L&S Unscripted

I rely on technology everyday for work. If you look at the arsenal of hardware on my desk at home, you will see four computers (both Mac and PC), a smartphone, an IP phone, an iPod, a webcam, a wireless router as well as my most recent toy, the iPad. All of these gadgets keep me connected and let me do my job, and I’ve totally convinced my husband that they are a necessity. (ahem)

About three years ago, I realized that my children will grow up in a very different world then I did, both for work and play. This is the age of information, where amazing amounts of knowledge are at your fingertips. Today, words like “apps”, “tweeting” and “friending” are commonly used and part of my daily vocabulary. And when I need to learn something new, I go directly to the internet.

As I type this, I have a three-year-old clone sitting next to me learning her shapes, tracing, matching and coloring, not on paper mind you, but rather on my iPad. She is absorbing and learning at an alarming rate and our iPad, in my opinion, is helping. This is the same girl that mastered the Nintendo DS stylus at age 2 and would beg her older cousin to play with the iPod Touch on a long family trip to Canada, so a touch screen is nothing new. It is only natural that she would steal the iPad from me.

When we bought the iPad, it was supposed to be MY toy. I’m in that “mom demographic” Apple was gunning for! I had visions of using the iPad to surf, check Facebook, read books and watch movies. But that’s not quite what it’s being used for now that my daughter has got a hold of it.

Since I didn’t want her surfing around my Tweetdeck app and replying to my followers with nonsense, I found myself searching for “age appropriate” apps that SHE could enjoy. First, I searched for “Toy Story”, since she is in love with that movie, and low and behold, I find a free Read-A-Long book to download. Boom, installed! She loves to draw, so I find a Doodle app. Boom, installed again! After that, it all went downhill. Now before bed, I find myself searching apps for HER to play with and less for ME! (I also suggest keeping a password prompt on your iTunes account so your child isn’t “auto” buying apps! I might elaborate on that story in another blog post…)

8 Apps My Three-Year-Old Loves:

1. Tangrams

I myself liked tangrams as a kid with the “real” blocks, making shapes and simple pictures. It took her one trip in the car to master this app. Dragging and dropping blocks onto shadowed outlines allowed her to make fun designs with the apps’ easy user interface.

2. Fruit Memory

This recent purchase is a well-designed matching game. If I had a dollar for every time she asks “Mom? Where’s the lemon?? I can’t find it!!” I’d have… well maybe only 40 bucks, but still. This is the game that we can play together since it supports up to four players.

3. Doodle Buddy 

Since I myself am an artist, I found it necessary to have an app where she could draw. I use Sketchbook Pro but I needed something a little less robust for her. And although my daughter likes the drawing part with all the colors, she like the stamps that make funny sounds better. (Especially the smiley face that makes the “sick” sound. Thanks for that.)

4. Disney Movies

Disney Movies lets you preview movie trailers and then takes you to the iTunes store to purchase. (clever and sneaky) But the reason that I put this in my post was because Disney Movies was the app where my daughter REALLY learned the “pinch and grow” sizing technique and the “moving and sliding” of information. It blew me away how quickly she picked this up.

5. Alphabet Tracing

Again, learning disguised as fun. She doesn’t get very far into the letters but understands that she needs to follow the dotted lines. This is my attempt at being a “responsible” mom and telling myself: She WILL learn something playing with this thing!

6. Virtuoso – Piano 

I actually first saw this app being used by the 3-month-old son of Miles, an interactive programmer at L&S. My daughter plays it much like she plays a regular piano, sliding her hands across the keys or poking them one by one. She isn’t a Mozart yet but enjoys the sounds and I find myself looking for more instrument type apps.

7. Toy Story Read-Along

This was one of the first apps I downloaded and installed because of her love of the movie (and my love as well). Basically it’s an e-book with puzzles and coloring pages in between story pages that can be read out loud as the words are highlighted. I’m hoping this one will help her with words and reading. It even has quick video clips that play as you are reading.

8. Default iPod App 

(preinstalled with the iPad/iTunes)

Listening to music is a given and she has her own playlist with “girl” songs. Usually I will find her jamming out to some hippity hop song in the living room with the iPad cranked up to 11. Yesterday I walked in to check on her as she is getting her groove on and she turns around, points at the door and says, “Mom, you go back to work, I’m dancing.” Le sigh.

Don’t worry, she still likes drawing with REAL crayons, running around outside, NOT cleaning her room and playing with toys. But on a side note, I’ve had to limit her time on the iPad since she is so addicted and we’ve even had to take it away during timeout.

