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The number of users and the amount of content they consume through the Xbox Live and Sony’s PS3 Home/Store platforms is growing at an alarming rate. According Dario Raciti’s Imedia Connection article, “How Brands are Winning with Xbox and Playstation”, Xbox Live is now considered the leading provider of on-demand, high-definition content in the U.S., providing twice the number of hours as the leading cable operators. The group consuming the largest amount of this content is men 18-34 who are playing more console games then watching any TV network.

With Xbox Live is garnering the majority of the attention with 17 million users worldwide consuming over 550 million downloads of digital content Sony is making a push with its PS3 system to expand its services beyond that of Xbox. With its 3D virtual world, Home, Sony is pushing past the menu-style interface from Xbox Live and creating a greater variety of ways to interact with PS3 owners. The 3D world offers a variety of unique environments including a mall and movie theatre where users can meet and interact with other gamers. This has led to over 380 million pieces of digital content having been downloaded from the PS3 Home Store.     

The growing number of ways for consumers to interact and receive content through these entertainment platforms is leading to more unique advertising and branding opportunities. CBS recently partnered with Xbox Live exposing over a million new users to its Last.fm service, while Netflix adopted nearly 10 percent of it user base through Xbox Live. Though advertising opportunities are not as wide spread on the PS3 system a few brands have already begun to experiment by opening store fronts in Home where users can purchase products for their avatars.

Vicky Tamaru talked about the affirmation of Xbox as a platform that offers a new world of opportunity for content creators and advertisers in her February 2009 AllBusiness article, “Xbox: Advertising Game-Changer?”

According to Raciti Nielson has found that consoles alone are as big as the fifth largest network and the numbers are growing everyday. And while in-game advertising can still be difficult the numbers are there to support the advertising opportunities. Advertisers should expect to see more solutions and increased opportunities to brand their products on gaming consoles, which hopefully leads to more effective and innovative advertising campaigns.

Can you feel the excitement? The kind of excitement that can only build as millions of people prepare to gather to watch the most anticipated commercials of the year. As a sales and marketing professional I will be one of the millions waiting in anticipation to view the most expensive advertising spots of the year. According to the AdAge article, “Super Bowl Ad Time Is Sold Out, CBS Says”, as of Monday ad time for Super Bowl XLIV was sold out at a cost of $2.5 to $3 million per 30 second spot.   

In this down economic climate CBS took a creative approach to fill these slots by designing customized packages of ad time rather than relying on a solid price for a 30 second spot as traditionally done.  CBS also turned to some unusual sponsors including a Christian advocacy organization in order to fill ad slots after losing some of the events long time sponsors such as Pepsi.

But in all this hype over the next great ad campaign I almost forgot there is also a football game. For me I’m trying to remember when the commercials became bigger than the game itself. Almost every poll I have seen or heard has people more excited about the ads than the game itself. Budweiser had over 100,000 people register as Facebook fans to vote in a Super Bowl ad poll, which brought back the iconic Budweiser Clydesdales to the Super Bow line-up.

Personally I am a huge football fan and am stoked for this year’s game, but I have to admit there have been years where I was more interested in the ads than the game. I remember the first year I was truly more excited about the ads was Super Bowl XXXV between the Giants and Ravens. No offense to Giants and Ravens fans, but I had no interest in watching Trent Dilfer battle Kerry Collins. But for the record I cheered as loud as anyone during the Giants most recent Super Bowl, sorry Tom Brady, but you already have Giselle. 

 Even though I had no interest in the game itself that year I still had a great time watching Super Bowl XXXV; eating, drinking, and enjoying the ridiculous ads and the extremely over-the-top halftime show. I don’t remember a single play from that game, but I will never forget the Budweiser “Wassup” commercial and the absurd MTV produced halftime show that paired Aerosmith with N’Sync, Britney Spears, Nelly, and Mary J. Blige. What was Aerosmith doing and why was Britney Spears wearing a gym sock on her arm? Looking back now that is not even close to one of her worst fashion statements. 

So whether you are excited for the game, the commercials, or just looking forward to the great food, drinks, and friends and family Sunday is going to be a great day. Enjoy it and come Monday let us know what your most memorable Super Bowl ad was, good or bad.

As marketing professionals it is our job to utilize our experience and the tools available to us to understand consumers and help brands develop solutions to communicate effectively with them. I would love to say we understand what people are thinking and why they are thinking it, but unfortunately even with all the tools and research available, people will always be unpredictable. So though these tools arm us with a better understanding of consumer behavior we are still only making our best guess on how consumers will react. Marketing is not a definitive science.

