L&S Unscripted

As a precursor to formally announcing his candidacy for Mayor of Sioux Falls on February 1^st, Pat Costello, with the help of Lawrence & Schiller, launched his new website on January 15, 2010. Encompassing Costello’s overall position, (the future is now) the website takes a comprehensive look at Costello’s family life, professional and political experience and vision for Sioux Falls, focusing on five platforms: A Safe Sioux Falls; City Finances; City Relationships; Commerce and Entertainment; and Communication. The site also includes a photo gallery, voter information, and a contribution page. With email signup, a constant social media feed and the ability to submit questions or concerns to Costello himself, the site is interactive and user-friendly.

 Check out the site at www.costelloformayor.com

 The 2010 municipal election for Sioux Falls Mayor will be held Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Just the facts – A great post from our often quoted friends at the Center for Media Research, facts you can use during your reports, speeches and water-cooler arguments during 2010.  Ah, we love stats.

Mobile Phones

• U.S. mobile phone users 13+: 223M
• Number of mobile Web users: 60.7M (up 33% from 2008)
• Percentage of mobile devices that are smartphones: 18% (up from 13% in 2008)
• Percentage of mobile device owners that streamed audio: 8%
• Percentage of mobile device owners that viewed video via their mobile phone: 7%
• Percentage of mobile devices sold in Q3 2009 that were smartphones: 25% (estimated 40%-50 in 2010)

Source: The Nielsen Company, November 2009

Looking Ahead To Mid-2011

• Estimated smartphone user base: 150M
• Estimated mobile subscribers: 300M+
• Estimated users of mobile web: 120M
• Estimated users watching mobile video: 90M

Source: The Nielsen Company, November 2009

Growth of cellphone only homes in the U.S.

• 2009… 21%
• 2008… 18%
• 2007… 15%

Top 5 Smartphones (% Ownership)

• Blackberry 8300 Curve: 17%
• Apple iPhone 3G: 15%
• Apple iPhone 3G S: 12%
• Blackberry 9530 Storm: 6%
• Blackberry 8100 Pearl: 5%

Source: The Nielsen Company, November 2009

Top 5 Mobile Web Sites

• Google Search
• Yahoo! Mail
• Gmail
• Weather Channel
• Facebook

Top Social Networks on Mobile Phones

• Facebook
• MySpace
• Twitter

Top 5 Mobile Video Channels

• YouTube
• Fox Interactive Media
• Weather Channel
• Comedy Central
• CBS

Internet

• 195M Active U.S. Internet users
• 160.3M People who accessed the Internet via a broadband connection: (93.3%… up 16% from 2008)
• 138.4M Unique viewers of video (up 11.4% from 2008)
• 11.2B Total online video streams viewed monthly (up 17% from 2008)
• 200.1 minutes Average time spent viewing online video per viewer monthly (up 12.5% from 2008)

Social Networking

• Facebook reaches 56% of the active U.S. Internet universe with an average usage of 6 hrs a month per user
• Facebook is the #3 site visited by users 65 and older
• Twitter grew 500% year-over-year
• Time spent on social networking sites in the U.S. increased 277%
• The average U.S. worker spends 5 hrs a month visiting social networks at the office
• 32% of all mobile web users visited a social network

We’re excited to announce the addition of a new market leader to our client list – Taco John’s International.

Lawrence & Schiller started our Taco John’s journey in the spring of 2007. Our team grew up in Taco John’s country, recalling countless hometown Taco John’s stories, which led us to identify the company as a client we wanted to work with. Our account service team began building relationships with Taco John’s that led to the opportunity to respond to their agency of record RFP in October, pitch the business in November and win (!) the business in December.

The RFP called for a creative shoot-out, so in true 5280 style, we developed strategic creative based on a deep understanding of the Taco John’s brand. We visited over 100 stores, interviewed franchisees, talked to customers and studied any other research we could get our hands on. As a result, we presented three diverse concepts, and like true parents were very proud of the entire trio of brainchildren. 

The creative selected will hit the airways in March, celebrating the hometown tradition that is Taco John’s. A few members of our Taco John’s team attended the Advertising Production Committee Meeting last week, where we officially kicked off our collaborative relationship.

