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#1. SherpaBlog: Search Marketing & At-Work Coupon Campaigns -- Redemption Rate Data & Five Useful Hotlinks

Welcome to the very height of coupon season. Roughly 20% more coupons are
redeemed this time of year than any other. But, according to a fascinating data
report from CMS (see hotlink below), your redemption rate can range from a low
0.22% to 20% or higher depending mainly on the big three factors:
a. distribution method -- in-store instant redemption pulls the best
b. coupon value -- higher usually does better
c. expiration date -- longer is preferred for print coupons
Coupons are not just for CPGs (consumer packaged goods) anymore. Two new
ideas are:

o Search marketing and coupons

According to MarketingSherpa's Search Marketing Benchmark Guide, more than 60% of US consumers online use search
engines to research purchases at all price-points (not just high-ticket) .... which 68% of them fully intend to make offline. If
you want to affect offline purchases, you have to be very visible in search results.

Offline conversions are a massive headache for search marketers. If you can't measure your conversion rate from search
ad to in-store purchase, it's awfully hard to fight for the budget you really need. Adding downloadable coupons to your
high-traffic search landing pages can really help.

According to CMS data as of June 2006, Internet coupon redemption rates have been rising from 0.54% in 2005 to 1.31%
in 2006. That's overall; I bet your redemptions could be better for your best search campaigns. Plus, the lessons you learn
about which search terms convert better than others will be invaluable.

o At-work coupon campaigns

Again, according to CMS data, typical supermarket shelf pad coupons got a 6.05% average 2006 redemption rates --
however shelf pads at military base markets got 20.23% 2006 redemption rates. That's almost double.

The difference is the joy of targeting.

Inspired by this, I wondered if there's a way to target civilians at work as easily as you can place an FSI in the Sunday
paper.

Turns out, now it's possible. In fact Trident launched a new chewing gum earlier this year by inserting samples plus a
coupon to several million office workers' hands via inner-office mail distribution. Reportedly the response rate was five to
10 times what a typical newspaper FSI would have been, for roughly the same CPM.

You can select inner-office mail distribution by ZIP code, distance from retail location, and/or for some SIC codes. That
kind of targeting capability makes my head swim with ideas ... now, if I could only target coupon campaigns by
department!

Oh well, a girl can dream.

If you've conducted coupon campaigns linked to search or via at-work distribution, please do let me know how they went
for you. You can post comments to this blog at:
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=29788

If you, like me, like to review the data on campaign tactics, here are five of the most useful links I could find for you:

A. CMS Advantage Update - white paper featuring redemption data for more than 40 types of coupon distribution
methods, including Internet and Sunday paper comics:
http://www.retailwire.com/Downloads/AU_3-06.pdf

B. CouponInfoNow - educational Web site for marketers sponsored by CMS (registration required)
http://www.couponinfonow.com

C. RetailWire -- Extremely active, independent, online discussion forum for retailers and CPGs on topics including
couponing (registration required)
http://www.retailwire.com

D. Past MarketingSherpa special report on eCouponing, including redemption rates and best practices tips:
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=23528
(Open access until Dec. 7)

E. Workplace Media - vendor offering coupon distribution at work

http://www.workplaceprint.com

Anne Holland, President

Feedback(at)marketingSherpa(dot)com
MarketingSherpa, Inc

P.S. As always, our Case Studies and articles are open access for about 10 days. Then they go into SherpaLibrary where
you can research for a small fee. The links always remain the same.

Mags, DVDs Offering Text-to-Buy Ads

Several consumer magazines, including Details, CosmoGirl, Glamour and Brides, are including ads with short codes
readers can use for text-to-buy transactions.

The text-to-buy ads use a new technology from ShopText and eBay unit PayPal, allowing consumers the option of
sampling and purchasing some products via their cell phones, writes Brandweek (via MediaBuyerPlanner). Text-to-buy
technology is in its early stages; but, according to Mark Kaplan, founder/CMO of ShopText, it will explode in 2007.
However, Dan Schatt, senior analyst with Boston-based research firm Celent, points out that some of the consumers
targeted by the campaign may have trouble on the payment front. Teens, for example, are likely to not own a credit card,
though they may have a prepaid card.
Kristine Welker, VP/publisher of CosmoGirl points to the Elizabeth Arden 2005 campaign for the Britney Spears perfume,
Curious, which included mobile text messages from Spears. That was the inspiration for Arden's Hilary Duff campaign,
she says, adding that the Spears campaign was great, "but it stopped short of the ability to buy on the phone."
Publishers are not the only ones implementing text-to-buy campaigns. National CineMedia used ShopText on a promo for
DVDs of Al Gore's documentary An Inconvenient Truth, and club-owner The Knitting Factory intends to offer text-to-buy
concert tickets for sale in 2007.
Other companies offering the ability to make purchases through mobile phones include PayPal Mobile, a new service that
lets users buy CDs and DVDs from MTV and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
TV Execs Embracing YouTube to Distribute Content

Some execs in the music industry might not approve of YouTube as a content distribution channel, but for a
growing number of TV execs, it's becoming a must for their business.

