originally uploaded by capn madd matt

The last 6 months of 2008 were dominated by talk of recession, economic woes and the continue transition in media consumption from traditional to new media. If all the talk is true, that this year is going to be a tough one for business and that traditional media might be seriously under siege, then what are marketers doing about it? How are you going to tackle the task of marketing your business during tough times and a changing media landscape?

What is your media mix in 2009? Will it be the same as last year or will you be reassessing your marketing options? I’d really like to know, so please comment below.

Certainly, the media mix that our agency considers for our clients is considerably different than it was 3 or 4 years ago. While an integrated campaign once started at TV and traveled through press, radio and maybe outdoor, in 2009 the mix appears to be very different.

Of course, every campaign requires unique thinking and an individual approach, and there’s not one formula to suit everyone, but there are definitely a host of new options to consider adding to your mix, and old one’s that require a fresh appraisal and serious questioning:

• Does press still deliver results?

• Are your customers still listening to radio?

• Is TV still the best branding option?

• Will the new digital TV stations become an option?

• Is Pay TV becoming more relevant to you?

• Does the measurability of the web appeal in this climate?

• Will SEO or SEM get more of your marketing dollars at the expense of Yellow Pages?

• Will your company use a social media strategy?

• Will there be more bargains and value around for traditional media options now?

We keep hearing and saying that the times are a changin’, but are your media and marketing plans? If not,  why not? If so, how?

Over to you……

Millennials are history’s first truly digital generation and over the next two decades they will increasingly influence the future of media. Bad news traditional media – you are not even on their radar.

This wasn’t a planned post. I am writing this during my Christmas holidays on a brilliant sunny morning whilst watching my 6 year old son play with my iPhone. He does it intuitively, in a way that would frustrate Boomers, and many Gen X adopters of new technology.

My two sons, 9 and 6 years old, are part of a generation that accepts new media and technology as a natural extension of their lives. They don’t really consume traditional media and are increasingly entertained and informed by new media.

Look at what is in their household digital armoury (not all theirs but available to them):
iPods
iPhones
Blackberry
HP Laptop
MacBook
Nintendo Wii
Nintendo DS
Pay TV

They rarely watch free-to-air TV because Pay TV stations are their default choice, be it for cartoons, music or sport. They can navigate their way rapidly around the 70 odd stations available to them on Pay TV in seconds.

They have their own virtual world and social networks set up via a childrens site called Webkinz World (www.webkinz.com) which refers to plush toys they have purchased that they then create online environments for. They can use Webkinz world to email and chat with online friends around the world.

They source music and games online with ease.

They create slideshows, stories, and art on the household computers.

They do some homework tutorials online and source information for projects rapidly via online search. My 6 year old is an old hand at Google searching and finds what he needs without much assistance, ever. Wikipedia has long replaced the heavy books that sat in family book cases. Yes, safe search and parental controls have been switch to maximum protection at our house due to the amount of time our kids spend online.

It’s only a matter of time until our children want and receive a mobile phone, in fact my eldest already has asked. But I doubt they will want one for something so archaic as making regular phone calls. Twitter for kids is a more likely application. Plus they’ll want to play and share their music, photos and games with their friends. So I believe they will want application friendly devices, not old-fashioned phones.

The Wii is a very new addition to our household but, naturally, the kids have taken to it like ducks to water. It can be connected to our wireless Internet at home in order to download more games, get news, mail and updates. For our children this is considered normal.

Millennials are natural social networkers. They will be using the next generation Facebook, Twitter or MySpace as a matter of course. It won’t be some novel new concept to rave about. It will just be a normal part of their lives.

Meanwhile, newspapers, magazines, radio (what’s that dad?) and free-to-air TV are not part of their media diet. They just aren’t interested. And of course, traditional media is doing very little to attract them. It’d probably be a waste of time.

So we digital elders can argue, debate and predict al we want. The future of media is in our children’s hands, and for them there is no debate at all.

Firstly there were dozens of great nominations, some by the authors, most from readers, that I had to sift through in order to whittle down to a worthy Top 10. That itself was a challenge as I wished to display the wide variety of blogging styles and content. I am sure that some might disagree with the final ten, but I was satisfied that it was representative of the quality and variety in the Australian blogosphere.