How can we avoid common mistakes and increase the chances that our “guesses” or marketing initiatives will be innovative and successful? In the IMEDIA Connection article, “Top Marketing Innovation Killers”, Sean X Cummings discusses four key barriers to successful marketing innovation and solutions to overcome them.

In his article Cummings discusses how the “big idea”, relying on historical reflection, the knowledge gap between agency and client, and ideation by committee are all killing marketing innovation. Too often agencies use the “big idea” as bright and shiny window dressing to excite the client, but don’t have the technology or strategy to back it up. This leads to unsuccessful campaigns that scare brands off from future innovative programs. Vicky Tamaru discusses the concept of the “big idea” and why Microsoft had to pull the plug on an agencies “innovative” campaign in her AllBusiness article, “What’s the Big Idea?”.

Cummings makes a good point that agencies need to design smaller ideas that are more nimble and adjustable and launch off the same basic platform. But it is key to remember that each of these smaller ideas need to build on top of one another, reinforcing the end goal of the overall comprehensive marketing strategy. It also important to make sure that each of the initiatives addresses the brand and its overall goals.

Marketers will not succeed by relying on a “one-size fits-all” approach. It is great to learn from past campaigns, but just because a campaign was successful for one brand does not mean it will be successful for another. Look at Subway’s Jared Campaign versus the new Taco Bell weight loss campaign. Though the Taco Bell campaign is still young it is hard to imagine it will garner the same success that Jared did for Subway. Have you met Christine? Every brand has a unique audience and unique goals, so it is important their marketing programs are unique to them. Work closely with clients to educate them as well as learn from them to bridge the knowledge gap, so you can find the most appropriate solution to achieve their goals.    

Though Cummings makes many good points I disagree on his argument that “ideation through committee” stifles innovation. Brain-storming sessions can be very effective and can limit problems with execution if they include the proper people—designers, developers, writers, and even producers. As I mentioned earlier, it is also very important to collaborate. This approach will help you find the most effective, innovative, long-term solution to meet each client’s specific goals.

With digital marketing still in its infancy and many clients not having a full understanding of the power and pitfalls, it is important for marketers to educate clients on the benefits. Rather than throwing out the “big idea” in bright, shiny packaging that can distract potential clients, marketers need to engage the client to learn their goals before suggesting solutions. Marketing approaches must continue to evolve to be more user-focused than brand-focused to be effective in this highly fragmented, over-saturated age.  But we also must remember that relying on focus-studies doesn’t always result in the best ideas, we must continue to innovate and ideate based on the perceived needs of the consumer.

In her latest article on her AllBusiness blog Vicky Tamaru examines the past decade in the world of technology and entertainment, and how to use the lessons learned for success moving forward.  

To hear more from Vicky check out past articles on her Branded Entertainment blog.

MIX10 is a 3-day conference for web designers and developers building the world’s most innovative web sites. This year some of the session ideas and speakers are being chosen by the public and we were lucky enough to have four ideas chosen by Microsoft for public voting. The authors of the top ten vote getting session ideas will be invited to speak at MIX10. Voting is open to the public starting today January 5th through Friday January 15th, so we need your help. Don’t worry the voting is quick, easy, and requires no sign-up, so please take a moment to review our session ideas and cast your votes for Vicky Tamaru, Matt Tamaru, and Andy Jacobs.

The voting tool can be accessed here: http://visitmix.com/opencallvote/

To learn more about each of our session ideas here is a list of the proposals we submitted:

• “Reduce Your Risks with SketchFlow” - Vicky Tamaru
• “Mixing it Up With Blend” - Andy Jacobs
• “Creative Suite and Expression Suite: Sweet Harmony?” - Matt Tamaru
• “Taking Wireframes to the Next Dimension with SketchFlow” - Matt Tamaru

As we move into the second decade of this century what digital marketing trends will have a significant impact in the coming year? With the ground continuing to shift where will brands need to focus their energy to ensure the success of their digital communications? Ken Mallon and Duncan Southgate discuss the top ten digital marketing trends to look for during 2010 in the AdAge article, “Where Digital Marketing is Heading in 2010″ , including:

• Gaming becoming more social
• The emerging importance of social graphs
• The increase of mobile and GPS based advertising

According to Mallon and Duncan the basic rules of branding will continue be just as important in the digital world as in traditional advertising, while brands cannot rely on technology itself to bring success and will need to focus on providing creative, engaging, relevant communications to stay ahead of the game in the coming decade.

Have a safe and enjoyable New Years and comeback in 2010 ready to “hit the ground running!”

