Easter Advertising
March 3, 2010 by Benjamin Christie · Leave a Comment
This year Easter is the first week of April (dates below) and even if you don’t sell chocolate Easter eggs there are significant opportunities over the holiday period for all types of industries. Once regarded simply for the kids, Easter has become one of the most profitable holiday seasons of the year.
With spring in the air and many consumers possessing tax return money makes it an ideal time for you to kick-start your marketing campaign. As such we thought we’d put together a few Easter advertising ideas separated by various sectors.
Retailers
Given that Easter is of course a holiday period, many retailers run Easter Sales and to drive interest in the lead up is important. So running at least 10 days prior to the sale starting is essential, then upping the visibility over the Easter weekend to drive consumers in store. Ideally you’ll be running discounts off big ticket items and winter apparel.
Grocery & Supermarkets
With many people spending time with the family over Easter it’s important to gain market share in the lead up to the Easter Weekend. Ideally your Easter Advertising will feature creative with messaging to drive consumers in store like discounts off key staples items or loss leader activity encourage them to do their Easter “big shop” while in store.
Travel Companies
With most people spending time with their families over the Easter weekend, there are two opportunities here for travel companies. Firstly, with many people head home there is a significant benefit for companies such as airlines to go heavy up 3-4 weeks prior to Easter, then slow it down closer to the weekend. The 2nd opportunity is for people not heading home, but rather going away for the weekend. So vacation specials should be advertised 10-14 days from Easter weekend. See Grocery Buyers make Travel Decisions.
Ecommerce Sites
Many of the major ecommerce retailers run Easter weekend specials, from free shipping to coupon discounts so why let them have all the business? In the lead up to Easter why not run a campaign targeted at consumers with creative indicating your Easter specials. So no matter if you sell food, clothing or kitchen gadgets, Easter is a great time to boost sales.
Movie Releases
Many over the Easter weekend will be looking for things to do to fill out the weekend. So for the movie studios, running movie trailer campaigns for new release in the days prior and over the Easter weekend will help boost a movies weekend revenues.
Automotive Companies & Dealerships
Consumers in the market for a new auto will dedicate the weekend heading to dealerships and doing test drives. So running a campaign in the 5-7 days prior to Easter, then heavy up over the Easter weekend will no doubt result in leads being generated. Learn about our audience of automotive buying Grocery Buyers.
So as we head in Q2 and with only a few weeks to go till Easter now is the time to book your Easter Advertising Campaign. For more information, Download our Media Kit or Request a Proposal from our team.
2010 Easter Dates
Good Friday is 2nd April 2010
Holy Saturday 3rd April 2010
Easter Sunday 4th April 2010
Easter Monday 5th April 2010
Super Bowl Advertising 2010
February 10, 2010 by Benjamin Christie · Leave a Comment
After every Super Bowl, it seems everyone evaluates, critiques and comments on the advertising played within the big game. Why? Because companies spend a fortune to be there. Apart from production costs, the networks charged a reportedly USD$3 million for 30 secs.
Obviously being in advertising myself, I went through all the super bowl commercials on the specially created Youtube Super Bowl page. Everyone’s got one video they like and I’m no different, here’s “Voice Box” with T-Pain for Bud Light which was the only one that made me ROFL.
Reaching Holiday Shoppers
October 29, 2009 by Benjamin Christie · Leave a Comment
The global financial crisis is still very real for many consumers which means like last year, this holiday period, a vast amount of consumers will be tracking down deals online. With consumer determined to limit their holiday spending some will print coupons online and take them to the store or supermarket, while others will buy online. Because the Gourmet Ads network features an audience of grocery buyers and household decision makers it’s essential to ensure that we are part of your holiday advertising media mix.
There is no doubt that year after year, the holiday season is the busiest time for online retailers, so if you’re not advertising during this period then you’re definitely missing out on sales. In order to reach holiday shopper we’d recommend running targeted campaigns near key holiday dates.
Apart from simply booking advertising campaigns, it’s essential to have key messages in your advertising creative which engage with consumers driving them to your online store. Some online retailers will use coupons like percentage based i.e 10% off the product or total order. While other online retailers during the holiday season will offer a credit or rebate towards their next purchase with them.
In terms of key delivery based messages to help convert customers, make sure you use phrases like “Free Shipping”, “Flat Rate Shipping” and “Overnight Shipping” which are familiar with consumers who order online. There is a great deal of evidence in the market place that suggests that free shipping can significantly help conversion rates online.
