Atomic Ideas - Helping You Sell More Stuff!

Where are your best customers? (Maybe not on Facebook or Twitter!)

Where your customers are is an important question. As the articles below point out, nearly 25% of Americans still don't use the Internet. Only about half use Facebook and only 7% use twitter. That's why we at Atomic Ideas continue to bang the drum for starting with a sound strategy. Even the right message is wasted if you're not using the right media. Just because everyone else is using a specific medium doesn't mean it's right for your brand...or maybe it is! 

Nearly Half of Americans Use Facebook; Only 7% Use Twitter [STUDY]

February 24, 2011 by Jolie O'Dell195

 

A new report from eMarketer finds that most adult Americans with Internet access use Facebook at least once a month, and a full 42.3% of the entire American population was using the site as of this month.

By contrast, Twitter‘s penetration rate was much lower, sitting at around 7% of the total population and 9% of the Internet-using population, according to the report.

Late last year, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company saw around 250 million daily users of its 500 million-strong user base. The young exec made the point that Facebook’s products — including Photos, Places, Groups and Messages — are features that people use more frequently than they use other, more established services with similar features because Facebook’s products are inherently social.

Twitter, on the other hand, is driven largely by so-called power users, and only 21% of registered users are actually active on the site. Another interesting and related Twitter usage stat: 22.5% of users are responsible for 90% of all tweets.

One important stat to note, however, is Twitter’s year-over-year growth. Last year around this time, Twitter’s penetration rate was around 7%, and by the end of this year it’s expected to be at 11% for American Internet users, or 16.5% of the population that also uses other social networks. In terms of the overall U.S. population, the numbers are still small, but the growth is steady.

An analyst for the firm said, “eMarketer’s new Twitter usage estimates are lower than our April 2010 forecast. Since then, Twitter has continued to gain traction but at more moderate levels than we had expected.”

The microblogging service celebrated 100 million new accounts created in 2010, and a lot of that growth was due to the company’s investment in official and device-integrated mobile apps.

What do you think it’ll take for Twitter’s growth to really skyrocket and reach more of the population? Or will this service remain a niche product for the web-using elite? Let us know your opinions below.

TOP 20 COUNTRIES WITH THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF INTERNET USERS

TOP 20 COUNTRIES WITH HIGHEST NUMBER OF INTERNET USERS # Country or Region Population, 2011 Est Internet Users Year 2000 Internet Users Latest Data Penetration (% Population) World % Users 1 China 1,336,718,015 22,500,000 485,000,000 36.3 % 23.0 % 2 United States 313,232,044 95,354,000 245,000,000 78.2 % 11.6 % 3 India 1,189,172,906 5,000,000 100,000,000 8.4 % 4.7 % 4 Japan 126,475,664 47,080,000 99,182,000 78.4 % 4.7 % 5 Brazil 203,429,773 5,000,000 75,982,000 37.4 % 3.6 % 6 Germany 81,471,834 24,000,000 65,125,000 79.9 % 3.1 % 7 Russia 138,739,892 3,100,000 59,700,000 43.0 % 2.8 % 8 United Kingdom 62,698,362 15,400,000 51,442,100 82.0 % 2.4 % 9 France 65,102,719 8,500,000 45,262,000 69.5 % 2.1 % 10 Nigeria 155,215,573 200,000 43,982,200 28.3 % 2.1 % 11 Indonesia 245,613,043 2,000,000 39,600,000 16.1 % 1.9 % 12 Korea 48,754,657 19,040,000 39,440,000 80.9 % 1.9 % 13 Iran 77,891,220 250,000 36,500,000 46.9 % 1.7 % 14 Turkey 78,785,548 2,000,000 35,000,000 44.4 % 1.7 % 15 Mexico 113,724,226 2,712,400 34,900,000 30.7 % 1.7 % 16 Italy 61,016,804 13,200,000 30,026,400 49.2 % 1.4 % 17 Philippines 101,833,938 2,000,000 29,700,000 29.2 % 1.4 % 18 Spain 46,754,784 5,387,800 29,093,984 62.2 % 1.4 % 19 Vietnam 90,549,390 200,000 29,268,606 32.3 % 1.4 % 20 Argentina 41,769,726 2,500,000 27,568,000 66.0 % 1.3 % TOP 20 Countries 4,578,950,118 275,424,200 1,601,772,290 35.0 % 75.9 % Rest of the World 2,351,105,036 85,561,292 508,993,520 21.6 % 24.1 % Total World - Users 6,930,055,154 360,985,492 2,110,765,810 30.5 % 100.0 % NOTES: (1) World Internet User Statistics were updated for June 30, 2011. (2) Additional data for individual countries and regions may be found by clicking each country name. (3) The most recent user information comes from data published byNielsen Online, International Telecommunications Union, Official country reports, and other trustworthy research sources. (6) Data from this site may be cited, giving due credit and establishing an active link back to Internet World Stats. Copyright © 2000 - 2011, Miniwatts Marketing Group. All rights reserved.

