Tag Archives: history

Pepsi Shifting NFL Ad Dollars Online

In what may be a mini ‘bell weather moment’ in advertising, Pepsi has decided to keep its usual Super Bowl advertising money in its bank account. While they are not exactly saving it they are certainly redirecting it to online opportunities. I say this is a potential ‘bell weather’ moment because it ends a streak of 23 consecutive years where Pepsi has advertised during the event that attracts some of the largest viewing audiences in the history of television. So what is Pepsi saying with this move? It’s more like a question they are asking the NFL and the advertising world that has made such a big fuss over Super Bowl ads for years: Where’s the value? Not to worry about the NFL though because they are still getting Pepsi-bucks……just not in a big chunk for the big game. Compete tells a little more Pepsi is already a large sponsor of the NFL, having paid millions back in 2002 to replace Coke for the title of the official soft drink of the NFL. The company also sponsors Rookie of the Week section on NFL.com. So the big moment is more about the how Pepsi is deciding to spend its money rather than with whom. The NFL is a marketing juggernaut (I had to use that word before the close of 2009) and will remain so. Even the NFL though is going to have to adjust to the dollars that are moving online that once fueled the just as important Super Bowl activity of watching and rating the advertisements. If last year was any indication that ‘pastime’ may be on the decline as well as many companies didn’t even create specific ads for the big game but simply rehashed old ones. Kinda takes the fun out of it, doesn’t it? So why is Pepsi seeing the online space as the way to go? Compete shows a little data below that may become the new version of the old ‘Pepsi Taste Challenge”. Even more interesting are the differences in competitive share of visitors to Pepsi and Coke sites between control and exposed consumers. Among the control group, Pepsi captures only 16% of visitors versus a lion’s share of 84% for Coke. However, the numbers are completely reversed among the exposed group. So what is your thought about the days of the big Super Bowl advertising buys and the excitement around the creativity of the ads? Are the days of Super Bowl ads being a huge deal going the same way as my NY Giants (meaning directly south and in the toilet)? Your thoughts? Comments Continue reading

Posted in Business, Pay-Per-Click | Tagged differences, history, history of television, online, pepsi, pepsi challenge, pepsi taste challenge, review and story, simply-rehashed, soft drink, super bowl, super bowl ads | Leave a comment

Can You “Rank” in Google if Everyone Has Different Search Results?

Google has extended its personalized search functionality to users who are not even signed in. This goes for Google users around the world, in over 40 languages. What this means is that when you search with Google, it will provide results that are aimed at higher relevancy to the individual user, as opposed to relevancy for the average person. "For example, since I always search for [recipes] and often click on results from epicurious.com, Google might rank epicurious.com higher on the results page the next time I look for recipes," Google explains in a blog post on the subject. "Other times, when I'm looking for news about Cornell University's sports teams, I search for [big red]. Because I frequently click on www.cornellbigred.com, Google might show me this result first, instead of the Big Red soda company or others." Can you "rank" in Google if everyone has different results? Share your thoughts on this . What Continue reading

Posted in Business, Pay-Per-Click | Tagged barry-schwartz, facebook, google users, history, means, optimization community, personal, personalization, reader, searchers, seo services | Leave a comment

Google Makes Google Reader More Personal

Google has added some new things to Google Reader in order to deliver a more personalized experience for the user. The company compares the features to how personalized search improved search results based on search history. Google thinks the new changes will have a similar affect on users' reading experience. In Google Reader, there is a new "Explore" section that appears under the "People You Follow" section. Within this section are the previously existing recommendations feature and a new one - "Popular items." "We use algorithms to find top-rising images, videos and pages from anywhere (not just your subscriptions), collect them in the new Popular items section and order them by what we think you'll like best," explains Google's Beverly Yang. "Now you don't have to be embarrassed about missing that hilarious video everyone is talking about — it should show up in your 'Popular items' feed automatically." "And to make it easier to find interesting feeds, we're moving recommendations into the new Explore section and giving it a new name — 'Recommended sources,'" she adds. "Like always, it uses your Reader Trends and Web History (if you're opted into Web History) to generate a list of feeds we think you might like." Apart from the new Explore section, Google has also added personalized ranking to feeds. There is a new sort option called "magic," that re-orders items in the feed based on your personal usage and overall activity in Google Reader. This can be accessed by clicking "sort by magic," under the "feed settings," menu of a particular feed or folder. "Unlike the old 'auto' ranking, this new ranking is personalized for you, and gets better with time as we learn what you like best — the more you 'like' and 'share' stuff, the better your magic sort will be," says Yang. "Give it a try on a high-volume feed folder or All items and see for yourself!" It's going to be interesting using Google's new personalization features in Reader moving forward. It should be a good way to determine just how well Google really does know users. Unlike searches, which are prone to be much more random, Reader is a more intimate experience, where users frequently return to specific topics and sources. This does occur in search to some extent, but the very nature of searching means you're looking for something wherever you can find it in most cases (not counting just being lazy and searching for specific domains). Continue reading

Posted in Business, Pay-Per-Click | Tagged based-on-search, explore, googel-reader, google-reader, history, personal, reader, reader-trends, review and story, user | Leave a comment