Twitter - a research panel waiting to happen?
Twitter.com has unexpectedly taken the online world by storm by offering a free social messaging utility for staying connected in real time. With the ability to update a “status” from a mobile phone, computer or any online portal, the common man and celebrities “tweet” alike, and Twitter’s wide reach has piqued the interest of market researchers as a potential access point to a social network rich in tech-savvy and connected consumers.
The Silicon Alley Insider blog hosted a contest, titled “Create Twitter’s Revenue Model,” which invited contestants to come up with a business/revenue model to turn Twitter into a financially-viable social network. Silicon Alley’s competition enticed contestants with promise that it would post the winner’s plan and résumé on Alley Insider and e-mail the winning information to Twitter CEO Evan Williams. Chicago advertising agency Denuo, a division of Publicis Groupe, took top honors in the contest.
Denuo’s Twitter revenue model suggests Twitter charge marketers for two things: access to opted-in users willing to field the occasional question from brands; and dashboard access to deep user analytics.
What Silicon Alley most liked about the plan was that it explained how ad agency executives have shown interest in paying sites like Twitter and Facebook to “anonymize” their data and open it up for mining; and a potential customer submitted it, which is another indication that there’s real appetite for the product.
Criticism of Denuo’s proposed model includes Twitter running the risk of being taken over by brands, so a limit or a cap to the amount of brand-related messages allowed may be required. For example, perhaps only 10 percent of messages can be from advertisers so that those who tweet less are not inundated with more ads than communication from their acquaintances.
Great minds taste alike
Having a “taste” for the finer things or fashion or football may be more literal than you think, and researchers may have uncovered yet another way to segment an audience - by what they eat.DervalResearch, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, has discovered a link between the perception of taste and an individual’s job and hobbies. Scientific research conducted between November 2008 and January 2009 on 500 people from over 25 countries may have opened the door to new product development and commercialization based on a perception of taste being directly linked to color and shape preferences.Diana Derval, president and research director of DervalResearch, refers to the composite taste preferences as the Hormonal Fingerprint. “Our perception, skills and physical traits are greatly determined by our hormones while we are still a fetus,” said Derval. “Based on this Hormonal Fingerprint, we can predict an individual’s preferred food, beverage, color and shapes as well as his perfect matching job, hobby or even partner.
“For example, we have discovered that nurses and rugby men are more likely to be non-tasters - that means they host fewer taste buds on their tongue and can therefore eat or drink almost anything including bitter, spicy and very sweet food. On the other hand, entrepreneurs and ballerinas are super-tasters and more picky with food.”
The components of a Hormonal Fingerprint are simultaneously unique and predictable, the company maintains, and may in the future be used to help predict where new product launches might succeed or fail.
Remote-Free TV comes at a premium
In an approach it’s dubbing Remote-Free TV, Fox is running shorter commercial breaks on some programs in the hopes of keeping viewers’ attention and minimizing channel surfing.
According to Brian Stetler’s February 12, 2009, article “Fox TV’s Gamble: Fewer Ads in a Break, but Costing More,” in The New York Times, Fox has charged movie studios, wireless companies and retailers a premium price for commercials on just a few Fox programs to partly compensate for a lighter commercial load so that viewers can enjoy one 60-second commercial break (comprised of two 30-second ad spots) instead of what often feels like an eternity.
But has the new format worked? Fox says the shorter commercial breaks indeed keep viewers more engaged and improve brand recall for advertisers. Viewers are also less likely to change the channel or fast-forward past the ads, but not to the degree that Fox would have liked; the network does not appear to be recouping all the costs of the experiment. For Fox to break even on the format, the premium pricing for the ads has to outweigh the revenue that is lost by showing fewer commercials. Asked whether that was happening, Jon Nesvig, president of sales, Fox Broadcasting, said “the jury is still out on the economics.” It is unclear whether Remote-Free TV will be back for another season.
The Fox format includes several advertisers in each hour but limits the total number of commercials. When Fox pitched the strategy to advertisers in May 2008, Fox Chairman Peter Liguori said that fewer commercials would present fewer reasons for viewers to “to grab the remote and change the channel.” Liguori said the format could potentially “redefine the viewing experience.”
Some advertisers have lauded Fox for taking a step toward reducing commercial clutter, but others have expressed skepticism that marketers experience sufficient benefits in exchange for the premium price that is being charged.
According to Nesvig, it is commonly accepted that the first position in a commercial pod is most effective for advertisers. The second-most effective position is the last commercial before the program resumes. Presumably viewers who are changing the channel, fast-forwarding their DVR or taking a break are exposed to the bookends of the commercial break. By shortening the commercial breaks, Nesvig said, “you basically have all first and last positions and you have lower clutter.” With less clutter, in theory, there’s better recall. “There will be ongoing attempts to keep commercial viewing as high as possible. It behooves all of us to keep changing the model,” Nesvig said.