Advertising Trends for 2012 from Gourmet Ads

For the past 4 years, and as the year comes to a close, I’ve looked forward to the future trying to predict what the Advertising Trends for the year ahead will be. Looking back I think for the most part I’ve predicted the advertising trends rather well. That said I’ll be the first to say that we’ve got some predictions wrong, but for the most part I think I’ve been on the money. My advertising trend predictions are simply derived from what we as a company are seeing in-market.

So here are our Advertising Trends for 2012

1. Real Time Bidding Budgets to Increase
Real Time Bidding Budgets was something I predicted last year and again it’s my number 1 advertising trend prediction for 2012. Why? Well late in 2011, Gourmet Ads launched our private ad exchange called the Gourmet Ads Marketplace. Since then we’ve had an amazing response to real time bidding and if anything we’ve started to see many more advertisers start buying media like this. As the year came to a close, we spoke to all our major media buying partners and not one of them said that budgets were going backwards. Nearly all of them said they will have many more advertising clients in 2012.

2. Media Buying with Data
Just like Real Time Bidding, we also mentioned Data in last year’s advertising trends. In 2011 the buzz term by Q2 was DMP (data management platform), now if you believe everything you read in the digital press, DMPs will be no longer around in 2012. Then there is the debate of 1st Party Data vs 3rd Party Data and I’m not going anywhere near that.

Our prediction is that digital media buying using some sort of data will grow significantly in 2012. I think it’s the sole motivation for advertisers contemplating a move to real time bidding platforms, i.e. the fact they can pair the media buy up with data and then buy the impressions they actually want at scale. Once advertisers have developed a clear use of their own 1st Party Data sets and can begin to only buy the impressions they want we will see continued growth in data.

3. Mobile Advertising to Grow
During Q3 in 2011 we started seeing questions on both the advertiser and publisher sides regarding mobile advertising. We had advertisers asking about inventory and publishers asking about demand ( which is always great). When publishers in the food space are asking our publisher team about mobile advertising because their building an App or dedicated mobile site, then 2012 will be all about mobile. We saw during 2012 a number of supermarkets launch iPhone and Android apps which have been highly successful with consumers. See Woolworths in Australia which have a great mobile app. As a company we too have invested in mobile. Our development team is currently working on the RecipeBridge Mobile site which is scheduled to be launched in January 2012. Mobile content aside, I wonder if we’ll see better quality mobile advertising from advertisers in 2012. It does seem that text ads are still the main type of creative used on mobile devices.

4. Branded Recipes
During 2011 we saw a major advertising trend from food manufactures and some supermarkets seeking to integrate their branded recipes on our network publisher sites. I would say nearly every RFP we received requested some sort of recipe integration as part of the media plan. We believe this is only the beginning for Branded Recipes. Observing this trend, Gourmet Ads developed our own platform for branded recipes on RecipeBridge.com, where we add all the recipes of a brand into the RecipeBridge site. Then when people search for a recipe such as “fondant recipe” then brands with fondant recipes will be displayed alongside other recipe sites, where consumers can then click through to the brands website for the ingredients, cooking method and presentations.
Early in 2012, Gourmet Ads will be announcing the launch of our Brand Solutions on RecipeBridge to help brands get more exposure for their branded recipes to household grocery buyer.

5. Video Advertising
Video Advertising for the digital advertising industry in 2011 was huge. If you don’t think it was you’ve been on another planet. I recall sitting @ Digiday New York in November and watching the “State of the Industry on Digital Video” report and being amazed by nearly every statistic being presented. This is why I’m adding it as an Advertising Trend in 2012.

Why the huge recent growth in Video Advertising? There are a number of answers why. It’s so very similar to buying television and advertisers (and their advertising agencies) understand how to buy TV media. Engagement rates are consistently solid (notice I didn’t mention click through rates). Creative is rather standard now. Most video advertisers are using a 15 or 30 second pre roll video together with a 300×250 Companion Ad using either VAST or VPAID formats. We’ve also seen in 2011 more non linear advertising solutions come to market.

For Gourmet Ads, Video Advertising was the fastest growing section of our business in 2011. We’ve seen huge demand from advertisers and we don’t think this will subside anytime soon. We believe that video based revenue will increase significantly for the company over the next year or so. That said, there are still lots of challenges for video. Lack of quality video inventory is one. We’ve worked hard to build a large collection of Cooking Videos on Tastydays. The second is the technical requirements needed to setup a publisher to accept video pre roll ads. We have made some great progress with our own video hosting platform for publishers, but more education is required.

