Break launch of TheFix.com in NY Times

A New Site Intended to Serve People in Recovery

By JEREMY W. PETERS

Addiction is a big business — and not just for the treatment centers that rake in billions of dollars every year. It’s also a huge media business that has spawned popular shows like A&E’s “Intervention” and VH1’s “Celebrity Rehab,” and best-selling memoirs by Mary Karr, Augusten Burroughs and a seemingly inexhaustible list of other recovering writers.

Now, Maer Roshan, the founder of Radar magazine, is betting that addiction is also a good and potentially profitable proposition for the Web.

TheFix.com, a Web site that combines feature writing, news, video and Zagat-like reviews of rehab facilities, will go live on Monday. It is the latest endeavor for Mr. Roshan, who became a fixture in New York media as an editor for Talk and New York Magazine, but then fell out of the public eye after Radar folded as a magazine for the third time.

By his own account, it was a rough exit from public life. Radar’s Web site was sold to American Media Inc., leaving Mr. Roshan with no role. He moved to Los Angeles and spent some time in recovery for alcohol abuse, where he came to realize that the vast community of people trying to overcome their addictions had no media outlet that spoke directly to them.

“These are people who are united by their values, united by their mission; there’s a common lingo, common literature,” Mr. Roshan said in a recent interview at a cafe down the block from the sober living facility in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn called The Core Company where TheFix.com has its offices for the moment. “There’s an actual community here.”

By the estimation of Mr. Roshan and his business partners, it is a community that advertisers will discover is large and eager to spend: “The demographics are really good,” he said. Back-of-the-envelope math suggests that a Web site catering to people in recovery could be a huge business. Various surveys put the number of people who enter treatment each year from two million to four million. At costs that easily run tens of thousands of dollars a month, often paid out of pocket, the money spent getting sober is staggering.

Allison Floam, a co-founder of TheFix.com, said, “This is the largest market you’ve never heard of.”

As a niche publishing enterprise, TheFix.com (tagline: “Addiction and recovery, straight up”) is not unlike any media that play to a specific demographic with hopes of drawing in the kind of specific, highly engaged audience that advertisers desire. The Fix sees tremendous potential in the buying power of people in recovery.

“They’re people who have lots of new disposable income because they’re not spending it on crack or Absolut,” Mr. Roshan said. “They are people who are newly invested in their health and well-being. They are people who have a lot of time on their hands that they didn’t have before.”

The Fix plans to reach out to health clubs like Equinox and Crunch; beverage sellers like Poland Spring and Vitaminwater. Coffee makers like Starbucks are on their list too because recovering addicts often develop a taste for coffee. The site’s founders are also eager to attract travel advertising.

There is little doubt that recovering addicts are a large audience. But whether advertisers have any desire to cater to them as a distinct group is uncertain.

“That’s the question: Is putting your brand in the environment of that condition and mind-set going to create an association that you want, and one that’s scalable enough that there’s a business reason to do it?” said Andy Chapman, director of digital trading for Mindshare, a media-buying agency. “Because you can reach them in other places. And that may be good enough.”

The creators of The Fix are trying to soothe advertisers in part by not presenting addiction as an exploitative spectacle. But The Fix does not intend to ignore stories of Hollywood celebrities who have often explosive spirals into substance abuse. Nor does it intend to treat addiction as purely serious fare. In fact, one of its first features is a gallery of what its editors have deemed history’s messiest celebrity breakdowns.

“We’re certainly not looking for any kind of Victorian freak show element,” said Joe Schrank, a co-founder of TheFix.com who worked with Mr. Roshan to develop the idea for the site, and founder of The Core Company. “However, I think you have to have a sense of humor about it. It’s a very delicate line.”

The Fix will publish serious essays by big names like Susan Cheever. There is an article questioning the effectiveness of a new vaccine that purports to curb cocaine cravings. Experts have recorded videos that offer advice on managing addictions.

“My hope for The Fix is that it’s giving much more texture to the comprehensive life — not just the crisis that thrusts people into treatment,” Mr. Schrank said. “The story arc in the media is always the same. It’s Charlie Sheen freak show, or a guy went to rehab, redeemed himself and became a rehab counselor. When the truth is it’s as individual as a human thumbprint.”

Break client Talenthouse's arrangement with Virgin Mobile in Ad Age, Mediapost and Mashable

App-Happy Brands Bypassing Facebook to Build Content on It

Marketers Rely on Third-Party Technology and 'Preferred Developers' Liked by the Social Network

by Edmund Lee
Published: February 14, 2011

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- When Ron Faris was looking last year for a way to build out a Facebook page for Virgin Mobile USA, where he is the head of brand experiences, he didn't contact Facebook.

"The beauty of Facebook is its open nature," he said, referring to the company's publicly available software that allows anyone to plug into its site, also known as an API. Virgin's Facebook page at the time was set up to function in a more workaday manner, responding to customer queries or complaints, but Mr. Faris wanted to broaden Virgin's presence by incorporating participatory features like polls and calls for content, work that not too long ago would have gone to an ad agency.

Instead, Mr. Faris cold-called a small New York-based startup called Buddy Media that specializes in Facebook applications, which set Virgin up with the aforementioned features. Tellingly, even though Mr. Faris considered Buddy an agency in this regard, the company, in fact, does not think of itself this way.

Virgin Mobile's Live Facebook page.

"We're not an agency," Buddy Media CEO Mike Lazerow said. "We don't strategize; we don't service clients or anything like that. We do enterprise software. We do social technology." It's a distinction that underscores the blurring and, according to some, tension between advertising agencies and technology companies around the social network, especially as Facebook has increasingly become the primary destination for a large portion of the online audience, and thereby a crucial media outlet for advertisers.