 

 

How Much Has Working In an Ad Agency Changed for Creatives Over The Years?

                                                                                 OMG!

How much has life changed for creative folk working in ad agencies in the last twenty years, or so? Well, for one thing, we would have said, "Oh my god," not OMG. Because, well, people didn't talk or text that way back then... oh yeah, they didn't text at all.

Some of my good friends and I got into a discussion about how difficult it must be for art directors or designers getting into the business today, compared to when we got into it twenty or thirty years ago. The conversation was such a hoot, I thought I'd relay some of our observations here.

Have Things Really Changed That Much?

The answer is an unequivocal yes. In our day, apart from having to walk uphill to work through snow and ice in our bare feet, we frankly didn't have nearly as much to worry about to keep our jobs. What did we have to keep up with as young art directors and copywriters entering the business? Here are a few of the things we could remember:

• The latest Press Type fonts from Letraset. Yep, in those days we actually transferred type from a plastic sheets to our marker layouts on something called paper (Vellum, actually). 

• Speaking of Press Type, we also needed to keep up with the latest "burnishing" device; aka, a small plastic tool with a flat head which allowed us to get the letters off the plastic and on to our layouts. So tech talk was like, Hey Bob, check out the new poly-carbonate burnisher from Burnisher Pros (now out of business, I'm sure )... it's really smooth, man!" Then we would drink scotch to celebrate.

• Yes, in the high stress agency world, drinking was important. We had to keep up with all the single malt and blended Scotch upgrades available at the time (not nearly as many as are available in America today, so relatively easy. Thank god none of them, were made by Adobe).

• Figuring out how to manage the cash pool to keep the agency bar stocked.

• Of course, markers (previously mentioned -  little sticks with different colored nibs on the end we would use to draw our concepts on paper) were important, too. It was big news when Pantone came out with some new colors! Then we had to beg the CD to beg the agency owners to come up with the cash to get them for all of us so we be on the "cutting edge." Sniffing markers was a lot of fun, too. Side note: A good AD in the seventies and eighties could sniff a marker blindfolded, get high from the fumes, and still tell you what color it was.

• We also had to also be up on the latest formulations of rubber cement to make keylining easier. WTF (more new speak) is keylining? We actually had to paste everything on a board so it could be printed. Hell, I'm not explaining it. Look here if you care.

• For copywriters, there wasn't much. But they did get geeked up when a new model electric typewriter came out. Fodder for the water cooler, indeed. Their lives wouldn't really be revolutionized until word processing became the next big thing on dim Cathode Ray Tube displays with little green letters you could only access if you could figure out how to get past a thing called a DOS prompt. That was asking an awful lot from a copywriter, but they managed. Life was a bitch for all of us back then!

Heck, that's about it.

Compared to the youngsters coming up these days, we had it easy.

It's true and we know it. Don't be jealous, but we just had to focus on being good at what our job titles described us as. 

These days it's not enough to be simply a good art director or copywriter. Now you better know everything about everything; HTML, HTML 5, Flash, social media, SEO, video editing, and a million other techie things that weren't even on the horizon in the old days. And how about constantly having to figure out how to learn and use the constant upgrades to all the programs you new kids on the block have to deal with? That's a nightmare all its own. And what if you copy folk aren't up on Google's latest algorithm changes? Bummer! Now your latest brilliant search engine optimized copy is as worthless as the neighbor dog's droppings on your nicely manicured lawn. Holy crap. 