6. The 300×600 Ad Size
There is something to say for big things and the 300×600 is one the largest display ad sizes available with many calling it the “half page ad unit” Not only from a creative aspect is there lots of room to get the message across, but in our testing we’ve seen engagement rates from 3 to 10 times better than regular display sizes.
Over the past 6 months we’ve slowly started to see more advertisers ask for the 300×600 size and given the great performance of the unit, we believe that in 2012 will see more advertisers using this size.

7. Vertical Ad Networks will Continue to Grow
As I had predicted last year, there was plenty of consolidation across the digital advertising ecosystem. We saw video companies acquire other video advertising companies, we saw ad networks acquire other ad networks and major web portals continue buying investment that make sense them. What we didn’t see was any acquisitions of Vertical Ad Networks in 2012.
Many in the Digital Press predicted that Vertical Ad Networks will die a slow death, which really cracks me up. Gourmet Ads which just focus on Food Advertising are very much alive and kicking. We’ve seen amazing growth again this year and are looking forward to continued growth in 2012. I’m often talking to my peers at other vertical ad networks and all report solid growth and revenues. Gourmet Ads in 2011 strengthened our inventory by investing in RecipeBridge and I know other networks have been quietly acquiring more web properties and inventory which they can call their own.
So yes, I’m predicting that Vertical Networks will continue to grow in 2012.

7. CPG Brands to Increase Budgets

Again an advertising trend we mentioned last year and the year before. We saw a number of new advertisers in the CPG space in 2011 and we’re already seen new brands at major CPGs advertising for the first time. That said we would like all CPGs to start using online. In 2011 we started to see CPGs run longer campaigns, compare to previous years where they were just concentrating on Q4, then going dark for the rest of the year.

We have two predictions as an advertising trend in 2012, is that we’re going to see smaller to mid sized companies move to online in 2012 where they can easily compete with large FMCG / CPG companies, possibly more so on a localized / geo targeted basis.

8. Contextual Advertising for Food Advertisers 

Another advertising trend we’ve seen from food advertisers in 2011 is the request to advertise on pages where recipe content is closely related or is contextually relevant. We’re predicting this will continue into 2012 as some advertisers want to only reach the exact target each and every time.

An example of contextual advertising for foods would be say a seafood company running a campaign for salmon and they only wanted to advertise on pages where salmon was being mentioned. Pages might be smoked salmon recipes or grilled salmon recipes. Now this is relatively easy for a single site to provide this type of targeting and Gourmet Ads has a few sites where this is possible. We’re working on contextually being able to target against videos with pre roll video advertising. The challenge has always been one around how much inventory is there.

Rolling in 2012, we predict that companies will use Contextual Advertising for part of their media plan, it might be in two ways. 1. They will allocate 10-20% of the media plan’s budget to contextual to ensure the plan remains relevant, then use retargeting and then general run of food. 2. They will book a 6 or 12 month media plan to “own” the term. I.e. they will own “salmon recipes” in very much like a sponsorship type investment, changing the ad creative when required.

What do you think about my Advertising Trends 2012 Predictions ?

If you’re curious to see what I wrote in previous years they can be seen here ;
Advertising Trends 2011, Advertising Trends 2010, Advertising Trends 2009

Advertising Trends 2012 is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.

How are you Advertising Consumer Packaged Goods ?

Unlike other stores, the products sold by supermarkets and grocers are considered Consumer Packaged Goods, or CPGs.  Also known ac FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods outside of North America), these products are purchased frequently by customers, are inexpensive, and don’t require much purchase planning. For retailers, these are products that they sell in high volume; buy from large distribution networks, and for which there is a high stock turnover rate. Groceries are a perfect example of these goods, and the marketing rules that apply to these products are different from those of other, longer lasting goods.

Consumer Packaged Goods include everything from perishable goods (produce, meat, dairy) to staple items (dry cereal, noodles, canned food) and household products (paper towels, laundry detergent, etc). Manufacturers of these products understand the short shelf life of such products, and they are constantly aware of the need to get new products on the shelf. Manufacturers also understand that they are facing a high level of competition and that they need to support their products through advertising and promotion in order to influence consumer buying decisions. Consumer Packaged Goods generally have a relatively low profit margin per item, and so manufacturers rely on high volume sales in order to make a profit. Every sale counts, and the more loyal customers that a brand can generate, the more likely they are to see large profits.