Finally, we’d suggest booking a variety of advertising units such as regular display, interstitials, expandable ad units, video and rich media. You might also be interested in Holiday Advertising blogs we’ve written in the past. Each have a different take on the event and these are focused to Q4 Holidays, see;
If you haven’t already booked your Holiday Advertising, then don’t delay as the Gourmet Ads network often books out during key holiday dates throughout the year. Download your copy of the Gourmet Ads Media Kit which includes information on other key event days throughout the year that you should be booking.
Super Bowl Advertising
October 27, 2009 by Benjamin Christie · 1 Comment
When you think of Super Bowl Advertising, you’ll probably immediately think of the advertising during the game, you know the ones that cost millions of dollars per 30 seconds. But the kind of super bowl advertising we’re talking about is the advertising to driver consumers to buy your food and beverage products prior the end of season game.
Each January the Super Bowl draws an enormous audience of viewers from right around the country, most at super bowl parties. So in order trigger Super Bowl party planning ideas with consumers undertaking a targeted Super Bowl Advertising campaign can provide great results. Because the Gourmet Ads network features an audience of grocery buyers and household decision makers it’s essential to ensure that we are part of your Super Bowl Advertising media mix.
So what companies can benefit from Super Bowl Advertising online? Well any companies that are associated with their products being served at Super Bowl Parties. With mostly a range finger food styled dishes being served at Super Bowl parties any ingredient or pre-made products which make dips, guacamole, chili, bbq ribs, nachos, spicy hot wings, sliders, hamburgers, hot dogs and quesadillas. Don’t forget chips, crisps, pop corn, crackers, cheese as well as beverages such as sodas, wines and beer which traditionally buy the million dollar TV advertising.
With the super bowl being played on the first Sunday in February, ideally your Super Bowl Advertising should commence in the last week of January which means you’ll have a two week campaign flight to drive consumer intent and engagement. Campaign ideas include using regular display advertising, expandable creative, interstitials, video and rich media. Campaign ideas which perform well include competitions and the ability to download Super Bowl coupons for product purchases.
It’s never too early to book your Super Bowl Advertising as this period tends to book up quickly as you can imagine. To book your two week Super Bowl Advertising campaign with Gourmet Ads, download our media kit or contact us with your campaign requirements.
Targeting Grocery Buyers
September 3, 2009 by Benjamin Christie · Leave a Comment
We recently wrote a blog called Online Drives CPG Sales which was inspired by a Comscore study which found that online advertising can be as effective as television advertising in lifting retail sales of CPG brands. The study indicated that online advertising lifted retail sales of CPG brands by an average of 9% compared to 8% for TV advertising. With more CPGs moving online with increased budgets I thought it might be good to talk about how Gourmet Ads targets Grocery buyers, as well as where they actually do their grocery buying.
First off, here’s a little about the Gourmet Audience in regards to the grocery buying;
- They are the primary household grocery buyer
- They make more than 3 trips to the grocery store each month
- They spend anywhere from $200 to over $500 a month on groceries
- They search for food products online such as gourmet and organic
What are they buying?
Across a range of products, our Grocery Buying audience are typically buying week to week the following food products; Baby Foods, Carbonated Soft Drinks, Carbonated Water, Cereals, Cheese, Crackers, Dairy products, Dried Pasta, Juice, Gourmet Frozen Meals, Pizzas Frozen and Packaged Meats. Apart from foods, also high on the list are baby products such as diapers, baby formula as well as pet related products such as pet food and cat litter.
Where do they shop?
Some of our Grocery Buying audience are shopping online, but the vast majority are heading to the grocery store and placing products in the shopping trolley. They are heading to Albertsons, Aldi, Bi-lo, Food Emporium, Food Lion, IGA, Kroger, Lowes Foods, Pathmark, Pick’n Save, Publix, Ralph’s and Safeway to name a few.
So what are the takeaways from this ?
There is no doubt that the Gourmet Ads audience spends on groceries multiple times a month across a range of products (food and non-food) and grocery/supermarkets. Add to this they are also very active online researching food products such as gourmet and organic.
So if you’re a grocery store / supermarket, then running campaigns with Gourmet Ads to drive our audience to your store makes sense. You can run campaigns such as discounts, this week’s specials and more. For those advertising food products, its about building brand awareness prior to the trip to the grocery store / supermarket. You could use discount coupons or promotions to influence our audience to buy your products.
