The Apprentice addresses evolving media trend

As we have grown to expect , this week's task on 'The Apprentice' addressed one of Britain's evolving media trends and the programme did not disappoint as an overview of the changing marketplace ( in between Jim making a few strained excuses for the failing of their task and Tom steadily coming out of his shell and heading for the finish line - Go Tom!)  . 

As described in  last night's show,  consumers are moving away from purchasing traditional printed news formats, such as the broadsheets or even the 'lad-mags' which hit their peak almost a decade ago. Today's consumer is favouring instead, the mass-distribution,  fast turnover,  free (advertising funded) publications which can be browsed rather than read,  and then discarded almost as quickly as they were received. A typical 3-stop tube journey in Central London being more than sufficient time to scan from cover to cover.  Surprisingly though were the figures discussed for the task's advertising space,  given that the teams were presenting unknown publications. At the high page rates discussed, this can only reinforce how massive the distribution must be to provide a return on those advertising costs and in equal measure, how appealing a brand new publication has now become,  with content in issue #1  taking a backseat to the 'novelty factor'  which is very attractive to the speed-eager consumers. (But I really hope that those companies that did agree to take advertising space made their offers conditional and insisted on 'Hip Replacement' being renamed prior toits fictious launch -  ha ha - what were they thinking when they came up with that one?!)


During the past 2 years on an international scale,  we are seeing a move away from not only printed journalism, but also televised news articles,  with audience figures remaining either static or decreasing and in some cases falling at a converse rate to the increasing popularity of online newpapers and real time news feeds.


Consumer News Sources, 2001-2010 (USA)
Percent (%) of adults
Original Source:  Pew Research 

stats source : The Data Media Box,  sponsored by Hubspot.com 

As an example, this audience in the USA, indicated that online news grew by over 17% whilst every other type of media channel  showed a decline,   with newspapers falling by a massive 19% between 2003 and 2010.

This swing in demand and production, obviously begs the question of the resulting content quality.  With trends expecting news reporting to be delivered at faster and faster paces, often as no more than a series of bullet-point  headlines, we need to ask whether or not we are slowly losing the art and/or love of traditional journalism,  and the appreciation of research and non-fictional story telling. BUT...One reassuring statistic is here to save the day, is the steady increase in popularity of the traditional 'Sunday Supplement' (demonstrated by the 4.6% growth in advertising space uptake during the last year).

Ad Spend for Magazine Media

2009 v. 2010, % change

Original Source: Kantar Media

stats source : The Data Media Box,  sponsored by Hubspot.com

This increase reveals an extremely interesting contrast in media demand.  The Sunday supplement sits at the complete other extreme and is traditionally the most creatively composed of all news publications comprising the broadest content and an equally distinctive supporting imagery.  So whilst our lives  become set on fast-forward,  people do still crave the depth that a timely and well thought-out news article or illustrated narrative can provide them,  but reserved as part of their dedicated leisure time. 

And finally to blogging?... a media trend growing exponentially. It is clear that this style of reporting has evolved as the much needed 'middle ground',  as a product of the swift divergence of its predecessors as described and has since evolved organically online. Blogs provide an easily accessible balance of current affairs, technical information and entertainment all within one neat package;  available for anyone to read,  for anyone to contribute towards and distributed on a worldwide scale. And so for the blogging stats?  There are millions to choose from but I think if you're reading this,  then it speaks for itself and I hope that blogging continues to inspire readers and writers alike for many more years to come.  :) 

For more information and detailed profiles of this year's contestants, plus a commentary by the former young hopeful Stuart 'The Brand' Baggs,  you can visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/apprentice/ 


And, if you missed last night's episode of The Apprentice,  it is repeated tonight (Thurs) at 7pm GMT on BBC3.

Article written by Pudding Creative - interested in evolving media trends and of course, Lord Sugar's Apprentice!     www.puddingcreative.com

What is social media?

“If you can’t beat ‘em,  tweet ‘em!”

There is a point when the constant ringing of the words “twitter”, “facebook”, “linkedin” and/or “blog” start to feel like a persistent fly, badly in need of swatting. But how do you stop the incessant tweet-tweet-tweeting of the social media bug? You’ve tried ignoring it… but it won’t go away. You’ve tried talking louder… but it’s shouting above you. You’ve started some exploratory conversations over dinner but, quite frankly, it’s dull. It’s a tool made for teenagers. For the sad who don’t have reality friends. For those who should be doing a real job. Certainly not for you…

image source: http://www.moneysmith.com

…Apart from the fact that those words have now been echoing non-stop for years now. And, apparently, that geezer down the pub just said that he’d won a multi-million euro contract by doing nothing more than a couple of tweets here and there. There’s even a guy down the road who has married a Caribbean beauty thanks to nothing more than a rather clever  [though somewhat misleading] facebook profile.

…and so now we begin to find that social media is a little intriguing, after all.

Well, the truth is that nothing comes without effort. But social media is a phenomenon that cannot be ignored. 2009 saw a landmark achievement when there was more online activity via social networking than there was via porn. 