Consumer Packaged Goods Advertising to Reach Consumers On Target

For these reasons, the key to successful sales of CPGs is creating a powerful brand identity that will ensure customers keep coming back to your product.  Creating a strong brand identity means that you have a loyal following of shoppers who turn to your brand again and again, even when it is not the least expensive or easiest to find. The changes in the economy have sent many customers on a search for cheaper food items, which is why creating a strong brand is more important than ever.  It also means that the traditional methods of reaching customers are no longer enough to build and maintain the loyal shopper following that keeps a brand profitable in the long run.

The most important tool for creating a strong brand in today’s market is the internet. Online advertising has become more valuable than any other type of advertising- market research consistently shows that today’s shoppers are turning to the internet for coupons, recipe ideas, and for information about products they are considering buying.  Whether you are a small brand that operates in a specific region or a large brand that is found in most supermarkets, Gourmet Ads can increase the number of consumers who see your product before they ever enter a store. Gourmet Ads offers CPG manufacturers the opportunity to market their products directly to the people who buy CPGs.  Our audience is made up of the primary household shoppers and food preparers, the very same people who regularly purchase CPGs  Gourmet Ads can help you manage your online advertising campaign to help put your ads in front of the right people.  Changes in the shopping habits of consumers have created an opportunity for manufacturers to build brand loyalty for Consumer Packaged Goods by developing a strong online presence that appeals to the needs of today’s shoppers.

Advertising Consumer Packaged Goods is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.

ComScore releases results to demonstrate that online ads drive CPG sales

According to recent research, (see here) it has been proven that online advertising can improve sales on Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) products, or rather online ads drive CPG sales. The marketing research company comScore have just released the results of the impact of online advertising on the sales of CPG products.

ComScore have conducted their research on the effectiveness of advertising using 1 million internet users. Certain internet users in particular regions are obviously affected by different types of online advertising, so the research was conducted mainly to see what effect it may have on people’s choices when it comes to buying CPGs.

Dunnhumby USA, a data analysis company also provided information for the study. The purchase data was compared to comScore’s digital measurements which showed that online advertising was more likely to have an effect on households that were exposed to online advertising than those that were not.

Interestingly, the research into the impact of online advertising has created a great view into what consumers need and want to buy. Although so much research has been done before to do with the effectiveness of advertising, it is this research in particular that is the most fascinating.

CPG Ad campaign trackings asserts that online ads drive CPG sales

The reason it is so fascinating is that we now have substantial proof that online advertising indeed increases CPG sales. The CPG campaigns show a median offline sales lift of 21 percent, and it is with this in mind that we can predict the buying behaviours of certain consumer groups. Five out of six households that were exposed to online advertising produced a positive sales lift.

During their studies, comScore and Dunnhumby anonymously targeted adverts at in-store brand buyers to see what the impact would be. The results showed that there was a 42 percent increase in sales from households that had been exposed to purchase based targeting online ads and a 21 percent increase to those who were exposed to non-purchase based targeting.

To put it in its simplest terms; online advertising can drive sales of your Consumer Packaged Products. It is studies such as these conducted by comScore and Dunnhumby that shows where we can focus our advertising. Instead of placing adverts that no one is going to see, online advertising is a great way of increasing revenues, and asserts the fact that online ads drive CPG sales.

Online Ads Drive CPG Sales is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.

Are you referencing the Food Pyramid in your Food Advertising?

Many of us remember the US government Food Pyramid from our school days, and food retailers and manufacturers have attempted to educate consumers on the ways that their products can be included in a healthy lifestyle. In 2011, the government released an updated version of the Food Pyramid that reflects our new understanding of how food effects our overall health. But the truth is that consumers still haven’t gotten the message – the number of overweight adults is growing more quickly than ever, and despite their efforts to eat healthier, many consumers still aren’t sure what foods they can include in their diet to help keep weight off while getting the nutrition they need.

For companies that are in the business of food manufacturing and retailing, studying what consumers buy and how they include it in their diets is part of the job. But despite efforts by the government and many food companies to educate consumers, many aren’t catching on to what they should be eating. While this seems like a grim situation for food marketers, it has actually created an opportunity to help consumers live healthier while fattening your bottom line.