I enlisted the help of three judges who were involved in the media and marketing blogging community and had journalistic background. Mark Chenery (ex-Adnews), Kate Kendall (Marketing Magazine) and Mark Jones (ex-IT editor for AFR) then scored each of the Top 10 finalists looking at the quality of the post and the contribution to media and marketing discussion online.

proudly supporting The Moggy Awards

I thought that would have produced a clear winner, but when I tallied the scores it became apparent that 2 posts were well in front of the rest but still locked together. A tie breaker was needed. Fortunately, I had formulated an additional criteria in case it came down to this. Rather than me deciding which of the final two I preferred (and they are both very good for very different reasons) my criteria would be to look at the reaction both posts created. After all, a well written piece that few people read or respond to isn’t one which is making a significant contribution to the conversation.

So the two finalists for The Gold Moggy were:

Jonathan Crossfield - Linkbait at any Cost?

Matt Granfield - How to get the world’s attention without being remarkable

Jonathan’s post was a well written, well-researched item on a topic that is very relevant to the blogosphere. It uses a notorious link-baiting example to discuss blogging ethics and our collective responsibility to preserve the freedom of expression blogging provides. Abusing that privilege might result in unwanted regulation.

Meanwhile Matt’s post is a beautifully written fable of value to all modern marketers. Showcasing Matt’s considerable writing skills and experience, the post leads you through an entertaining story that in the end is all about THE STORY. Its simply a great read.

Matt’s piece was actually commissioned by Marketing Magazine’s website and displayed both there and on Matt’s site. I didn’t realise this when the finalists were compiled and sent of to the judges, one of whom is from Marketing Magazine. Matt’s piece subsequently has attracted plenty of exposure due to the two sites it ran on and the fact that was eventually being printed in Marketing Magazine. The post attracted 2 comments on Matt’s blogsite, and 7 at Marketing Mag.

Meanwhile Jonathan’s post ran only at his blogsite and attracted 21 comments (plus a few more by Jonathan) as the debate grew. He then followed up the story with another two posts and a summary of the controversy the incident in question created around the world, including the transcript of a Media Watch piece.

Of the two posts, Jonathan’s definitely had the greater impact on the blogging community and for that reason he is the winner of the GOLD MOGGY for the Best Australian Media and Marketing Post of 2008.

Winner: Gold Moggy  - Jonathan Crossfield - Linkbait at any Cost?

Runner-Up: Silver Moggy - Matt Granfield - How to get the world’s attention without being remarkable

Third: Bronze Moggy - Julian Cole - NAB Spamming: A story of a maverick blog personality

Congratulations to all three for outstanding efforts and to all our finalists for their contributions to Australian blogging and online conversation.

Thanks also to Mark Chenery, Kate Kendall and Mark Jones for taking the time to judge the final ten.

Finally thanks to Marketing Magazine for their support of the innaugural Moggy Awards and for promoting quality online content in the media and marketing world.

After being inundated with dozens of entries for the inaugural Moggy Awards for the best media and marketing blog post of 2008, I have managed to whittle down the entries to a Top Ten. This was no easy task due to the high quality of most entries. Some bloggers were nominated several times as well, so I had to make a judgement call on which was the best post to consider.

The two most nominated bloggers were Gavin Heaton and Julian Cole. In the end I went with a post for Gavin that I felt best represented his overall style and contribution.

Julian has two nominations in the Top Ten. I agonised over this because there were so many worthy entries, but these two posts were just too hard to ignore. His post announcing the Top 50 Australian Marketing blogs deserves recognition mainly for the initiative and effort that went into creating the list. Meanwhile his NAB Spamming video was such a gutsy example of the style Julian has brought to the Aussie blogosphere….it deserves its own category.

The Top Ten also showcases a variety of blogging styles, from straightforward written commentary, thoughtful questions, original video, third party video, and the always popular list. Some generated plenty of comment, others plenty of thought.

Once I finished the list I realised that 8 out of the 10 posts were written by men. I consequently reviewed all entries to see why the male skew and quickly realised that this fairly accurately reflects the male/female ratio in the nominations. I did have another female listed in the Top Ten until I realised she was American. Not sure how she slipped through the cracks. Shame because it a great blog.

Remember the main objective here is to promote and encourage quality blog content in the media and marketing world. By continuing to raise the standard we will increase the relevance and effectiveness of the Aussie blogosphere.

Here, in no particular order, are the Top Ten nominations for The Moggy Awards:

Jonathan Crossfield - Linkbait at any Cost?