There are currently 500 million facebook users. On any day, 50% of facebook users will have logged on and the average user spends over 700 billion minutes per month within the platform.

Twitter has over 106 million users. Every day there are an additional 300,000 new users. Collectively, these users send over 55 million tweets every day. 

But you still believe that most of those users are kids looking up rude video clips and computer games? Then you’d be wrong. Over 60% of both facebook and twitter users are over 35 years of age. Admittedly some of these will still be looking up rude videos.

Even the powerhouse of Google has decided that it is impossible to beat these social media giants and has chosen to join them. Google now includes social media discussions in its search engine results and rates a website on the amount of attention that it has received through the social media platforms. And therein lies another reason not to ignore these tweeting, chatting, gossiping online fellows – it is those users who will give you the power to leapfrog all of that dedicated SEO investment and jump straight to the top of the internet.

Do you need one more fact to peak some interest? Well, the evolution of mobile telephone technology has now given way to 250 million active users on the move. That is, 250 MILLION PEOPLE tweet, facebook, blog, myspace, skype, youtube, fickr, kaboodle or link in whilst they are out doing the shopping, or in between meetings, or picking the kids up from school, or feeling a little bit hungry and wondering where to eat... And if they find themselves in need of a little more information, they will google it, and the whole process will start all over again.

image source: http://www.moneysmith.com

Do you still pine for the days when “networking” meant a day on the golf course or a day of wining and dining in the city? Well, that may still exist but it is a lot less efficient than a couple of strategic messages released through the correct mediums. When Nike released a viral marketing campaign for the World Cup 2010, it was played and commented on more than 9 million times by facebook users and viewed on YouTube more than 20 million times. 

More recently, Charlie Sheen made a rather interesting public recovery from being sacked by hit sitcom “Two and a Half Men” by breaking a twitter record in March 2011. He advertised for a social media intern and 95,333 tweeters responded within the first hour. Forbes Article

As James Farley, CMO Ford said “You can’t just say it. You have to get the people to say it to each other”.

So here’s the silver lining to the world of social media. You don’t have to tweet or blog or chat online, Pudding Creative can manage your social media marketing for you and ensure that people are saying all the right things about your company online! 

Call us for a free consultation: www.puddingcreative.com

PUDD FILE : LOCAL business to International BRAND

AND BACK AGAIN...
Turning your local business into an international brand was the biggest goal that any new enterprise can dream of,  and remained the ambition of many national companies.Until the rise of the www. age,  trying to grow your business outside of your own environment into the realms of an international trading was an expensive and often crippling move for even well established companies,  due to the massive level of investment required to present, market and network on a global scale. 


It is astonishing therefore to see that within a whirlwind 20 year period*, there has been a complete turn around and today, any new business can afford to target an international marketplace almost as easily as it can a local one.


*The origins of the Internet reach back to research of the 1960s, commissioned by the United States government in collaboration with private commercial interests to build robust, fault-tolerant, and distributed computer networks. The commercialization of what was by the 1990s an international network resulted in its popularization and incorporation into virtually every aspect of modern human life. As of 2009, an estimated quarter of Earth's population used the services of the Internet. SOURCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet


Like heating up a group of particles or molecules,  online information can invoke  Internet users to become active, excited and begin hitting together, passing on their kinetic energy and allowing the Internet to carry the messages on the World Wide Web to greater and greater extents of the population. In fact, many businesses today have reduced or are removing much of their traditional marketing techniques in favour of online marketing campaigns because the breadth of audience (or number of 'impressions') is just incomparable. 


To describe this phenomenal swing in monetary terms, figures from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers revealed that UK brands invested £4.1bn in Internet advertising in 2010, with online marketing accounting for £1 in every £4 spent.


This growth has been largely attributed to greater investments being made in video formats, social media and mobile channels; with social-media advertising alone surging by 200% year on year. Guy Phillipson, chief executive of the IAB said: "Social media has certainly had its biggest year in 2010. In the early days advertisers were a bit weary about spending in social media and now they see it as an opportunity to engage and get their advertising shared. Although it has small ad formats, if it is done cleverly is an important part of an integrated campaign."SOURCE: http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/bulletin/dailynews/article/1062417/?DCMP=EMC-BreakingnewsfromMarketing by Sarah Shearman, 29 March 2011, 8:15am

So here we are, with the almighty power of the social media networks emerging as the figurehead of this present phase in our www. age, we have come full circle in terms of marketing. Because it is the international brands which need to be seen as  'local' businesses today relying on the support of known 'friends' and 'followers' which they have built up to generate and multiply their brand awareness for them. The beauty of this type of 'word of mouth' marketing is that product and service are key to good business, albeit this time around it is on a global scale, but nonetheless demonstrating the return to consumer power. How refreshing.


Understanding the power of presentation locally, nationally & internationally.  For you, your business or for your project  www.professionalpowerpointpresentations.com
www.puddingcreative.com