So I was going through some old files and came across I paper I wrote during college in the Spring of 2009. I thought I’d throw it on the internet and maybe it’ll be of use to someone a year or 2 from now. Oh yeah, and it got an A.

Advertising: College Kids Are Our Future

New technologies in an increasingly internet dependent world are forcing advertisers to come up with innovative techniques to reach the masses. The development of these techniques can be aided by understanding the 18-24 demographic.

College Kids

College kids are the future. Consumers between the ages of 18-24 are members of a group that have not only been exposed to all advances in media technology but actively manipulate and use it on a regular basis. Being surround by media technology from birth changes the way college students perceive new innovation. Adults commonly view the Internet as a tool for accomplishing tasks at home that previously required leaving, such as paying bills. In contrast, College students perceive the Internet as an additional media channel (Emanuel et al. 14). Consequently, the importance of understanding the 18-24 age-group in terms of growth in the advertising industry is immeasurable.

Problems arise when attempting to seek out the best way of reaching the average college student. A recent study conducted at Alabama State University stated that college students today spend nearly the exactly same amount of time using the three communication channels of reception, expression, and interaction as students polled in a similar study from 1980( college time spent com ). However, the media and vehicles used to carry out these interactions has increased drastically. Expression and interaction once accomplished in person or through use of a telephone can now be divided among time spent on cell phones, video chatting, tweeting, facebooking, emailing, texting, etc. What does this mean for advertisers? It means that there are a multitude of new ways to reach college students. Unfortunately, these new means of communication must share the same chunk of time as the previously mentioned in-person and telephone methods.

Also worth noting is that video chatting, tweeting, facebooking, emailing and texting are all vehicles with-in the same medium. This makes it tough for advertisers to decide which vehicles are the most valuable. Yet, finding the best way to reach college students now will lay the groundwork for landing the large majority of consumers 5-10 years from now. Where will consumers be 5-10 years from now? Online.

TV or Online?

Online is where the magic happens. There should be no surprise that the greatest focus should be on the Internet. Why? The internet is already heavily intertwined in the daily lives of most Americans. But, the demographic with the highest Internet usage is the 18-24 age-group. Remember, what college kids do today everyone will do tomorrow. Today, television still reigns supreme as the most affective advertising tool in nearly all situations. Be that as it may, a transition between television and the internet use among college students can be seen after taking a look at a 2005 study conducted at Louisiana State University. When surveyed, 14% of college students “said they decreased a lot on TV hours.” This is in comparison with only 2% stating a decrease time spent online. The study also shows that 36% of college students spend 11-20 or more hours online while just 17% spend 11-20 or more hours watching Television (LSU Study). One reason for this increase may be due to the versatility of the Internet in comparison with television.

The television is a lean-back medium. Consumers watch television to relax and be entertained. In the early stages of the Internet there were no substitutes for television. Consumers used the Internet for communication, research, and other tasks. However, the advent of broadband internet access to the masses has changed the capabilities of the Internet. Now, a program once only available on television can be viewed alternatively online. Therefore, a consumer with knowledge of how to use the internet can effectively get more out of the medium. The Internet has new television-like properties. College students are taking advantage of this new function of the Internet while advertisers are scrambling to figure out the best way to exploit it. Students are bundling all forms of media into one convenient package located on the computer, the Internet. Lean back, lean forward, the Internet does it all.

When TV becomes the Internet

The traditional television set in your living room isn’t going to disappear. Well, maybe the traditional one, but not televisions in general. The early signs of a television/internet hybrid are already showing in the form of services such as Tivo. A quick look at accessing television programs through Tivo and accessing a website via the internet reveal stunning similarities. Like the Internet, a consumer using Tivo is in control. Internet users visit specific web pages as opposed to a larger and more general “channel.” Through services like Tivo, television viewers are mimicking internet-like capabilities and accessing specific shows at the time of their choosing.

The continued molding of television and Internet will only become stronger as technology increases. The interface of television sets will bare a striking resemblance to a computer’s operating system. Upon turning on the television consumers will be prompted to select a personal profile loading user specific settings. The entire idea of channels will cease to exist, replaced by content arranged by genre. “Forward Show to Friend” or “Chat About The Show You’re Watching” will become options. The Home Shopping Network will feature a “Buy Now” button. The television sitcom as we know it will become a virtual store with the ability to click on product placed items and be presented with purchase information. The line between television and Internet will disappear. Consumers won’t be leaning forward or back but sitting upright.

What’s the major advantage of television/internet marriage for advertisers? Consumer data. Lots and lots of consumer data. The internet gives advertisers the ability to learn about consumers spending, viewing, and social habits. Bringing these capabilities to television only increases the amount of data available for reaching consumers. The way advertisers reach college-aged consumers on the Internet today will be translated to television in the future. Will a product placed ad in television behave like a banner ad on a website? Only time will tell. But, understanding Internet advertising and what works will prepare advertisers for the changes in television later

Things to Consider when Advertising Online

Internet advertising reached $10 billion in the United States during 2005 (online advertising). A chunk of change that large shows the potential advertisers see in the Internet. Unfortunately, this money often goes to waste due to a lack of preparation and research prior to ad placement.