Daniel Oyston - Deeeer, It’s Red Bull You Idiot!

Matt Granfield - How to get the world’s attention without being remarkable…

Charis Palmer - Why bankers are wary of social media

Gavin Heaton - Where the hell is the sponsor?

Nic Hodges - Why aren’t we creating great digital work?

Julian Cole - Top 50 Australian Marketing Pioneer Blogs

Julian Cole - NAB Spamming: A story of a maverick blog personality

Bret Treasure - On Passion and Influence

Katie Chatfield - Take the frickin’ red pill

Congratulations to all 9 finalists and thanks to everyone who entered or nominated another post.

Thank you also to Kate and the team at Marketing Magazine for supporting The Moggy Awards and promoting it on their site.

So now it’s over to our judges to choose the winner. Mark Jones of Filtered Media, Mark Chenery (ex-Adnews) and Kate Kendall of Marketing Magazine will score each of the finalists out of 10 and send the scores to me for collating.

The winner will be announced next Monday 22 December.

Meanwhile, in the spirit of Web 2.0 conversation, feel free to make your opinions known about the finalists and who you think deserves to win.

Source: David Dale, Sun Herald blogs

What Australia watched:
1 OUTBACK WILDLIFE RESCUE Seven 1,274,000
2 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,227,000
3 HOT PROPERTY Seven 1,204,000
4 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 1,113,000
5 SEVEN WONDERS OF THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD Seven 982,000
6 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 962,000
7 DIE HARD 2 Ten 908,000 242,000
8 M-SOMEONE LIKE YOU Seven 905,000
9 ABC NEWS-SUN ABC1 869,000
10 SCHOOLS SPECTACULAR 2008 ABC1 868,000
11 THE BIG BANG THEORY Nine 840,000
12 THE GIRL IN THE CAFE RPT ABC1 686,000
13 BATTLEFRONTS Nine 684,000
14 TEN NEWS AT FIVE SUN Ten 669,000
15 DON’T FORGET THE LYRICS Ten 608,000

originally uploaded by danmanley

rise on web-based media has accelerated in recent years while traditional media has begun to show serious signs of erosion. One of the most serious economic downturns in modern history seems to be contributing to the traditional media model woes whilst we simultaneously witness the rise and rise of micro-media.

A flood of recent news items now appears to be pointing to the fact that print media will be the first to fall, or at least suffer near-fatal wounds.

In the US a string of print publications have ceased to exist or ceased to print in the last few months. AdAge.com asked:

Will Print Survive the Next Five Years?
The print business was horrified enough last week when The Christian Science Monitor revealed plans to fold its 100-year-old daily print edition in favor of the web and a weekly print product. But by the end of one of the worst weeks in the history of newspapers and magazines, the Monitor was starting to look like one of the few places publishing could turn for even a dim ray of hope.

Within weeks Advertising Age reported that PC Magazine was the latest monthly magazine to quit print and become a purely digital operation. The January issue will be its last print edition. This was the same day that another journal, Cottage Weekly closed.

OK, so far you’ll be thinking that these are only weaker, more obscure periodicals going under or moving online, not the serious players. You’d be right. But where there’s smoke, there’s a mighty big blaze smoldering away just waiting for the winds of economic change to fan into a firestorm.

Today the beleaguered newspaper sector sunk to new depths as Tribune Co., publisher of the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times, filed for bankruptcy protection. The publishers cited a ‘perfect storm’ of tough economy and revenue decline.

Journalists here in Australia now appear to be fanning the flames themselves. Today’s Sydney Morning Herald ran an article titled Ten Prophecies for the digital millennium. Amazingly the 9th point in the story by Graeme Philipson was predicting The Death of Newspapers.

Newspapers as we know them are in decline. Are you reading this in hard copy or online? Around the world, newspapers are shutting down or moving to the web. Blogs are replacing the mainstream media.

The profession of journalism, and the way we consume media and get our news, is being transformed. I’m not sure whether this is a good or bad thing, but there’s no doubt it’s happening.

A Fairfax journalist said Blogs are replacing the mainstream media?!! I have been to several media conferences this year where journalists argued black and blue that this was not the case, while new media evangelicals merrily predicted a changing of the guard.

While even I was little sceptical about the rate of change and imminent demise of traditional media being argued by some, the evidence certainly appears to be mounting. Against the backdrop of failing print media companies we hear that new media darling The Huffington Post now has a higher market valuation than many of its old-world predecessors.

