Attention! Updated Spot Radio and TV Cost-Per-Point estimates are now available in SRDS.com.

Most broadcast media buyers understand that an indispensable method for measuring cost-efficiencies is by cost-per-point. CPP is the cost, per 1% of an indicated audience, of buying ad space in a given media vehicle. This data provides buyers with what a CPP should be in the upcoming quarter, by market, by daypart.

As a reminder, Radio and TV/Cable database subscribers can find the SQAD information as follows:

SQAD Spot Radio Cost-Per-Point Estimates

This data can be found under the Radio Search.

TV Household Cost-per-Point Levels

This data can be found under the TV & Cable Search.

Log in now to view the data or if you don’t currently have access to these databases, let us know.

Scarborough's newest infographic is particularly useful for digitally-minded yet location-specific media companies and marketers. Specifically, it tells the local story of how online media consumption has evolved over the past few years by identifying the top markets in key areas of online media to paint a picture of national trends.

One interesting nugget of info: Atlanta, Austin, San Francisco and Washington, DC are almost always in the top 10 for every online media activity in every year measured.

The infographic can help media and marketers narrow their focus, using layers of data to reach digital audiences and consumers more efficiently. Download the full infographic here.

Did any of the data surprise you?

Foursquare’s CEO Dennis Crowley announced that the company will try to make money outside of its app via check-in data, according to an article from AdAge. The company’s strategy involves a new ad product that uses the app’s location and psychographic data to contextualize ads on other platforms, giving advertisers the ability to use the data to target ads that are bought through ad exchanges or networks even when the individual isn’t using Foursquare.

From a revenue standpoint it makes a lot of sense for Foursquare to go this route but it’s a little surprising that it hasn’t happened sooner. Already Facebook and Twitter offer similar location-targeting ads and smartphones can be geo-located by apps and ads without Foursquare data. So the question is whether or not agencies and other marketers consider this data to be valuable enough to pay for it. That’s the real make or break for Foursquare.

Do you think that the ad world will respond well to this strategy?

We’ve added updated Scarborough Newspaper Penetration reports to the new Local Market Info link in SRDS.com. DMA Profiles & Maps will also be housed in this drop-down menu, which can be accessed by all SRDS.com users.

The reports offer valuable media planning data for local newspapers and their e-editions, including daily average reach and percent reach as well as Sunday average reach and percent reach. Log in now, explore the data and let us know what you think.

Here at Kantar Media SRDS, we’re obsessed with all forms of media. That’s why this brand-new infographic from research company Scarborough caught our eye.  It’s the first in a series of analyses about the evolution of cross-platform media consumption over the past decade with data on social, traditional and digital. Here are five things we learned:

1. Social media grew 238% between 2009 and 2012.
2. 42% of U.S. adults agree the Internet is their main source of entertainment.
3. Consumption of media on traditional platforms is declining or flat, but 68% of adults still read a print newspaper.
4. In 2006, 8% of U.S. adults lived in a household that owned a smartphone. That number rose to 44% in 2012.
5. Austin, Texas, has consistently maintained its position in the top three local markets for social media usage in both 2009 and 2012.

You can view these results here or see more in the infographic below.

Mark and David discuss his pioneering work using database-driven marketing for ad sales and his experience launching the first b-to-b site for professional travel. Along the way they talk about the importance of giving web users what they want, the vital importance of using and understanding third-party web audience metrics and the return of relationship selling.

• Click here to listen and subscribe for free in iTunes (Featured by Apple as a "New and Noteworthy" podcast!)
• Click here to download the mp3 of this episode
• Click below to listen in your browser:.

About Mark Browning

Mark Browning, has 30+ years travel marketing experience, traveling extensively in 45 states, Europe, the Caribbean and attending over 200 travel industry shows. From 1977-1992 Mark's firm represented the South for 13 successful publication launches by major New York and New England based publishers.