Welcome, Taco John’s! We couldn’t be more excited to dedicate our time and creative energy to another brand that is such a big part of our lives.

To read more about this new relationship, click here.

Another edition of notes from my trip to the Interative Advertising Bureau’s MIXX Conference this past fall. 

Ads Are Content

• 55 billion dollars are projected for interactive marketing in 2015; it will be the largest media category in the world.
• Economic value of the internet: 3.1 million US jobs, and $300 billion to the economy. 
• Evolution of banners
  • Banner ads – circa 1995 – when display ads were put on banners.
  • Google changed it with small ads to small groups that it was relevant to. 
  • Now, there are infinite inventory and places to advertise.  Attention is worth more than money.
  • We have learned to tune out banner ads that do not speak directly to us – we need to make ads as content, that match that niche community’s site (no generic banner ads to all sites).
  • Get communities to talk about your product for you.  Example of unique niche community – GeekDad.com – 1 million visits per month.  Great example of a very niche, yet very popular site. So how do you engage deeply with all of these micro-communities?  You can’t reach them all – you need to find a way to get that community to do that for you.
• Embrace digital – your stuff is out there so make a community around it or make it easier for people.
  • Example: Monte Python – They faced a potential loss in DVD sales when some of their episodes starting getting put online by users.  They embraced the fact that their content was already out there, and improved it by uploaded episodes to You Tube, making the episodes HD friendly, and organizing the collection online.  The result?  A renewed interest in the products, and increased DVD sales.

Back to the basics of Christmas is the approach used in the latest Lewis campaign. No hot toys or gadgets were featured this year, marking a somewhat different Christmas campaign than in years past.

A sound mix to “Oh Christmas Tree” and highlighting a breadth of products from all departments within Lewis lends a fresh, fun feel to this spot. Products from TVs and cameras to baby dolls, champagne and Doritos – it is made apparent that Lewis is your first stop for everything holiday. Whether it be for shipping and packaging, decorating your house for the holidays, gift buying or party planning, Lewis has it all.

More notes from the International Advertising Bureau’s MIXX conference. 

Can you imaging spending 3/4 of your ad budget in ditial marketing?  Adobe can, and they do.  They have created proven campaigns, and alleviated concerns by sharing data and results.  The first speaker of the conference, Anne Lewis, Senior VP of Adobe, set the theme with this statement: It’s ALL Advertising.   When you think about it, it’s true.  Every piece of material we put out there for a brand can either credit or discredit that product or brand.  It’s important to make sure that what you are putting out there is relevant to your target audience. 

As Thanksgiving approaches, we’ll be enjoying food and conversations.  I thought I’d leave you with a little brain food to digest over the weekend.  It’s more food for thought from the iab MIXX conference.  This post visits the growth of digital video advertising (and what the content is), trust levels of consumers (by medium), types of video ads and the metrics to measure the results.

Factors that indicate the future boom of online video ad spending.

• Broadband now reaches ‘critical mass’ 
• People used to click on ads all the time – why? Because they were new.
• Network TV Viewers/Video Streamers likely to forward ads: 
• 2006 – 26%
• 2009 – 17%   

One interesting tidbit – as of now, nearly all video time is TV time. (This surprised me, due to the popularity of YouTube)

• As % of total US video viewing time (as of 2nd quarter 09) 98.5% TV viewing, 1% Internet Videos (i.e. YouTube)

In 2013 it is projected that 16% of online video time will be internet videos. 

Video ads have low trust levels, as of now.  Advertising Trust Levels by Medium, of North Americans. By eMarketer.  Now that’s not to say that this shouldn’t be a part of your mix – it’s just a newer medium, but if your content and brand can show that they are credible and trustworthy, and you place ad content on sites that are also credible, you should have success. 

• Opt-In Emails 67%
• Newspaper Ads 66%
• Brand Spons. 62%
• Magazine Ads 62%
• TV 61%
• Radio 61%
• Cinema 53%
• Outdoor 53%
• Paid Search 37%
• Online Video 33%
• Online Banners 24%
• Mobile Text 18%

Four Types of Video Ads (different options for different creatives).  Your team at L&S will help you to determine which works best for you.