The hordes of brand-focused companies looking to tap into the largest social network, like Mr. Faris, have had to go through third-party technologies to carry out their social-media plans instead of going directly to Facebook. This removed contact, so to speak, is in fact a point of pride for the company and is an unaffected result of its open nature, said Ethan Beard, Facebook's director of platform product marketing. "We really want to be the technology that allows our users to connect and share with friends and family," he said. "We're not the media; we're the technology."

It's an ethos that has resulted in a third-party economy around Facebook in which major companies are contracting marketing work with a select group of software developers. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based internet giant has actually started to vet these outside developers under the designation "preferred developer consultant," which at current count numbers 48. At issue, according to one industry insider, is the fact that web campaigns had for so long started with a blank slate, often resulting in what the industry calls a microsite, or a one-off web page that would be left unattended or taken down after the life of the ad campaign. Still, it offered a lot of work to agencies focused in digital.

Facebook's fixed structure, however, does not require as much ground-up building, and much of the marketing can be done with off-the-shelf software. Context Optional, another preferred developer, says most of its work comes directly from brands, instead of through agencies.

"Eighty percent of our revenue comes directly from the brands," said Context Optional CEO Kevin Barenblat. "But we also work with agencies -- it depends on whether the company works more closely with their agency or whether they want to manage their social media themselves."

Mr. Barenblat pointed out that social media is different from advertising. "Brand messages typically come from the companies themselves," he said.

It's a view that other preferred developers also hold, and given the rising interest in social-media plays, WPP recently took a $5 million stake in Buddy Media, suggesting that technology companies may have a bigger role to play in marketing, whether within agencies themselves or directly to big companies looking to manage their brands within Facebook. But Mr. Lazerow warned, "We provide the underlying technology to any client, whether it's within WPP or not," he said. "We're not going to steal anyone's customers."

In fact, for a forthcoming Facebook campaign, in addition to Buddy Media, Mr. Faris has also brought in Los Angeles-based agency Talenthouse to drive Facebook users to Lady Gaga's "Monster Ball" tour, which Virgin Mobile is sponsoring. Talenthouse has set up a submission page where Facebook users can submit short videos to become one of 10 official bloggers for the tour. It's an effort to drive both "likes" and content that keeps Facebook active.

Talenthouse founder Amos Pizzey said his company specializes in influencing this kind of collaborative content, which he said had been missing from precious social-networking plays. "In the early days on MySpace, bands got huge numbers of fans, but it didn't do anything," he said. "They just sat there. They became a dead community."

Mr. Pizzey said even in the age of Facebook it's not enough to just feed people with random content. "You have to draw them in," he said. "Don't care how cool it looks, it has to be gripping, they have to want to do it."

But part of what drives users to company's Facebook pages, however, is straightforward advertising, which has exploded on Facebook. The company took in $1.86 billion in ad dollars last year, based on estimates from eMarketer, with $1.12 billion coming from the company's self-serve model. That product is similar to Google's long-standing system, which lets advertisers plug in to an auction-based bidding platform to buy ad space.

That can come at a significant cost. While anyone can make use of the company's self-serve system, big advertisers looking to buy in bulk have to use yet more third-party software, such as one from New York-based Blinq Media, which allows media buyers more control over the system than Facebook's native interface allows. Costs for every thousand impressions on Facebook run around $1.00 within the self-serve marketplace. But advertisers looking to buy on Facebook's famed home page have to go directly to the company's in-house sales team, which has exclusive rights to that space. According to insiders, the company charges around $5 for every thousand homepage impressions.

Mr. Faris, however, does not buy any media. "The world of brand experiences is not about advertising," he said. "It's all about conversations. About building relationships with your consumers. Your fans. That's what's exciting about Facebook. It's not about my agenda; it's about the consumer's agenda."

Virgin Mobile Looks To Lady Gaga For 'Likes'

by Aaron Baar, Monday, February 7, 2011, 8:00 AM Virgin Mobile has set a goal of reaching one million "likes" on Facebook by the end of the year, and it's hoping Lady Gaga and 10 lucky bloggers will help the company do it. It is announcing Monday a contest in which 10 bloggers (nine from within 100 miles of one of the pop star's upcoming "Monster Ball Tour" stops and one international winner) will be selected as official "tour bloggers," with special VIP access to the show and the venue. "Virgin Mobile's goal is to substantially increase its Facebook 'likes,'" Matt Wilkinson, VP Brand Relations at Talenthouse, the Los Angeles-based social media marketing company enlisted to run the contest, tells Marketing Daily. "Our program is fully integrated into Facebook to help make that happen." Throughout the contest, Talenthouse will collect video submissions from contestants and post them on Virgin Mobile's Web site www.virginmobilelive.com as well as other sites, and ask the public to vote on the submissions. When people do so, a pop-up will appear asking them to like Virgin Mobile on Facebook. Based on previous similar contests, each submission will draw between 50 and 100 votes, Wilkinson says. As the contest gets underway, Talenthouse's 25-person marketing department (along with Virgin Mobile's social media team) will reach out to blogs, Web sites and other media to promote the contest, he says. Virgin Mobile is a presenting sponsor of Lady Gaga's Monster Ball tour. Virgin Mobile has been increasing its entertainment offerings. Last week, the company announced a deal with independent film studio Relativity Media and its Virgin Mobile Live Facebook portal, which will include exclusive video and music as well as product placement in Relativity Media films. ++++

Virgin Mobile Seeks Bloggers for Lady Gaga Tour

At the moment, about 40,000 people “like” Virgin Mobile on Facebook, but the brand hopes to hit 1 million by the end of the year using a tie-in with Lady Gaga.