AdAge:
The (new funding and valuation) means Arianna Huffington’s news blog is now considered more valuable by its backers than quite a few publicly traded newspaper companies, such as Lee Enterprises, owner of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and 52 other papers (market cap: $36 million), A.H. Belo, owner of the Dallas Morning News and the Providence Journal (market cap: $35 million), and Media General, owner of the Tampa Tribune and Richmond Times-Dispatch (market cap: $34.6 million).

It puts Huffington Post in the same league as McClatchy Corp., owner of the Sacramento Bee, Miami Herald and 28 other dailies (market cap: $150 million). In a press release, Huffington Post said it will use the funds from Oak Investment Partners for acquisitions, an “investigative journalism initiative” and localized versions, which will no doubt be even more dependent on the resident struggling local dailies such as in Chicago, where it already has a local site.

And that’s just one online model that is growing and adding to the traditional press woes. Micro-blogging platforms such as Twitter have become the default news feed for many social media fans.

The immediacy and ease of access of micro-blogging means that events can be relayed instantaneously around the world as was seen in the recent Mumbai terrorist attacks. Mumbai signaled a change in news delivery as people on location Tweeted the events as they happened, and well in advance of traditional media. Even the venerable New York Times had to admit that new media Twitterers led the way:

“When you look at TV, you see one channel at a time, then you go to another channel,” said Dina Mehta, an ethnographer and social media consultant in Mumbai. “On Twitter, you get feeds from many different people at the same time.”Citizen journalists avoided some of the bureaucratic headaches faced by media organizations. At the end of the day on Friday, CNN’s license to transmit live video in India expired, forcing the network’s correspondents to report via telephone. CNN and other channels in the United States relied on live coverage and taped reports from Indian networks.

This is what the new media evangelists were talking about at the aforementioned media conferences. New technology and distribution networks are beginning to replace the traditional news delivery models. Why wait for a news bureau to get a reporter in place and file a report when you can follow the news as it happens with first hand coverage by citizen journalists?

The once powerful Fourth Estate no longer controls the flow of information. The rise and rise of micro media combined with the Perfect Storm of economic pressures and declining readership is leading to the death of the press. It may not happen in 2009 but it seems certain now that print media will either cease to be the force it once was or cease to exist.

National advertisers are predicting a 2.4% decrease in above-the-line ad spend for 2009 - the biggest decrease ever predicted, according to Starcom MediaVest’s annual Media Futures report.

Only 12 months ago, advertisers predicted their budgets would grow by 7.3%.

Starcom’s report, launched in 1985, paints a bleak but “unsurprising” picture for advertising spend in 2009, said CEO John Sintras.

The November survey was conducted among a sample of Australia’s top 400 advertisers and key senior media executives from free-to-air and pay TV, newspapers, magazines, radio, out-of-home, cinema and the internet.

Sintras said while consumers would have more money in their pockets thanks to interest rate cuts and falling fuel prices, it was unknown whether how or whether they would spend.

Only one in three national advertisers plan to increase their above-the-line budgets next year – the lowest proportion to predict growth in ad budgets since surveys began. One third predicted a decrease in their ATL budgets for next year.

In contrast, below-the-line media is expected to perform strongly next year, with national advertisers planning to increase their BTL budgets by 6% in 2009. Point-of-sale, PR, and email campaigns continue to be the most highly-used channels for over two-thirds of national advertisers.

The report found the internet would show the strongest growth, with almost six in 10 national advertisers planning to increase their internet advertising budgets in 2009.

Internet usage overtook free-to-air usage by advertisers for the second year running, with nine out of 10 using digital channels; however, free-to-air also remained a cornerstone, with eight in 10 including it in their campaigns.

Fewer than one in five advertisers plan to increase their magazine, radio or subscription TV ad budgets next year; while only one in 10 expect to increase spending in newspapers. Cinema and out-of-home are expected to maintain steady expenditure.

Media executives forecast 1% growth rate in advertising in 2009 – the lowest in seven years, and a sharp drop from the 5.9% growth rate predicted for 2008.

More than two in five media executives said their sales revenues in 2008 had not met the expectations set at the beginning of the year. Newspaper executives were the least optimistic about the year ahead, with six in 10 predicting decline of up to 4% in newspaper advertising expenditure for 2009. Internet executives were more upbeat, predicting budget growth of more than 10% for their own medium next year.