Rather than “No TV young lady!”, it’s “No iPad young lady!!!”

If you have any favorite iPad/iPod apps you’d like to share, post them in our comments. 

April Johnston is the Senior Interactive Art Director at Lawrence and Schiller and an awesome mom according to her daughter. And yes, there is an insurance plan on her iPad.

If you want your retail e-mail offer to be most effective, deliver it to the Moms in your database on Friday morning.  A recent white paper by AOL Advertising states that 84% of Moms shop online while at work, and 60% of women respond to e-mail offers while at work.  E-mail is the most influential driver toward purchase, with 3 out of 4 women surveyed saying they subscribe to at least one e-mail alert.

Most of the online shopping occurs Friday between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., but all week long, moms are shopping during their lunch break.

• 54% shop during lunch
• 41% while multitasking
• 46% during breaks and downtime
• 25% right after seeing a “deal”

After reading this study, I began to examine my e-mail alerts; curious about when they hit my inbox and if I am more likely to respond on certain days or at certain times.  There are a handful that I subscribe to for sales alerts and coupons; Target, Kohl’s, JC Penney’s, Budget Travel Deals and Papa Murphy’s Pizza offers to name a few.  Here is what I discovered about mom-self:

Target: These are consistently delivered on Sunday and Wednesday, with all arriving between 3 and 4 a.m. each time.  In looking back, the only offer I clicked on had a subject line with a 15% discount offer.  I am a bargain shopper, what can I say!

Kohl’s : They send e-mails nearly every day of the week, including Saturday and Sunday, and always in the early morning hours (between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m.).  I have only opened about 10% of them, most often on Sunday.

JC Penny’s: The sales e-mails are most likely to arrive on Sunday morning and rewards e-mails on Thursday, both in the early morning between midnight and 1 a.m.  I open about 2 of every 10 e-mails sent, and most of those are the Thursday Rewards notifications (they typically contain coupons). 

Budget Travel Deals: Wednesday morning is the deployment for most Deal Alerts from Budget Travel.  I love to travel, and like to dream big about my next vacation.  Wednesday, during the mid-week hum-drums, is just as good of a time as any.  In the past 4 months, I have read about 30% of their Alerts.  Although I have not made any purchases based on the offers, it has given me a lot of ideas for future vacations and the itch to pack my bags and catch a flight to anywhere.

Papa Murphy’s: They know me well.  I receive most of their e-mails on Friday between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., and I open more than half.  Sitting at my desk wondering what to make for dinner; then “ding”, a coupon for take home pizza arrives.  It works for me.

You can read more about the AOL study at http://advertising.aol.com/sites/default/files/WomenRetailStudy.pdf.

Travel spending research has been a bit of a mixed bag as of late. According to the most recent Traveler Sentiment Index numbers published by Ypartnership, consumer perception of the amount of money available for spending on travel is up (considerably –a 17% increase in April 2010 from April 2009). But having more money to travel doesn’t necessarily mean consumers are ready to take a leap and book their trips. A recent Gallup Poll shows one in four Americans plan to travel less in 2010.

Source: Google Trends

One common factor in both the Gallup Poll and the Traveler Sentiment Index is that consumer perception of the state of the economy and the stability of their own finances strongly correlates with making travel plans. The difference in the two studies seems to be a discrepancy in survey answers relating to consumer confidence—the Traveler Sentiment Index shows consumer confidence increasing, Gallup shows the opposite.

So which is correct? Let’s use search trending as a tie-breaker. After all, an internet search represents what a person actually does, whiletraditional research studies rely on the truthfulness of survey answers for accuracy. Google Trends shows that searches for the keyword phrase “vacation packages” have been have been consistently higher year-to-date over 2009.

Source: Google Trends

Interestingly enough, a Google Trends analysis of keywords that might indicate non-confidence in personal finances also look to be declining (albeit, not as sharply). This would represent an increase in consumer confidence.

So while the research is mixed, one thing seems clear. The sooner the economy recovers, the faster U.S. travel will rebound.

Health care reform is a hot topic in almost every major news outlet, and probably at your dinner table too. As the debate about mandated coverage continues in Washington, there are also a number of consumer-driven trends that are impacting the face of health care today. Research conducted by companies such as the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions showcases the increasing desire of individuals to have greater control over decisions affecting their health care. Consumers want to control their health information and prefer providers who use Internet-based tools to augment care. 

