Amazon and Apple are massively successful retailers, the envy of digital and brick-and-mortar businesses alike. Currently, the two tech retailers enjoy a place among the biggest, most successful companies in the world. But they have a blind spot. The premises on which they’ve built their market advantage are now no longer the most important things in digital. They’re missing a data asset that would allow them to understand their customers better: the interest graph.
What is the interest graph?
Not to be confused with the social graph, which describes who you know, the interest graph describes what you like. On Facebook, the difference between the social graph and the interest graph is easily understood as the difference between a friend request and a Like. On Twitter, the social graph and the interest graph is mapped via only one vector — the follow — but in this case, following influencers is what signifies interest. If you follow an influential account like @David_Lynch on Twitter, it’s safe to assume you probably like indie films.
The interest graph attracted significant interest from technologists in 2011. Read Write Web said the interest graph is part of “the future of the social web,” while PayPal founder Max Levchin boldly predicted success for companies that capture the interest graph. So far, all Amazon sees is your shopping cart; companies leveraging the interest graph see your hopes and dreams.
What must Amazon learn from the interest graph?
Amazon could detect purchase intent earlier and identify under-served customers
What Amazon already knows about its customers:
- products purchase data (backward looking)
- wishlist data (sparse)
What Amazon could discover from the interest graph:
- our favorite brands (aspirational)
- new purchases shared by our friends (social proof)
(Amazon attempted in 2010 to expand its recommendations engine with a still-in-beta program that taps into the social graph, but the app’s intelligence is currently limited to Facebook friends’ Likes.)
What must Apple learn from the interest graph?
Apple could recommend songs and apps with greater accuracy
What Apple already knows about its customers:
- songs and apps purchased (backward-looking)
- location (and possibly what sites you visit, though it would cause a privacy uproar)
What Apple could discover from the interest graph:
- musicians who we follow but haven’t purchased yet (forward-looking)
- our friends’ apps
Ramifications of the interest graph for e-commerce
In a surprise upset, Apple and Amazon, with their massive product catalogs, cash hoards, and fulfillment channels, could potentially lap Twitter and Facebook in the race to monetize social. The e-commerce giants could create a much richer portrait of their customers – and better predict their behavior — by leveraging the interest graph. However, if they snooze on the opportunity (or waste valuable time building “abandoned garden” social networks like Ping), someone else could develop interest graph technology for e-tailers first and gain the advantage.
Interest graph technology has powerful ramifications for e-commerce as a whole. Information in the interest graph (which is public, by the way), can clue retailers into the aspirations of their customers — at the brand awareness stage.
Score one for the tablet audience: from an e-commerce standpoint, they’re worth more than your average visitor.
Adobe’s newly released Digital Marketing Insights report found that tablet users in 2011 spent 21% more per purchase than desktop users.
Why is that? Demographics have a lot to do with it: if you can afford a tablet, you’re generally more affluent. And the fact that tablets are mostly used on the weekends — prime shopping times — plays into it too.
At 140 Proof, we’ve built tablet apps into our network, and they’ve proven popular with advertisers. If your client is looking for a way to increase brand awareness among affluent audiences like tablet owners, contact us at hello@140proof.com.
At 140 Proof, we’ve been working with Chevrolet on dozens of campaigns. For the 2011 Super Bowl, we were delighted to be part of Chevrolet’s success, and Chevrolet has even bigger ambitions for the 2012 game: mobile games.
Today, Chevrolet announced they’re releasing the Chevy Game Time app for smartphones and tablets, and the app hits Android and iOS app stores this Sunday. Chevy Game Time quizzes football fans about game broadcasts, teams, and in-game commercials for the chance to win one of thousands of prizes (including a free Chevy, of course).
For more info, watch the video on YouTube.
2011 was a huge year for social advertising. As agency teams reorganized and scrambled to take advantage of social as a modern media framework, the campaigns got bigger and smarter.
Marketers will face important challenges in 2012, as customers are more savvy than before and late-adopting brands enter the social stream. Take a look at the top 5 upcoming social stream trends of 2012: each one will affect brands’ marketing plan in different ways.