We admit it. Things were simpler back then. On the other hand, we're still here and we unfortunately have to be up to speed on everything you new guys and gals have to deal with and keep up with in these technologically manic times. So listen to your elders and take some advice that got us, and many "Mad Men," through their darkest days, and still does. Booze. It's the glue that's kept the industry together. Don Draper knew it, and so did we. Keep the bar stocked and you can't go wrong. You'll get through it all, and you just might get famous. Because hey, some things never change. And some things never should.

Cheers!

Has America "Jumped the Shark?"

Okay, our economy sucks. We'll be lucky to get out of this mess without leaving our kids and grandkids with crushing debt. But if anyone can do it, it's our elected leaders, right?

Nope, they're too busy texting body parts. And if they don't have the good sense to keep from Tweeting their privates, what hope do we have that they can balance the nation's checkbook?

Well then, we just need to vote these scoundrels out of office and get some leaders with brains and common sense, right? Nope, almost 1/3 of us, according to a Marist College poll in USA Today (6/8/11 page two), think this kind of behavior is just hunky-dory...i.e. "expected" of our elected leaders.

So...in short...we're screwed. Our leaders suck. The people who should hold our elected leader's feet to the fire, suck. The nation has officially "Jumped The Shark" -- a Hollywood term meaning, "past it's prime and ready for cancellation." The term originated with an episode of "Happy Days" when Fonzie jumped the shark and it was clear from that moment that the series was doomed.

 

Thanks to the stupidity of our leaders and the complacency of our people, I think our nation, like the show, has seen the end of Happy Days. But that's just one blogger's opinion. What do you think?

 

Friday Funny - Talking Dog - Casting is Everything

This is the perfect definition of a viral video. So funny. So spot on, that people play it over and over again and send it to friends.  What is it selling? NOTHING. Advertising clients often ask agencies to "Make a Viral Video" then force them to cram all kinds of sales points into it. And god forbid anything in the video make the client or product look the least bit goofy, or in any way be "edgy." As so...it never goes viral.

But that's not what I really wanted to talk about today, which is: casting! Take a look at this talking dog video. The voice used for this dog is perfect. It fits the character of his actions and the dialog. So many clients want a "funny" radio spot but want to cast "straight-up" announcer boring voices. Or vise-versa, they will only buy a straight script but then want to put a "funny" voice in it "to make the spot funnier." Neither works. A spot needs the proper synergy of character, delivery and dialog. Screw up any of these and a potential customer's BS meter goes off and you've lost them (ie you've thrown your money away).

I know, I know, it's Friday and I promised you "funny" in the title. So enough pontificating. Here's the video. Enjoy!

  

Top 8 Brand Attributes That Could Help Make Donald Trump President in 2012.

At Atomic Ideas, we're all about trying to take the B.S. OUT of brand strategy. But maybe we're blowing smoke. Because Donald Trump is living proof that you can be full of it, yet still rise to the top of the polls. Here we present 8 carefully cultivated brand attributes that are helping "The Donald" be a force to be reckoned with in the upcoming presidential race.

1. BRAND IDENTITY: He has a really ritzy logo which clearly and
quickly informs us of his ritziness.

2. BRAND MISSION: Make money. Lose money. Lose other people's money. Go bankrupt. Fix bankruptcy. Marry beautiful women. Divorce them. Lose money. Be a master of spin. Say things I couldn't possibly believe are true... with conviction. Make it all sound like the American dream come true. In other words, strive to be pretty much just like the government and many politicians without ever having been either.

3. UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION (USP): All the others are stupid. Plus, no other Presidential candidate can uncover a birth certificate like I can.

4. VALUE PROPOSITION: "It's better to be a billionaire... Nah, na, na, nah, nah!"

5. BRAND ICON: His hair has become synonymous with success (and bad hairdos), not just in America, but around the world! More recognizable than Nike's swoosh.

