Kate Spade, Anna Kendrick and Cinematique Give "Window Shopping" a New Meaning

Holiday shopping is upon us as retailers push new promotions and advertising at consumers across platforms.

But, following up on a successful Google Display Network campaign during Holiday 2013, Kate Spade pushes digital video even further with a new shoppable video via Cinematique, giving "Window Shopping" a new meaning in the digital video sphere.

And, if you haven't seen the new video starring Anna Kendrick, then you should watch it now:

The Cinematique technology on this video is outlined below:

• Users can watch the video and click products they like
• The video aggregates your clicks/products via a secondary page within the player (found when clicking the Cinematique logo "Q" on the player)
• Users can then be taken to the product page to purchase the images selected
• Via the screen after clicking "Q" users can also log-in to the Cinematique experience via email or Facebook for future updates and information on your products
• Cinematique not only allows shoppable information, but also can provide more details about an actor, location or any item within a video
• Touchable video is enabled on mobile via the App Store

Beyond Kate Spade, retail has led the way in interactive video campaigns. For more, see these campaigns below:

Juicy Couture Shoppable Annotations
Gap Back-To-School with Cinematique

Top Holiday Retail Stats

Image from AdWeek

Mobile news doesn't end after reports project that mobile will push digital ad dollars past TV by 2019. Mobile continues to lead holiday trends as well.

As we approach the 2014 holiday season, mobile will continue to see an increase in usage and commerce. Previously, mobile (smartphones specifically) were thought of as the utility-based device, but now, commerce can occur just as you're watching TV or in between doing the dishes.

Smartphones and tablets will account for $1.6 billion in sales on Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined, according to Adobe. Some additional stats to note are below, with the full article found here.

• Holiday shopping will lift 10% compared to last year
• 25% of US consumers surveyed will consult Social Media before purchasing gifts
• This increases to 40% of consumers aged 18-34
• There will be 5 times as many out-of-stock messages on Cyber Monday compared to usual
• Cyber Monday sales expecting to be $2.6billion, increase of 15% YoY

Foursquare Announces Advertising for All

Today, Foursquare announced that all businesses can now advertise on the platform using the self-service page.

Businesses, large and small, will share their needs and projected budget for these efforts on Foursquare’s self-service page – Foursquare will do the rest.

What are the benefits of partnering with Foursquare?

• Foursquare can become a resourceful tool for reaching consumers who actively ‘check-in’ using the platform via paid advertising.
• Metrics will be provided by Foursquare including number of views, actions, action rate and cost per action.
• Geographically targeted advertisements, which help increase local traffic to businesses who run ads that target people near their locations.
• Advertisers can now employ Foursquare ‘tips’ left by users about the companies as user-generated content in future creative.

Advertising on platforms like Foursquare helps brands connect with consumers within a select community of users – becoming a part of the user experience on such platforms increases brand awareness and reach in the digital sphere.

For more information see:

Mashable article: here

AdWeek article: here

Foursquare announcement: here

Social Users are Mobile First: We Should Be, Too

Consumers and customers alike no longer see Twitter and Facebook as desktop websites.  They consider these social networks mobile apps.  Because of this user behavior and mind-set, we see Twitter and Facebook leveraging the mobile first strategy.  For reference:

• Over 70% of all Facebook & Twitter activity occurred on mobile
• More than 219M users were mobile only on Facebook
• It is predicted that $4billion will be spent on Facebook advertising with 50% of the spend to occur in streams
•  This means, brands are not only competing with our fans’ friends, but with many other advertisers as well

The content developed and amplified becomes even more important: 

• It must break through the clutter
• Be relatable
• Leverage a “mobile first” philosophy
• Should be succinct, engaging and visual – on both Twitter and Facebook.

Although this isn't "new news" the data is still staggering and changing as we move into Fall 2013.

For more information see the Social Media Today article below:
http://socialmediatoday.com/markozm/1718946/changing-way-you-think-reaching-consumers-social-streams

Facebook for Mobile Marketing

As mobile continues to be a primary source of content for customers we as marketers MUST begin thinking about a mobile first strategy - especially those that haven't adopted this mindset. Specifically when establishing Facebook content. 

To better understand why Mobile First should be adopted, read through the  eBook How to Use Facebook for Mobile Marketing. Hubspot explains the importance of the mobile platform and focuses on the use of Facebook for mobile marketing.  Some key takeaways include:

•          Facebook Mobile use is outgrowing desktop use by 2:1.
•          Of the companies on Facebook, 41% of them have gained new customers through Facebook.
•          Facebook is shifting its advertising features from desktop to mobile.
•          Sponsored Stories CTR is 7x greater compared to a post that is not liked by a friend.

In order to continue optimizing content for mobile, we can consider:

•          Maintaining direct and concise status updates versus paragraphs and long posts beyond 20 words.
•          Continue incorporating short links/bit.lys.
•          Incorporating easy-to-understand and simple visuals that are compelling.

For more info and to download to book visit: http://cdn1.hubspot.com/hub/53/How_to_Use_Facebook_for_Mobile_Marketing-2.pdf

Digital Video Ads Help Hit Marketers' Goals

Nearly 75% of marketers plan to increase their budgets on branded video content or video ads in the next year.  This digital video trend is expected to be a major component in driving engagement with consumers.

According to the study:

• More consumers reported having a positive attitude toward ads in original streaming content (25%) than in TV programming (22%)
• 58% of marketers thought digital video ads performed better than TV ads in achieving engagement goals
• 47% of marketers thought digital video ads were better at driving awareness than TV ads
• 87% of marketers said targeting was an important factor when planning a branded digital video campaign

There are opportunities for brands to further leverage video ads by:

• Leveraging existing TV spots as pre-roll and video banners
• Create new advertising especially for digital video (perhaps shorter than the 15s spots), to distribute during related programing on popular streaming sites and major networks sites
• Monitor the user of Instagram Video and Vine in this space

For full results of the study, please see the article link:

For Driving Engagement, Digital Video Ads Beat TV by a Wide Margin