No doubt about it. Ellen DeGeneres is hot! Her daytime television talk show is up 15 percent this year and second in daytime ratings only behind daytime’s reigning champion, Oprah Winfrey. TV Guide Magazine reports Ellen’s Q Score, a measure of celebrity ‘likeability’ is even higher than Oprah’s. And as of her February 9th debut, [...]

If online buzz from the week prior to the 82nd annual Academy Awards is any indication, the winners may have already been decided for best picture, best actor and best actress. A sample of data gathered by Empower MediaMarketing via our ChatterWatch(sm) service* indicates that Avatar is the favorite among social media fans to win [...]

In late 2007, PQ Media released a groundbreaking study that projected word of mouth marketing spending would increase from $981 million in 2006 to $3.7 billion in 2011. That’s an astounding 35.9 percent increase over a five-year period. Amidst a slowing world economy, this beacon of growth has generated its fair share of hope, hype, [...]

Twitter’s growth has been exhausting to watch. In just three years it surpassed The New York Times for number of monthly unique visitors.
The growth and intense media attention has also seemingly polarized people into one of two camps. Either you have better things to do and “don’t care about what Joe had for lunch” or [...]

In recent years, there has been a great deal of talk around the idea of a “Third Place” in our public/offline communities. First outlined nearly twenty years ago in the book The Great Good Place and later popularized by Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, the concept is typically outlined like this:  

The First Place = Home
The Second [...]

The past few years have given rise to three major factors that have increased the impact of social networks: increasingly available Wi-Fi, smart mobile devices and the number of social network users. The combination of these three factors experiencing growth have made social networks more useful, ubiquitous and influential to consumers than ever.
More Useful
Social networks [...]

As the dust from the 2009 upfront settles, one thing is clear - the impact from a 10 to 15 percent decrease in upfront spending will be felt in this year’s scatter.
This year as marketers watched their own business performance closely and assessed their media needs they were reluctant to commit their entire budgets in [...]

We’ve all seen them. Most of us have even been one—an angry customer. Marketers have been dealing with disgruntled customers for some time, and most have gotten pretty good at finding solutions for their unsatisfied customers. However, things have changed.

Web 2.0, including social networks, blogs, forums, boards and other social media, has entered the scene, [...]

On Monday, Google announced their acquisition of leading mobile advertising network, AdMob, for $750 million. Currently, industry bankers and execs estimate mobile ad networks are worth up to six times of annual revenues. Given that benchmark, AdMob should be worth $240 million based on an annual revenue projection of $40 million by industry insiders. If [...]

In these challenging times, when every marketing expenditure must be justified, more advertisers are turning to Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) to determine the effectiveness of their marketing plans. Empower MediaMarketing has worked with a number of clients and modeling companies over the years and helps clients through these projects.
MMM uses advanced statistical techniques to compare [...]

As the Hispanic market moves quickly from a niche segment to the mainstream, advertisers are using more ways to target the various Hispanic segments.  The question of what language to use when targeting Hispanics often arises.
While getting the language right is extremely important, merely talking to Hispanics in their language of preference is not enough.  [...]

The word “invade” may be a bit strong, but grocery stores are seeing a new type of consumer in their aisles. The proportion of male principal shoppers has significantly increased since 1996 by 21.6 percent.  As of 2009, men now account for 30.4 percent of all principal shoppers (i.e. the primary person who shops for [...]

With the explosion of MP3 players, satellite radio and internet radio, it is understandable that marketers are leery of spending their advertising budgets against “traditional” terrestrial radio.  However, research shows that terrestrial radio is still a relevant and important option for marketers to consider.
Radio continues to be one of the best reach and frequency vehicles [...]

The 2009 holiday shopping season started earlier than usual and is expected to be flat vs. the same period last year. 2008 holiday shopping saw a decline of 2.4%. If all goes as planned for 2009, Reuters reports that sales will be around $810 Billion. Consumers are still weary of the economy [...]

The holidays serve up an excellent opportunity for retailers and consumer brands to surprise and delight their customers with a temporary, unconventional surprise.
Consider pop-up retail. Retailers use pop-up concepts to reach new markets, reinforce their brand and test concepts more cost-effectively. These experiences also yield a large return in marketing buzz that usually outlasts the [...]

Despite digital’s seamless presence in my daily habits, Sunday includes a read of my local paper. It’s a bit of a ritual – one that research suggests will not be picked up by my children.
Regardless, one story in particular stood out: “Data deluge will reboot our brains.”
“Through emails, texting, internet surfing, reading and other media, [...]

As consumer magazines continue to struggle with declining ad spending, publishers are finding new ways to bring content to readers across different devices so they can create a two way connection with readers. Some recent headlines showcase this evolution in devices that will be available to advertisers in 2010.
E-Readers Extend Functionality
2009 marks the year of [...]

With Super Bowl Sunday upon us, it’s interesting and appropriate to reminisce on this year’s NFL season.
It’s understood that no other TV event matches the size and attentiveness of the Super Bowl. In recent years, the annual NFL championship game has attracted more than 90 million viewers and last year’s Super Bowl between the Pittsburgh [...]

:: By Lynn Cortelezzi, Empower MediaMarketing Vice President of Local Broadcast Strategy
This year is predicted to usher in strong political advertising — much to television stations’ delight. The government has ensured this influx by lifting the spending limit on corporations and unions running support or attack ads.
One glimmer of light for an advertiser [...]

The industry has established many notions about media usage which seem rational, but studies show that consumer media usage habits are as surprising as the gadgets that drive their behavior.
Consumers’ media usage is evolving as quickly as the technology driving the change.  Rather than simply moving away from traditional media to new and innovative options, [...]

The days of identifying a target audience by age and sex are long gone.  Nowadays, we usually identify target consumers by their behavior—what they buy, what they don’t buy and what lifestyle factors influence their need or desire for a product.
Meanwhile, media has also changed.  While TV remains enormously valuable to brand communications, it is [...]