College students spend the majority of online time interacting with friends through social network sites, using chat clients, and shopping. These three internet activities do not represent the way all age groups spend internet time. However, the overall idea that what works on the college crowd will eventually work everywhere else is what to keep in mind here.

Yoon and Kim (2001 from LSU Study) found that the internet (a lean forward media) is better for advertising high-involvement products, while television ( a lean back media) is better for low-involvement products. This conclusion may have merit but only to a certain extent. Two things to consider when planning to advertise online are: 1. Is the product hi or low involvement 2. Where will the advertisement be seen. Internet users are usually seeking information or accomplishing a task while online which makes high-involvement products needing large amounts of information easier to advertise. But not always. The popularity of online television sites such as Hulu.com convert users to a lean-back frame of mind. Advertisers can find success in advertising low-involvement products on the web through sites such as Hulu.com. For this reason, the importance of determining the different functions of individual web sites is clear. Successful online placement takes more than simply knowing what type of users visit a site but what frame-of mind the user is in as well.

Once advertisers decide on a suitable website for placement the next step is determining the advertisement’s display style. Results from a study conducted on 536 college students found the major problem with internet advertising to be intrusiveness. The study included three types of online advertisements: In-Line, Pop-up, and Pop-Under. Pop-Under ads scored the highest in terms of intrusiveness while in-line ads were the least intrusive. An advertisements level of intrusiveness directly correlated to the ability of the student to interpret information of both the host site and the ad itself. Intrusive advertisements also decreased the likeliness of students to return to the host site. However, advertisements were perceived as slightly less intrusive when placed on a host site with related content (online ad effects).

Pop-up and pop-under ads have an overall negative affect on college students when considering ad retention and site traffic. Concurrently, an in-line advertisement placed on a host site with related content proves to be the most affective.

In-line ads can be taken a step further in effectiveness through the use of data mining. Data mining solves many online advertising problems by accessing cookies stored with-in web browsers. Cookies can hold several types of information about the user ranging from browsing history to age and gender. Advertisements equipped with data mining capabilities are more likely to be displayed to the specific target markets suitable for that ad. The problem of timing associated with online advertising can also be solved with “smart ads.” Smart ads are aware of the time of day and if necessary will display different messages as the day progresses.

Many “smart ads” are Rich Internet Applications or RIA’s. RIA’s are extremely powerful in that they are essentially computer programs that can run with-in a web browser. RIA’s have the ability to communicate with a web server to exchange newly received information and can also change shape on request. The film industry makes use of RIA’s often to create more complex eye-popping advertisements with built-in movie trailers or image galleries. An appropriately placed RIA with the ability to target specific consumers at certain times of day has the potential to be very effective.

Most online advertising is paid advertising. Advertising does a great job of building awareness but usually does little for brand loyalty. Brands should take advantage of social networking sites by building communities for loyal customers to join. For example, Facebook groups are popular among college students. College students join groups that support their favorite bands, products, causes, brands, etc. These groups give college students a sense of membership and involvement with the brand. Once joined, group members can receive messages from the brands about new products, services or promotions. Most of all, social networking sites provide free exposure. All online campaigns should include social networking sites in the media plan.

Conclusion

With so many new ways to use the Internet, college students are spending more and more time at their computers. Most online activities can be done simultaneously. For instance, a student is able to shop online in one window while viewing a television show in another, or visit a social networking website while video chatting with a friend. The ability to perform multiple tasks while entertaining one’s self and interacting with friends makes the Internet attractive to students. Simply stated, students save time by using the Internet. Yet, this doesn’t necessarily translate into less opportunities to see advertisements. Often, it means student’s are exposed to even more advertisements.

Advertisements have a place on the web. But, advertisements must remain un-intrusive. For too long advertisers have wasted money believing that pop-ups are a good idea because they force themselves to be viewed. All that pop-ups accomplish is negativity. Want to run a political attack campaign? Purchase loads of pop-ups that feature the opponents face. Want to run a successful online campaign? Advertise on web sites with content similar to the product, stay in-line, and be “smart.”

College students represent the shift in media that all ages will soon follow. If advertisers want to keep up they must focus more heavily on the Internet and college student’s surfing habits. The worst move advertisers can make is to neglect the potential power of the Internet and it’s growing community.