The telecom brand is working with social media talent marketing firm Talenthouse on a new program that hopes to transfer some of Lady Gaga’s 27.7 million Facebook fans over to Virgin Mobile.

On Monday, Virgin Mobile is launching a contest to find 10 official bloggers for new dates in Lady Gaga’s “Monster Ball” tour. To enter, bloggers are encouraged to send a short video to Virgin Mobile Live’s Facebook page displaying their “best work.” Then the public votes via Facebook. Every submission will be housed on Facebook and will require a “like” to be submitted.

Amos Pizzey, president and founder of Talenthouse, says that although Virgin Mobile has a goal for its “likes,” the brand understands that certain fans have disproportionate influence. “They want the right ‘likes,’” says Pizzey. “They want people who are there to consume content.”

The deal between Lady Gaga and Virgin Mobile comes after the pop star inked a deal with Polaroid to develop a new line of photo-capturing gadgets. Lady Gaga began the Monster Ball tour in 2010, but decided to extend it in 2011, starting this month.

BrandIndex's Friday column in Brandweek: Netflix vs. Blockbuster, AOL vs. MySpace, Honda vs. Hyundai

Netflix Beats Blockbuster in Brand Loyalty

Dec 10, 2010

- Brandweek and YouGov Staff

This month, Blockbuster launched its first ad campaign since 2007. But the beleaguered movie rental chain is still nowhere near Netflix, which has the highest brand loyalty compared to rivals, per research firm YouGov.

The Brandweek BrandIndex Report by YouGov is a weekly consumer perception report that analyzes the most talked about brands based on buzz: The scores are based on weighing positive and negative perceptions of a brand. A +100 score is positive, a -100 score is negative, and a rating of zero means that the score is neutral. This week's report also measures consumer willingness to recommend a brand.

YouGov interviews 5,000 people each weekday from a representative U.S. population sample. Respondents are drawn from an online panel of 1.5 million individuals.

The report spotlights the following brands.


Blockbuster vs. Netflix
Currently in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Blockbuster is in need of cash and is focusing on the holidays, a time when summer movie hits are released on DVD.

The movie rental chain launched a new campaign during Thanksgiving week, with the tagline: "Less waiting, More watching." The effort, estimated at $15-20 million, boasts that Blockbuster stores have a 28-day exclusivity window on some new releases over competitors like Netflix and Redbox.

After a downhill slide in recommend score (brand loyalty), Blockbuster–which was once above its rival DirecTV–appears to be stemming the tide, at least for now. Since bottoming out just a few points below zero at the end of November, Blockbuster's score has moved up to the point of equal positive and negative sentiment.

Blockbuster still has a long way to go to catch up to Netflix, which is at its highest brand loyalty score of 35. It remains much closer to DirecTV, which stands at 8.6.




AOL and MySpace
At the beginning of 2010, AOL and MySpace were two of the more notable troubled Internet brands. AOL was in the middle of a turnaround under former Google president Tim Armstrong to become a content-generating powerhouse. MySpace, once the most popular social networking site in the U.S., has since been overtaken in traffic by Facebook.

On Jan. 1, AOL and MySpace were a mere few points apart in negative perception in index scores, which is YouGov BrandIndex’s overall yardstick for measuring brand health, averaging the sub-scores of quality, value, impression, satisfaction, reputation and willingness to recommend.

After three months, the brands took different directions and never came that close again the rest of the year. AOL snapped up TechCrunch and has been expanding its content areas– essentially keeping its index score treading water. MySpace underwent a complete overhaul this fall, and is now rumored to be on the block, with its index score at a 2010 low.

Throughout the year, AOL hovered around the -15 mark, pretty much where it started and where it is today. On the other hand, MySpace’s index score began eroding at the end of March, a long fall for what was once a social media icon. After hitting -23.8 on Aug. 31, the score began a mild climb as the site was heading towards a major relaunch at the end of October, with a new logo, cleaner design, better sharing functionality and a Facebook partnership. But the momentum didn’t last. MySpace’s score sunk back down to its present
-28.




Honda vs. Hyundai
Exploiting the holiday spirit, both Honda and Hyundai unveiled end-of-year campaigns during Thanksgiving, in hopes of boosting sales numbers.

While Honda’s sales are up 4 percent through November, the industry has seen an 11 percent increase. The carmaker started the year with an unusual gift: Toyota’s massive and much more highly publicized recalls overshadowed Honda’s own recalls. Honda’s buzz score with adults over 18 dropped significantly from 26.1 to 11.7 in less than 30 days after the news broke.

By the third week of April, however, Honda had recovered and stayed in the low 20s until late August, when its score jumped to 25. The new “Happy Honda Days” campaign eschewed spots featuring "Mr. Opportunity," and Honda’s buzz scored has remained at 25.

Hyundai also put on a happy face for its campaign. Over the course of the year, the carmaker nearly doubled its buzz score from 8.2 to 15.5, breaking through the sector average by the end of January.

Black Friday media blitz for YouGov BrandIndex in Brandweek, Forbes, Mediapost

CMO Network

Black Friday’s Hottest Consumer Electronics Brands

Nov. 23 2010 - 12:49 pm

By ELAINE WONG

When it comes to consumer electronics, Apple rules the roost this Black Friday season.

The personal computer maker, along with three of its most popular products—the iPod, iPad and iPhone—ranked 1, 3, 7 and 8, respectively, in a new ranking of this holiday shopping weekend’s most buzzed about brands. YouGov’s BrandIndex, which tracks consumers’ daily perceptions of brands, compiled the report.

