Tag Archives: As Seen on TV

Feb 09

Response January: Square, Soccer, and Going ‘Native’

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Response January 2016It’s been a while, eh? I’ll blame the annual Response calendar, which generally revs up when we return from the holidays, thanks to Response Expo’s spring dates. Honestly, from January through the end of Response Expo, each year, the close-knit Response staff is essentially doing full-time double duty. So, I’m taking advantage of working a little late on a Tuesday to put together this look back at our January issue, which has been online for a few weeks now. We started 2016 off on the right foot, thanks to a former Response staffer turned freelancer who pitched, earned, and wrote the cover feature on Square, stories on sports marketing and finding the right mix between organic and promoted social media, and — finally — some positive news for the long-form media billings market. Let’s take a deeper look!

  • While researching an assignment on the business solutions market for our November issue, Nicole Urso Reed — a former Response senior editor and a long-time freelancer for us — saw something interesting in the efforts of Square, which most people think of as that little attachment you put on your iPhone to process credit card payments for your small business. She saw a deeper story — one about Square’s work in partnering with their clients, providing marketing assistance, back-end data, and more. Essentially, she saw a business that had used performance-based media to market itself on TV and online that was actually a true B2B service provider, helping entrepreneurs reach for their dreams. Turns out, she was right. Her interview with Kevin Burke, a former Visa CMO who now heads customer acquisition for Square, as well as conversations with a few of the company’s leading clients make for an intriguing look at how important data can be to building a business with a certain style of guerrilla marketing. If you missed the link above, click here: Big Change for Small Businesses
  • Appropriately, when looking at the changing marketing landscape for sports marketers — which is a natural fit for expanded social media marketing along with traditional outreach for ticket and merchandise sales — our Doug McPherson dug into the growing success of Major League Soccer (MLS). Soccer’s ascension in popularity — driven heavily by millennials and the younger sect of Gen-X — is hard to miss, especially in cities like Portland, Columbus, and San Jose. And marketers from other sports are taking notice of that success, including those in the NFL, NBA, and Major League Baseball. If you missed the link above but want to check it out, click here: Hitting the Goal
  • One of four contributed columns in the  issue, the Legal Review piece from Venable‘s Jeff Knowles and Amy Ralph Mudge about the FTC‘s recent guidance on so-called “Native Advertising” is a crucial read for any marketer doing business today. And, honestly, as a writer, I might be the only one involved in the magazine or in the industry who’s happy about the FTC’s attempt to set some standards to clarify the continually blurring line between editorial content and advertising. If you missed the link above, here you go: The FTC Goes ‘Native’
  • Our monthly direct response TV and radio media billings present a bit of a surprise, as third-quarter 2015 long-form DRTV billings broke the market’s three-year losing streak. Sure, the 5.5-percent increase compared to the same quarter in 2014 leaves the market a long way from its peak during the middle of the last decade. However, any sign of stabilization of the beleaguered space is welcome. For a full look at 3Q 2015 long-form DRTV media billings, click here: 3Q 2015 Long-Form Billings … Rise? Yes!
  • Finally, in my Editor’s Note, I kick off 2016 looking at something I dubbed the three “Cs” — competition, cooperation, community. How do they fit together? And how can you be a part of building a better marketing business? If you missed the link above, here’s my take — and a call to action — on the topic: Community and Cooperation Can Boost All Competitors

Thanks again for reading and interacting with Response!

Dec 23

Response December: Boingo, Radio, and Creating a Better Conversation

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Response December 2015I’m closing up shop for the holidays here at Response today — and one of the last things on my to-do list is this blog post recapping our recently delivered December issue. It’s a pretty power-packed edition of the magazine, with our cover feature on Boingo Wireless, stories on the consumer electronics space, the advancement of over-the-top (OTT) TV, a second annual look at the 2016 media calendar, and a Web exclusive feature on DR radio. So, without further ado, let’s jump into the issue!