Although the research highlights these preferences, are consumers really making provider choices based on them?  Not around here. A sample survey of our L&S Research Panel indicates that consumer choice is more likely to be driven by their company’s choice in this region.

Consumerism in health care is not solely based on consumer wants. Health care choices are sometimes limited based on health plans, providers and costs, and are likely made with the help of outside advisors or agents. From our snapshot, it appears that a majority of consumers rely on their employers to select quality medical care with effective provider lists.

Access to information is undoubtedly one of the most exciting trends evolving in health care today. But as increased transparency allows consumers to get and act on their personal health information, health care and non-health care businesses must decide how to take advantage of this trend as well. Many will cite the plethora of social media sites that focus on consumer empowerment as the next big thing in healthcare consumerism. However, the bigger play may be for strategies that, in an increasingly competitive environment, create value by helping health care purchasers and vendors make better, data-driven decisions that play to their employees’ desires, as well as the bottom line.

May 31^st was the official “Quit Facebook Day” according to quitfacebookday.com. Facebook has been under some intense scrutiny regarding its privacy policies in the last month. According to the site, there were about 35,000 people committed to quitting, but with more than 400 million active users, Facebook had nothing to worry about with the Memorial Day attempt.

Quitfacebookday.com also says “Having peer support helps, but the way to quit Facebook is not to start a group on Facebook about leaving Facebook.” Good point. With that said, I of course went on to check Facebook and there actually is a Facebook page named “May 31: Quit Facebook Day” with over 7,000 members who “like” it. After reading the posts on it is apparent people are following this page just to monitor the movement and have no interest in cancelling their Facebook account.

The media (and several lawmakers) would like Facebook to be more transparent in their privacy practices. We surveyed participants in the L&S Research Panel to see what those locally thought of this hot topic. We found that generally people are not aware of what Facebook is actually doing with their information, and they are not concerned about it right now. It appears the lack of concern can be attributed to users feeling they are in control of what is being shared with others. Not one participant was concerned with their information being shared with marketers, which is the main criticism privacy advocates have had with Facebook. So, users are either unaware of what Facebook has been accused of sharing or are indifferent.

We found that: 

• 70% of those surveyed do not feel any differently about Facebook despite increased scrutiny of its privacy policies.
• Only one person on the L&S Research Panel has actually committed to quitting Facebook.

Participants were also asked to describe their Facebook usage. Here are some of my favorite comments…

“I use it to stay in touch with friends. I like that I have myself completely hidden from those that I don’t want to share information with. I don’t like that I have to keep checking my privacy settings.”

“I am a little obsessed with it (Facebook), admitting it is good, right? ”

“(Facebook helps me) Stay connected to friends and family. I control who sees what information.”

“(Facebook is an) easy way to communicate and receive communication in mass. I do not like a couple of technical details and I think they need to be very careful with change. (Changing Fan to Like was not a good move IMO.)”

“It’s the surest way to reach many people because they check their Facebook account more often than email.  I don’t like all the extra games and apps”

“I use Facebook to connect with friends and family that I don’t necessarily get to see that often.  I love the fact that we can connect, but don’t like all of the gaming updates and I am concerned that my information (about me and my family) could get out there for anyone to see.  If that is the case, I would delete my page.”

Anti-Facebook groups will continue to surface, but for now average users seem content with the privacy policies and continue to enjoy the company’s services.

Starbucks (SBUX) is everywhere, right?  You can barely get around without running into one – at strip malls, hotels and even in grocery stores. And if you’re like me, the day just doesn’t start right without the treat in a green and white cup. .  But despite a sometimes-negative reputation for over-exposure, in today’s adage.com article, Starbucks loyalists “drink only 3 of every 10 cups at the chain,” which in turn points to a even more surprising fact, Starbucks holds only about 5% market share.

These stats, while interesting, point to the larger strategy of marketing in today’s world. Even though the creative marketing “brand” is alive and well, Starbucks is also honing in on sales metrics, using research and data to drive towards the future.  In addition to ensuring a consistent product and a high-quality customer “experience,” the next SBUX move to gain market share and increase sales is based upon the numbers.

As a marketer, do you know how often your most loyal patrons utilize your products or services over competitors? Where is the forecasted growth in your market? How does the latest consumer spending uptick in luxury goods impact your strategy?  Do you have a strategy to increase those numbers?