Apple aside, which came in with a buzz score of 32.5, other highly sought after consumer electronics brands include Nintendo’s Wii (second place, with a buzz score of 31.3), Bose (#4, 29.1), Sony (#5, 27.3) and LG (#6, 27.0). Hewlett-Packard rounded out the list (#10, 21.5). YouGov compiled the data for Forbes on November 19, and the buzz scores are a ratio of participants’ positive versus negative feedback about a brand. (The firm reached out to 5,000 respondents ages 18 or older—out of its sample set of 1.5 million U.S. adults—for the study.)

Okay, buzz is one thing, but what do these numbers mean for marketers and consumers who have stumbled across this post? Looking at this year’s “winners,” a few take home points jump out:

*It’s good to be Apple. Times are tough, indeed, but Apple still enjoys top-of-mind awareness among shoppers heading into this Black Friday season. Dad might not be willing to shell out $500 for a new dining table, but he’ll plunk down $1,000+ for a new MacBook Pro if it makes his youngest daughter look good, right? (This really happened with Media Geek’s sibling, who just started at Temple University as a business major. Media Geek got squat for her freshman year college present.) Plus, though Apple may be a brand that connotes style and class, it’s not too stuck up to offer consumers a good Black Friday deal. As this Mashable post notes, the company is holding a one-day, Black Friday sale where consumers can find deals on beloved Apple products.

*Value matters. Microsoft might’ve put big marketing dollars behind its Xbox Kinect, game controller-free entertainment system, but Nintendo’s Wii, which the former was meant to challenge, still managed to hold its place. (Xbox Kinect didn’t make the top 10.) Why? Penny pinched consumers might see Nintendo’s Wii as a better value buy. Most of its consoles sell

for under $200 on Amazon.com, whereas Xbox Kinect’s list price runs anywhere from $149 to $399, depending on what equipment you already have, per Microsoft’s site.

*Quality matters. No. 5 Sony has traditionally been a favorite among quality seekers, with the company ranking right behind Intel and Canon, as far as quality scores ago. In fact, its ranking among the top 22 electronics brands, in terms of quality, remained exactly the same as the year-ago period, YouGov said. Compare that with what happened to Toyota when reports about sticky accelerator pedals and floor mats hit. Yikes.

*It pays to be a consumer electronics staple. Bose makes speakers, radios, headphones and clocks. Okay, not exactly the same, gliterrati-like sort of tech stuff that Apple makes, but sometimes—particularly now—all you need are the basics, right?

*It pays to be consumer-centric. Dell recently kicked off a global push to become “the most loved brand in the PC industry,” global CMO for consumer and small and medium businesses, Paul-Henri Ferrand, told marketing trade Brandweek last month. Ads, via Wunderman, carry the tagline, “You can tell it’s Dell,” and mark a stark contrast from the former’s (up until now) price-driven approach.

With Black Friday less than three days away, “these are the brands that people are talking about in the most positive way,” says Ted Marzilli, svp and global managing director for BrandIndex. In the end, “sales tell the tale,” though being one of the most buzzed about brands certainly helps. (There is some evidence that high buzz scores correlate with strong sales, though it’s not always the case, he adds.)

At the very least, these numbers tell marketers whether or not “they are even in the game. If you’re not in the consideration set, you don’t have a seat at the table,” he says.

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Merry Deals Offered Earlier Than Ever

Nov 19, 2010

Retailers are taking full advantage of the holiday shopping season, having rolled out ads and promotions as early as Halloween this year. Black Friday marketers, for instance, have extended the shopping window from two to three days. And when it comes to holiday retailers with the highest value scores, Target, Old Navy and Amazon lead the pack for women with children under 18, per research firm YouGov.

The Brandweek BrandIndex Report by YouGov is a weekly consumer perception report that analyzes the most talked about brands based on buzz: The scores are based on weighing positive and negative perceptions of a brand. A +100 score is positive, a -100 score is negative, and a rating of zero means that the score is neutral. This week's report also measures brand value and quality.

YouGov interviews 5,000 people each weekday from a representative U.S. population sample. Respondents are drawn from an online panel of 1.5 million individuals.

The report spotlights:

• Holiday retailers
• Dell
• Jim Beam


YouGov Lists Retailers With Best Value Perception
Holiday marketing is in full swing. Wal-Mart has already fired its first salvo, offering free holiday shipping for all online purchases through Dec. 20. The move prompted Macy’s, Target, and Toys"R"Us to announce similar deals.

For this list, YouGov BrandIndex examined value scores for women with children under 18—traditionally the primary purchasers of holiday gifts.

With Black Friday merely one week away, Old Navy and Target are in a virtual tie for best value perception, with Amazon not far behind. Rivals Kohl's and J.C. Penney are neck and neck, while auction kingpin eBay makes a strong showing with a score of 36, followed by Wal-Mart and Sears. Rounding out the top 10 is electronics giant Best Buy.

With the ad campaigns coming thick and fast, in the past week, Sears made the biggest leap in value with 13 points, followed by Toys"R"Us with a 12-point increase.

Dell Powers Up Global Rebranding
After losing market share to competitors and being the subject of negative online feedback regarding its customer service, Dell launched a global rebranding campaign that carries the tag: “You Can Tell It’s A Dell.”

The computer giant hired big guns for the multimillion-dollar effort: WPP Group agencies Wunderman, Schematic and Young & Rubicam, as well as outside agency Mother. Components include direct mail, e-mail marketing and social media, as well as TV, print and display advertising.