Speaking at the Future of Television Forum at New York University's Stern School of Business, David
Poltrack, CBS's chief research officer, said YouTube hasn't affected his network's programming and CBS
does not want to remove content from the site, Ad Age reports. "When you have something the public really
wants, the economic value in that is to come up with a way to satisfy the rights holders and serve the
consumers," Poltrack is quoted as saying.
The logic seems to completely fly in the face of the music industry's stance, which has long attempted to
monetize any form of music distribution, to the point of pursuing litigation against its own customers.
Poltrack's view is to instead discover the distribution channels that the consumer is most comfortable with,
and monetize their behavior by giving them a better experience.
"If they're [consumers] going to steal it, give it to them anyway," he said. "But also make it easier to access
and present it better than YouTube or BitTorrent or anywhere else."
And while consumers are enjoying having more control than ever over how they consume TV programming,
Albert Cheng, EVP of digital media at Disney-ABC Television Group, doesn't see the traditional livingroom
as a setting for viewing to disappear anytime soon. "You wouldn't want to watch 'Lost' broken into 50
pieces," Cheng said. "There's just more different-use cases that are allowing users to control how they watch
content."

New TiVo Service to Be… Like TiVo for the Web

Related Topics
BitTorrent. GreaseMonkey. RSS. Podcasting. They've all ad technologies & vendors
been described as "like TiVo for the web". It's been a signs of what's to come
useful simile - but not for much longer. Now TiVo itself is media convergence
set to become… like TiVo for the web. new and improved
tools & software
Early next year the company plans to introduce features broadband
that will allow people to use its digital video recorders to entertainment
watch "some video programming from the Internet" on Search
their televisions. Thus far, though, the enabling processes
don't sound particularly elegant.
The New York Times reports that a handful of producers
have agreed to convert some of their programming to
MPEG2 (TiVo's native format) and make it available to
download. TiVo also plans to introduce software that will
allow users to watch a much wider range of videos
available on the web; however, users must first download
the videos onto their computers. And Flash technology
(the secret sauce of YouTube) isn't supported.
All in all, it looks like this TiVo for the web isn't really like
TiVo for the web, either. What users really, really want is a search
super-TiVo that allows them to lounge in front of the tube,
browse through program listings for favorite shows that email this story «
aired last night, last week or last year - and point, click,
watch. They wouldn't know or care whether the show was
retrieved via local hard drive, cable, satellite or internet.
Now that would truly be LTFTW.

Related stories:
WPP'S GroupM, TiVo Sign Ad Agreement
TiVo Partners with Omnicom, Tops Analyst Estimates
New TiVo Service Brings Broadband Video to TV
TiVo, Brightcove Deal Brings Web Videos to TV
TiVo Launches Product-Search Ad Service, Signs up 100
Brands
TiVo, Verizon Deal Allows Show Recording via Mobile
TiVo Brings Podcasts to TV Sets
Vlogs Being Seen, Heard; TiVo Launches Rocketboom
In Search's Future: Mobile Phones, TiVo, iPods
Voila! TiVo Transformed into Online Portal
TiVo, Agencies to Bring Keyword Search to TV Ads
TiVo to Transfer Shows to iPod, PSP
Yahoo, TiVo to Hook Up
TiVo Signs up Five More Interactive Advertisers
TiVo Call-to-Action Ads Get Interactive
iPod Comes to the Friendly Skies
Apple has announced a deal with six major airlines that will allow for iPod connectivity to in-flight entertainment systems
by the middle of 2007.
read more...
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Related topics: alternative marketing, biz buzz, co-op marketing & partnerships, computers & tech, cross media,
entertainment, major brands, major players news, signs of what's to come, travel, user experience

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Portable Banner Withstands 'Rain in Seattle, Winds in Chicago'

Expand International has introduced a new outdoor display that they are calling "the first
fully portable retractable banner for outdoor display use."

The display is double-sided and combines "all the advantages of a retractable banner
stand while keeping in mind the demands for stability and durability in all kinds of
weather conditions," according to the company.

The company claims that the Expand MediaScreen2 outdoor retractable display works on
the beach in San Diego, in the snow of Aspen Colorado, the rain in Seattle or the winds in
Chicago.

The outdoor retractable banner stand comes in 33" wide x 70" high, with a double sided
configuration and a lifetime warranty.