So what’s going on in my house this month that’s forced this Bandwidth vs. TV question?  One word: Boxee.  I could write a whole post on Boxee (maybe next time) – the short story is that thanks to Boxee, I now have the ability to easily watch videos (Netflix, Hulu, CNN, BBC) through my living room television except my Internet connection can’t handle it.  As Captain Kirk would say, “We need more power, Scotty!”  So, I’ve placed the order with a new Internet service provider for 4x more speed than I am currently receiving.  As a result, I’ll become even less reliant on a television schedule and will bring the instantaneous downloads of Netflix not just to my computer, but to my living room, on the TV, where it belongs.

Continue reading “What’s More Important to You: Bandwidth or TV?” »

For years people have been asking the question “how does online behavior impact my offline sales?” The question has been asked so much so that an entire industry has been built around trying to find the answer. In comes Compete…

Yesterday, Compete and Cannondale Associates, a marketing and sales management consulting firm, announced a partnership that gives marketers new insight into online to offline purchases.  For the first time, marketers will be able to see which digital marketing campaigns are actually delivering results.   Specifically, the partnership will provide insight into the impact of online activities and media consumption (including search, ad exposure, sites visited, etc), on in-store purchase behavior and brand loyalty.

Read yesterday’s press release…

When I look back on my education, I can fondly remember the hours spent reading through the classic novels for English classes.  However, I would be lying if I said my classmates and I didn’t turn to Cliffs Notes for more interpretation as we read.  We were always curious about the analysis of things like Piggy’s glasses in “Lord of the Flies”, and the depth of the available information for how much they represented science and intellect in society.  Now, students flock to both sparknotes.com and cliffsnotes.com for their “deep dive” into they novels they are reading.

Continue reading “The “Easy to Read” Secret of Students” »

If the Retail world sees the end of the year as the Triple Crown, Halloween would be the Kentucky Derby. It is the initial measure of shoppers’ purchasing power leading into the holidays, and companies are quick to be the first out of the gate with sales of costumes, candy, and decorations. Search behavior offers a unique perspective on how consumers use the online channel for Halloween shopping; being relevant one month out of the year, Halloween shoppers do not have an obvious go-to place to find the necessities, and thus they turn to search as a discovery tool.

Continue reading “Halloween: An Experiment in Retail Blitzing” »

If you are an advertiser who wants to drive large volumes of traffic to your site, there are two important things you are probably looking for:  reach and ease of implementing your campaign.  Facebook meets these qualifications.  It is currently the third largest site online with 125MM visitors in September and it is quickly approaching parity with the #1 and #2 publishers, Google and Yahoo.

Continue reading “Dicing into Facebook Ads” »

When Nintendo first introduced the Wii in 2006, they did so with a lower price point than the competition and a focus on capturing interest from all demographics.  Demand for the Wii was so high that finding a Wii in a store was a rarity until earlier this year.  Since then, Nintendo has dominated in sales of consoles leaving both the Sony Playstation 3 (PS3) and the Microsoft Xbox360 in the dust.  In August, both Sony and Microsoft lowered the price of their consoles to $300, but the PS3 came out victorious in September with monthly console sales surpassing Wii for the first time.  Interestingly, Nintendo retaliated and lowered the price of the Wii to $200 in September.

Continue reading ““Game Over” for Wii?” »