Dell’s index score—which measures overall brand health—has been gradually rising in the U.S., Germany and U.K. for adults over 18. The most pronounced jump has been in the U.S., where the score has jumped from 48.9 to 55.6 in three weeks. The campaign strengthened the U.K.’s index score, which leads the three countries, followed by Germany, where Dell's index score has fallen by a few points but has recently been trending upward.




Jim Beam's Quality Score Is On Fire
Making its move in the competitive spirits category—where Jack Daniels has long been a brand standout—Jim Beam launched an online campaign on Oct. 15, centered on its eight-year aging process. Earlier this year, the bourbon maker unveiled the “Eight Years Changes Everything” slogan for its Black Label line.

Jim Beam created a Facebook game with an accompanying Web site, Beamfire.com, which asks consumers to throw their regrets in a virtual bonfire. Site visitors can also upload images of those items they'd like to discard and earn badges or a grand prize of $8,000.

The campaign’s debut coincides with Jim Beam’s quality score improving much faster than the spirits sector average. Its score peaked at 77 on Nov. 8, just a tad behind Jack Daniels. Since then, both brands have moved down gradually, but Jim Beam’s quality score remains elevated.



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BrandIndex's value perception of retailers is "Most Wanted" in NY Times Business Section

BANG FOR THE BUCK - November 8, 2010
Please click above to see the full chart as it appeared in the New York Times.

BrandIndex's Friday column in Brandweek: The winners in MLB post-season advertisers

Top 5 Buzz Gainers of the MLB Post-Season

Nov 5, 2010

Unlike the Super Bowl, Major League Baseball's post-season takes up a month and at least two dozen games. The very nature of the event gives advertisers an ample window to roll out campaigns—sometimes with multiple executions and substantial amounts of repetition. Research firm YouGov has created this exclusive report for Brandweek, outlining the winning brands for the playoffs, including two TV networks that provided the coverage: Fox and TBS.

Almost a dozen companies either signed official deals with MLB for the post-season or introduced new campaigns during the broadcasts. When it comes the biggest buzz gainers with adults over 18, the winner by far was one of the official sponsors, Chevrolet, which notched up 18 points in the 30 days ending Nov. 1.

Chevy's campaign debuted with the kick-off of the World Series on Oct. 27. The six Tim Allen-voiced spots all followed the “Chevy Runs Deep” theme, and promoted new vehicles, such as the Cruze and the Volt.

Two credit card brands also made the top five: MasterCard gained eight buzz points as the “preferred card of Major League Baseball,” touting 20% off all MLB gear. Meanwhile, Visa climbed four points with a co-branded campaign with Bank of America, and it got prime sponsorship visibility at the home of the San Francisco Giants, AT&T Park.

DirecTV’s most highly visible commercial during the post-season drew up a new battlefront—not with another satellite dish company or FiOS, but with Netflix. The spot spells it all out for consumers: “DirecTV’s got them. Straight from the theater to your living room… one month before Netflix.”

During the month of October, DirecTV made great strides to close the buzz score gap with Netflix. DirecTV zoomed from 30.4 on Oct. 1 to 58.6 by the end of the month. Netflix had been hovering in the high 80s most of that time, except for Oct. 15, when it briefly slid down to 70.



Another official sponsor, Geico, rounded out the list by edging up three points thanks to a series of value-focused ads.

Advertisers weren't the only ones to benefit from the post-season exposure; the broadcast networks did too. At the beginning of October, Fox, TBS and ESPN were within the 28-31 range in their impression scores (a general positive feeling about a brand). As the playoffs progressed, Fox and TBS broke away from ESPN.

Fox peaked on Oct. 20 with a score of 36.7 and TBS cruised at 41 for a few days. ESPN, however, remained in that initial 28-31 range. Leading up to the World Series finale, all three networks appeared to be closing the big gap between them.



The Brandweek BrandIndex Report by YouGov is a weekly consumer perception report that analyzes the most talked about brands based on buzz: The scores are based on weighing positive and negative perceptions of a brand. A +100 score is positive, a -100 score is negative, and a rating of zero means that the score is neutral.

YouGov interviews 5,000 people each weekday from a representative U.S. population sample. Respondents are drawn from an online panel of 1.5 million individuals.

Break BrandIndex's politics and brands charts all over Ad Age, Gawker, CNBC, NY Post and Brandchannel

Consumers' Hearts Bleed Red -- and Blue

Top U.S. Brands Favored Much Higher Among One Political Party or the Other, Survey Finds

By Nat Ives
Published: October 25, 2010

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Forget red states and blue states for a second. Is your brand a red brand or a blue brand?

Many of America's top brands rate much higher among one political party or the other, according to an analysis of YouGov's BrandIndex survey results.

Google is the top brand for Democrats, according to an index incorporating consumer impressions of its quality, its value, their satisfaction with it, its reputation, their willingness to recommend it and their general impression of it. Google doesn't appear in Republicans' top 10.

Republicans, on the other hand, rank Fox News tops; Fox News, perhaps not surprisingly, doesn't appear on the list of Democrats' favorite 10 brands.

JetBlue is the third-ranked airline brand among Democrats, but doesn't crack the top five among Republicans, the BrandIndex analysis shows. Republicans rate Aflac among their top five insurers, while Democrats make room for Progressive.

Although consumers aren't usually buying a big brand because they think its owners are actually on their political "side" -- potential exceptions such as Ben & Jerry's aside -- marketers may well benefit from knowing how political partisans view them.

