses mobile and look beyond mere penetration rates and network speeds. This takes trial and error and real brand strategy — not just “getting into mobile.”

But it gets even more complicated than that. Once your brand figures out how to leverage mobile within a given context, then you need to layer onto that local equation what level of permission an individual brand has here. Is it trusted with a user’s phone number, address, or buying habits in this environment? That, too, can be variable.

I am a big believer in the notion that mobile platforms will teach us things about the one-to-one marketing process and even about our brand’s real health in the market that other platforms can’t. If this is an intimate medium that will be permission-based at every turn, then here is where the “relationship” between brands and their customers really get tested. Giving up your cell phone number is materially different from giving up your email. Agreeing to take regular SMS messages from a corporate entity is a different calculation from signing up for another email newsletter.

Brand managers have to determine whether their brand strength can carry the program for different populations in a global campaign. Mobile programs like Sprite’s “The Yard” community can flourish elsewhere and fall flat, as it did, in the U.S. For the life of me, I can’t understand why anyone wants to be part of a Sprite online community. But what do I know? I am just an American — who doesn’t much like green and yellow anyway.

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Mobile phones promise to revolutionize event marketing and let sponsors reach visitors in uniquely personal ways that would be impossible with conventional media. Witness V Festival, held this August in Weston Park and Hylands Park. The festival gave its namesake sponsor, mobile network provider Virgin Mobile, a chance to show off some innovative phone uses and bond with thousands of attendees.

Besides watching popular bands like the Foo Fighters and Primal Scream, attendees could download a ‘Mobile Festival Survival Kit’ onto their phones. Each kit contained a grab bag of concert-enhancing applications. Among them, according to Mobile Marketing Magazine: brightly coloured, flashing screensavers that let visitors find each other in crowds, flame-like graphics designed to take the place of the lighters concert goers wave during ballads, and lighted cell-phone displays that acted like flashlights. People were also able to sign up for text alerts warning them when a concert was about to begin.

The survival kit was developed for Virgin by Mobster Media a UK marketing communications firm. Mobster’s V Festival survival kit is just one example of how event marketers can use mobile devices in unique ways. This August, for example, Springwise reported on a portable laundromat set up by denim brand Wrangler at the Lowlands music festival in the Netherlands. A text message informed patrons when their clothes were ready for to be picked up. Lots more possibilities exist. Merged with GPS, mobile devices could help event-goers find one another. Web cams could show where lines were shortest at concession stands and onstage performances could be supplemented by song lyrics to let audiences join in.

Website: www.vfestival.com
Contact: info@vfestival.com

Spotted by: Bjarke Svendsen

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