In 1993 he launched TRIPsouth, the start of TRIPmedia Group, Inc. He has addressed dozens of groups on travel marketing, and has worked through the U.S. Travel & Tourism Administration to promote inbound tourism to the U.S.A. Mark holds a degree in marketing from Vanderbilt University, was inducted into Who's Who in Advertising in 1990, and was honored with the STS Spirit of Southeast Tourism award in 2000.

He serves on the Board of Directors of the 900-member Southeast Tourism Society, with the House Corporation of his college fraternity, is president of his neighborhood community association, and has co-hosted an annual reunion of Vanderbilt alumni since 2005. Mark lives with his wife of 27+ years in their native North Atlanta. Not surprisingly Mark & Sheala greatly enjoy traveling, especially with their two grown children.

About The Media Mic

The Media Mic is an interview series from Kantar Media SRDS with leaders in the media business about the roads they’ve taken, and the stories and people that make up our vibrant industry. Bandwidth and hosting for The Media Mic is provided by Wizzard Media and Libsyn.

It's a new year, and that means a new, updated list of the Metro Markets (MSAs defined by Arbitron) in the SRDS.com Radio database.

Where available, MSAs feature the most up-to-date SQAD Spot Radio Cost-Per-Point Estimates from 3Q12. We've also updated the DMA profiles and maps to include the latest Nielsen DMA definitions.

Log in now to check out these updates!

Last night, our technology partners on the Local Market Audience Analyst (LMAA) rolled out updated consumer demographics data for 2012, meaning LMAA now includes the latest data available for high-level consumer demographics research.

In addition, there are two new Experian Simmons profiles in LMAA:

• Finance, Insurance & Investments: Use Prepaid Card,1yr (A)
• Psychographics: Choose Transportation that is Environmentally Friendly, Agr (A) 

And two deleted profiles:

• Finance, Insurance and Investments: Place 11-49 Stock Transactions, 1yr (A)
• Psychographics: Have a Keen Sense of Adventure Agr (A)

If you're unfamiliar with LMAA, some of our friends at San Diego State University put together a nice video overview here. You can also learn more at SRDS.com.

Enjoy!

You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure out that the Millennial generation (Americans age 18 to 29) consumes media differently than Baby Boomers and Generation X.

In the last decade, there has been a shift among this generation toward digital media, like Internet news and digital radio. This forced advertisers and marketers looking to reach this demographic to add digital to their marketing mix.

Scarborough, a local market consumer insights company, released a study to uncover the unique ways Millennials engage with the media along with their general attitudes and demographics. Addressing the importance of the study, Deirdre McFarland, Scarborough Vice President of Marketing and Communications, said:

“It is essential to realize that Millennials have a natural orientation toward social media especially since they are a demographic who came of age during a time of rapid technological advancement. By understanding that Millennials still consume news, but that ease of access in engaging with the medium is critical, marketers and advertisers can craft a more intuitive marketing mix to appeal to this young audience.”

Download the full study here or simply check out our top takeaways from the study below. At the least, you’ll be armed with a few key nuggets that may help you craft effective campaigns in 2013.

1. Millennials feel hyper-connected to both their local neighborhoods as well as to the world at large.
2. They are proud of their ethnic heritages. About 62% of Millennials say that their cultural/ethnic heritage is an important part of who they are.
3. Millennials spend just over 82 minutes a day on social networking activities.
4. Millennials are the first generation for whom mobile phones have always been a part of life.
5. They want the news to come to them. Millennials are 53% more likely than all U.S. adults to feel that social media sites are very important for finding info about news and current events.
6. Digital media is a part of how they consume television. Millennials are 86% more likely to have listened to radio online and nearly twice as likely to have watched or downloaded TV programs online.

How are you reaching Millennials? Maybe through social media ads or messages specifically targeted based on their attitudes?