Target says it didn't suffer any bottom-line damage after gay-rights support

ers and some customers protested its $150,000 contribution to a group supporting a candidate opposed to gay marriage. But it might have avoided the whole mess if it considered its perceived political image first. Target is the fourth-ranked retailer among Democrats, according to BrandIndex, but is nowhere in the top five for Republicans.

Many brands perform well among members of both parties: Cheerios, UPS, FedEx, Craftsman, J&J, the History Channel and the Discovery Channel have appeal across political divides.

Source: YouGov BrandIndex

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Red & blue voters on own brand w

agons

By S.A. MILLER, Post Correspondent


WASHINGTON -- It's more than politics dividing the country -- Democrats and Republicans also split on which top American brands they buy.

A top-rated airline for true-blue Democrats is -- you guessed it -- JetBlue. And when choosing an insurance company, Democrats lean toward Progressive, a survey by YouGov's BrandIndex found.

Republicans don't even list JetBlue among their top five airlines and they prefer Aflac as an insurance company, the survey showed.

When it comes to beer, great minds drink alike. Both parties reach for Samuel Adams and Heineken as their two favorite brands and include Michelob in their top five.

But Republicans also chug Budweiser and Coors, while Democrats prefer to knock back Corona or Guinness.

Ted Marzilli, global managing director for BrandIndex, said sometimes the appeal of a brand is as simple as a name that resonates with one group or another -- such as "progressive" having a positive ring for liberals.

Other times, he said, it's more complicated.

"When you look at a brand like JetBlue scoring well among Democrats, is it because 'blue' is in the title and 'blue' is more associated with Democrats than Republicans? I'm not so sure," he said.

"JetBlue is also home-based in New York City and it doesn't have a national footprint, so it may have more exposure among cities or locations that tend to be more Democratic than Republican," Marzilli said.

Other divergent tastes included Democrats shopping at Target and drinking Peet's Coffee but Republicans shopping Best Buy and drinking Caribou Coffee.

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political brands

Red Brands, Blue Brands: Dems Love Google, GOPers Favor Fox News

Posted by Dale Buss on October 25, 2010 03:05 PM

Does the current polarized political climate in the U.S. even extend to favored brands? A new survey of brand preferences by political affiliation suggests the answer is, well, yes and no.

Google is the favorite brand of Democrats, an analysis of YouGov’s BrandIndex survey results found, while Fox News topped the brand list of Republicans. Maybe Democrats feel at home with Google’s inherent techie elitism masquerading as populism; and clearly Republicans appreciate a brand that treats their opposition like a foreign occupier.

Interesting questions abound. JetBlue is the third-ranked airline brand among Democrats, for example, but doesn’t show up in the Republican top 10. Could be JetBlue’s strong presence in

liberal coastal cities mean that its cabins are filled with Democrats, flying blithely over heartland Republicans (who can’t see the JetBlue logo from their conservative small towns).

And why is Aflac ranked among Republicans’ top five insurers in the YouGov survey, while Democrats favor Progressive? Is it because Progressive’s strong online quoting and marketing platform make it naturally appealing to young-skewing Democrats, while Aflac – known a disability insurer for small businesses and the self-employed– caters to the entrepreneurial streak of Republicans?

There’s more. Target is the fourth-ranked retailer among Democrats – but is nowhere near the top five for Republicans, even after the chain incurred the ire of ultra-liberal political action committee MoveOn.org for contributing $150,000 to a group backing an anti-gay-marriage Republican candidate.

Also interesting but harder to explain are the marques that get high marks from both Republicans and Democrats. With some parenthetical theories as to their appeal, these universally embraced brands included: Discovery Channel (giving hope that maybe there is such a thing as non-partisan knowledge out there); Johnson & Johnson (everybody hurts); Craftsman (even liberals need tools); and FedEx (everyone’s been burned by the Postal Service). Perhaps most intriguingly, Democrats and Republicans both rank the History Channel in the top 10, suggesting that, if there’s one thing partisans of all stripes seek, it’s to ground their present-day battles on a solid historical foundation. They may both be watching the same

shows, but, one suspects, they’re drawing different lessons from that programming.

A less jaundiced eye might view these areas of overlap as signs that great brands do strong work in appealing to everyone. Another political aisle-crossing brand was UPS, leading one to speculate: Can Americans both red and blue find common cause in what brown can do for them?

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Study: Democrats and Republicans Love Lots of the Same Brands

We all know that Democrats love Starbucks and Hustler, while Republicans love Skoal and Soldier of Fortune. Or do they? A new study of the favorite brands of liberals and conservatives show some surprising agreements.

Nat Ives breaks down the latest YouGov BrandIndex numbers, showing which brands are most beloved by members of the two political parties. Observe:

Only Democrats love: Google, Sony, Amazon.

Only Republicans love: Fox News, Fox, Lowe's.

Both love: Discovery Channel, History Channel, Craftsman, Johnson & Johnson, UPS, Fedex, Cheerios.

So America, let's lay back with a bucket of tools and some Tylenol, watch a nice WWII documentary, and ship boxes of cereal across the country­together.

[Ad Age]

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CNBC VIDEO

BrandIndex's Friday column in Brandweek: Dining Chains, Taco Bell and Long John Silver's

YouGov Names Top 10 Restaurant Chains

Oct 21, 2010

Since Labor Day, consumers have seen new campaigns and promotions crop up to replace summer marketing efforts, per YouGov. Below is a look at the 10 major dining brands, which have moved the buzz score needle the most in the past 30 days with adults over 18.

