ChasNote

Full report at PaidContent.

I’ll be speaking at FAST Search & Transfer’s Future of Media conference on Thursday afternoon. If you can make it to West Hollywood that day, come join us!

From ClickZ:

“It turns out that 18-34 year olds are not as opposed to being sold to as we all thought. According to ComScore, younger consumers are noticeably more receptive than their counterparts to all kinds of advertising on UGC sites. Here’s how much more than other age groups:

I am Receptive: 41% (18-34) versus 30% (35-54) and 23% (55+)
Advertising is Trustworthy: 28% (18-34) versus 22% (35-54) and 17% (55+)
Advertising is Useful: 40% (18-34) versus 33% (35-54) and 28% (55+)

These younger consumers trust advertising in certain categories more than others. Not surprisingly, some 66% polled are receptive to entertainment ads. Other categories like apparel, food, electronics, travel, telecom and autos do well too. However ‘higher trust’ areas like financial services and drugs are not well-received here.”

Yes, yes, we’ve heard it all before: Bloggers are really influential! But two stories I read this weekend — about relatively small websites operated by one and four people, respectively, affecting enormous impact on storied offline institutions — made me sit up straight, and smile.

First, Jeff Jarvis (of BuzzMachine) shakes up Dell’s corporate culture, marketing tactics and approach product design (Ad Age).

“Back in the summer of 2005, Dell ignored Jeff Jarvis’ complaints about a lemon laptop at its own peril. The blogger’s ‘Dell Hell’ rants teed up a mainstream story starring the PC manufacturer as an arrogant giant that became a case study in how one man’s website could shred a corporate reputation.”

Second, the crew at Boing Boing is credited with the success of Boston-based Gardner Museum’s new podcast programming — the strategy they hope will save the museum as its membership base ages — according to Boston.com.

“We were optimistically hoping 25,000 would download this thing in a single year,” Landrum said. “Now it’s going to be about 10 times that.”

Last week at the Future of Online Advertising, I presented a few case studies in conversational marketing — such as Ask.com’s work with Ask A Ninja and Intel’s project with Digg — and I got this nice write-up from a woman I met there.  Thanks, Liz!

A new study by the OPA reports :30s work better than :15s, and that news content is a more effective environment than comedy content.  Especially good news: Online video ads appear to work tremendously well:

“Of the 80 percent of viewers that have watched a video ad online, 52 percent have taken some sort of action, whether it’s checking out a website (31 percent), searching for additional information (22 percent), going into a store (15 percent), or making a purchase (12 percent).”

More at PaidContent.

In an op-ed in the FT, Lord Saatchi argues that Google and the rationalist school of advertising ignore marketing’s most important function, creating demand:

“People do not know what they want until a brilliant person shows them. Henry Ford confirmed the point. Asked if he had carried out research before he invented the Model T Ford, he replied: ‘If I had asked people what they wan­ted, I would have built a faster horse.’”

An example I’ve used before is this. If car companies wait until prospective customers type “I need a new car” into search engines, those customers will end up buying new cars every 12 years instead of every seven. That might be a good thing in so many ways, but not if you’re in the business of selling cars.

The latest research from TNS finds that ad spending was down by 0.3% in Q1 versus Q1 2006 (Ad Age). Last year’s Winter Olympics gave Q1 2006 a boost that 2007 didn’t have. Online and other sectors, though, were up:

“…of 19 measured media tracked by TNS, only six posted gains over the prior first quarter: outdoor, up 2.4%; Spanish-language TV, up 3.7%; cable TV, up 6.3%; consumer magazines, up 7.1%; Spanish-language magazines, up 14.3%; and, of course, the web, up 16.7%.”

Of course.

Update: The IAB issued their numbers today, too, and they put year-over-year online ad spending up 26%:

“New York, NY (June 6, 2007) – The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) today announced that Internet advertising revenues reached a new record of $4.9 billion for the first quarter of 2007. The 2007 first quarter revenues represent a 26 percent increase over Q1 2006 at $3.8 billion and a 2 percent increase over Q4 2006 at $4.8 billion.”

From Ad Age:

“One of the big reasons blogs have such impact is their credibility among readers. In a February poll from We Media and Zogby Interactive, 72% of adults said they were dissatisfied with the quality of American journalism today. Another 55% said bloggers are important to the future of American journalism, and 74% said citizen journalism will play a vital role, according to the poll.

“Consumers are also taking bloggers’ word before they buy. A late 2006 Ipsos MORI survey found that blogs were a more trusted source of information than advertising or e-mail marketing. One-third of respondents said they had decided not to buy a product after reading a negative blog post, while 52% were persuaded to buy after reading a positive review.”

From Mediapost last month:

“…a survey from KnowledgeStorm shows that more than 80% of business and IT professionals worldwide read blogs.

“Other key findings:

* 53% of respondents say blogs impact their work-related purchases.

* 53% of respondents read blogs weekly for business information.

* 57% of respondents read blogs weekly for tech information.

* 59% of respondents are “somewhat” to “very” familiar with RSS feeds.

* 31% of respondents subscribe to RSS feeds.”