Gain an understanding of the marketing trends driving one of the highest spending sectors in the media landscape. Over the past dozen years, financial services companies have pursued new innovations and aggressive marketing campaigns to combat a recession and historical financial crisis. Confronted with increased competition, federal regulation, and turbulent market conditions, these marketers have adapted their strategies and messaging to echo the realities faced by millions of Americans today.

Topics covered will include:

• Ad spend breakdown by advertiser, category, and media (Syndicated, Network, Cable & Spot TV; Newspapers; Magazines: Radio: Outdoor) 
• Overview of financial services marketing by category, including insurance, consumer banking, credit card, and investment & retirement products
• Best practices for television advertising, digital marketing, and creative messaging

Presenters: 

• Richard Fielding - Chief Client Officer, Kantar Media North America
• Julie Liesse - Reporter, Advertising Age

Financial Services: Navigating Rough Seas

Thursday, October 25, 2012 • 12:00 - 1:00PM ET

Register today!

Newspaper media advertising continues to be at the heart of local market media plans, but the landscape changes quickly and can be hard to keep up with. Whether you are basing your analyses on Metros, Micros or DMAs, Circulation 2013 from SRDS (available this month) provides an in-depth view of which newspapers papers circulate in each area, with updated circulation and market data.

Our friends at San Diego State University just put together this awesome video, showing how to access and use Local Market Audience Analyst. 

SRDS Local Market Audience Analyst™ (LMAA) is an online consumer market research and demographics service from SRDS (in collaboration with Nielsen), built to provide sophisticated demographic, segmentation and targeting data for media planners and consumer marketers. It's also used every day by our wonderful university and library clients across the country.

The access instructions are specific to their institution, but the rest of the walkthrough is applicable to any LMAA user, whether you're a fresh-eyed student or grizzled brand marketer.

Our thanks to Brittany Cronin and the SDSU Tutorial Development Team. We love seeing SRDS services in action!

According to a historical analysis of MRI data by Condé Nast, some print properties are more popular than ever among the highly desirable young demographics.

Categories showing increased young readers:

• Fashion & beauty
• Men’s
• Celebrity
• Health
• Upscale lifestyle

According to the Audience Development website:

For epicurean, travel and upscale lifestyle magazines, the gross audience of people 18-24 has seen its index jump from about 11 in 1991 to almost 25 in 2011. The index for shelter magazines has dropped for that age group—going from 13 in 1991, to about 17 in 2001, to just over 10 in 2011.

Across the 190 magazines measured, "the average decline in total print audience ratings was 1.7 percent—37 percent of the magazines showed increased audiences, and 63 percent showed declines."

Read more about it at Audience Development or from Adweek.

If you're even a little bit interested in consumer magazine advertising and consumer demographics, you should make sure you take some time to explore MPA's Magazine Media Factbook.

Billed by MPA as a "comprehensive guide of magazine media facts for advertisers, advertising agencies, media planners and consumer magazine marketers," it's full of great tidbits on the value of magazine media to include in your client presentations.

Here are some of the takeaways I found most intriguing.

Magazine media audiences are growing and young adults read heavily

• Adults under 35 years old read more issues per month than adults over 35. 93% of adults overall, 96% of adults under age 35, and 97% of adults under age 24 read magazines.
• The number of magazine readers has grown over the past five years

Magazine readers are the least likely of all media users to engage in other non-media activities while reading

Magazines readers appear more highly engaged while they read, as a consequence of the medium itself. When consumers read magazines, they are much less likely to engage in other media. For instance, only 21% watch television while reading a magazine.

Have you checked out the factbook?

Did any of the statistics surprise you? What will you show your clients?

Today marks the release of the BrandZ™ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands for 2012 from Millward Brown.

This year's report highlights the continuing impact of a sluggish economy, the importance of tech, and the growing power of emerging markets.