1. Online Video Is Getting Social
“It’s not only in the stream, but video is feeding back into the stream too”
Video is powerful. Brands are learning that adding video to a site increases traffic and improves SEO, and marketing email effectiveness increases 90% when video is used (Creattica). In the social stream, Twitter users post YouTube links 500 times a minute, and Facebook users watch 150 years’ worth of video every day.
What’s your brand’s social video strategy for 2012? Are you increasing the volume of video you produce and share, or building entire campaigns around video content?
(Soon, 140 Proof will unveil a special offering for brands interested in enhancing their video strategy. Stay tuned.)
2. Smartphones Rule
“Brands not mobilizing in 2012 are behind the curve”
The smartphone buying spree of 2011, plus the growing tablet market, means customers are now spread across many devices. Most adults 18-34 own smartphones, and Mary Meeker of Morgan Stanley has predicted that mobile traffic will overtake desktop traffic by the end of 2014. This doesn’t mean that you need to hire a team to create apps for every platform, but it does mean you need:
- mobile-optimized digital assets and communications
- a mobile advertising strategy
- a thorough understanding of how customers use devices
At 140 Proof, we help our customers navigate social advertising on every platform, with platform-independent ad units as well as smartphone-only campaign strategies for brands who want to reach that slightly tech-leaning, slightly more affluent audience.
3. Social as a Second Screen Will Change TV Media
“Social will circle back on TV, influencing shows and ad buys”
Social buys are already tagging along to the broadcast TV buy, as we saw last year with Victoria’s Secret Fall TV Continuity (140 Proof’s #1 campaign of 2011).
Additionally, broadcasters are starting to recognize the value of social as the second screen for television. And the fact that TV shows have their own Facebook pages and all the show actors are active on Twitter…the line between social and broadcast will continue to blur.
Social advertising, as a complement to upfront or scatter buys, promises a strategic flexibility that’s tougher to get in the high-overhead world of TV production. TV shows will be designed and promoted with the knowledge that viewers use the second screen as a backchannel. Social advertising campaigns will be built up in advance of show premieres, in increasingly more ambitious efforts to shape public opinion.
4. Big Data Will Start Overwhelming Brands
“Social means big data, and social ads mean bigger data”
At 140 Proof, we’re already up to our ears in big data. Studying the interest graph means we analyze those many-to-many relationships, and the data points multiply like bunnies as our audience members click and Like their way through the Internet. Our Data Science team is dedicated to researching and reporting on the interest graph. And Luke Lonergan of EMC recently told Forbes of companies who underestimate the impact of Big Data on their business: “They are going to miss the opportunity or get overwhelmed. Those with data science teams begin to understand; others don’t see how much it can do.”
The kinds of big data created continues to grow in volume and change in kind, but now there’s a critical mass of teams getting a handle on it. In 2012, R&D teams will have more tools and resources to choose from, as data streams and online behaviors are better understood.
5. Brands That Can Speak It Real Will Win
“Good social strategy supports sustainable customer relationships”
A new surge of brands will be entering the social stream in 2012. This is the year of the late mainstream. If your brand already has a social media and a social advertising strategy, you’re ahead. Why? Because you’ve adopted that socialspeak that people expect in the stream: personal, more lighthearted, and direct.
Read “5 ways to get creative with 140 characters”
And it goes even deeper than tone. AdAge delved into the power of the sustainable relationship at the start of 2012:
The new imperative, according to Rogers, is “How do you, as a marketer, get the subset of the loyal customer who doesn’t just buy your product again but … writes those positive reviews? They share your links and retweet you on Twitter and post a photo of themselves with your product on Facebook and “like” you on Facebook and generate all these network conversations, which go back to the top of the funnel and influence other customers in your network at their own stage of awareness, consideration, preference or action.”
At 140 Proof, we help brands new to the social stream make a home there: by advising on campaign strategy, taking the message to the right audience, and adapting creative to the special tone of the social stream.
“What challenges is your team most concerned about in 2012?”
Let us know in the comments below, or on Twitter at @140ProofAds.
They’re dropping like flies at this year’s CES, the annual Consumer Electronics Show held annually in Las Vegas. Writers from major tech blogs like TechCrunch, Gizmodo, and Business Insider have all reported intense CES fatigue.