If you’re tasked with marketing to Grocery Buyers, then download our media kit, or request a proposal for your next online campaign.
Fall Media Planning
June 16, 2009 by Benjamin Christie · Leave a Comment
It’s mid June and we’re already having companies lock away their fall campaigns with Gourmet Ads. It’s typical to see this sort of six month forward planning with campaigns booked already pretty much focus on holiday periods such as Thanksgiving and Christmas. Just like snow falling, media planner and media buyers need to take a blanket approach with high share of voice to ensure their products gain the attention they desire online. With this in mind, it’s key to lock it in as soon as possible.
Fall is so important to many food and wine companies. Not only are the holiday periods key, but we find that traffic generally increases to our sites during the fall. There are a variety of reasons for why we see this trend of increased traffic (I believe the main reason is that cold weather contributes with more people generally staying in) during the fall period. Take a look at the graph below from Google Trends for the keyword search “recipes”. Towards the end of each year take a look at the common annual trends for people searching “recipes”. Given that the majority of sites in the Gourmet Ads network feature recipes we also see this trend rather consistently.
Media planners and media buyers should look at starting campaigns in early September and October, then mid November vamping it up to high share of voice. Focusing on key dates around Thanksgiving, then Black Friday, the last few days of online Christmas spending and then Christmas spending.
We’ve previously write blogs on Thanksgiving Advertising and Christmas Advertising which both focus on each of these topics. Both blogs give you ideas on timing and what can be done in the lead up to both thanksgiving and Christmas.
So although we’ve just started the US summer, planning your advertising campaigns at the end of the year is something that should be happening now. Our team would be happy to develop a Digital Media Plan for your consideration, to do this, simply visit Request a Proposal. Or if you’re simply looking at all the opportunities in the market, then start by downloading our media kit.
Beyond the Banner
June 3, 2009 by Benjamin Christie · 1 Comment
Nearly every RFP (request for proposal) we’ve seen for digital advertising this year has mentioned the phrase “Beyond the Banner” or some sort of related comment like “we’re looking for something further than just regular display advertising”. Why? Because advertisers (and advertising agencies) know that these sorts of campaigns build branding and driving purchase intent.
Recent increases in bandwidth as well as technology developments in Flash and Silverlight have meant that there is no excuse for not using rich media as a standard inclusion for the every campaign. Now advertisers can use creative assets such as streaming video to get the message across. All of a sudden internet looks far more attractive than compared to TV. For the first time advertisers can run a video advertisement (for longer than 30 seconds) like that would have on TV and then engage with them right then and there. Have them go to your website, purchase a product, signup for a newsletter, follow them on Twitter.
So what options does Gourmet Ads typically include on a digital media plan for clients? Each and every digital media plan is different. We’ll take a look at the target audience, how they want to communicate with the client and the ultimate aim for the campaign. But broadly these are some for the Beyond the Banner activity we would recommend to a client;
- Over the Page
- Site Sponsorship
- Viral Video Campaign
- Expanding video ad units
- Push Down Expandables
Gourmet Ads isn’t a creative house, but providing you can supply us with your existing creative (even offline creative) we will have them redeveloped into rich media for your Beyond the Banner campaign. We work with leading developers in the US to develop all the assets for your campaign.
Finally, apart from the Beyond the Banner elements, we always include regular display on our digital media plans. ie 728 x 90 (leaderboard), 300 x250 (MREC or Island) and 160 x600 (skyscrapers). This is because as good as the rich media beyond the banner activity is, the display ads which are closely surrounding them or viewed after the fact get the clicks. Think of beyond the banner as informing and entertaining them and display which gains the engagement and fulfillment.
So if you’re looking to reach a unique audience of food and wine consumers using Beyond the Banner creative or just want to learn more about what can be done online, then download our media kit or request a proposal from our team.
Automotive Advertising
May 28, 2009 by Benjamin Christie · Leave a Comment
Last week I was going through some Comscore information about sites within our network and was surprised to see a large amount of automotive indexes associated with our food sites. There a number of reasons why we see these automotive indexes appearing, particularly because the main grocery buyer actually drives to grocery store.
