Archive for the ‘News’ Category
July 12th, 2010
A Look Ahead at Mobile
Marketing to consumers’ cell phones has long been known to be valuable but frequently seemed beyond reach. Check out these mobile marketing trends you can latch on to today.
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Categories: Advertising, Economy, News, Technology
July 12th, 2010
Why are so many Sweepstakes void in Quebec?
The government of Quebec has a number of laws in place that are intended to protect the citizens of Quebec, but in–turn impose a significant burden of resources and money to Sponsors.
In order to allow residents of Quebec to participate in a Sweepstakes, Sponsor must do some or all of the following things:
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Categories: Budget Friendly, Legal, News, Promotion Risks, Tips
May 27th, 2010
Follow Up to “Whatever happened to freedom of speech?”
It’s official the FTC has revamped it’s guidelines concerning endorsements to take account of the new boom in social marketing, blogger endorsements and word of mouth promotion.
The FTC says it wants to extend to digital communication the same user protections it enforces in offline advertising: namely, to make sure that consumers know when a commentator or content creator has a “material connection” to the marketer. Though most marketers don’t control what is said by the bloggers they enlist in their promotions, the FTC says, just the fact that they’re offering these bloggers benefits — even in the form of samples or review copies — must be made clear starting Dec. 1, 2009. Both the bloggers and the advertisers could be held liable for failing to disclose these links. Continue on…
Categories: Advertising, Legal, News, Technology, Tips
April 26th, 2010
Puerto Rico’s Regulatory Revisions
On November 27, 2009, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico released revised, less restrictive, Sweepstakes and Games of Chance Regulations. In the past, the regulatory barriers made it very difficult and sometimes impossible for many brands/sponsors to open their promotions to residents of Puerto Rico.
The new less restrictive regulation better aligns with regulations upheld by the United States, therefore, seems likely that brands and sponsors will begin extending their promotions to residents of Puerto Rico. Continue on…
April 26th, 2010
Navigating Promotions in a Facebook World
We receive a lot of questions from Clients about integrating Facebook into their promotions….so we thought a little Facebook Guidelines 101 might be helpful. Now the good news is that the new guidelines do not prohibit any company (big or small) from using promotions to grow their fan base. But the bad news is you have some rules to follow. So to help you get started, we wanted to highlight what we consider to be the most important components.
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Categories: Advertising, News, Promotion Risks, Social Media, Technology, Tips, Winners
December 3rd, 2009
2009 Holiday Sales - Up or Down?
As the holiday season is approaching, marketers are wondering, “How will holiday sales be this year?” Obviously people still have concerns about the economy and are being cautious with their spending.
“Households continue to focus on “essential gift giving” such as staple consumables, candy, beverage/alcohol and entertaining at home, and 86 percent said Continue on…
Categories: Economy, News, Statistics
July 19th, 2009
No Small Blunders in Cyberspace
Gone are the days where a local PR event gone awry would cause local bad buzz and in a few days’ time, be forgotten. Local newspapers would pick up the story; the faulted company would spend an afternoon preparing a statement to coincide with the drop of the negative article in tomorrow’s paper. If the company was lucky, the bad news would spread as far as the paper route.
With the expansion of online and social media, there is no longer such a thing as local. Nor is there such a thing as having an afternoon to prepare. Pepsi’s recent NY Yankees ticket giveaway in NYC comes to mind Continue on…
Categories: Advertising, Legal, Media, News, Technology
June 5th, 2009
Whatever happened to freedom of speech?
I recently read an article titled “Advertisers brace for online viral marketing curbs”. The article speaks to the possibility of the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) revising guidelines on endorsements and testimonials submitted by bloggers and users of social networking sites who receive samples of companies’ products. The main target of the new guidelines appears to be Continue on…
Categories: Advertising, Legal, Media, News, Technology
January 26th, 2009
New Technology: NeoReader
In the grand tradition of UPC codes, ScanBuy/ScanLife & the NeoReader application from NeoMedia Technologies are attempting to barcode the world. Their mission: to allow companies and individuals to place small barcodes on their marketing materials that are readable by over 70 phone models including an upcoming application for the iPhone. Continue on…
Categories: Media, News, Promotion Risks, Technology
January 15th, 2009
Why New Media Is Killing the Newspaper Business
When was the last time you read a printed newspaper? If today, you are in the minority. In fact, newspaper readership is dropping faster than a lead balloon. Gordon Crovitz, Former Publisher of The Wall Street Journal, said during a May 2008 Media conference, “readership is currently linked to age”. In other words, 70% of 80 year olds, 50% of 50 year olds, 25% of 25 year olds read a paper daily. The most staggering part of that equation is the younger you are, the less likely you are reading papers – not a good sign for the publishers. In fact, the Washington Post recently reported its first loss in 37 years. Continue on…
Categories: Media, News, Technology