Radio advertising, hit hard by the recession, is making some noise. According to a report released Friday by the Radio Advertising Bureau, revenue from radio advertising last year was $17.4 billion, up 1 percent from the year before. It was the second year of growth for the industry, after three down years. Automotive advertising is the biggest driver of the growth.
And OK, so this isn’t really my dog – but it looks just like her! 
SUBMITTED BY:
Patty Farro, Media Buyer
It seems like every day, a new social media site emerges, and right now, everyone’s talking about Pinterest.
But what exactly is Pinterest? Essentially, it’s your own personal online bulletin board where you can “pin” images and sort them into categories such as home, décor and food. Forget cutting out and earmarking your magazines! Now, you can share your visual interests and inspiration with your followers via Pinterest.
After you pin each image, they’re also linked back to their original source, making it a great source of traffic for retailers. According to the below infographic (straight from mashable), it’s even driving more retail traffic than Google+.
What do you think of Pinterest? Should your company be getting on board in order to drive more traffic to your page?
SUBMITTED BY:
Jamie Jacobs, Account Executive
(with help from Sarah Brovda, Intern)
With the Super Bowl fast approaching this weekend, so too are the extremely expensive, and much-anticipated commercials. Chevrolet, for example, has announced that it will air two ads before the game, three during the first half, and two post-game for a total of seven spots. Last year, FOX charged from $2.8 to $3 million per 30 second spot, meaning that Chevrolet alone will spend approximately $27 million on Super Bowl advertising this year.
Over the past few years, we have come to expect some of the most entertaining and original commercials to come from automakers. This year, Honda released “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”
The high budget spot is certainly well produced, but has been received with mixed opinions. Turns out not everyone appreciates remaking a popular movie in favor of commercial profitability.
What do you think?
SUBMITTED BY:
Jamie Jacobs, Account Executive
(with help from Filip Lewicki, Intern)
Let us know your favorite Super Bowl spots. Meanwhile, look at these numbers for the N.Y. Giants vs. the San Francisco 49ers NFC championship game. Sunday’s FOX telecast of that game, a 20-17 overtime victory for the Giants, drew at least 50 million viewers. And according to preliminary Nielsen data, the game had an average rating of 32.5, with a 47 share, the best showing for a conference title game since the 49ers defeated the Dallas Cowboys 38-28 to advance to Super Bowl XXIX in the 1994-95 season.
SUBMITTED BY:
Patty Farro, Media Buyer
Check out this video, with neat stats on the way social media has grown, like:
Farmville’s digital tractors have now outsold real ones in the U.S.!
Lady Gaga now has more Twitter followers than the President!
If the public perceives social media recommendations as far more trustworthy than advertising, shouldn’t EVERY advertising plan in 2012 have a social media component to it?
SUBMITTED BY:
Jamie Jacobs and Heather Preston
Check out this scenefrom the movie “Minority Report.”
It seems crazy, but the crazier part is that we’re actually catching up to what we used to think were futuristic, sci-fi thrillers like this one.
Nowadays, facial recognition technology is on the rise, reading your eyes, your facial features, your voice. And sure, it started out only in security cameras or for use in police force database systems. But it’s quickly becoming the new, hip marketing tool as well.
For example, according to a Nasdaq article, Adidas is already working to develop digital walls with facial recognition for a limited number of stores in the U.S. or Britain. Meanwhile, Kraft is in talks with a supermarket chain to test face-scanning kiosks.
What do you think? Cool innovation – or crossing a line?
SUBMITTED BY:
Jamie Jacobs, Account Executive
Riger has continued its tradition of participating in the Salvation Army Angel Tree program this holiday season, with each Rigerite donating a gift to a local child in need. Those gifts are now piled under the Riger lobby tree, beautifully decorated by our office manager angel Barb Butler (pictured above).
‘Tis the season! Share the love!
SUBMITTED BY:
Jamie Jacobs, Account Executive
Ads shouting lower prices and bargain merchandise can leave consumers confused about what represents the “best” value. Good marketers often run ads that build their brand and product imagery, especially when they can add a wish for a merry Christmas or a happy holiday season.
Volker Kuhn, general manager for North America of the Duracell battery brand sold by Procter & Gamble, says he prefers to build brand equity by taking a long-range approach.
“Investing in the brand and the product is what makes you strong,” Mr. Kuhn said. “The holidays are a very important season,” he added, accounting for 35 percent of annual sales.
Another brand taking the image-burnishing route is Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey. Jack Daniel’s is introducing a television, online and poster campaign that celebrates Christmas with a 26-foot “barrel tree” assembled from 140 barrels of Jack Daniel’s at the brand’s home in Lynchburg, Tenn. “We hope it will be the start of a new tradition,” said Carmen D’Ascendis, director of global marketing. “There are a lot of commercials that become part of the celebration,” said Wade Devers, global creative director on the Jack Daniel’s brand at Arnold. “They all add to the feeling of the season.” “The Norelco Santa; I’ll never forget that,” he added, referring to the long-running spot that showed Santa Claus using an electric shaver as a sleigh. “To be part of that would be great.”
SUBMITTED BY:
Steve Johnson, Vice President, Client Services
We were delighted when our clients from C TRAN (formerly Chemung County Transit System) surprised us with a delicious (and graphics-standards-compliant) “Thanks from C TRAN” cake at our branding wrap-up meeting in Elmira.
Seated are C TRAN’s Tina Hager and Jim Arey. Standing are Bob Williams and Jay Schissel. Jay’s dog Luna was hoping for some cake, but settled for doggie treats.
In day-glo-vests, our Heather Preston and Sandra Ceplo Johnson show Bob, Jay (and Luna) how the new logo will work on the buses.
A great naming/logo/branding project, capped off by a thoughtful client with a cake!
SUBMITTED BY:
Heather Preston, Associate Account Executive
Infographics are graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge. Basically, taking complicated stuff and making it easy to digest.
For instance, mint.com took the often-confusing topic of stocks and used a combination of charts, graphs, and other visual aids to tell their story.
See the whole thing here. Also, check this out for even more ideas.
Is there a hard-to-tell story in your business that could benefit from infographics?
SUBMITTED BY:
Jamie Jacobs
Account Executive