TechCrunch: CES is overwhelmingly large
Meanwhile, the show floor itself has evolved (or, really, devolved) into something so mammoth that it would be literally impossible to see all (or even most) of it. It takes up not one, not two, but three separate multi-million square foot halls… and even then, it spills out into ballrooms and side venues all over Vegas.
(Read more at “CES: A Wonderful Example of Not Knowing When to Stop”)
Gizmodo’s Mat Honan goes Ballardian on scene
I fantasize that I am the only one here, in a post-apocalyptic trade show. Alone among these elaborate booths. Free to scamper up on top of them. Free to grab what I want, and actually play with it, like a child. I want to see it all catch fire. I want to pour gasoline in the ducts and light a long fuse, and watch from the street as it burns and burns and burns. My guess is that the flames would be quite beautiful, colored by chemical washes and treated glass. My hangover is killing me.
(Read more at “Fever Dream of a Guilt-Ridden Gadget Reporter”)
For another view into the show and why covering it in the press is such a draining experience, try Steve Kovach’s “One Day in the Life of a Tech Blogger at CES” published by Business Insider.
Is money spent on CES worth it for brands?
Given the saturation of vendors, advertisements, and products at CES, does the conference generate a real return on the investment? Are brand awareness dollars better spent elsewhere than CES, or is the conference now simply a check-the-box expense for gadget manufacturers?
As promised, Facebook started pushing Sponsored Stories into the main News Feed area of the Facebook web site, bringing ads to the most popular location. The paid placements, now called Featured Stories, will be shown to the fans of the brand advertisers only, with an initial frequency cap of one Featured Story per day.
The change comes over six months after Twitter.com made a similar move, adding Promoted Tweets to users’ timelines on its site for followers of the advertiser. (As of September 2011, Promoted Tweets in Timelines can now be served to anyone logged into Twitter.com, regardless of the brand follow relationship.)
Read more about the Featured Stories rollout:
Facebook Puts Sponsored Stories Into News Feed And Calls Them Featured Stories
At 140 Proof, we help media buyers and brand advertisers reach their target audience in the social stream. Through the thousands of campaigns we’ve run, it’s become clear: some audiences are clearly more valuable than others. So which audiences are the hottest for 2012?
The Top 5 Social Audiences Major Brand Advertisers Are Buying
Tech Influencers
The original social stream audience
Tech influencers invented social, so what better place to reach them than the social stream?
Why they matter: Technology influencers are generally more educated and more affluent than the average American, and they tend to be among the first in their social groups to buy new technology (e.g., many tech influencers bought the first generation iPhone when it launched 5 years ago).
Who’s trying to reach them: Software brands (consumer and enterprise), big box electronics retailers, auto brands, anyone launching a product with cutting-edge technology
How to find them in social: Because tech influencers tend to be power users of technology and are endlessly customizing, they’re highly likely to be found outside the walled gardens and accessing the social stream via apps that are ahead of the curve, like Echofon for Mac.
TV Fans
Driving a surge in entertainment-related media buying
The social stream, as the de facto consciousness for 95% of the world’s population, is the water cooler for television.
Why they matter: With the rise of social as the second screen and a trend of media planners looking to scale their TV buys, we’re seeing more and more synergy between TV and Social. Citing 6 million checkins for social TV app GetGlue, AdAge called 2011 “the breakout year for social TV” — and we predict that TV campaigns in social will be one of the top 5 trends of 2012.
Who’s trying to reach them: Cable channels promoting show launches, Brand advertisers supporting their TV spend
How to find them in social: Brand advertisers reach TV fans in the social stream by tapping into the audiences of popular voices like @jimmyfallon, @GleeOnFOX, @RainnWilson, and @RachaelRayShow.
Moms
Influence and buying power, multiplied by family
The importance of moms transcends any one media channel, and as more of them get online, their significance to brands increases.
Why they matter: According to a 2011 report by Nielsen, women control the majority of household purchasing decisions. Moms are 56% more likely to download coupons and 81% more likely to follow a brand online. And brands are paying attention: iMedia’s 2012 iMoms Summit runs this April for a second year, exclusively for helping marketers reach moms.