• Pre-Roll, Mid-Roll, Post-Roll
• Overlays (at the bottom, not interrupting the video)
• Skins
• In Page Banners

Metrics (don’t gauge all success by Click Through Rate)

• Delivery (did it get delivered?)
• Impressions, or Streams
• Audience Composition (who?)
• Consumption
• Interaction
• Action
• Purchase
• Brand Metrics (awareness, intent)

Video Performance Factors (Why it worked, or why it didn’t)

•  Creative
• Delivery
• Experience
• Not all videos are created equal; most are commercials moved to the web. It is much better if it is created for the web. 

Sanford Children’s Hospital partnership with the Great Plains Zoo was featured on ABC Nightly News with Brian Williams last week.  What an awesome program for kids staying in the Castle of Care!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/vp/34072231#34072231

In September I had the opportunity to attend the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s annual MIXX conference.  I had the chance to attend idea-stimulating workshops, listen to speakers from a variety of companies, and learn about new trends in the digital industry.  In the next few weeks, I’ll be posting excerts from my notes.

The Consumer Revolution

Yahoo! did a survey and found that 77% of those surveyed wanted to find an ad again, but they couldn’t find it.  The people surveyed wanted to save it, store it, share it.  There is a large expectation gap of what online provides and what users want it to do.  Stay focused on the consumer.

• The web – massive in scale, but individual areas for all the niches, like interest groups the web brings those communities together.
• The web – not daunting but it needs simplification. 
• It is about LIFE, not online, or offline, all the time. 

It’s a mesh of:

My World               The World            

Friends                  Knowledge

Family                    Information

Values                   News

Interests                 Entertainment

Locale                    Editorial

Combine the two to give more of what they want and less of what they don’t.  Figure out what matters most.

Lawrence & Schiller had the great opportunity recently to be involved in announcing the merger of Sanford Health & MeritCare. In collaboration with the creative teams at Sanford & MeritCare, we produced the Stronger Together campaign including television, outdoor & online ads, launched Monday, November 2. This powerful new partnership will provide better patient care with over 800 physicians and expanded services, as well as advancements in medical research and education. Congratulations to Sanford Health & MeritCare on this monumental occasion!

Twitter has lists, and, now, so does @TheExtraMile. You can view and follow our new list, called “Team”, at @TheExtraMile/Team.

If you’re new to Twitter lists (and pretty much everyone is), the concept is pretty simple. Lists allow Twitter users to group a bunch of twitterers together so that viewing their updates is easier. Want to view L&S twitterers and no one else? There’s a list for that.

If you’re still scratching your head, that’s okay. Mashable has a pretty good selection of Twitter List articles, how-tos, and guides.

Do you have a killer list? Share with us in the comments.

It is not often that we get feedback from consumers on the effect our advertising has on them.  And even less frequent that we get positive feedback.

We had the privilege of receiving a letter from a Midwest Living magazine subscriber regarding the ads placed in the publication for South Dakota Tourism this year.  It read:

“May I share with you how much I have enjoyed Midwest Living’s South Dakota tourism ads?  I have framed each one and have hung them on my knotty pine walls in my northern Wisconsin cottage.  How serene! Will there be more?  Thank you!”

Marilyn P from Wisconsin 

Additionally, she attached a Polaroid shot of the six ads she had clipped and framed for her home. 

Kudos to the team for developing such powerful copy and imagery to evoke strong emotion; strong enough to move the magazine reader to cut out, frame, and hang them in her home.  More powerfully, to move her to write a letter (not send an email) to the publication asking them for more.  

Now, that is marketing that will move the needle!

The Framed South Dakota Tourism ads

This week, Lawrence & Schiller is rolling out one of our newest clients, the University of South Dakota. Many of you have probably seen the television commercial already, but it really drives home what we are trying to say with this fresh, exciting campaign. The aim is to make potential and current students feel that USD is the place to be – that they are getting a private school education at a public school value, incomparable to any other.

The commercial truly says it all: Commitment you can see. Tradition you can feel. An experience like no other.  At a place called USD. The University of South Dakota.