6. BRAND FILTER: His brand embodies four Focus Words that are the foundation for his succes;  "You're Fired!" and "F*%K You!" The first two words will rock the White House; the other two (which he tends to toss around like hand grenades) will put all those other pesky nations he'll have to deal with in their place. 'Nuff said, Mr. President!

7. BRAND VALUES: We (me) are (is) driven to buy things that are under-valued and quickly turn them around for profit (including Democrats, if possible).

8. TAGLINE: Don't Miss Celebrity Apprentice. Sundays at 9:00 pm on NBC!

Clearly define these 8 brand attributes for yourself or your business and you too could sell igloos to Eskimos.

Of course, if Trump does trump all the other candidates despite himself, Air Force One and the White House are going to get the best makeovers they've ever had. We can't wait to see the results!

* Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are by no means meant to be a political statement. As an entity, Atomic Ideas is not partisan, bipartisan, Republican, Democrat, Plutocrat, Conservative, Liberal, Independent, or Tea Partyish. Nor do we mean to be inflamatory, wishy-washy, obtuse, esoteric, intellectual, or even believable. So there.

Tales from a TechnoTard

There are millions of us out there -- relatively intelligent people trying to harness the power of modern technology for the good of all, but who are thwarted at every turn. Even when we seemingly do everything right, we still manange to get an "error" message or general "fail" on our endeavor.

This is the (really short) story of one such TechnoTard: 

Although I have been a proud possessor of an Apple iPhone 4 (still hate my server, you know who they are) for over eight months, and have mastered (slowly) just about every function and feature there is on it, I was baffled a couple days ago because it would not ring when someone called. I checked the volume, good. I checked the settings area and even changed my ringtone, good. Still, no ring when a call came in. Totally perplexed, I handed my phone to my differently-enableled (non-TechnoTard) cowoker who has seemingly had an iPhone since before they were even invented, and in two seconds, he removed the bumper case and  fixed the problem. 

I had forgotten all about the (handy?) silencer slide button on the side of the phone. Call me old-school, but when I don't want something to make a sound, I shut the thing off or turn the volume way down. I'm not used to a separate "silence" button.  (Yes, I have mastered the "mute" button on my TV, shut up!).

I guess this is a long way to go to point out that "obviousness is in the eye of the beholder."  And while some of us may be TechnoTards, I bet there are things we are great at, that the Technology-enabled aren't. I can't think of any of those things right now, but I bet there are some. 

So why the long diatribe on this? Because we TechnoTards are made to feel bad about our malady. Like when the wireless printer will print everyone else's document but ours. Or when the attachment to our e-mail somehow becomes unattached. It's always labeled a PIC (problem in chair) error. Well, mark my words, the time will come when we TechnoTards will rise up and oppose our Technology-Saavy overlords. I'd tell you what the date is right now, but I can't get my "Outlook" to open. (Sigh!)

Inspiration is where you find it.

I found it on YouTube! Hopefully you will find a little inspiration where you least expect it, too! 

 

Snow Daze Indeed

Yesterday the Detroit Area was hit with some serious snow and severe cold (3-degrees overnight). Today, many of the roads are still generously glazed with a shimmery coating of ice. But as the saying goes..."The Advertising Must Go On." Thanks to the Internet, laptops, smartphones and PDAs, advertising agencies and Idea Factories like Atomic Ideas kept chugging along without missing a single beat. Why do I point this out? Well, these days when it might seem a good idea to do business with an agency in New York or on the West Coast, I'd just like to draw attention to the Midwest work ethic you find here -- and nowhere else. Snow may shut down New York and earthquakes may devastate Los Angeles and San Francisco, but here in Detroit, the work gets done despite nature's wrath. 

I couldn't find a video of the snowstorm here in Detroit --we were all busy working -- but here's what the storm looked like in Minnesota. Admittedly, they got a little more snow out of this storm, but it still pretty much shows what the typical Southeast Michigan Nor'easter looks like. And while bad storms like this happen a couple times a year, it hardly ever keeps us from keeping the wheels of advertising turning.