Research shows that consumers know what they know about foods primarily due to the marketing efforts of manufacturers. For example, many customers believe that whole grains are a healthy addition to their diet after seeing advertisements that tell them about adding healthy whole grains to their diets. Consumers are also heavily influenced by the people in their networks, and for many consumers, those networks are primarily found online. The primary food preparers in most families spend a lot of time searching online to find new meal ideas and learn about food- and many of them research the latest food trends whether that is organic products, gluten-free items, or anything else. Which is why the Food Pyramid is important.

Its important to use nutritional info from the government food pyramid in your marketing

That’s why creating advertisements that feature nutritional information based on the government food pyramid and displaying them on sites that consumers already visit is an important opportunity for food manufacturers. Since many consumers get their information about healthy eating from the sites they visit, manufacturers can appeal to their desire to eat healthier.

The movement today is toward food that is grown naturally, and ads that reflect the growing process of your foods are likely to catch the eye of shoppers. One idea, used very successfully by a client who produces and sells free-range, organic eggs is to display rich media ads that display why your food is so healthy. Interactive media ads that demonstrate how your product meets the requirements of a healthy diet are another great idea. You can even advertise to customers by educating them about the elements of the food pyramid and how your healthy foods compliment that lifestyle.

Shoppers are looking for products that help them live a healthy lifestyle, but they often aren’t aware of the many ways that they can eat healthier and follow the guidelines set forth in the food pyramid. Advertising to online shoppers using the Food Pyramid is the perfect way to appeal to customers hoping to live a healthier lifestyle and create more nutritious meals for their families.

Food Pyramid Advertising is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.

Best Food Day is when Food Companies Advertise their Best Specials

In the newspaper industry, Wednesdays are often known as Best Food Day, when food manufacturers and retailers do the majority of their advertising. Studies have shown that readership is up Best Food Day as consumers search for the best grocery shopping deals. Even in markets where Wednesday is not the day most filled with food advertising, readers know when to look for food advertisements and newspapers see a spike in sales. But we also know that newspaper readership as a whole is decreasing as more consumers get their news online. So what does that mean to retailers who have looked to Best Food Day advertising as the key to their target audience? It simply means that Best Food Day has changed, and an increasing number of shoppers now get the majority of their advertising online.

Rather than a single day of the week that appeals to food customers, there is now Gourmet Ads with is Best Food Day everyday. Customers who buy food for their families no longer turn to the newspaper for recipes or ideas for meals- instead; they turn to online food blogs, recipe sites and other food type sites. Gourmet Ads Best Food Market is defined as the network of online sites that appeal to the primary household cooks, and main grocery buyers with the households. Today’s home cooks are still primarily mothers, but an increasing number of men are devoting time to searching for recipes and preparing meals for their families. Appealing to these customers through Gourmet Ads sites is easy, if you know what they are looking for.

Traditional advertising tells you that you can place an advertisement on any site, and a percentage of the customers who view it will be interested in what you are selling. But what we know about shoppers tells us that the people who buy food don’t look for food on just any site- they trust advertisements that are on the sites that they visit looking for information about food. Gourmet Ads isn’t made up of sites that offer customers information about news, weather, or shopping. Instead, Gourmet Ads consists of sites that offer recipe ideas, blogs about cooking and food, and even sites that offer the latest gossip on celebrity chefs and televised cooking shows.

Gourmet Ads allows food retailers and manufacturers to reach out to customers on these sites. The idea of reaching out to customers through vertical online advertising will grow increasingly important as newspaper advertising becomes less effective, and businesses who begin advertising through the best food market will reach consumers long before they head to the supermarket aisles for their next shopping trips. Customers are demanding more from food companies, such as the ability to print out the coupons they once clipped from newspaper advertisements.

With Gourmet Ads, Best Food Day is 7 Days a week online

Gourmet Ads can help you reach out to customers through it’s own network of food-related sites, offering customers the ability to find out more about your company, print out coupons, and even see store circulars when they visit their favorite website. While the idea of a single Best Food Day may no longer exist, the growth of the Gourmet Ads network has created new opportunities for advertisers to reach consumers.

Best Food Day is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.

Once considered the domain of young, male users, Women Watch Videos Online

It’s no secret that online video content seems to be feeding an insatiable audience. The explosive growth of online video sharing services means that everything from cute animals and how to videos to movie previews and nearly anything else you can imagine is available to people everywhere in just a few clicks. However, research on who spends time watching online video content is changing the way advertisers (especially CPGs) think about promoting their products.

