VANCE PACKARD was the Malcolm Gladwell of his day, a journalist with a gift for explaining business to the general public. But in his 1957 classic “The Hidden Persuaders”, he out-Gladwelled Gladwell. The book not only had a perfect title. It also revealed for the first time the psychological tricks that the advertising industry used to make Americans want stuff, instantly transforming the image of America’s advertising executives from glamorous Mad Men into servants of Mephistopheles.
“Brandwashed: Tricks Companies Use to Manipulate Our Minds and Persuade Us to Buy” is an attempt to write a modern version of “The Hidden Persuaders”.
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Thursday, October 6
Tuesday, October 4
Social Media News Site Gains Clout
As portals like Yahoo scramble to hold onto an audience that is becoming less drawn to general-interest news, Mashable, Business Insider and Gawker are among a group of smaller niche sites with devoted audiences that are appealing to advertisers. Analysts credit much of Mashable’s rise to its skillful use of search optimization and a large catalog of articles about how to use social media tools. Then there’s Mashable’s influential online audience, which shares and distributes its links across the Web, further fueling the site’s growth.
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Monday, October 3
Magazines, Newspapers Set for More Decline
The outlook for print advertising remains particularly gloomy, at least in the U.S., with ZenithOptimedia predicting continuing declines in 2011, 2012 and 2013.
Newspapers will undoubtedly get the worst of it, with ZO forecasting consecutive annual revenue declines of 8.5%, 8% and 8% in 2011, 2012 and 2013, respectively.
Combining these predictions with print advertising data from the Newspaper Association of America, that implies that total print newspaper ad revenues will fall from $22.8 billion in 2010 to $20.9 billion in 2011, $19.2 billion in 2012, and $17.7 billion in 2013. That represents just 37% of the peak print ad revenue figure of $47.4 billion in 2005, also per the NAA.
American magazines appear to be somewhat better off in the latest ZO forecast, but publishers won't be breaking out the champagne any time soon. After a tepid recovery in 2010, ZO has total ad revenues flat in 2011, followed by consecutive declines of 2% per year in 2012 and 2013.
Radio is set for modest growth of 2% in 2011, 2.1% in 2012 and 2.9% in 2013, although (like other media tracked by ZO) these gains will be somewhat diminished by inflation. The Internet is poised for double-digit annual growth for the foreseeable future.
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Newspapers will undoubtedly get the worst of it, with ZO forecasting consecutive annual revenue declines of 8.5%, 8% and 8% in 2011, 2012 and 2013, respectively.
Combining these predictions with print advertising data from the Newspaper Association of America, that implies that total print newspaper ad revenues will fall from $22.8 billion in 2010 to $20.9 billion in 2011, $19.2 billion in 2012, and $17.7 billion in 2013. That represents just 37% of the peak print ad revenue figure of $47.4 billion in 2005, also per the NAA.
American magazines appear to be somewhat better off in the latest ZO forecast, but publishers won't be breaking out the champagne any time soon. After a tepid recovery in 2010, ZO has total ad revenues flat in 2011, followed by consecutive declines of 2% per year in 2012 and 2013.
Radio is set for modest growth of 2% in 2011, 2.1% in 2012 and 2.9% in 2013, although (like other media tracked by ZO) these gains will be somewhat diminished by inflation. The Internet is poised for double-digit annual growth for the foreseeable future.
Read more here
Tablet Users Devour 48% More Internet
If early adopter metrics are a fair indication, then the tablet is poised to be a genuine game changer in both the ways in which people access the Web and the sheer volume of their use. According to research from Knowledge Networks, tablet-owning consumers on average spend 48% more time each day with the Internet -- 4 hours and 19 minutes across platforms compared to 2 hours and 55 minutes for all users.
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HTML5 Gaining But Mobile Fragmentation Remains
The HTML5 programming language may be gaining ground as a standard for the mobile Web, but there's still a long way to go before it leads to a seamless user experience on devices. That's the upshot of a new study (registration required) by mobile software firm Netbiscuits, which found that a majority of the top-selling 10 smartphones in the U.S. have adopted HTML5 features.
HTML5 has gather growing support for mobile Web development in the last year from prominent publishers including The New York Times, Conde Nast and Meredith, in addition to backing from major technology companies including Apple and Google. But most smartphone users prefer to access content on their phones using native apps.
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HTML5 has gather growing support for mobile Web development in the last year from prominent publishers including The New York Times, Conde Nast and Meredith, in addition to backing from major technology companies including Apple and Google. But most smartphone users prefer to access content on their phones using native apps.
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Cassette tapes see new life after mp3s
The editors of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary decided to remove the term "cassette tape" from its pages this summer to help make room for 400 new words including "cyberbullying" and "retweet."
It's starting to look like that move may have been premature. A growing number of indie bands are turning to the format to get their music out more quickly and inexpensively, according to Rob Mason, the owner of Old Flame Records.
Regardless of format, music consumption is at an all-time high, says David Bakula, the senior vice president of analytics entertainment for Nielsen. But even as sales of vinyl records continue to grow -- they've increased 37% from last year, he said -- it's uncertain whether cassette nostalgia will reach those same heights.
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It's starting to look like that move may have been premature. A growing number of indie bands are turning to the format to get their music out more quickly and inexpensively, according to Rob Mason, the owner of Old Flame Records.
Regardless of format, music consumption is at an all-time high, says David Bakula, the senior vice president of analytics entertainment for Nielsen. But even as sales of vinyl records continue to grow -- they've increased 37% from last year, he said -- it's uncertain whether cassette nostalgia will reach those same heights.
Read more here
"The Daily" Shows Some Promise
Seven months ago when (Rupert Murdoch) launched The Daily, the first (and still only) "iPad newspaper" (it) was a $30 million bet on both the tablet as a medium and the public's willingness to pay for news.
Today The Daily has 120,000 active weekly readers, 80,000 of whom are actually paying for the app, according to Publisher Greg Clayman. The bigger number includes 40,000 non-paying readers on a two-week introductory trial period. But The Daily still has a long way to go before it proves anything about paid media or the tablet. While its subscriber rolls remain well short of the 500,000 paying readers that Mr. Murdoch said would make it a viable business. The Daily's numbers put it in the ballpark with some established print brands' digital editions.
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Today The Daily has 120,000 active weekly readers, 80,000 of whom are actually paying for the app, according to Publisher Greg Clayman. The bigger number includes 40,000 non-paying readers on a two-week introductory trial period. But The Daily still has a long way to go before it proves anything about paid media or the tablet. While its subscriber rolls remain well short of the 500,000 paying readers that Mr. Murdoch said would make it a viable business. The Daily's numbers put it in the ballpark with some established print brands' digital editions.
Read more here
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