Who’s trying to reach them: CPG marketers, retail, consumer software brands
How to find them in social: Moms are highly likely to become a fan of or follow brands online, so marketers can build an audience of moms via the interest graph through influentials like @ParentsMagazine, @BrookeBurke, @Momversation, and a host of CPG/retail brands who get social, like @WholeFoods and @Walmart.
College Students
A growing demographic, poised to shape the mainstream
Why they matter: Brand awareness at the college stage is an investment, a play for hearts and minds.
Who’s trying to reach them: Daily deal sites, brands promoting back-to-school pricing programs, political campaigns
How to find them in social: As one of the most on-the-go age demos around, college students are increasingly heavy smartphone and tablet users and can be found on popular, friendly Android apps like Plume. College students tend to have smaller spheres of influence, following mostly their friends and their favorite celebrities.
Small Business Owners
High-value, hard-to-reach targets
Why they matter: Over 27 million small businesses currently operate in the United States, making them a huge audience for business services.
Who’s trying to reach them: Business services like printing and shipping, software brands, telecoms, banks
How to find them in social: Extremely hard to reach via standard channels, small businesses self-organize in the social stream around influential entrepreneurs and leading publications like @IncMagazine, @garyvee, and @SmallBizLady.
Learn More About Social’s Top Audiences
Want to know more about how to reach 2012’s most important audiences in the social stream? Drop us a line at hello@140proof.com or ask a question in the comments.
Coming soon, we’ll also be talking about…
- The Most Underrated Audiences in Social
- What the Top Social Audiences Mean for Political Media Buyers
Ten campaigns of 2011 raised the bar for social stream initiatives, by virtue of their unique adaptation to the social stream, specialized targeting, or creative approach. So study up on the cream of the crop, know what works, and prepare to innovate once again in 2012.
10. #GilletteJeterCard
Riding the fan response to an historic event
For New York Yankees star Derek Jeter’s anticipated 3,000th hit, Gillette made a big social push to harvest the fan response. Across Twitter, social apps, and Facebook, Gillette collected well-wishes and congratulations from fans around the world. Thousands of fans participated and passed along the #GilletteJeterCard message, and after Jeter finally connected bat to ball for the 3,000th time, Gillette presented him with a huge greeting card and $50,000 for Jeter’s Turn 2 Foundation.
9. Vitaminwater Color Collection
Crowdsourced design from social stream users
Kickstarter, Etsy, and Threadless all broke out in 2011 by tapping into the hot trend of crowdsourced creative, which connects budding creative directors with eager markets halfway around the globe. Vitaminwater, a young brand pursuing a fashionable market, capitalized on the trend in an innovative way.
Vitaminwater invited young fashion designers from across the country to try for a chance at a jump start to their careers. Fashion designers were invited to submit a t-shirt design for Vitaminwater, for the chance to be sold alongside exclusive T-shirts designed by CFDA designers like Vena Cava and Rag & Bone. 140 Proof helped them reach Fashion Design Students and Shopping Influencers by targeting the followers of accounts like @CathyHorynNYT and @rag_bone.
8. Mercedes-Benz Tweet Rally
A social scavenger hunt
A contest campaign takes advantage of the inherent virality of Twitter and Facebook and accelerates buzz around a brand’s profile. Audience members can tweet a hashtag, retweet a message, or follow the brand to enter to win. It’s a surefire way to gain followers quickly.
Mercedes-Benz hosted their annual Tweet Rally for the 2011 US Open, an all-out push to attract tennis fans and luxury lovers (and showcase the new M Class in the meantime). Anyone who followed @MBUSA in the days leading up to the US Open could win tickets for the best seats at the tournament — delivered by Roger Federer. The Tweet Rally reached 1 million people across the social app ecosystem in the space of less than a week.
7. Sony Pictures Moneyball
A blockbuster movie launch driven by the social stream
Moneyball grossed a staggering $19.5 million its opening weekend and $104 worldwide so far, making it the #3 baseball movie of all time.
To wind up entertainment lovers, Sony Pictures and 140 Proof teamed up to reach Movie Fans, Connected Millennials, and Baseball Fans. Followers and friends of followers of accounts like @TMZ, @MLB, and @jimmyfallon saw the Moneyball message in their favorite social apps during the week-long run-up to the premiere.