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The best practices for designing, developing and deploying next-generation web, mobile and enterprise solutions were on display recently at Adobe Max in Los Angeles, CA. Among those attending was Eric Cross, Senior Interactive Developer at Lawrence & Schiller.

What were the biggest surprises? The biggest takeaways? And how can a conference like Max help L&S clients? Eric shares his thoughts in this episode of The Extra Minute.

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It’s always exciting to win an award, but when it comes from your peers – people with whom you compete for business -  it often means more.  Such is the case for the South Dakota Office of Tourism and its recent winning of the prestigious Mercury Award.

Micah Aberson, Director of Business Development at Lawrence & Schiller tells the story of the award winning Black Hills Digital Strategy in this edition of The Extra Minute.

Three days learning about new products, sneak peeks of emerging technologies and networking with over 5000 of your peers and industry experts. The annual event, held last week in Los Angeles, brings all of these elements together to give attendees an unparalleled conference experience. From the general sessions to the workshops and labs attendees are exposed to the tools that they need to get the job done.

To start the conference off on the right note Adobe released ColdFusion 9 the night before the first general session. This release contains new features and enhancements that make developing, maintaining and managing CF apps easier than ever. More on the features and benefits of ColdFusion 9, and ColdFusion in general, will be coming in a future post.

General Session #1

“Our goal is to help you and all of your clients reinvent their businesses in this digital age. To be more effective, more profitable and more agile.” Shantanu Narayen, President and CEO – Adobe Systems Inc.

The kickoff session was about using all of the available tools to create a uniform experience across multiple platforms and mediums. Development is no longer just about making sure your application works on a PC and a MAC, but that it looks and functions the same on all web enabled devices (web browsers, desktops, smart phones, web enabled TVs)

Flash 10.1 which will start rolling out on computers, netbooks and mobile devices in early 2010 will eliminate the need to build different versions for multiple devices and allow developers to build and maintain one codebase. The notable exception is the iPhone (and iTouch) which will support pre-compiled flash apps, but not web based flash through the built in Safari browser.

With Adobe’s pending acquisition of Omniture, it will become easier than ever to allow developers to gain access to analytics for rich internet applications.

The first session was closed out with a exclusive sneak peak of the upcoming film Avatar introduced by producer Jon Landau. He explained how they used Adobe products to solve real life production issues and throughout the entire production process. 3D technology has definitely come a long way!

General Session #2

The second general session focused on real life applications built using Adobe technologies. 

FedEx has developed a real-time tracking application with Flex and LiveCycle Data Services that allows them to monitor the location and status of their delivery vehicles. It can also track trending and send alerts when it detects problems with equipment or delivery delays. History is also stored and can be used to replay the route for review.

The crowd was shown a demonstration about a truck with a failing refrigeration unit and a package that needed to remain between a  certain temperature range. When a sensor started showing a rise in temperature over a relatively short period of time staff was alerted and immediately began to look for a service location on the current route. The truck was re-routed and the delivery times were updated to display the new delivery time. Within 20 minutes the vehicle was fixed and the driver back on to the destination. Once the vehicle was within 30 minutes of the destination a delivery alert was sent to the recipient and the package was delivered on time. In this case, the application helped FedEx prevent delivery of a spoiled product and the liability of replacing the item as well as meeting the customers’ expectations. (http://www.youtube.com/?v=Tqn2iXsqQ44)

The U.S. Postal Service Augmented Reality demo was by far the most practical AR application that I have seen to date. The premise is o place the item you would like to ship in front of the camera and a virtual box appears around it. This allows the user to select the correct size box for shipping. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpS3LeCiCtc)

John Mayer Augmented Reality demo – http://max.adobe.com/johnmayer/

Sneak Peeks – These live demonstrations showcase features that Adobe is working on to make their products better.  Among the fan favorites were Hierarchical Undo, Content Aware filling, ROME, server side actionscript and the Flash CS5 physics engine. These features, while still in early beta, are impressive to say the least and promise to help designers and developers to spend less time working and more time on innovation.

The conference provided valuable information about all of Adobe’s products. While I tailored my sessions to focus mainly to Cold Fusion, most of them also detailed how the different products work together seamlessly to provide the best solution for the end user.