Once considered the domain of young, male users, online video content has found a dedicated audience among women between the ages of 25 and 44. Unsurprisingly, women view online video content in a far different way than their male counterparts. Women are more likely than men to watch videos online recommended by friends in the form of emailed or linked videos, and women are far more likely than men to click on a link to a video found on a social media site posted by a friend. The viewing habits of women aren’t easily grouped by age, studies find. Instead, women relate to videos based on their life stage and what events are occurring in their life. This is likely the reason that women connect with videos and become more engaged than male viewers- women search out videos that provide them with necessary information, skills, or emotional currency that suits their lifestyle rather than simply watching amusing clips.

For advertisers, the needs of women viewers offer a significant opportunity to provide consumers with the things they are looking for. Today’s woman viewer is often a busy mother and career woman who is looking for information that can help make her life a little easier. Advertisers who are able to capture this type of information and present it in the form of a short, relevant video are likely to see the so-called “viral” distribution of their video. Women are far more likely than men to send a video clip that they find interesting to friends and family. And women who receive video clips from others are more likely to watch those clips than others.

Women tend to watch longer videos online than their male counterparts

While understanding the viewing and sharing habits of women is important, advertisers must also understand what women hope to gain out of viewing videos online. Like men, women are most likely to watch online video content when they are bored or need to relieve stress. Women are not only searching for useful information, they are hoping to find an emotional connection to the content of the video. Creating videos with an upbeat, positive message is one way that advertisers can appeal to the needs of female viewers. Advertisements that contain funny content are the most likely to be shared among women. Women tend to watch longer videos than their male counterparts, giving advertisers a better opportunity to present their information as long as the video remains engaging and entertaining.

Adding streaming video content to your website or online ads is an important tool for attracting new customers of both genders. However, if your target audience is women, creating the right video is even more important. Gourmet Ads can run video pre roll advertising that will engage your viewers and showcase your product to female audiences while Women Watch Videos Online.

Women Watch Videos Online is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.

Advertising Recipes Guides provide Grocery Buyers Meal Inspiration

Today’s grocery consumer is looking for more than just ingredients – they are looking for inspiration. That’s why many companies have found success with using recipe ideas to market their products. While the idea of printing recipes on the packaging of everyday staple products has been around for many years, more companies are using recipe booklets to give customers more ways to make use of their favorite products. The state of the economy and the growing popularity of television and celebrity chefs have created a dramatic increase in the number of consumers who are choosing to stay home and cook. Even more surprising is the number of shoppers who pick out their dinner ideas based on a favorite ingredient, rather than creating a meal around existing ingredients. Whether you want to bring new customers to your product or are just looking for an exciting new marketing strategy, consider using recipe guides in your next campaign.

The first step is deciding what to include in your recipe guide. While this is a simple step for staple-type ingredients that can be included as a part of many different recipes, but even ready-to-eat food companies can use recipe guides to expand their product line. For example, you may want to create a recipe guide that includes ideas for dishes that compliment your product. Your recipe guide should include images that help build brand awareness and show off your product- for example, a holiday recipe guide should help sell the experience of enjoying your product in the context of family gatherings rather than just marketing the product itself.

“Some of the best performing advertising campaigns run on Gourmet Ads have included recipe guides as part of the call to action”, Benjamin Christie, Founder, Gourmet Ads.

The next step is getting your recipe guide into the hands of shoppers. Traditional methods include in-store displays, demonstrations, and flyers, but the age of electronic marketing provides more opportunities than ever. One way that Gourmet Ads can help you get the most out of your recipe guide is by offering it as an online give away. Advertising Recipes is easy. Gourmet Ads will design an advertising marketing program driving grocery buyers back to your website where they provide their name and address in order to receive a printed recipe guide. This simple strategy is a great way to build brand awareness and loyalty among customers looking for the perfect recipe for their next family meal. Your company benefits by creating a database of grocery buyer willing to receive information and even coupons for your product as well as providing information that will drive customers to buy your product.

Advertising Recipes for Niche Food Companies is Essential

Remember that recipe guides aren’t just for mainstream food companies. The demand among niche food products is growing quickly as more people are looking for recipes that satisfy their demand for specific dietary needs. If your company offers items that are gluten free, allergen free, or designed for any specific need, a recipe guide is a great way to build awareness and drive customers to your website to find out more. Even non-food companies such as appliance and cookware makers can benefit by developing and advertising recipes guides using your products.