The social graph is the representation of our relationships, which define our personal, family, or business communities on social websites. With the growing number of distribution channels in the social realm, consumers are now more in control of establishing the power of a brands message as they create and share media through their social graph. According to the AdAge article, “What Studying Your Links Can Teach You About Your Marketing” , nearly 20% of traffic that websites receive arrives via shared link (IM, email, online communities, blogs, forums, tweets, ect.), and this percentage is continuing to grow. This means that brands are more reliant on the power of social graphs as relevant, engaging, useful content is selected and distributed by the consumers themselves.

Multiple studies have shown the importance of measuring and analyzing shared links with site visitors arriving from shared links having a conversion rate two to four times that of other traffic sources. Brands must harness the full power of social media and better optimize their marketing efforts through mapping the social graph by analyzing shared links to identify:

• true brand advocates
• content that engages consumers
• channels being used to share information

A new study done on behalf of Microsoft and Mediabrands Initiative has found a new way to measure the effectiveness of various advertising campaigns and allow for marketers to compare the direct impact of these campaigns across distinct media types. According to the MediaPost article, “Microsoft and Initiative Strive For Better Advertising Through Neuroscience” , EmSense, a neuroscience and marketing research company, exposed participants to various media and advertising campaigns from Hyundai and Kia Motors while wearing a special sensor-laden headset to measure brain activity, breathing rate, head motion, heart rate, blink rate, and skin temperature.

The research found the interactive components of Xbox LIVE engaged consumers more than did the :30 TV spot and :60 in-theater spots they were shown, and provoked an additional 238 seconds of engagement beyond the traditional video ad. Beyond this, the Xbox LIVE ads were delivering a higher level of cognitive and emotional responses, showing the emotional connection participants made with these brands.

Here is what trade marketing group manager for Microsoft advertising, Ginny Musante, had to say about the study and what it means:

“For years, marketers have been tracking what people say through survey data. They can measure what people do with behavioral metrics. This study adds what they think and feel with biosensory data. But what’s more important to the industry is the fact that we were able to combine all three in the same study using the same methodology, so we were able to compare impact across media.”

Insert from MediaPost

The Plexipixel holiday party included some great food, drinks, Rock Band, karaoke, and the debut single Plexi Christmas by Plexipixel’s very own Da Christmas Crackaz. Da Christmas Crakaz are Lisa and Stephanie on the mic with Andy on the board and lending his screemo expertise. Trev kicked in some post prod magic. Check out the hot chart topper!

The holiday party featured some of the best musical performances the world has ever seen. The Mamas (Mindy, Alyssa and Bonnie) and the Papa (Ian) helped start off the evening with some Rock Band. Lisa tried to call out Allen with a Baby Got Back Off but ended up having to do it solo. Jesse and Matt definitely took the top honors with their touching duet rendition of Hello by Lionel Richie. Andy rocked the Rock Lobster and topped off the night with Missy Elliott.

Check out our Facebook page to see photos from our holiday extravaganza.

Last Friday was a day full of shenanigans at the Plexipixel studio. Friday marked the day for our 2009 Wrap-Up Report, but more importantly this was accompanied by our annual Christmas Sweater Contest and Albino Pachyderm Gift Extravaganza. These events are not taken lightly around the studio. You all remember the stiff competition from our Halloween Costume Contest.

This year the veterans at Plexipixel inadvertently decided on a slightly different format for the sweater contest, using it as a hazing stunt on for the newbies. Conveniently only the newest members to the team, Jake, Vics, and Justin, showed up wearing hideously ugly sweaters with Jamie who was just so nice join us. After lining up for the firing squad for some good natured teasing about ridiculously amazing Holiday attire, Matt started off the voting process.

Before we announce the winner, we should describe these sweaters. Each one brought its own unique flavor to the table: Jake’s sweater was a button-up with a popped color, the preppy; Vics sweater had many large bells accompanied by reindeer ears and bow; I had a child’s midriff sweater, a little creepy; and Jamie literally had an Xmas tree. In the end Jamie deservedly was the run-away winner for her attention to detail and ability to wear the most uncomfortable holiday sweater we’ve ever seen.

After the sweater contest we moved onto the much anticipated White Elephant Gift Exchange, which included a toilet seat, a hand-painted framed picture of Ponch (painted by our own Ian Ross), and some odor eating underwear. After a few hours of gift stealing and strategic positioning all the gifts were opened and the worst and best gifts were picked. Worst: poop shaped soap on a rope and odor-eating underwear; Best: Ponch. The best and the worst gifts were then switched… suckers!

Check out our Facebook page to see all the photos from our holiday shenanigans and post some photos of your favorite holiday sweaters and white elephant gifts.