Additional information and links to the general and individual sessions can be found at http://max.adobe.com

Given the rainy temperament of Mother Nature lately, it’s only fitting that Lawrence & Schiller is now sharing its website umbrella with our friends at L&S TeleServices. Our offices may be across town, but our philosophies are the same—go 5280 for our clients every day. The new section is modeled after our travel industry segment and highlights L&S’s expertise in call center services.

Learn more about the customer care for which L&S TeleServices famous.

check out this article from eMarketer:

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TV, Internet, mobile: up, up, up

Americans are consuming more video content across their three screens—television, Internet and mobile—according to The Nielsen Company.

The research firm’s “A2/M2 Three Screen Report—2nd Quarter 2009” indicates the screen to gain the most US video viewers was mobile, with a 70% year-over-year increase. Traditional television viewing climbed by 0.9% between Q2 2008 and Q2 2009, while online video viewing was up significantly in June (due to changes in methodology, online figures should be used for directional purposes only). Timeshifted TV viewing was on the rise as well, with 32.2% more viewers in Q2 2009 than the prior year.

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Viewing on all screens is up year-over-year, with the largest gains in internet usage, followed by timeshifted TV, video on the internet, and mobile usage.  The article goes on to say “Consumers also reported watching more than 141 monthly hours of traditional TV, and 7 hours and 16 minutes of timeshifted TV per month.”  Consumer internet usage dropped from 26:29 to 26:15 from 2008 to 2009.  Currently, 25% of all homes have a DVR.

For season premiere week?!  I AM!!!  The official start of the 09-10 TV is about to commence, so set those DVRs (or VCRs if you must), dust off your remote and get ready for a busy fall!  I’m just giddy…

New shows are bolded.  For more information about each show, follow the network link.

ABC
Dancing With the Stars: Monday, Sept. 21, 8 p.m. ET
Castle: Monday, Sept. 21, 10 p.m. ET
The Forgotten: Tuesday, Sept. 22, 10 p.m. ET
Dancing With the Stars Results Show: Wednesday, Sept. 23, 8 p.m. ET (special day and time)
Modern Family: Wednesday, Sept. 23, 9 p.m. ET
Cougar Town: Wednesday, Sept. 23, 9:30 p.m. ET
Eastwick: Wednesday, Sept. 23, 10 p.m. ET
FlashFoward: Thursday, Sept. 24, 8 p.m. ET
Grey’s Anatomy: Thursday, Sept. 24, 9 p.m. ET
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition: Sunday, Sept. 27, 7 p.m. ET (two hours)
Desperate Housewives: Sunday, Sept. 27, 9 p.m. ET
Brothers & Sisters: Sunday, Sept. 27, 10 p.m. ET
Shark Tank: Tuesday, Sept. 29, 8 p.m. ET (summer run began on Sunday, Aug. 9)
Hank: Wednesday, Sept. 30, 8 p.m. ET
The Middle: Wednesday, Sept. 30, 8:30 p.m. ET
America’s Funniest Home Videos: Sunday, Oct. 4, 7 p.m. ET
Ugly Betty: Friday, Oct. 9, 8 p.m. ET (two hours)
Supernanny: Friday, Oct. 16, 8 p.m. ET