In another survey, ZenithOptimedia’s latest global forecasts, also released today, predicted global ad spend would decline by 0.2% in 2009. The figure is revised from the media agency’s previous forecast of 4.0% growth, thanks to the fallout from the global financial crisis. ZenithOptimedia revised its Asia-Pacific ad expenditure growth for 2009 forecast, down from 5.2% to 3.2%.

The report forecast strong growth in internet advertising globally, predicting 18% growth next year, and substantial growth for both cinema and out-of-home. Television is also expected to perform strongly, reaching a record 38.5% share of global ad spend in 2010 and 2011, as consumers seek low-cost escapism in a period of economic downturn.

The PBL Media owned station dominated the region with its 6pm - Midnight audience share of 31.7% , 7.0 points above Prime’s 24.7% and 10.5 points above Ten’s 21.2%.

In the core demographic, viewers aged 25-54, a solid 31.7% share was 1.4 points up for NBN on last year whilst Primes 24.9% was down 2.5 points year on year Southern Cross Ten finished with a 24.1% in this demographic.

Over three quarters of ALL survey days, and EVERY week of the 2008 survey year*, were won by NBN, showing a remarkable and continued dominance across the region.

NBN won all of the TOP 10 programs for 2008 and 19 of the TOP 20, with the State of Origin 3rd Match in 1st position attracting a massive 431,000 viewers. A combination of NBN News, Current Affairs programs, Australian Drama, Lifestyle and NRL Special Events dominated the remaining positions reflecting NBN’s broad appeal and success.

NBN’s CEO Ms Deborah Wright says, “Our fantastic results for 2008 are testament to the combination of high quality programming and our continued commitment to our flagship Number One Local News. We have increased our audience share year on year in key advertising demographics with unquestionable audience resurgence. To claim the title of Australia’s Highest Rating Television Station this year once again reinforces that NBN is the viewers’ choice for programming day in day out and benchmarks us as the leading station in Australia. This year’s results is a reflection of the absolute dedication and commitment the entire NBN team has in providing our viewers and advertisers with the Number One television service in Australia”.

NBN’s Head of Programming and Publicity, Kellie Hampton, is thrilled with NBN’s results, “In 2009 we are focused on continuing to deliver our viewers audience powerhouses such as local productions Underbelly, Farmer Wants a Wife and Domestic Blitz complemented by our most successful mix of top rating regular programs and exciting new overseas and local content”.

A slate of new programs and returning favourites specifically targeting key demographics will mean continued success in 2009. These programs include Underbelly, A Tale of Two Cities, Home Run (the renovation makeover show with a difference), all new series Domestic Blitz, The Mentalist, The Farmer Wants a Wife and the ever popular CSI. There will be an exciting mix of more programs still to be announced.

If you suspected Australians were abandoning mainstream TV in the silly season, you were right. This report comes from the Pay TV people: “In week 49, STV was the number one source of TV across Australia, when subscription channels accounted for 25.6% of metropolitan viewing between 6am and midnight (up from 23.1% last week), 21.8% of regional viewing (up from 19.9%) and 61.3% of all viewing in subscription TV homes (up from 57.5%).

“America’s Next Top Model on FOX8 drew 160,000 people and Project Runway on Arena was watched by 121,000 viewers. The premiere of Gus Worland’s An Aussie Goes Calypso on FOX8 was seen by 108,000 while Keeping Up Appearances had its biggest audience of the year on UKTV, with 104,000 people. In sport, Live: Football: A-League Perth v Melb was seen by 87,000 subscribers on FOX Sports.”

What Australia watched, week ending December 6
1 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 1,376,000
2 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,309,000
3 NCIS EP 1 RPT Ten 1,298,000
4 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,234,000
5 NCIS EP 2 RPT Ten 1,206,000
6 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,201,000
7 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Seven 1,158,000
8 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,151,000
9 SEVEN WONDERS OF THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD Seven 1,127,000
10 THE HOWARD YEARS ABC1 1,079,000
11 THE RICH LIST - MON Seven 1,075,000
12 HOT PROPERTY Seven 1,039,000
13 CSI -RPT Nine 1,025,000
14 COLD CASE Nine 1,018,000
15 NINE NEWS SATURDAY Nine 1,017,000