The Brandweek BrandIndex Report by YouGov is a weekly consumer perception report that analyzes the most talked about brands based on buzz: The scores are based on weighing positive and negative perceptions of a brand. A +100 score is positive, a -100 score is negative, and a rating of zero means that the score is neutral. This week's report also measures quality and value.

YouGov interviews 5,000 people each weekday from a representative U.S. population sample. Respondents are drawn from an online panel of 1.5 million individuals.

The report spotlights:

• Top 10 restaurants
• Taco Bell
• Long John Silver’s


Top 10 Dining Brands Named
Applebee’s stands out from competitors, when it comes to a restaurant brand that has improved its buzz score the most. Applebee's benefited from sponsoring “back-to-school” nights with contests and prizes. It also announced its third annual “Thank a Soldier Day”—another effort that resonated well with consumers.

Meanwhile, Whataburger held a month-long search to find the chain’s biggest fans, followed by a menu expansion with a chocolate brownie pie. And with football season in full swing, Hooters was out promoting its chicken wings as a lure for large groups.




Taco Bell Catches Up to Peers
Taco Bell’s introduction of street food-inspired Cantina Tacos at participating stores in early August significantly improved its quality scores from early August through the third week of September.

The Mexican QSR sector normally averages in the single digits when it comes to quality. Taco Bell had been scoring in negative numbers since April, bottoming out at -14 in the middle of June. However, since Taco Bell’s new menu items debuted in August, its quality score for men 18- 49 rose and reached positive territory through the end of September. The chain’s single-digit scores were inline with the rest of the sector.

Then Taco Bell launched the MLB playoffs campaign featuring Yankees general manager Joe Girardi and closer Mariano Rivera. The effort has been unable to keep the chain's score afloat since the post-season began. Taco Bell’s quality scores recently started sagging down to -2.1.




Long John Silver’s Pushes Value to Families
The $10 price point has become a battleground for dining chains, notably Pizza Hut, which has been offering any pizza for that price. Seafood chain Long John Silver’s has joined the fray with a two-week “$10 Family Pack” promotion on Oct. 10, targeting families of four.

Long John Silver’s is even throwing in a free dessert, along with eight pieces of Alaskan whitefish, a family-size order of coleslaw, and 12 pieces of hushpuppies, as part of the $10 deal. The catch? Consumers must provide a competing pizza chain coupon (including fellow Yum! brand Pizza Hut).

The Long John Silver’s promo impacted its value score among adults with kids under 18 almost immediately. Leading up to the promotional period, value scores jumped from negative numbers to 7.5.

BrandIndex's Friday column in Brandweek: Facebook, Gap and TBS

'The Social Network' Effect

Oct 15, 2010

Despite the controversial depiction of founder Mark Zuckerberg, The Social Network dramatically boosted Facebook's consumer impression (general positive feeling) with adults 18 to 34, per research firm YouGov. TBS' perception also got a lift, as the network continued to promote Major League Baseball playoffs. Meanwhile, Gap's buzz score suffered a steep drop, soon after the retailer changed its logo, and later reverted to the old one.

The Brandweek BrandIndex Report by YouGov is a weekly consumer perception report that analyzes the most talked about brands based on buzz: The scores are based on weighing positive and negative perceptions of a brand. A +100 score is positive, a -100 score is negative, and a rating of zero means that the score is neutral. This week's report also measures impression.

YouGov interviews 5,000 people each weekday from a representative U.S. population sample. Respondents are drawn from an online panel of 1.5 million individuals.

The report spotlights:

• Facebook
• Gap
• TBS


'The Social Network' Lifts Facebook
Adults 18 to 34—more than any other age bracket—gave Facebook a major impression lift, following the release of The Social Network. Older consumers, however, have reacted differently. For the 50 and over demo, The Social Network had a decisive negative impact. Here’s a look at how the movie affected each demo bracket:

Adults 18-34: More than doubled Facebook's impression score (originally 23.5) between Sept. 22 and Oct. 6. By the movie's opening day on Oct. 1, the score rose to 46.4, and then inched up some more to 51.5 almost a week later.

Adults 35-49: Created minor impression score growth, but showed indecision before and after the movie opened. After rising 10 points from Sept. 22 through the end of the month, this demo's impression score downshifted several points. It then rebounded after the movie opened and settled at a score of 35 on Oct. 6.

Adults 50-plus: Already trending in the low 20s, the Facebook brand declined to 13.7 by Sept. 28 among this group. The impression score increased a few points by Oct. 1, but is now back to 20.




Gap Loses Buzz
Gap’s unveiling of a new logo has sent its buzz score with adults over 18 nosediving.

While retailers’ buzz scores often zigzag due to sales and ad campaigns, Gap took a distinct sharp turn downwards from 11. 7 to 5.5 on Oct. 4, the day the company proposed a new logo on its Web site. After sharing the logo on its Facebook page, the retailer received backlash from consumers.

Even though Gap had reverted to its old logo on Oct. 11, its buzz score did not bounce back and dropped lower from 4.9 to 3.3.




TBS Scores With Men 18-49
Nearly two weeks of nonstop MLB playoffs—sometimes as often as three games a day—and promotions on Conan O’Brien’s talk show, have boosted TBS' perception score with men 18 to 49.

From Sept. 1 through Oct. 6, the network's buzz score for the demo shot up 10 points from 11.9 to 21.8. The score then dropped a few points and regained momentum, ending at 18.6 on Oct. 11.

Place AARP Media Sales/JD Power survey in Brandweek, Edmunds.com, The Car Connection

Adults Over 50 Dominate Car Purchases

Sept 27, 2010

- Elena Malykhina

When it comes to car purchases, adults over 50 surpass younger consumers. In fact, this demographic is responsible for three out of five new car acquisitions, according to a report by AARP Media Sales, in conjunction with J.D. Power and Associates.