 

To Bun or Not To Bun, the KFC Question

 

I saw this KFC spot the other night. Yeah, it has all those typical young people with incredulous looks talking about KFC food. It’s all about KFC using a new kind of bun for their Doublicious Chicken Sandwich: they use a Hawaiian Sweet Roll. It’s not a plain hamburger bun (which, apparently, should only be paired with a real hamburger). The Hawaiian Sweet Roll bun’s different shape is what makes KFC’s Doublicious Sandwich a taste sensation in the spot. That’s KFC’s handle- “Never seen a sandwich like this before!” the woman in the spot claims. It seems a unique look is just what was needed, needed to “...make those eleven herbs and spices really come to life.” Yes, looks are everything. 

Now, just when I thought this bun was everything, I discovered this KFC spot on YouTube:

   

Well, how ‘bout that? It’s the KFC Double Down Chicken Sandwich. It features no bun at all. It’s made up of two boneless white meat chicken filets (Original Recipe or Grilled), two pieces of bacon, two melted slices of Monterey Jack and pepper jack cheese and the Colonel's Sauce (whatever that is). KFC says, “The Double Down is so meaty, there’s no room for a bun!” 

These KFC marketers are incredible. They’ve covered it all. The Doublicious is all about how the bun looks. The Double Down, is all about not being able to look at the bun. By the way, they do provide a little grease-proof half paper bag to hold the sandwich’s ingredients together. 

After watching these two spots I’m still left with the impression that they offer little, if any, real consumer benefit. I still think KFC sandwiches are high in calories, high in fat and very high in sodium - all the things most of us need to avoid. And what's with those sandwich names? "Double Down" Is that some kind of bet on whether you'll need bypass surgery or not? What do you think?

On my Steeb-O-Meter, (a rating system for evaluating projects on film, video, music, television and print on a scale  of 1 - 63) I'm giving each spot a 27.

 

Where's the Government Bailout for Advertising???

With the first Chevy Volt rolling off the assembly line today in Hamtramck, Michigan (gateway to Detroit) -- which incidentally, requires a government incentive of $7500 per car to have any possibility of selling -- I have to ask the question, "Where's the government incentive to buy advertising services?"  

I know it sounds silly. Why would the government support a for-profit business, like advertising?  

To which I ask, "Why would they support a for-profit business like automobile manufacturing? Or a for-profit business like banking?" 

I know, the argument goes something like, "if the car companies (and/or banks) go under, so does our economy." Well, what happens when advertising goes under??? How will companies sell more stuff? This is an important point because if they don't sell enough stuff, they go under -- and so does the economy!!!!

Advertising has lost (by several estimates) over 160,000 jobs that will probably never come back. That's 160,000 people not paying taxes, or buying cars, or putting money in banks. And you know what happens when people don't buy cars or put money in banks? That's right, the government bails them out!!

Where was the government when Doner cut hundreds of jobs? When BBDO cut thousands of jobs? When Campbell-Ewald cut hundreds of jobs? When the networks, newspapers and radio stations cut thousands of jobs? I could keep going, but you get the jist.  Advertising agency blended rates have not increased in more than 10 years (and in some markets have even retracted), while at the same time, clients are cutting budgets and squeezing agencies to provide ever more service for the same dollar amount. 

I'm not complaining. I'm just saying, as Sally did in A Charlie Brown Christmas, "All I want is what I've got coming to me. All I want is my fair share!"   I'm not asking for a government bailout, just a government incentive for advertising. Maybe a tax break for advertisers who could then use the money to pay their agencies more, or at least use it to advertise more! 

The Volt and Leaf get government subsidies because, "they help reduce our dependance on foreign oil and (supposedly) cut greenhouse gasses." A government subsidy for advertising would reduce our dependance on word of mouth which would (supposedly) cut CO2 (a greenhouse gas). 

At Atomic Ideas (a Michigan advertising agency and idea factory), we're doing everything we can to stoke the fires of capitalism by supporting advertising in all it's various forms -- from :30 TV spots to Magazine Ads to Billboards to Social Media campaigns. Or as we like to say it, "Atomic Ideas, Saving Advertising, One Tag Line At A Time!"