CBS
Survivor: Samoa: Thursday, Sept. 17, 8 p.m. ET
How I Met Your Mother: Monday, Sept. 21, 8 p.m. ET
Accidentally on Purpose: Monday, Sept. 21, 8:30 p.m. ET
Two and a Half Men: Monday, Sept. 21, 9 p.m. ET
The Big Bang Theory: Monday, Sept. 21, 9:30 p.m. ET
CSI: Miami: Monday, Sept. 21, 10 p.m. ET
NCIS: Tuesday, Sept. 22, 8 p.m. ET
NCIS: Los Angeles: Tuesday, Sept. 22, 9 p.m. ET
The Good Wife: Tuesday, Sept. 22, 10 p.m. ET
The New Adventures of Old Christine: Wednesday, Sept. 23, 8 p.m. ET
Gary Unmarried: Wednesday, Sept. 23, 8:30 p.m. ET
Criminal Minds: Wednesday, Sept. 23, 9 p.m. ET
CSI: NY: Wednesday, Sept. 23, 10 p.m. ET
CSI: Thursday, Sept. 24: Thursday, Sept. 24: 9 p.m. ET
The Mentalist: Thursday, Sept. 24: Thursday, Sept. 24: 10 p.m. ET
Ghost Whisperer: Friday, Sept. 25, 8 p.m. ET
Medium: Friday, Sept. 25, 9 p.m. ET
Numbers: Friday, Sept. 25, 10 p.m. ET
48 Hours Mystery: Saturday, Sept. 26, 10 p.m. ET
60 Minutes: Sunday, Sept. 27, 7 p.m. ET
The Amazing Race: Sunday, Sept. 27, 8 p.m. ET
Cold Case: Sunday, Sept. 27, 10 p.m. ET
Three Rivers: Sunday, Oct. 4, 9 p.m. ET

NBC
The Jay Leno Show: Monday, Sept. 14, 10 p.m. ET (series premiere, M-F)
The Biggest Loser: Tuesday, Sept. 15, 8 p.m. ET (two hours)
Saturday Night Live Weekend Thursday Update: Thursday, Sept. 17, 8 p.m. ET
Parks and Recreations: Thursday, Sept. 17, 8:30 p.m. ET
The Office: Thursday, Sept. 17, 9 p.m. ET
Community: Thursday, Sept. 17, 9:30 p.m. ET; moves to Thursday 8 p.m. six weeks later
Heroes: Monday, Sept. 21, 8 p.m. ET (new time, two hours)
Mercy: Wednesday, Sept. 23, 8 p.m. ET

Law & Order: SVU: Wednesday, Sept. 23, 9 p.m. ET (new day and time)
Law & Order: Friday, Sept. 25, 8 p.m. ET (new day and time)
Southland: Friday, Sept. 25, 9 p.m. ET (new time)
Dateline: Saturday, Sept. 26, 8 p.m. ET
Trauma: Monday, Sept. 28, 9 p.m. ET

Community: Thursday, Oct. 8, 8 p.m. ET (new time period)
30 Rock: Thursday, Oct. 15, 9:30 p.m. ET
 

FOX
Cops: Saturday, Sept. 12, 8 p.m. ET
America’s Most Wanted: Saturday, Sept. 12, 9 p.m. ET
So You Think You Can Dance: Wednesday, Sept. 16, 8 p.m. ET
Glee: Wednesday, Sept. 16, 9 p.m. ET
Bones: Thursday, Sept. 17, 8 p.m. ET
Fringe: Thursday, Sept. 17, 9 p.m. ET
Brothers: Friday, Sept. 18, 8 p.m. ET
‘Til Death: Friday, Sept. 18, 8:30 p.m. ET
Dollhouse: Friday, Sept. 18, 9 p.m. ET
House: Monday, Sept. 21, 8 p.m. ET (two hours)
The Simpsons: Sunday, Sept. 27, 8 p.m. ET
The Cleveland Show: Sunday, Sept. 27, 8:30 p.m. ET
Family Guy: Sunday, Sept. 27, 9 p.m. ET
American Dad: Sunday, Sept. 27, 9:30 p.m. ET
Lie To Me: Monday, Sept. 28, 9 p.m. ET
The Wanda Sykes Show: Saturday, Nov. 7, 11 p.m. ET

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Since 1999 Search Engine Strategies (SES) has been presenting one of THE best conference series on search engine marketing. Doesn’t matter if you’re a novice or an expert, interested in search engine optimization (SEO) or pay-per-click (PPC) placement, digital PR or analysis of a campaign’s ROI, SES offers a wealthy of information.

Robin Temple, Director of Digital Marketing at Lawrence & Schiller attended the most recent SES conference (San Jose). In this episode of The Extra Minute, Robin discusses what’s new in search marketing now and what we can expect in the future.

The San Jose SES Conference also provided an opportunity for Lawrence & Schiller to step up to the speaker’s podium. Billie Jo Waara, Director of Account Planning and Research, spoke on “Small Voices, Big Impact: Social Media for the Little Guy.”