- Offline Conversation More Likely than Online Talk to Lead to Purchase Intent -

- Online WOM Dominated by Teen Market -

New York, NY, June 25, 2008 — In a first of its kind study comparing word of mouth WOM in online and offline venues, the Keller Fay Group www.kellerfay.com, a market research consultancy specializing in word of mouth, and media agency OMD www.omd.com find that offline WOM is more positive and more likely to be judged highly credible than online talk. The findings are part of a paper scheduled to be released today at the ARF Audience Measurement 3.0 conference in New York.

Study results include:

Keller Fay Group » Keller Fay and OMD Study Finds Offline Word of Mouth More Positive and Credible than Online Buzz.

More than one-half of adults surveyed in 17 countries do not know what social networking is, according to Synovate. The company said it asked over 13,000 consumers in Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, Taiwan, the United Arab Emirates UAE and the US if they were familiar with social networking.

Although such aggregate findings are useful in a directional sense many consumers worldwide have yet to hear about social networking, Synovate noted differences in individual countries and among demographic segments. For instance, awareness was higher among younger users.

Social Networks Are Not Yet Universal – eMarketer.

• Submitted by: Wide PR
• Thursday, 28 August 2008

78% of Web users say brands tarred by brush with dodgy content

~ first research into consumer concerns about misplaced ads shows Coca Cola has most to lose ~

78% of web users would think less of a brand if it allowed an ad to appear next to offensive or inappropriate content.

Independent research by online specialist iCD Research amongst 1,000 UK
web users also found that 62% of all web users believe that they may
have seen ads next to offensive or inappropriate content. A majority of
all web users (52%) thought the problem would get worse.

Respondents rated violent content as the most damaging for a brand to
appear next to, followed in order by drugs references and adult
content. iCD Research also found that Coca Cola was the brand with the
most to lose from any association with such content, followed by brands
such as Cadbury and Tesco. Advertisers were the most likely to be
blamed for allowing ads to appear next to such content (40%), rather
than the website (25%) or ad agency (23%, with the remainder being
unsure where to apportion blame).

Paul Dixon, managing director at iCD Research, said: “Internet
advertising can present great opportunities but also risks. In this
case, risks increase with the size of the fast growing ad network
industry as recent events have shown*.”

“The headline result reflects the strength of feeling amongst those who
may only have heard of an association between a brand and dodgy
content. The workings of the industry are obscure to consumers and our
research shows advertisers are the most likely to get the blame when
there are problems. Agencies and ad networks working for advertisers
have a duty to ensure that campaigns are not only effective but that
brand reputations are protected.”

Online research specialist iCD Research surveyed a demographically
representative sample of 1,000 people in the UK on June 14, 2008.

• If a brand’s ad appeared next to offensive or
inappropriate material online, 78% of the total respondent base said it
would have a negative effect on their perception of the brand. Exactly
half of those said the effect would be ‘very negative’.

• When asked ‘Have you ever seen an ad displayed next to
website content which could be considered offensive or
inappropriate?’, 7% said ‘definitely yes’, 15% said
‘probably’, 40% said ‘possibly’ and the
remainder said ‘definitely not’.

• A majority of respondents, 52%, thought the problem of misplaced
ads would get worse. 24% thought it would stay the same, 4% thought it
would improve and the remainder didn’t know.

• The brands with most to lose in order included Coca Cola,
Cadbury, Lego, Tesco, BA, Sky, Mercedes Benz, Nike, Apple, Thomas Cook,
Guinness and Orange. These brands were selected for rating by
respondents based on their inclusion in the UK Superbrands list in
2007-8

• It would be worst for ads to appear next to: Drugs references
(23%), adult content (23%), violence (22%), weapons (10%), nudity (8%),
extreme views (6%), swearing (4%), bad news (2%), alcohol, tobacco and
gambling (1% each).

• If an ad is allowed to appear next to offensive or inappropriate
content, respondents said the party most responsible would be: the
advertiser (40%), the website (25%), the agency (23%),
other/don’t know (13%).

*E-consultancy: the market for UK online advertising networks will grow
by 60% in 2008 to an estimated value of £385 million.

Notes to editors:

iCD Research

iCD Research is a research consultancy which provides clients including
The International Herald Tribune, World Press Group, Churchill
Insurance and Dorset Cereals with insight and analysis.

www.icd-research.com

Currently tracking 112.8 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged social media.

Technorati is the recognized authority on what’s happening on the World Live Web, right now. The Live Web is the dynamic and always-updating portion of the Web. We search, surface, and organize blogs and the other forms of independent, user-generated content (photos, videos, voting, etc.) increasingly referred to as “citizen media.”

But it all started with blogs. A blog, or weblog, is a regularly updated journal published on the web. Some blogs are intended for a small audience; others vie for readership with national newspapers. Blogs are influential, personal, or both, and they reflect as many topics and opinions as there are people writing them.

Blogs are powerful because they allow millions of people to easily publish and share their ideas, and millions more to read and respond. They engage the writer and reader in an open conversation, and are shifting the Internet paradigm as we know it.

On the World Live Web, bloggers frequently link to and comment on other blogs, creating the type of immediate connection one would have in a conversation. Technorati tracks these links, and thus the relative relevance of blogs, photos, videos etc. We rapidly index tens of thousands of updates every hour, and so we monitor these live communities and the conversations they foster.

The World Live Web is incredibly active, and according to Technorati data, there are over 175,000 new blogs (that’s just blogs) every day. Bloggers update their blogs regularly to the tune of over 1.6 million posts per day, or over 18 updates a second.