  • In a fortuitous bit of personnel change, long-time Response PR contact Lauren de la Fuente (formerly of Pearl Street Marketing) joined L.A.-based Boingo, a global leader in enhancing wireless access for consumers, during the summer. After chatting through the early fall, it became clear that a cover feature on the business’ B-to-C and B-to-B marketing efforts would make a lot of sense for our readers. I visited the company’s new digs near Brentwood in late October for an in-person interview with CMO Dawn Callahan and VP of consumer marketing Scott Ewalt — as personable and thoughtful a duo as I’ve come across in recent times. Boingo’s marketing story is much deeper than I imagined from my touches with their services as a consumer — if you travel half as much as I do, you’ve experienced Boingo’s wireless services at an airport. If you missed the link above, and want to read more about the business, click here: A Spring in Their Steps
  • For the second year in a row, we’ve teamed up with Irvington, N.Y., media agency Lockard & Wechsler Direct to take a look at the 2016 media calendar. Chock full of the biggest TV events for marketers of all types to consider, the timeline also includes analysis from Eddie Wilders, LWD’s senior vice president of research and analytics. Eddie’s done2016 stellar work for Response over the years, contributing in the past to our E-newsletters and website. His expertise works well with this timeline piece. If you missed the link above but want to check it out, click here: ‘You Are Looking Live …’
  • A piece that got held from the print edition for space, our Web exclusive on DR radio talks about a media outlet that’s been discounted by marketers in recent years but that’s enjoying a major comeback due to its reach and technological expansion. Leaders in the space — and impartial analysts — are all saying the same thing: radio’s audience is bigger than ever and its segmentation allows marketers to drill down to reach certain demographics even more clearly than TV. If you missed the link above, click here: Radio Rising
  • Our monthly direct response TV and radio media billings recap backs up the positive vibes in our radio feature, as DR radio’s 2015 second-quarter results were the outlet’s best in eight years. National spot radio, long an afterthought, saw its total billings expand 10-fold compared to 2Q 2014, helping the radio market jump more than 29 percent overall. Additionally, success in the household and drug-and-toiletry categories drove the expansion. For a full look at 2Q 2015 DR radio media billings, click here: DR Radio Billings Register Best 2Q Since 2007
  • Finally, in my Editor’s Note, folks who know my snarky, sarcastic side might be shocked at my end-of-the-year plea for a better informed and more collegial conversation around Response‘s content and, well, everything else online. Yes, unfortunately, “Don’t Read the Comments” has moved from an amusing aside to a hardened rule around these parts. Can we hope for better? Can we create a better conversation? As a voracious consumer of news and social media, I certainly hope so. If you missed the link above, here’s my take — and a call to action — on the topic: ‘Don’t Read the Comments’: A Commentary

Thanks again for reading and interacting with Response! Happy Holidays and all the best in 2016!

Dec 21

Response November: Winners, Travelers, and Home Shoppers

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Response November 2015With travel and year-end projects taking precedence, I’ve fallen behind on my Response recaps. So, this is the first of two Response-filled blog posts during Christmas week — a look at Response‘s November issue. With our DRMA Marketer of the Year event shifting to early October, our cover story on the three finalists also shifted back one month to this issue. Additionally, we covered the travel and home shopping spaces, while adding a new feature on the business solutions market — a vertical that’s growing thanks to the combination of online and offline marketing. Let’s take a deeper look at some of the issue’s top pieces.

  • In an intriguing bit of timing, DraftKings‘ victory in the annual industry-wide vote for DRMA Marketer of the Year was announced in Las Vegas on Oct. 7 — the same week that initial stories of one of its employees winning $350,000 on competitor site FanDuel surfaced. Since then, the intrigue around the two daily fantasy sports (DFS) sites has continued to build, with legal challenges slowing the companies’ advertising, but fantasy sports players continuing to flock to the services in record numbers. DraftKings was a deserving winner in the competition, as voters responded to its overwhelming TV and online marketing efforts with a similarly overwhelming number of ballots. The trio of 2015 finalists — also including SharkNinja (formerly Euro-Pro) and TELEBrands — represents, one might say, the past, present, and future of the performance-based marketing world. If you missed the link above, and want to read more about the three finalists, click here: Crowning the New ‘Kings’
  • Travel marketers have been long-time believers in direct response — well before the transition into the omnichannel, performance-based efforts that dominate today’s landscape. For years, we’ve covered this space as it exhibited leadership in how best to combine online and offline methodologies that could be effective for marketers of all types of products and services. This feature is no different, as we’ve caught up with top-level travel marketers from the resort side (Atlantis Paradise) and from the local travel bureau perspective (Nassau Paradise Island Promotions Board and LasVegas.com). If you missed the link above, click here to read how performance-based methods are driving travelers to locations around the world: Leveraging the Power of ‘Book Now’
  • Perhaps no part of the old-school direct response universe has been forced to adjust as rapidly as the home shopping space. From the leaders — HSN and QVC — to smaller start-ups, the direct connection these networks have to their viewers and shoppers has changed immensely with the expansion of digital marketing. More impressively, their embrace of this change — celebrating innovation rather than cowering in fear — should be a model for all marketers. What’s new in the space? If you missed the link above, click here: Lights, Camera … Creativity
  • Our monthly direct response TV and radio media billings recap returns to short-form DRTV for second-quarter 2015 results, which — thanks to some measurement changes by Kantar Media — were a bit shocking. While the quarter shows a frightening 39-percent decrease from 2Q 2014 results, the bulk of that can be ascribed to a change in rate estimates for U.S. Hispanic space. So, where the other four TV media outlets showed a more palatable 9.2-percent decrease, the Hispanic space plummeted more than $330 million. For a more in-depth explanation from Kantar and a full look at 2Q 2015 short-form DRTV media billings, click here: Kantar Methodology Shift Is the Culprit in 2Q Short-Form DRTV Decrease
  • Finally, you might have noticed a recent change to the magazine’s tagline. Response is now “The Magazine for Performance-Based Marketers.” Similar changes have been made to the DRMA (“The Alliance for Performance-Based Marketers”) and Response Expo (“The Event for Performance-Based Marketers”). Why? It’s all in this month’s Editor’s Note: Join the Performance-Based Marketing Evolution

Thanks again for reading and interacting with Response!