Emanuel, Richard, Jim Adams, Kim Baker, and E.K. Daufin. “How College Students Spend Their Time Communicating.” The INTL. Journal of Listening. 22(2008): 13-28. Print.
(Emanuel et al. 14)

McCoy, Scott, Andrea Everard, Peter Polak, and Dennis F. Galletta. “The Efects Of Online Advertising.” Communicatios of the ACM. 50(2007): 84-88. Print.
(McCoy et al. 84-88)

Hu, Xiaoge, Xigen Li, Richard Alan Nelson, and “The World Wide Web as a Vehicle for Advertising Movies to College Students: An Exploratory Study.” Journal of Website Promotion. 1(3)(2005): 115-121. Print.
(Hu et al. 115-121)

FITC wrapped a few weeks ago and the guys over at The Stock-Archive made a great highlight video for the event. Toronto is such a beautiful city and this video def. does a great job of showcasing it’s incredible skyline. I didn’t make it into the film (that I can tell) but I spotted my self in a couple of the pictures they posted on flickr of the event. Check it out

So installed the WPtouch plugin today and did a little customizing. The plugin comes with a couple of customization options in the wp settings panel but if you really want to make changes you’ll have to dive into the css pretty quickly. I uploaded a custom Iphone home screen bookmark too. At any rate, WPtouch is by far the quickest and easiest way to make your blog iphone friendly. Check it out here.

It’s safe to say Apple’s arguments towards not allowing the flash player on iphone are quite frivolous and hollow to say the least. Adobe has proven that the flash player can run on the iphone with no performance issues at all. From what I’ve read the argument for why Apple is putting up such a fight is to control online video (which of course, Flash dominates). I’d love to sit here and rant about this topic but it’s been done, and much more thoroughly then I’d be able to accomplish. So, let me just provide you with a list of sources where you can review the arguments for yourself. Enjoy

• Apple’s attack on Flash
• Apple slaps developers in the face
• Flash Wars Winners and Losers
• Apple vs Adobe….with winner?

For those of you living under a rock, The North Kingdom is a small Interactive Agency of 30 or so people located in the far north of Sweden. Robert Lindström & David Eriksson, two of North Kingdom’s founders, were at FITC Toronto this past week and blew the doors off with a case study of the work they did for Adidas in Germany, Teamgeist.

The visuals of the Adidas campaign and level of detail are absolutely incredible. I can remember laughing with the person next to me as Robert and David showed artwork (of incredible quality) that was rejected because it wasn’t exactly what they were looking for. But they had a vision and stressed the importance of maintaining that vision at all costs. In the end, it paid off. Obviously.

The presentation began with a quick ‘making of’ their latest showreel and I have to say if you haven’t seen it yet stop everything and watch it below.

If you like the soundtrack, The North Kingdom made it specifically for the showreel and you can download it here

Another gem of The North Kingdom is their ‘Get The Glass’ campaign, a branch of the Got Milk campaign. ‘Get The Glass’ is built around an interactive online experience and was the 2nd most awarded interactive campaign in the world in 2008. All of the production was done in under 4 months and is absolutely stunning. I highly recommend checking out the ‘get the glass’ website but be warned that you may become seriously unproductive and crave milk.

Get The Glass Website and The Making Of Get The Glass

At FITC Toronto last week I attended Keith Peters’ session title Programming Art. Keith showed off several cool programs that help to generate art with very minimal code. One of the coolest programs was called Context Free Art. Context Free Art forces you to thing of programming in a different way. Basically, the whole program works by creating simple rules and then rendering them. Here is a basic example of a circle.

startshape WELCOME

}

The only thing required by Context Free is ’startshape’ followed by the rule you’d like to render first. However, the real power of the program comes from using recursion to loop through a rule and make small changes to generate some awesome art. Here I’ve taken the WELCOME rule, and called itself from with-in the rule. I passed a change to the y and the rotate values to generate a circle of circles.

startshape WELCOME

rule WELCOME {
CIRCLE{}
WELCOME {y 2 rotate 2}
}

This was just a simple example and you can see how quickly things could get more interesting. The second I got on the plane to fly home I started toying with context free. Here’s a couple of things I came up with in a few short minutes.

As you can see it doesn’t take long to generate some pretty interesting results. Another cool things is that you can save your renderings as animations. Below are a the same as above just rendered as animations.

If you’d like to check it out you can download Context Free Art here.

So for those of you who don’t know I’m a recent graduate from LSU and I’m out in the world trying to make something of myself. I decided to start my own web design/Interactive biz, escArtist Media. So, if you know anyone looking for a website, custom blog, branding, etc. let me know.

Anyway, I first got interested in animation/web when I discovered Flash back in 9th grade. I was stunned at how quickly and easily animations could be made. Needless to say, I made some stunning presentations in Civics class. But, fast forwarded to 2010 and now I’m pretty experienced in AS3 and always trying to make things move. I dabble with php, java, and other languages so don’t be surprised if you see several posts that focus on those languages.

I just returned from FITC Toronto where I had an incredible time. I got to speak with a few people like Lee Brimelow, the man responsible for my love of Flash, and Steven Sacks, the man who makes using Flash for building websites a much more enjoyable experience. Daniel Schutzsmith gave an incredible workshop for new business owners, Ralph Hauwert blew people away as usual, and Keith Peters showed off some great programming art. The entire line-up of speakers is way to long to list but they were all equally talented and worth catching if you every have the chance. Speaking of that, FITC will be San Francisco with many of the same sessions and speakers August 17-19 so check it out.