Expanding product lines and reformatting grocery offerings are a large part of Starbucks’ plan to obtain its goals. By understanding that four of every five cups of coffee are consumed at home, the company knows that they need to go beyond its retail stores to gain a larger customer base.  Taking a lesson from one of today’s best brands, leveraging quality analytics, measurements and return-on-investment analysis is fundamental in guiding strategies and tactics for effective marketing to grow and expand customer base.

Sidenote: If you’re a true Starbucks customer (or loyalist), check out this site to find out your true Starbucks personality.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (1.6KB)

In the heat of the moment how do people really feel about your brand? What do they feel when using your products or services? What do they say to others about you?

Answering those questions is becoming easier than ever thanks to social media monitoring. But it takes time plus the right tools and techniques to discover relevant conversations and respond appropriately.

During this episode of The Extra Minute Courtney Lotzer, Account Planning & Research Specialist at Lawrence & Schiller, shares her experience with social media monitoring and offers some advice.  If you’d like to take a deeper dive into this topic, check out session 3 of the L&S webinar series – Simple Steps to Measure Your Digital Dialogue.

Lawrence & Schiller received two Sioux Falls Business Journal Readers Choice Awards this week:

Best advertising agency
Best web site developer

http://www.argusleader.com/article/20081119/BJNEWS07/81118064

Thanks to our Clients for allowing us to work on the many great projects that attributed to these awards!

Search engine behavior research (a.k.a. keyword research) has been used to feed pay-per-click and search engine optimization efforts for some time; however the reach of this intelligence is virtually untapped. Recently, one of our clients wanted to enter a new geographic market in a very short time frame. We always approach new markets with sufficient research to ensure successful messaging and placements; therefore found ourselves trying to schedule roundtable focus groups in this market which wasn’t feasible due to the short time frame and limited budget. So, we decided to study online behavior and apply the findings to the entire campaign effort. First, we performed extensive keyword research to learn about search engine behavior relating to their offering. Second, we launched a 2-week PPC campaign in the market to derive user behavior and interest judged by response to varying ad copy.

Searchers are telling us how, when, where and why to communicate with them. If a web surfer is looking for a product/service, the first thing they’ll do is approach Google with a specific search term. These search terms actually form descriptions (that come directly from the consumer in an unsolicited environment) that are invaluable as we begin to develop a marketing campaign. We also learn about day parts – when are users typing these terms? During the day at work or at night? The answer to this question will lead to very different media buys. The way that users in different geographic locations search for a product/service differentiates perceptions among different audiences.

Great messaging power lies in the studying search behavior. Prepare yourself for a new data addiction because once you start analyzing search behavior, it’s hard to stop. Learn from the very best – your future clients.

Ambitiously analyzing,

Robin

Sales calls and data mining? What do these two topics have in common? Interesting that you should ask. Any good sales person digs for information about their prospect before making a call, right? You know how it works: you make the call to find the right contact, and you ask probing questions to find out how the prospect business relates to your product or service.

What if you had the inside scoop? What if someone already “qualified” that lead for you and you knew you had the perfect product for their business need? It would make your job so much easier, well wouldn’t it?

Qualifying your prospect is the same as using database mining or other Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools to better understand your customer. Spending time up front to know your customer, or at least capturing some data related to the customer or their behaviors, will help your business better understand how to align your products and services to their needs.

Let’s look at a real-world example. Say you were trying to sell a pair of shoes to our agency president, Scott Lawrence. On the surface of his agency page, he seems passionate and aggressive in his approach to life, right? So if you were selling him shoes, you might talk about the shoe’s high-quality Italian leather, the functionality of the sole, or the firmness of its last … and you might make the sale.

But what if you knew that he loves Michael Douglas, loves the movie Wall Street and listens to his iPod each day. A little data mining would help you in your sales presentation. With this customer data, you would point out the fact that the shoes in question were similar to the ones worn by Michael Douglas in the movie Wall Street and that your customer, Scott, could walk around the office quite a few times each day with his iPod, in any weather, without worry. You would definitely sell the shoes.

Customer data drives the sale. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is the collection and management of customer data, measurement of customer sales, and using tools to understand consumer buying patterns. With this information, you can better target your marketing efforts and see greater return on those investments in the end. In the next few weeks, we will be discussing various aspects of knowing your customer through a CRM strategy: data collection, database management, profiling, segmentation, and niche marketing. By implementing a customer-centric strategy to your marketing approach, you can target and deliver your message to your best clients and win in the end.

Passionately posting,

Billie Jo