Advertising Recipes Guides is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.

** Updated click to read – > Advertising Trends 2012 **

10 Advertising Trends for 2011 from Gourmet Ads

For the past few years, as the year comes to a close, I’ve tried to predict the Advertising Trends for the year ahead. I’ll be the first to say that I’ve got some predictions wrong, but for the most part I think I’ve been on the money. My advertising trend predictions are simply derived from what we as a company are seeing in-market. If you’re curious to see what I wrote in previous years they can be seen here – Advertising Trends 2010 and Advertising Trends 2009.

What I can say about the digital advertising space is that it changes rapidly and you need to keep up with advertising trends, especially for agency media buyers and brand advertisers. How we operated or worked has changed significantly over the past few years.

As we go into 2011, the majority of commentators (if not all) are predicting growth across the entire digital advertising industry. For us however there are two advertising trends which I believe are real industry game changers; Video Advertising and Real Time Bidding. Both of these will change how consumers interact with ads, as well as brand performance and ultimately overall campaign results.

So here are our 10 Advertising Trends for 2011 from Gourmet Ads…

1. Video Advertising (Pre Roll)
During 2010, video advertising matured into a real product for many publishers, and we believe this trend will continue in 2011. This was for the most part due to video ad servers working to both VAST 2.0 and VPaid standards. We believe that Pre Roll will continue to dominate. It’s expected by the industry common standards for Non-linear / in-player ad units will finalize specifications making it easier for advertisers and media buyers to produce one set of creative for multiple publishers. Right now many publishers have their own standards, making it a headache when developing nonlinear video creative for multiple publishers.

At Gourmet Ads we’ve heavily invested in to both development of our food video advertising offering as well as working with key players on VAST 2.0 and Player integration. During 2010 we started adding a number of food publishers with video content and we believe this trend will continue into 2011. For publishers, the key when it comes to video is having quality content and we expect there to be investment made in this space also in 2011.

2. RTB (Real Time Bidding) & DSP (Demand Side Platform)
If you attended ad:Tech in New York back in November you’ll know the two buzzwords there were RTB and DSP. Over the past twelve months the industry has seen a massive growth in companies offering a real time solution (I’ve heard there is now over 50 in the US market alone) as well as large agencies investing in establishing their own trading desks. The DSPs basically allow agencies to buy an audience using some sort of data segments in real time.

For the most part, this activity seems to be have been restricted to the USA only, however we strongly believe that an advertising trend for 2011 will be a number of DSPs will pop up in the UK, Europe and Australia replicating the growth of the USA.

3. Data, Data, Data.
We’ve already mentioned Real Time Bidding above, but the underlying foundation of RTB rests in systems being able to understanding the characteristics of the audience, and in the case of RTB making a buying decision at that time if they want to purchase the impression. This all occurs using some sort of Audience Data usually acquired from one of the number of data suppliers out there. In addition there are some interesting products such as Quantcast’s “Lookalikes” which allows you to buy precisely the audiences you want, based on targets defined by your own audience data. i.e reach an audience you want using audience characters in line with conversion data for example. We believe that an advertising trend in 2011 will be for companies like Gourmet As to take a look internally at their own data sets and start allowing advertisers to target this data. This is certainly something we’re working on both a technical and a marketing perspective and believe that others are taking similar steps right now.

4. Location Based Marketing
Remember when you Location Based Marketing meant you were sent an SMS if you walked past a store. Hasn’t it changed dramatically with 2010 being the year for location based services. Not only did the likes of FourSquare and Facebook allow you to “Check In” to places, but local coupon based services like Groupon grew at unprecedented levels, so much so they just turned down a $6 Billion acquisition from Google. There is no reason why this mobile focused advertising trend won’t continue in 2011 and beyond where local retailers can take advantage of technology and preciously market to audience in a given geographic region.

In addition to mobile Location Based Marketing, Gourmet Ads is currently seeing unsurpassed levels of enquires about running campaign with some sort of geo targeting focus. This is either national brands running ads in specific locations, or more regional companies using digital to geographically target their consumers either at the state level or right down to the DMA or postcode.

