Tag archives: united states

What’s your excuse?

The US Department of Energy has launched an interesting website to explain kids the importance of using the energy wisely. It’s a very rich project with plenty of things to explore and interact with.

The weird thing is that there isn’t much text to read. All is conceived with a learning by doing and learning by exploring approach, which is unusual but interesting to discover.

Read more…

File under: energy, environment, united states

The ashtraymouth advergame

The Washington State Department of Health has launched an online youth anti-smoking campaign. Developed by Seven2 with Sedgwick Rd. the advergame challenges players to throw as many disgusting things as possible at a doll’s head. The selection of items includes, but it’s not limited to a dirty sock, a fish head, a worm and a dead mouse… The game can be practiced in solo mode or in a challenge against a friend. The game is definitely disgusting but hopefully effective in persuading young smokers to quit. [news via Mediapost]

File under: anti-smoking, united states

Guerrilla Marketers of the Year

Brandweek has named the top guerrilla marketers of the year. In Brandweek vision, guerrilla is based on the concept “let us entertain you”. Among the winners we find Chicken Little, Audi, Qwest and Peta. A nice report with brief case studies can be downloaded here (opens .pdf).

File under: guerilla marketing, united states

Q3 record for US online advertising

Online advertising expenditures in the US have hit a new record in Q3, reaching a total value of $3 billions. As reported on Media Guardian, the figures, compiled by PricewaterhouseCoopers, show that US online ad spending has almost doubled in the last two years from just $1.75bn in the third quarter of 2003, as advertisers move more of their budgets online.

File under: Online advertising expenditures, united states

MMS, eventually the deal

Good news for US mobile users and mobile marketers: MMS interoperability is now possible among most of the carriers. Bad news for US mobile marketers: here in Europe we’re still trying to make sense of MMS (and to make money out of it…) To check the pulse of mobile messaging in the United States, you can read this article published yesterday on Usatoday.com.

File under: MMS interoperability, united states

Is it ROI time for mobile marketers?

InternetWeek writes about mobile marketing in the United States. The article quotes the opinion of Nihal Mehta, founder and CEO of Ipsh:

We’re finally seeing a significant tipping point. People aren’t just testing it anymore, they’re starting to see return on investment.”

However Jupiter Research analyst Julie Ask has an opposite view:

“The majority of online adults is not interested in receiving promotions via SMS, even if they receive free or discounted goods and services, are assured that their privacy will be protected and don’t have to pay for the messages.”

Who’s right? Who’s wrong? Probably the truth, as usual, stands in the middle.

File under: mobile marketing, united states

Mobile marketing for dummies

DMNews explains the basics of mobile marketing. Nothing special, but if you don’t know anything about it, take note: - it’s not a mass marketing tool - it’s not (just) about advertising - works better if integrated with other media - it’s a two-way channel and last, but not least… - people are very sensitive: to spam is to die!

File under: dummies, mobile marketing, united states

Vespa starts blogging in the US

Steve Rubel announced this week on his blog that Vespa, probably the world’s most famous scooter, has launched its own corporate blog. Vespa is an Italian brand which probably became famous in the US through Fellini’s movies, and after a long difficult period on the market, decided to relauch in 2000. As explained on Vespablogs.com “Piaggio USA feels blogs are an ideal way to connect with Vespa brand loyalists and encourage them to become online evangelists“. What the FAQ point out perfectly summarizes the blogs’ marketing potentials creating a link between brands and consumers as well as providing cost effective evangelization.

File under: blogs, united states, vespa

Good news for US mobile marketers

Mobile marketing is emerging as a highly successful medium for advertisers. A new research from Frost & Sullivan found that the revenue in the US mobile marketing market was worth $11.5 million and it will reach $69.3 million by 2007. The report, “An Insight into the United States Mobile Marketing & Short Code SMS Markets” reveals that to further enhance customer response, mobile marketing companies must work toward achieving greater synchronization in a comparatively extended value chain that includes advertisers, platform providers, connection aggregators, and mobile operators. Absences of coordination and mismanaged relationships have been long-standing bottlenecks, intensified by the lack of a central aggregator for mobile operators. The plurality of mobile operators and their individual rules and regulations slow down mobile marketing campaigns. The full press release is available on Frost & Sullivan web site.

File under: frost & sullivan, mobile marketing, united states

It’s ringtones mania (for now)

Ringtones will generate a huge business also in the United States, where now there are about 40 million cell phones capable of downloading such a content. Mercury News dedicates an article to the ringtones mania in the US, providing a brief comparison with Europe and Asia and quoting the opinion of Adam Zawel, analyst at the Yankee Group who thinks awel that the market for ring tones may loose importance as other downloads gain in popularity, including screen savers and games.

File under: ringtones, united states