Get more relevant with niche and emerging ad opportunities
Go local
With fierce competition for limited and pricier mainstream media ad space, media buyers have an opportunity to invest more in targeted ad buys. Local online advertising appears to be a good starting point according to Borrell Associates' "2008 Outlook: Local Online Advertising" report. Local online advertising is expected to grow by 50 percent, reaching nearly $13 billion by the end of 2008. According to the study, the growing popularity of search, directory and inexpensive video are main drivers for the growth in this area, enabling large enterprises and small businesses alike to reach local audiences online.
Advertisers, agencies and media buyers for job recruitment firms, hospitals, dotcom businesses, automotive, service companies and credit/mortgage services stand to benefit the most from the growing opportunities in local online advertising.
Online video
Online video advertising, as noted in the Borrell study, is emerging as a new way for businesses of all sizes to reach their audiences, locally and on a much broader level through viral video campaigns. Sites like Metacafe and blip.tv offer professionally produced online video entertainment content with highly targeted and loyal audiences for media buyers to place their online ads. For advertisers seeking consumers of online news video segments, companies like ClipSyndicate offer valuable online video advertising opportunities for getting your message out to a broader audience through its distribution partners (such as Bloomberg, the Associated Press and Scripps Networks).
Viral video advertising campaigns have also proven their value and can be a smart way for media buyers to spend less and get more. Viral video advertising campaigns for companies and products such as Cadbury (Gorilla Drummer), Smirnoff (Green Tee Partay), Ray-Ban (Catch Sunglasses), Blendtec (Will It Blend?) and Lynx/Axe (Bom Chicka Wah Wah) have been astoundingly successful, getting ranked as Go Viral's top five viral videos of 2007, based on YouTube views.
Get out-of-home
Although outdoor and out-of-home advertising is hardly new, there are some new technologies and twists for getting your message out. A recent study by PQ Media found that digital, video and wireless technologies are creating more opportunities for advertisers to reach their audiences out-of-home beyond traditional cardboard display signs or posters. Consumers and potential customers can be reached with engaging video and point-of-purchase advertising content placed right where you want them to be when they get your message -- in a bar, shopping mall, retail outlet, gas station, elevator or gym, for example. According to PQ Media, media buyers will find the biggest opportunities for out-of-home video ad placements in theater, retail, office and transit venues.
eMarketer expects out-of-home video advertising spending in the U.S. will rise to $2.3 billion by 2011, up from $1.3 billion in 2007. eMarketer attributes this expected increase in part to falling technology costs for flat-panel LCDs, in addition to technology advancements in IP and wireless technologies.
Think way outside the box
Clients are always asking for out-of-the box ideas, so make 2008 your year to get creative and surprise them. Local businesses in Melrose, Mass., a small city north of Boston, can now advertise on police cars, and the town may soon make ad space available on fire department command vehicles. The ads provide revenues for the city while giving local businesses exposure.
Yojo Mobile recently launched MizPee, a mobile search solution built around a user-created directory of public toilets. Users can search through their mobile phones for public toilets in their immediate location. Search results also include ads, discounts and offers from businesses in the vicinity, including restaurants, bars, retail outlets and coffee shops. This is certainly not a traditional approach, but it could provide media buyers with extremely targeted local advertising opportunities.
A company called NapAds Network provides high definition napkin advertising solutions. Popular in bars and hotels, advertisers can have their ad displayed to stand out with NapAds' high definition printing process.
Have you ever walked into a sports bar and found its inhabitants completely consumed by an interactive trivia game posted on a set of TVs? A company called NTN Buzztime offers ad space within the trivia game screen, putting your brand in front of a highly targeted group of male 18- to 34-year-olds who are spending an average of 39 percent more time in the bar staring at your ad while playing the trivia game.
Media buyers can also find ad space literally on the people in your neighborhood with tattoo, hand and, yes, ass-vertising. Foreheads have also been known to provide ad impressions.
You might get a lot of notice for using a unique technology, approach (high-def napkins) or ad placement (bathrooms), but you want to make sure it fits your brand -- and that the uniqueness doesn't become the sole focal point, instead of your target audience and message.