5. Consolidation of Ad Networks
There was a period of 3 weeks in October and November this year where we saw one video ad network buy another every three weeks. Talk about dog eat dog. We haven’t seen this trend really in regular display ad networks for some time, but we think it has to happen. If you haven’t checked out the Luma Partners Display Ad Landscape chart you have to. It illustrates not only how many of the companies in the Display Ad Landscape work with each other, but you’ll notice how crowded the space is. As such there has to be some market consolidation. Not so much for companies that have a niche like Gourmet Ads which only does food, but we believe that there will be consolidation for ad networks which have a general focus and have no niche.

6. Mobile Advertising
An advertising trend which we’ve said it for the last three years is Mobile Advertising, but 2011 will be the year that Mobile Advertising takes off. Not only are smart phones like iPhone and Android handsets selling like hot cakes, you’ve now got additional inventory from devices like iPad which are as mobile as phones with larger screens. Apart from Apple’s own iAd Network, the leaders in this space have been publishers like the New York Times really experimenting with mobile ads.

For Gourmet Ads, the advertising trend of mobile advertising is significant. We have run some initial campaign tests, but in Q1 2011 we’ll be exploring how to give advertisers the ability to reach household grocery buyers in store, thus helping influence the consumer at point of sale in the supermarket.

7. Socially Enabled Ads
Socially Enabled Ads are about engagement, not CTR and we’ve seen this advertising trend pop up in Q3 and Q4 in 2010 and we believe it will become the standard as we roll into 2011. Socially Enabled Ads means that when running the advertisement there is space on the ad with links to the brand or companies social pages like Twitter or Facebook. A lot of print and TV campaigns are running this sort of messaging. A company which produces these ads very effectively is Spongecell. Be prepared to see more creative being socially enabled in 2011.

8. Increased spending by FMCG & CPG Brands.
Again an advertising trend we mentioned last year and the year before, but it’s actually happening in some markets now. Many of the large FMCG / CPG companies are now actively spending online and consistently from month to month. I guess what we saw more of in 2010 was brands run more campaigns throughout the year, opposed to reserving all their budgets for Q4 like has been done in previous years.

In terms of an advertising trend, we’re predicting we’ll see a raft of more small to mid sized companies move to online in 2011 where they can easily compete with large FMCG / CPG companies, possibly more so on a localized / geo targeted basis.

9. Non Standard IAB Units
During 2010 we’ve seen a massive growth in requests from media buyers for Non standard IAB Units and we believe that this advertising trend will continue into 2011. Sometimes referred to as “Beyond the Banner”, Non standard IAB Units provide advertisers a creative executive that grabs the viewers’ attention. The key executions we’ve worked with are ;

• Background Advertising
• Content Page (like this Recipe Pages for KitchenAid)
• 800×600 Anchored Floating Creative which “float above the content then disappear)
• Totally customized units – an example we’ve done a few times is a 990 x 300 which has been placed underneath the top navigation on our publishers sites.

The challenge with going down the path for media buyers of using Non standard IAB Units is that they do required additional resources on the creative side to execute. We’ve had plenty of agencies and advertisers want this type of activity but fall short either not having the budget or resources to create custom sized ads or content. Additionally we’ll see these booked for longer periods such as 12 months or at least by the quarter, which takes me into Sponsorships…..

10. Sponsorships
Sometimes including Non Standard IAB Units and other times just regular display ad units, sponsorships have been an advertising trend that we’ve seen occur during 2009, 2010 and will continue into 2011. For those that are not familiar, this is where an advertiser buys a fixed placement for a period of time of a particular ad unit. An example could be a 12 month buy out of say the Recipe Homepage. Typically we have seen sponsorship type placements booked on a CPM basis, we believe the trend will move into a fixed type pricing for sponsorships.

We’d love to get your feedback on some of our 2011 Advertising Trends. So feel free to leave a comment.

Advertising Trends 2011 is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.

Here’s some Food Advertising Ideas for your next Campaign

Our blog about Wine Advertising Ideas which was aimed at smaller wineries, wine companies and pretty much anyone who was tasked with marketing and advertising wines has been one of the most popular blogs of all time. We update it from time to time. So now its time for a blog on Food Advertising Ideas, and like the wine blog this one is aimed at small to medium sized food businesses as well as multinationals which are yet to start advertising online.

So if you do food marketing or food advertising this blog will give you some food advertising ideas which lay as the foundation for any advertising campaigns you plan to run.