Sixty two percent of adults over 50 currently account for new vehicle acquisitions, compared to two years ago, when they accounted for 50 percent. The number is even higher for hybrid sales. Adults over 50 make up 73 percent of hybrid purchases.

Out of the 39 car brands measured in the study—which examined the media habits and profiles of more than 41,000 new vehicle buyers—32 credited the bulk of their sales to consumers over 50 years of age.

As a comparison, car sales were down 36 percent in 2009 versus 2008. And, according to the study, adults 18-49 were responsible for 71 percent of this drop.

"The primary reasons for this escalation is the huge population of baby boomers turning 50 and their ability to spend on higher-ticket items during harsh economic times. [Meanwhile] younger adults are moving back home to ease basic financial burdens, such as housing and food," said AARP Media Sales research director Mark Bradbury.

Additionally, the study found that 33 percent of adults over 50 pay cash for their cars, compared to 13 percent of consumers under 50. Consumers over 65 are also an increasingly important demo for carmakers. Nearly 24 percent of new vehicles are purchased by adults aged 65 and older, which is nearly double (12.7 percent) compared to 2001.




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Car Buyers Shop Online, Wear Out Their Old Vehicles and Are Increasingly Over 50

Car buyers today shop online first, buy a car because they need one and are likely to be over 50. And those over-50s dig hybrids, accounting for 73 percent of their sales. That's the portrait emerging from two recent surveys, one by Chrome Systems, which looked at buyer research and purchasing behavior, and the other from AARP Media Sales and JD Power, which looked at the age of car buyers.

In the Chrome survey, 83 percent of respondents said they were likely to shop for a vehicle online before making a purchasing or leasing decision. Those researching vehicles on manufacturer and dealer websites cited price and preferred equipment selection as the leading factor in purchase decisions. Fewer respondents said they purchased or leased a vehicle simply because they wanted something new: just 21 percent in 2010, down from 32 percent in 2009. The No. 1 reason cited for purchasing or leasing a new vehicle was that the respondent's current vehicle was unreliable or broken down (26 percent, up from 19 percent in 2009).

Brand loyalty is fading, with consumers saying they are less likely to want to purchase the same brand of car they previously owned (35 percent in 2010 versus 39 percent last year). Dealer loyalty is also increasingly a thing of the past: Only 24 percent said they selected a dealer because they or someone they knew had previously purchased or leased from that dealer. That's down from 37 percent in 2009.

The AARP-J.D. Power survey held a few surprises for anyone who thinks the 50-plus crowd isn't interested in buying cars -- or in buying hybrids. According the survey (as reported in Brandweek), 62 percent of adults over 50 currently account for new vehicle acquisitions, compared to two years ago, when the over-50s accounted for half of the new car purchases.
The percentage is even higher for hybrid sales. Adults over 50 make up 73 percent of hybrid purchases.

The shift toward older buyers is the product of the huge baby boom generation (those born between 1946 and 1964). Baby Boomer Headquarters estimates that 75.8 million people were born in that period, and in 2010 alone, 4 million of them are turning 50. It's also a group that has money to spend on higher-ticket items during tough economic times, AARP Media Sales research director Mark Bradbury told Brand Week. Older-buyer dominance is likely to continue. In 2010, 40.2 million people in the U.S. are 65 or older. By 2050, that figure will double to 88.5 million, according the U.S. Census Bureau.

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Shoppers Over 50 Account For Most New Car Purchases

By Richard Read Reporter September 28th, 2010

Car shopping

Ever since Baby Boomers came of age in the late 1950s and 60s, America has been obsessed with youth culture. Each week, it seems there's a new report talking about the spending power of Millennials or Tweens or some new, even younger demographic. But when it comes to cars, young people are just kid stuff: according to a new study from AARP Media Sales and J.D. Power and Associates, it's the 50+ crowd that really spends the dough.

The data from that study (see below) reveals some very interesting news. At first glance, we see that shoppers 50 and older account for a whopping 62.5% of all new car sales. That in itself is impressive, but doubly so when you consider that just ten years ago, that same demographic accounted for less than 39% of new cars sold. That's a surge of over 20% in nine years. What's more, a huge chunk of that is due to the 65+ crowd, who make nearly 24% of new car purchases.

Chart from AARP Media Sales, in conjunction with J.D. Power and Associates

At the other end of the scale, shoppers under 35 used to account for almost 25% of showroom sales, but today, that figure has slipped to 12.7%. Even the highly coveted 35 - 49 year-old segment -- the demographic characterized by growing families and high earning potential -- has slid to less than 25% of marketshare.

All this goes to show who's fared well during the economic downturn and who hasn't. While many younger Americans don't have the income or reserves to spend on a new ride, older shoppers are capable of laying cash on the barrelhead. (We mean that literally: the study found that 33% of buyers over 50 paid for their cars in cash.)

Of course, there are a few sticking points with the study. For one, the study was carried out in part by AARP Media Sales, which is part of the AARP family, which depends on the 50+ market. Proving the potency and value of older Americans is pretty much the AARP's job description, so to see the AARP put together a study proving the potency and value of older shoppers...well, it's to be expected.

Also, there's no word on how many 50+ adults are buying cars for their kids -- though even in those cases, it's still the adults who are doing the buying. (Mary Kate and Ashley may have some say in the color of the twin MINIs that mommy buys them, but she's the one signing her name on the dotted line.) The figures might also shift somewhat if the study were re-done with used car sales, but for now, the 50+ crowd is tops.