However, to explain these better, I thought I’d reach out to Luke Manion who runs the automotive ad network AdTorque for his thoughts and comment on why the Gourmet Ads Network reports high indexes for automotive advertising. “It has long been a myth in the automotive industry that men make the majority of purchasing decisions. Recently Business Week said that the women’s decision-making authority has grown in part because more households are headed by women — 27% at last count, a fourfold increase since 1950. Their buying power has grown, too. In the past three decades, men’s median income has barely budged — up just 0.6% — while women’s has soared 63%. Automotive advertisers are desperately wanting to tap this valuable female market which makes GourmetAds such an attractive proposition.”
Therefore, any automotive products aimed at women will find our food vertical an ideal platform to talk with potential female buyers, however these areas make particular sense;
- New Cars (Small, Luxury, Mid Sized, Van and SUV)
- Navigational products ( GPS )
- Service ( tyres, tune up )
- Roadside Assistance
So going back to the Comscore indexes, here are some of the automotive indexes which I found of interest, particularly to automotive advertisers;
- 200 Index for audience very likely to purchase a new or used vehicle within the next 6 months
- 803 Index for buying a car with lease online in the last 6 months
- 358 Index for buying auto parts and supplies online in the last 6 months
- 287 Index for buying automotive loan online in the past 6 months
- 643 Index for having bought a used car online within the last 6 months
- 1950 Index for plan to buy in the next 6 months a Large luxury vehicle
- 247 Index for plan to buy in the next 6 months a Midsize sedan/coupe
- 212 Index for plan to buy in the next 6 months a Full-size sports utility (SUV)
- 201 Index for plan to buy in the next 6 months a Full-size van
So if you’re in the automotive industry and looking to reach into new channel to drive sales, then request a proposal from Gourmet Ads. We’ll help develop a digital media plan that will deliver your advertising directly to relevant consumers.
Increasing iPhone Application Installs
April 14, 2009 by Benjamin Christie · Leave a Comment
The iPhone application, iFood Assistant by Kraft Foods as certainly sparked food companies and advertising agencies all over the world to look at how they can develop similar applications for their brand. There is no doubt that Kraft’s first mover advantage with iFood has helped fuel millions of installations and millions in revenues for the food giant. On the wine side of things, there seems to be a wine application being released every week on the iPhone.
Technically speaking the iPhone developer platform allows companies to do most things they would want to pack into an iPhone application. However the challenge these days isn’t what to develop, the challenge is how do you attain the viral effect around your iPhone application when you don’t have first mover advantage?
The key to generating the desired viral effect is to advertise your iPhone application to your target audience. For example if your iPhone application is about recipes or even cocktail recipes, then Gourmet Ads can provide the perfect environment to reach possible consumers.
Reaching into the Gourmet Ads food and wind vertical networks you can quickly and cost effectively tell your target market about your application and start having consumers install the application. Once you’ve planted the seed, installations follow. Given the power of rich media, you could easily demonstrate the features of your iPhone application or even provide a short video commercial about it. The advertising could then drive consumers to a micro site which offers more information and a link to the iTunes store for installation on consumer’s iPhone.
Finally, as a value to booking the advertising campaign with Gourmet Ads we could provide via email the opportunity to give free installations of the iPhone application to our website owners and bloggers allowing them to blog about your iPhone application to their audience.
So if you’re seeking to increase installations of your iPhone applications to consumers, then download a copy of the Gourmet Ads Media Kit or Request a Digital Marketing Plan for consideration.
Supermarket and Grocery Blogs
March 3, 2009 by Benjamin Christie · Leave a Comment
Some supermarket chains undertake online advertising throughout the year. For others, they are still dipping their toes in and yet to develop a strategy that will work. The fact is that online as a advertising medium is much more targeted, measurable and cost effective compared to TV, radio, newspaper and magazines which are mostly a shot gun approach.
So for the supermarkets chains and grocery companies that aren’t undertaking online yet, I’ve created a collection of supermarket and grocery related blogs which may help you to understand more about online and the opportunities that can be achieved. I’ll try and update this from time to time when we add new supermarket related blogs.
So check out these blogs;
- Reaching the Main Grocery Buyer
- Advertising Groceries Online
- Advertising Grocery Coupons
- Branding the Grocery Shopping List
- Online Grocery Sales to Grow
- Supermarket Co-Op Advertising
- Reaching the Main Grocery Buyer
- Advertising Private Label Brands
If you’ve like to learn more about advertising your supermarket, grocery store, grocery specials, new store openings or even undertake a branding campaign, contact us or request a proposal from us.
