Focus Groups
On Monday 18 August, 2008, a sample group of teachers and parents from Wattle Park Primary School participated in two focus group sessions conducted by Axiom Research. Click here for a copy of the report.
Local ads pull in the punters
Ads placed in local online media are more likely to evoke a consumer response than those conveyed through more generalised formats such as search or city-wide classifieds, a new study suggests.
Clickz (http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3630579) reports that, in a survey of more than 2000 consumers by the Online Publishers Association, over 42% were prompted to act (either making a purchase or visiting a store) after viewing an ad on the website of a local newspaper, TV station or magazine.
Generalised search portals such as Yahoo and Google generated a lower 37% call to action rate, while classified sites triggered consumer action in only 35% of cases.
The higher response rate may have something to do with the additional trust many people have in brands they feel are tied to their local communities. Ads on local newspapers were ranked the most trustworthy by 56% of respondents, with local stations second on 55%, ahead of the generalised media channels.
The survey also provide a pointer to those businesses that might make best use of local online ads. The most commonly searched-for items were restaurants and cafes (38%), grocery stores (28%) and banks or financial services (25%).
63% of companies to increase digital spending
In a recent survey carried out in the US, 175 CMOs were asked about their marketing spend intentions in the coming months. 59% of those surveyed stated they intended to decrease their traditional media spends, with 29% remaining the same and only 23% increasing their budgets. Whilst 63% of those surveyed stated they intended to increase their interactive/digital marketing budgets, with 23% remaining the same and only 14% decreasing their spend.