Yesterday, Facebook's market value topped $100 billion. Zuck must be smitten his baby is now worth close to last year's original IPO valuation. Market confidence, which Monday included a stock price increase of 1.9% to $41.34 with a daily high of $41.94 (the highest since the IPO), is said to be bolstered by belief Facebook just might deliver on its mobile advertising promise. The upswing is certainly positive news for the social network which hit a stock price low of $17.73 in September.
But can Zuckerberg, whose baby now realizes 41% of its quarterly advertising revenue from smartphone and tablet-centric promotions, really make a go of it when recent Pew research find teens have a "waning enthusiasm for Facebook"? The report states dislike for the incessant over-sharing that is part and parcel of the service. But, more importantly, teens are miffed all their parents and their parents friends are now on Facebook.
more »
A new print campaign for New York's The Standard Hotel has been accused of advocating or trivializing violence against women. The ad, which appeared in DuJour shows a woman lying face down on the pavement with a suitcase atop her back.
The publisher of Make Me A Sammich was none too pleased with the campaign and wrote, "I need to point out for anyone not clear on the concept that by using violence against women for something as crass as attempting to lure people to your "boutique" hotel chain these companies are helping to perpetuate the cycle of violence. They are normalizing it--treating it as something trivial, not worth taking seriously. Treating it as a joke. That teaches everyone regardless of gender that violence against women is No Big Deal. These messages in our media teach women to expect violence and teach men prone to violence against women that what they do is socially acceptable."
To which The Standard responded, "The Standard advertisement utilized an image series created by the contemporary artist, Erwin Wurm. We apologize to anyone who views this image as insensitive or promoting violence. No offense or harm was intended. The Standard has discontinued usage of this image."
In other words, the hotel said nothing.
In an apparent (and very sad) strategic shift, Carl's Jr. appears to have dropped its collection of hotties -- including Jenny McCarthy, Nina Agdal, Kate Upton and those two scorchingly hot, Daisy Duke-wearing burger babes -- in favor of...a sports fan.
Created by 72andSunny, the ad features the iconic theme from Monday Night Football.
more »
It's pretty much a forgone conclusion that nowadays people just don't want (or need) advertising when making a purchase. Nope. They want valuable content. Content that helps them make a purchase decision. Content that answers their immediate questions. Content that is right there when they come looking.
Through social media, that content can provide real-time consumer experiences that attract more people to your brand, link directly to product pages, and convert shoppers to buyers.
Mass Relevance has put together a report, part of the Adrants whitepaper series, that will show you how you can:
more »
This article originally appear on the Central Desktop blog.
It's a foregone conclusion that people hate advertising, right? More accurately, they hate interruption. They hate anything that takes them away from what they are doing in any given moment. Yet that's the premise of most forms of advertising.
When the internet presented itself to marketers, many thought they could just replicate what they did offline in the online world. In other words, create video pre-rolls, interstitials and banners. All that accomplished (barring the first few years when everyone clicked on everything because, well, it was novel and new) was banner blindness and a rabid hatred of anything that got in the way of one's online activities. Couple that with the DVR offline and things began to look bleak for marketers.
more »