6. UFC Personal Trainer Fitness Video Game Launch
Testable targeting and optimization
In 2011, THQ launched UFC Personal Trainer, a fitness game for Ultimate Fighting Championship fans and fitness buffs. Taking a page from Wii Fit, the cross-platform UFC Personal Trainer coaches and conditions aspirational fighters at home.
140 Proof targeted 3 distinct personas with separate sets of creative: Male Fitness Fans, Female Fitness Fans, and UFC Fans by reaching followers of top UFC fighter @UrijahFaber and The Biggest Loser trainer @JillianMichaels. The surprising result? Female fitness fans responded more strongly to the campaign than any other targeted persona.
5. Microsoft Office 365 Launch
Bringing the cloud to the social stream
When Microsoft was ready to unleash its new cloud offering Office 365 on the world, they turned to influencers in the social stream. Microsoft used 140 Proof’s interest graph targeting to reach Small Business Owners and Technology Influencers, who follow accounts like @FedEx and @cdixon.
Cloud computing services is one of the fastest growing segments for 140 Proof, as businesses race to outsource their architecture. 2012 will see bigger initiatives from all players around increasing cloud services adoption.
4. Glee “Sing the USA” by Chevrolet
Leveraging the combined power of Gleeks nationwide
Chevrolet went the extra mile in 2011 with nimble cross-media strategy, and to promote their new Cruze compact car, they went to bat with the fans of prime time TV hit Glee.
To support a TV collaboration that debuted at the Super Bowl, Chevrolet tapped the social stream to find the most fanatical Gleeks, who submitted their own versions of the classic Chevrolet song “See the USA.” 140 Proof helped Chevrolet target TV Fans and Glee Fans by reaching the audiences of accounts like @gleeonfox and @ConanOBrien.
3. Burger King Chicken Tenders
Connecting to busy moms via their smartphones
2011 for Burger King was a momentous year: agency upheavals, new menu launches, and mascot regicide all contributed to a frenetic marketing calendar.
Burger King was re-launching its famous Chicken Tenders, and they needed to reach busy moms — the top US purchaser of crispy, tender, chicken tidbits (averaging 200 tenders and/or nuggets per mom).*
140 Proof helped reach the millions of U.S. Moms and Family Decision Makers on their smartphone by targeting the followers of the 100 best family influencers in social, such as @thepioneerwoman and @Oprah.
2. AMC: The Walking Dead
Biting off a fresh social strategy
The AMC zombie TV series The Walking Dead debuted its second season to critical and fan acclaim in October, ravaging basic cable records and biting off a third season commitment from AMC. TargetCast and 140 Proof partnered to promote the show in the social stream, achieving performance twice the network average.
AMC and its agency of record, TargetCast, sought to target the 18-34 demographic to grow awareness around the season premiere. 140 Proof took the plan a step further, adding interest-based targeting to reach AMC fans, Zombie Thriller Fans, and Halloween Celebrants in the social stream by reaching the fans of accounts like zombie apocalypse blogger @manvszombies, @BreakingBad_AMC, and @DAVID_LYNCH.
1. Victoria’s Secret Gorgeous: Fall TV Continuity
Syncing Fall TV buys with social
Fall premiere week is a highly anticipated time for network TV, and likewise it’s an important time for advertisers. Victoria’s Secret was banking on the fall premieres of popular shows like Glee and Gossip Girl to find young, fashion-loving women to show its new Gorgeous fashion line.
To supplement the huge TV spend, Victoria’s Secret took advantage of social as a second screen and coordinated the social campaign timing with the TV spots, targeting fans of show-related accounts like Glee star @jennaushkowitz and Glee fan club @OMGlee_.
The social stream as second screen strategy delivered over 75,000 fans to Victoria’s Secret to check out the Gorgeous line.
Next: The Top Trends of 2012
2011 was a fantastic year for 140 Proof. We offer congratulations to all of our customers, and to everyone who’s pushing the envelope and innovating in the social stream. Look for most posts to come about the upcoming challenges and opportunities to innovate in 2012.
* Probably.
