Facebook's Mike Murphy on friending brands

By Brian Morrissey

Facebook vp, global media sales Mike Murphy has a simple pitch to brands: Ads on Facebook have a "significantly higher" engagement rate than ads elsewhere on the Internet. The Facebook advertising chief chatted about what the booming social network has learned when it comes to advertising on the site. The No. 1 thing: Its decision to limit ads and have them mimic the user experience has worked out well, considering the site recently said it passed 300 million users and is cash flow positive. "We want to make Facebook as fun for brands as it is for users," he said.
  Facebook is now focusing on building tools for marketers to measure their performance beyond clicks. It struck a deal with Nielsen (the parent company of Adweek) to address advertisers' branding goals and who is engaging with them. It is testing a new ad product called Learned Targeting, which displays engagement ads to people Facebook has determined are more likely to be fans of the brand based on its existing fan base on Facebook. It is also encouraging brands to set up pages on the site. (They're free.)

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Published on September 24, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (5)
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Rosemarie Ryan outlines JWT's big Bing theory

By Andrew McMains

At an Advertising Week event on Wednesday morning, JWT North America president Rosemarie Ryan reflected on the challenges inherent in taking on the "700-pound bunny rabbit" known as Google.
  Speaking at an Advertising Women of New York function, Ryan said that Google, with 96 percent brand awareness and a dominant share of the Internet-search market, could be perceived as a gorilla whose sheer size might be an Achilles' heel. But when JWT researched this potential opening for Microsoft's Bing, the agency found no such negative sentiments. Rather, consumers love the Google brand, describing it as honest, reliable, friendly and trustworthy, Ryan said.
  So, instead of taking a David vs. Goliath approach in its successful pitch to handle creative duties for Bing, JWT focused on the information overload associated with online searches. Research showed that despite pages and pages of "hits," the majority of Web searches aren't successful, and a significant percentage require a second stab at search terms, Ryan said. Those insights became the foundation for Bing's eventual positioning as a "decision engine" that helps consumers find what they're looking for sooner.

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Published on September 23, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (5)
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Social-media lessons from Ashton Kutcher

By Mike Shields

Facebook has its first hit series—courtesy of Ashton Kutcher.
  The short video series KatalystHQ has been viewed by 9 million unique users since its February debut. The first original series produced specifically for Facebook is the result of a partnership between Kutcher's production firm Katalyst Media and the app developer Slide. Speaking during a keynote interview on Tuesday at the MIXX conference in New York, part of Advertising Week, Kutcher compared the show's early success to that of a cable hit. "That's like Jon & Kate Plus 8, plus one."
  Besides garnering a sizable audience, KatalystHQ's impact can be gauged from the volume of sharing it brought to Facebook. According to Kutcher, the average person forwarded clips of the mockumentary-style show to 62 friends. "That's just a voluminous distribution strategy," he said.
  KatalystHQ is supposed to take place in the offices of Katalyst Media—not unlike NBC's The Office. The show, now in its second season, has featured product integration from brands such as Cheetos and Hot Pockets. Kutcher said that when brands are able to be showcased within Web video content in funny, nonintrusive ways, "people are happy to consume it."

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Published on September 23, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (4)
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