Technorati: About Us.

The Centre for Brand Analysis released its list of the top Superbrands in the UK earlier this week, with Google taking the top spot after placing third last year. By looking at the profile of visitors to their homepages, we thought it would be interesting to try and understand the demographics of the UK’s favourite brands.

While we can’t measure how ‘sexy’ these brands are, we can measure which ones appeal most to the different sexes. As you can see from the chart below, five of the top 10 are more popular with women, and five with men. The most female-friendly brands are Nike and Royal Doulton. However here are no surprises regarding the most male-friendly products: cars (BMW, Mercedes Benz), gadgets (Sony), and tools (Bosch). Technology and media brands (Google, Microsoft and the BBC) are more gender neutral, while British Airways is the most equal of the lot.

Male and female internet visitors to nice royal doulton google microsoft british airways bbc bosch sony mercedes bmw 2008 chart.png

Looking at the age-profile of visitor’s the Superbrands’ homepages, the results are perhaps a little more surprising. Starting with the ladies’ favourites, you would expect Royal Doulton to be popular with silver surfers. However, it is also as popular with younger Internet users as Nike; it’s middle-aged people that seem least keen on expensive china. Elsewhere Mercedes fans are on average older than BMW ones, but Mercedes wins out with the 18-24 year olds. Google’s and Microsoft’s visitors have a similar age profile, but BBC users are older than both.

age group segmentation bosch british airways royal doulton mercedes bbc sony google bmw microsoft nike 2008 chart.png

One thing that you notice about these top 10 brands is that they skew towards the up-market / aspirational, particularly the ones that actually make things, e.g. BMW, Mercedes Benz and Royal Doulton. Looking at the Experian Mosaic lifestyle groups that most over-index with these brands backs this up. Seven of the 10 (BBC, BMW, Bosch, British Airways, Google, Mercedes Benz and Royal Doulton) were best represented within the most affluent Mosaic lifestyle group, Symbols of Success – defined as ‘people with rewarding careers who live in sought after locations, affording luxuries and premium quality products’. Nike and Sony were most over represented amongst Happy Families (‘families with focus on career and home, mostly younger age groups now raising children’), while for Microsoft it was Blue Collar Enterprise (‘people who though not well-educated are practical and enterprising and may well have exercised their right to buy’).

Hitwise Intelligence – Robin Goad – UK: Superbrands: demographics and lifestyle information.

Summer Social-Network Traffic Still Sizzling, but Down from ‘07

The share of US visits to social-networking sites increased 7% in June 2008 from May but has decreased 19% year-over-year, though the social-network category is averaging about 6% of all US sites visits this summer – or 11% more than other months in 2008.

MySpace.com received 71.92% of the market share of US visits in June 2008 among Hitwise’s custom category of 57 of the leading social-networking websites. Facebook ranked second with 16.91%, followed by MyYearbook, which received 1.54%.

hitwise-social-network-sites-traffic-market-share-june-2008.jpg

MyYearbook recorded the largest gain in market share in June 2008 among the top five visited websites, increasing 318% compared with June 2007. Tagged and Facebook followed, increasing 45% and 40%, respectively.

Below, other findings issued by Hitwise.

Seasonality of Social Networks

Social networking websites see an increase in visits during the summer months (as reported in June).

So far this summer, the social networking category is averaging about 6% of US visits, which is up 11% compared with the other months in 2008. The trend was the same in 2007, up 16% in summer – and up 10% in 2006.

MySpace Top in Average Time Spent

In June 2008, the average time spent among all social networking websites was 27 minutes and 34 seconds, or an increase of 9% compared with June 2007.

hitwise-social-network-sites-time-spent-june-2008.jpg

Among the top 5 most-visited websites, MySpace led, with its users spending an average of 31 minutes and 12 seconds on the website.

Facebook recorded the largest growth in average time spent, increasing 41% in June 2008, to 21 minutes and 6 seconds, from 14 minutes and 56 seconds in June 2007.

UK Figures

In the UK, Facebook.com accounted for 45.29% of UK Internet visits to social networking sites during June – a 188% increase compared with a year ago.

hitwise-social-network-sites-uk-visits-june-2008.jpg

Bebo.com, which was the market leader last year, was second with a market share of 25.04%. MySpace.com ranked third with a market share of 14.75%.

Combined, the “big 3″ social networks accounted for over 85% of UK internet visits to the category in June 2008

Summer Social-Network Traffic Still Sizzling, but Down from ‘07.

We issued a press release today containing our latest social network market share data. Facebook continues to grow its market share in the UK and reached a new high of 45% in June. However, that growth has been at the expense of Bebo and MySpace, which have both lost share in the UK over the last 12 months.

Uk social networks market share june may 2008 2007 facebook bebo myspace.png

The table above is based on a specific custom category of social networks, and therefore excludes a number of sites with social media features. Taking a broader definition of Web 2.0 sites, the declining market share of Bebo and MySpace is even more marked. As the chart below illustrates, YouTube.com overtook Bebo to become the second most visited Web 2.0 property in the UK during June, while Wikipedia overtook MySpace to move into fourth position. Combined, these five sites now account for one in every 15 UK Internet visits.

UK Internet traffic to facebook bebo myspace youtube wikipedia june 2008 2007 2006 2005 chart.png

Hitwise Intelligence – Robin Goad – UK: Top 5 web 2.0 sites account for 1 in every 15 UK Internet visits.