Online Advertising « Blog – LiQuid: Passion. Strategy. Results

Top 10 Activities of Canadians Online

Jane LeeApr 20, 2011

Canadians lead the world when it comes to the Internet. 83% of us have Internet access from any location, and almost a quarter of us (22%) are connected through a smartphone or PDA. We spend more time online than any other country in the world, according to a recent comScore study. The average Canadian spends 43.5 hours a month online, compared to the worldwide average of 23.1 hours.

So how do we spend all those hours online? Here are the top 10 online activities, according to the latest IpsosReid Canadian Internet Fact Guide:

89% visited news or information websites
86% visited a newspaper website; 34% do so at least weekly
78% conducted banking; 44% bank online at least weekly
78% purchased product or service; 20% make purchases online at least monthly
75% comparison shopped
72% clicked on a website advertisement
70% looked for movie times/critic reviews
68% used instant messaging
66% listened to radio
65% visited a magazine website

2011 Predictions & What Marketers Need to Know

Jane LeeFeb 14, 2011

Source: DTTL, 2010

Deloitte recently produced their 2011 Predictions for Technology, Media & Telecommunications. I’ve combed through these predictions for you to highlight the ones that marketers need to know:

Rise of Tablet Computers. Deloitte predicts that more than 25% of all tablet computers in 2011 will be bought by enterprises, and that figure is expected to rise in 2012 and beyond. The retail, manufacturing and healthcare industries are presumed to become early adopters. This means that marketers need to pay attention to how their online communications come across in tablets (in addition to other mobile devices).
Tipping Point for Non-PCs. Correlating with the first point on the rise of table computers, the era of the PC is coming to a close. While traditional PCs (desktops, laptops, netbooks) will still be the main platform for 2011 and immediate years to come, the landscape is changing rapidly with the increase of tablets and smartphones. Along with the increase in non-PCs has come the growth of the application industry which is only in its infancy. The industry is expected to grow 60% in 2011 to over $10 billion.
Operating System Diversity. While the adoption of non-PCs is rising, no dominant operating system (OS) has yet to emerge, which means that there is no defacto standard. In a fragmented OS world, it means that no one app developed for a single platform can address the entire market. Marketers will need to understand that developing customized apps or versions for each OS requires time and money (between $5,000 – $500,000, depending on complexity) so they will need to pick and choose the markets they want to target wisely.
Social Networking Advertising Continues to Grow. While social network advertising revenues are still less than 1% of the global advertising spend, the potential for this channel is huge. Deloitte predicts that 2011 will see over one billion unique social network members and a 40% year over year growth in advertising revenues. In addition to advertising revenues, other forms of revenue for social networks include serving as a payment platform for apps and e-commerce. A blended e-commerce store model may be one where networks charge for online retail space and earn a commission on any sales. What is certain is that marketers need to expand their use of social media to protect their image and reputation in online networks as people overwhelmingly trust peer recommendations (78%) over advertisements (14%).

Online Advertising Campaign Checklist

Jane LeeNov 15, 2010

Recently we had a client approach us to provide them with online advertising best practices to help guide and improve their creative process. As a result, we held a session to present and discuss online creative best practices. The feedback we received was that the session was valuable, informative and validated a lot of their thoughts.

At the end of the session we provided an online advertising checklist, best practices tip sheet and an online creative brief for their reference. The online advertising checklist is presented below. Note that the checklist is particularly relevant to online display ads, but many of the points can be used as a general guideline for all online campaigns.

1. Conducted strategy and planning for online campaign.

Determined campaign goals, target audience and desired level of engagement.

Chose media channels to best meet the goals and reach the target audience.

Evaluated different types of online ads for the campaign and selected type of online ads with consideration to level of engagement desired.

2. Ensured online creative was adapted optimally for the channel when integrating creative across all media channels.

Integrated and enhanced the campaign message for the online channel, instead of simply duplicating ad from other channels.
Kept in mind that audiences digest advertising differently online than they do for print, TV, billboard.

Ensured best practices were considered when adapting ads for online.

3. Kicked off all campaigns with a solid online creative brief.

Reviewed the brief at the start of project with agency and internal stakeholders to ensure everyone started on the same page.

4. Highlighted the brand prominently throughout the ad.

Every frame of the ad contained the brand logo to help viewers ‘get the ad’ and promote the brand regardless of the frame they see.

5. Communicated primary ad message to audience within 1-2 seconds.

Ensured the ad supported the message at all times and throughout all frames, be it brand awareness or a call to action.

6. Kept it simple.

Used no more than 1-2 messages per ad.

7. Provided value to audiences.

Included something of value. Value is anything that is worthwhile to your audience – i.e. tools, entertainment, education, etc.
Did not annoy users with the ad and placement of it. Did not disrupt their online experience. Provided user interaction without being intrusive.

8. Tracked and analyzed success metrics for campaign.

Reviewed past metrics and results of online campaigns. Leveraged lessons from past ad campaigns and tests to optimize this campaign.

Implemented tracking metrics for this campaign.
Optimized ads/media where appropriate and feasible while campaign was still in execution.

If you think a session on online creative best practices would help your marketing team, we’d love to hear from you!

Canadians Internet Shopping over $15 Billion in 2009

Jane LeeSep 28, 2010

More Canadians than ever are shopping and researching purchases online according to a new report by Statistics Canada. Almost 40% of Canadians aged 16 and over used the Internet to place more than 95 million orders in 2009. This was up from 32% and the 70 million orders placed in 2007.

Key findings from the report include:

- 51% of Canadians aged 16 to 34 purchased a product online. Men (42%) were more likely than women (37%) to have made an online purchase.
- While more Canadians are shopping online, the average value per order declined from $183 in 2007 to $158 in 2009.
- The most popular online orders are travel services, entertainment products (concert tickets, books, magazines), clothing, jewellery and accessories.
- Younger consumers were more likely to make smaller ticket purchases like clothing and accessories, while older consumers were more likely to buy bigger ticket items like travel services.
- The majority of Canadians (52%) are now researching and browsing products online. Of those browsing online, 69% reported making a purchase directly in stores.

Canadian Advertising Growth Trends

Jane LeeAug 16, 2010

Advertising spending has started to rebound this year after last year’s slide, according to a recent article in Marketing Magazine. Canadian advertising spending has rebounded more quickly than U.S. post-recession ad spending with Canadian ad spending expected to grow 5.4% in 2010, compared with 1.1% in the U.S.

Year over Year Total Advertising Expenditures in Canada:

2008: $10.2 billion

2009: $9.3 billion; down 8.4%

2010 (projected): $9.84 billion

2011 (projected): $10.2 billion

2012 (projected): $10.6 billion

Fueling the rebound is spending in Internet Advertising as it continues to climb and will soon become the 2nd most popular medium in 2011. Internet advertising spending is projected to rise 13% this year and 12.7% next year to $2.2 billion, when it will pass newspaper advertising as the second most popular medium in the country behind only TV.

Other key findings from the report include:

Paid search made up 50.2% of all Internet spending in 2009 and expectations are that it will get to 52.6% by 2012.
Display’s contribution to total internet spend fell from 32.9% in 2008 to 31.9% in 2009.
New formats such as web video, mobile and social media are expected to help display stabilize this year and increase its share of internet spend to 32% in 2012.
In 2009, about $18 million was spent on mobile advertising, rising to $30 million this year, $55 million in 2011 and $92 million the year after that.

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