Our Food Advertising Ideas ;

1. Brand Advertising
   Mostly undertaken by large food companies is brand advertising. This is where the message is simply the brand and is created to engage the user and provide brand awareness so your product stands out on the shelf. Some of the key messages when advertising food brands is why your product is different, the places you can buy it and price if appropriate.

1. Product Based Campaigns
   Say you’ve got a number of products that you retail. Well choose 12 products that you want to start advertising and every month focus on running a campaign for a different product. Keep in mind seasonality of the products, ie there is no point promoting winter soups in the middle of summer. The key here is to develop new creative every month. Additionally and from a media buying perspective clients that book 12 months of media with Gourmet Ads can receive significantly discounted CPM rates opposed to spot buys.

1. Acquisition Campaign
   Taking a very direct marketing approach, running an acquisition campaign every other month with large reach to your target audience is one way that you can acquire new emails. Considered by some as a CRM campaign, once you’ve acquired a reasonable amount of email contacts, you can start emailing them directly.

1. Campaigns Advertising Competitions
   This could be the under lying strategy for your Acquisition Campaign, but competitions are an excellent method of building brand awareness and building your email database. The key here is to offer a “great prize” opposed to just a prize. Consumers want to win something great. We’ve recently run a competition to have a celebrity chef cook in your house for the night which has attracted literally thousands of entires and isn’t really related to the brand being advertised.

1. Recipe Widgets
   No matter what your food product, consumers love learning how to use your product in everyday cooking. So a widget featuring your recipes which use your food products can be very engaging to an audience which is looking for recipes. These simple rich media units are typically 300 x 250 island ad units and we traffic them to sites within our network. We can track engagements, displays, click throughs etc just like a regular ad unit. – Learn more about Recipe Widgets here.

1. Retailer Advertising Campaign
   Telling your consumers where they can buy your products is very important, it’s the reason why you’ve probably got a long list of them on your website called “Where to Buy”. Have you ever thought about a co-promotion with the retailer to drive sales in-store? Your advertising could drive people to a landing page which told people of the offer or allowed them to print a coupon to get the discount. What ever the offer is, both you and the retailer benefit which is why you could share the advertising costs with them allowing you reach a great number of consumers.

1. TVC Campaigns Online
   Taking your television commercial and simply repurposing for online can be a great way to further expand the reach of your campaign. Either formatted into a 300 x 250 ad unit, standalone video player or interstitial page, your video can make an impact.

1. Online Food Companies (Ecommerce)
   Although many food companies sell their products through supermarkets, grocery stores of gourmet retailers, there are a great deal of food companies that only sell online. So for online food companies when it’s all about generating a sale online, we can provide a raft of solutions to generate sales. From wide reaching media to highly targeted Behavioural targeting campaigns, we can target your advertising to you most likely customer.

So no matter what the focus for your food advertising campaign, Gourmet Ads can deliver.

Food Advertising Ideas is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.

Influence Grocery Buyers with Branded Recipes

For brands looking to influence grocery buyers online, there are two real options.

• The first is the spray and pray method, derived from a military term for not aiming, but firing in the general direction. The best illustration of this is where brands book say the home page of a portal for a day. Apart from reaching just the household grocery buyer, you reach the father, son, daughter, grand father, social gamer, automotive enthusiast and technophile. Not really the best form of efficiently if you’re trying to reach the grocery buyer
• The second method is to work with a media company, such as Gourmet Ads who not only understands how to reach the grocery buyer online, but specializes in reaching the grocery buyer online. When you start targeting a niche like the grocery buyer, sure the reach isn’t anywhere near as huge, but the upside is the spend is less and the media is much more efficient than reaching everyone on the internet.

Why do we know how to reach the grocery buyer online? Easy. Over the past few years we’ve developed a vast community of recipes sites and food blogs featuring recipes, and we’ve worked hard to ensure that our ads run close or nearby recipes online. We even work with recipe search engines. This is where meal decisions are made and grocery shopping lists are developed.

We reach Grocery Buyers via a vast community of Recipes Site and Food Blogs

Because reaching grocery buyers online is all we do their isn’t any deviation from the focus. Sure we have a strong female demographic, but we don’t have lifestyle sites, beauty sites or gossip, we only do food and more specially recipes online. This is great if you’re marketing food products with the aim of increasing sales.

Recipes Recipes Recipes is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.