Media Hunter

What Accountants Can Teach You About Using Social Media

H&R Block Cast a Wide Net With a Campaign That Included Profiles, Videos, Twitter and Widgets

By Megan McIlroy and Abbey Klaassen, AdAge

Tax software isn't the first thing that comes to mind when you think of marketing in social networks or on YouTube, spaces dominated by movie trailers and goofy viral videos. But H&R Block proved that it, too, can be successful in the space, but it's about matching content to the social community and then making that content valuable to consumers, said Amy Worley, director of digital marketing for H&R Block.

Ms. Worley was speaking at the latest installment of Advertising Age's Digital Bites breakfast series yesterday and shared successes and lessons learned from H&R Block's most recent social-media campaign. The campaign cast a wide net in the social-media space, with MySpace and Facebook profiles, YouTube postings, a Twitter account, widgets and even a virtual tax office in Second Life.

Most companies, she noted, wouldn't dive into all the tactics at once but her product is very seasonal and "anything we didn't learn in one season, we would have to wait until next year [to try]."

Don't count on any new US blockbusters

Source: Michael Bodey, The Australian

THE time may well be past when blockbuster American series could turn around the fortunes of an Australian television network.

This year's muted round of screenings and up-front presentations by US networks has yet to approach any kind of fervour or produce the next Desperate Housewives or Grey's Anatomy.

The risky process of confirming new series on the strength of an expensive pilot episode is no longer in vogue after several high-profile failures in the US 2006-07 season and the recent writers' strike, which curtailed Hollywood production.

Traditionally, US networks ordered pilots early each year, presented them to advertisers and international buyers in May, and premiered them in the northern autumn.

That strategy has changed for most. NBC now spends more time on development but can decide to commission an entire series without producing a pilot.

Seven's win one-off, says Ten chief

Source: Jane Schulze, Media editor, The Australian

TEN Network chief Grant Blackley expects rival Seven Network to lose the TV ratings crown this year after haemorraghing audience share, only a year after finally grabbing the title from Nine.

Four months into the official TV ratings year, Mr Blackley does not believe Seven has the programming firepower to reverse massive double-digit audience declines in key demographics this year.

"As far as we're concerned, Seven's demise is not an aberration and will continue throughout the year," he said.

In the ratings year to date, Seven's share of total people viewing - which it won last year - has slumped 6 per cent while Ten's has jumped 4.4 per cent and Nine's 3 per cent.

Ten has now taken the lead in the 18 to 49-year-old demographic after lifting its audience share 2.5 per cent to 34.3 per cent. Nine has boosted viewing in that demographic by 12.5 per cent to 33.9 per cent while Seven, which won this demographic last year, has fallen 12.7 per cent to 31.7 per cent.

National TV viewers gone missing as Nine wins week

National ratings race. Source : David Dale Sun Herald Blogs

Sound the alarm and call out the bloodhounds -- nearly half a million Australian viewers have gone missing.

Last year the premiere of Ugly Betty attracted 2.05 million in the mainland capitals. Last week Betty's second season opened with 1.03 million.

Last year Sea Patrol averaged 1.6 million. Last week's episode drew 1.2 million.

Last year the Logies broadcast held 1.7 million viewers for four hours. Last week it held 1.50 million.

Grey's Anatomy managed 1.3 million against the Logies last year and this year 1 million.

At this point in 2007 Big Brother at 7pm was drawing 1.1 million. Last week it was lucky to get 900,000, despite the presence of Corey Worthington (who proves to be disturbingly bland).

Glory days return for NBN

Newcastle TV ratings week 19, 2008

It seemed like old times last week when NBN dominated the overall Newcastle TV ratings. NBN and SC TEN were up slightly on last years result while Prime slumped badly. Eight of the top 10 programs last week were on NBN, the other two were Prime.

Probably the biggest surprise of the week was that the final of Underbelly wasn't the No.1 show. It came in 7th for the week in Newcastle despite being the ratings winner elsewhere.

At this stage of the year NBN have a commanding 8 point lead over Prime. SC TEN have improved from their bad start last year to be of to a much better start in 2008.

Job advertising gets creative

My colleague The Marketer regularly posts regarding marketing and media job vacancies in the Hunter Region. It is one of the more popular topics on his site.

Today he has come across a job ad that really caught my eye.

Apparently this ad is doing the rounds via email at the moment.

Seems you go to a website they have created (with a rather colourful URL) and find out more about the position. And the  creativity doesn't stop there. But check out the site to see what I mean.

Good to see someone taking a different approach to the standard industry approach. Maybe another industry is beginning to apply some creative thinking to their model.

 

Social Media still on rise: comparative global study

Universal McCann has recently published its comparative study following Social Media trends by three waves: September 2006 (Wave 1), June 2007 (Wave 2) March 2008 (Wave 3).

Research highlights:
1. Social media is a global phenomenon happening in all markets regardless of wider economic, social and cultural development.

2. Asian markets (not including Japan) are leading in terms of participation, creating more content than any other region

Australia's No.1 Media News Blog

I am not usually one to blow my own trumpet, but I am proud to announce that Media Hunter is Australia's No.1 Media News blog.

How and why can I say this? Well its all actually about strategic positioning. I have recently launched a sister site called Sticky Branding. Sticky Branding discusses brand issues such as brand personality, taglines, corporate identity and positioning.

You see, branding is a lot like real estate. Its all about position, position, position.

Most brands try to compete in big, blurry categories against the giants of their industry. In doing so they are usually fighting a losing battle. Clever brands find a category niche and position themselves as the leader of that niche. From there they can compete and grow.

Expert brand advice with the all new Sticky Branding

Media Hunter has a new sister. A sister weblog that is. I am proud to announce the birth of Sticky Branding, a dedicated brand advice and analysis site.

Here at Sticky Advertising we are passionate about strong branding. Not just brand and logo design, but carefully positioned, well-articulated brands. We believe in communicating the brand personality and crafting a powerful and memorable tagline.

Its all part of effective branding. And its all discussed in detail at Sticky Branding.

In fact, the site will even go so far as to explain a step by step process for creating effective brand communication.

So drop by and meet Media Hunter's sister.

Mobilenet Promises to Be the Next Big Medium

But Don't Get Sidetracked Into Third-Screen Thinking By Al Ries

We are on the verge of witnessing the birth of a new mass-communications medium. It's the second new mass medium to appear in the last two decades.

The internet arrived in the 1990s, joining the other four mass media: 1) The book 2) The periodical 3) Radio 4) TV. Each new mass medium has created enormous upheavals in society.    
* The book ignited the knowledge explosion.    
* The periodical furthered the growth of democracy.    
* Radio created a celebrity-oriented society.    
* TV homogenized the culture.