Here are a few quick glimpses at the data:

• Strong brands outperform the S&P 500. Since 2006, the S&P grew only 4.5 percent, compared to the BrandZ™ portfolio which appreciated 46.3 percent. 
• No surprise that Facebook was the fastest growing brand of 2011. More interesting were luxury brands (like Hermès and Rolex)that showed huge growth despite the still-sluggish economy.
• Technology brands were dominant. Apple, IBM, Google, and Microsoft occupied four of the top five positions (with McDonald’s as the non-tech exception in the top five).
• The three categories that grew most in brand value—luxury, fast food and apparel—revealed an underlying toward considered, rather than conspicuous, consumerism.

The Pitch is a reality series about advertising agencies competing against each other for new business. The draw is that we consumers all want a glimpse into the real happenings behind the ads we see. It begins with two firms pitching ideas to Subway executives.

SPOILER ALERT: this post discusses AMC's The Pitch season 1, episode 1.

The two competitors, while both fierce and hungry, immediately come across as different in how they operate and approach winning the business.

Right out of the gate Tracy Wong, Founding Partner, WDCW in Los Angeles, makes it clear how this world isn’t kind to advertising agencies by explaining that “You start clawing, scratching, swimming – that’s what you do.”

The stage is set by Wong leaving a generic motel room. Ah, the joy of business travel, I recognize that. 

Next we have the pleasure of meeting the competition. In a rented van, we meet Liz Paradise, Creative Director, McKinney Advertising in North Carolina. “Here we are” Liz says in a singsong voice along with a friendly smile that is sharp as a razor’s edge. A piece of business is up for grabs and she’s in it to win it. Liz explains “Every ad agency in America wants to be invited to that process, to win that piece of business. We are competitive.” The desire to be the winning team is clearly huge, especially coming from her dead-on serious face.

The process begins with a briefing for the two agencies at Subway’s Headquarters in Milford, CT. We hear things like, “Here they come. Well, this won’t be too awkward” from McKinney. Wired Wong (nicknamed with love for his ferocious passion) shares, “Shoot, how are you going win an account? You gotta to slug it out in the gladiator arena with all these other naked, glistening, sword-wielding agencies.” Now that’s a visual I can't get out of my head easily.

The battle starts with modern day posturing. You see handshaking and smiles, but like Eminem said “You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow – this opportunity comes once in a lifetime.”

You might think WDCW has an edge because of their work with Quizno’s, but only until Subway’s CMO expresses how completely unimpressed he was with that work. The balloon is burst, but don’t worry, that only makes Wired Wong stronger.

McKinney is a medium-sized agency that exudes a formidable, yet tamed passion, perhaps due to Liz Paradise’s viewpoint that McKinney has a “Southern gentility that has washed into the culture of the agency.” They talk a bit about how people in the south are more accepting, and I couldn’t help but notice, painted on a blood red wall, is what must be a company value: LISTEN, PROVOKE, LOVE, SIMPLIFY, BELIEVE.  

Both agencies are ready for the first step, the briefing and Paradise says it best: “When the CMO talks you shut up and listen.”

The Subway team enters the room, led by marketing veteran, Tony Pace, Chief Marketing Officer. Tony details the specific goal: a new assignment for breakfast. The Subway breakfast initiative launched in April 2010 and now they want to take it to the next level by focusing on a single demographic, people 18-24. Tony makes it clear he doesn’t want to see “SOS” (aka “Save on Subway”). The Pitches must include something they’ve never seen before.  

Next, each agency brainstorms.

WDCW narrows it down to two ideas. First is Greasy Town. Yep, I just said Greasy Town. It’s about one guy who’s not going to take it anymore. He drives with conviction in his heart that people deserve a better breakfast. Greasy Town? Ick.

The second is a play on Zombies. This concept is all about zAMbies that mimic the walking dead until they get a Subway breakfast Sandwich. Sorry folks, I couldn’t think of a different descriptor than how they were portrayed – which is a take on another AMC show The Walking Dead series. Wonky Wong feels that it’s nonsensical so the zAMbie idea could work.

Over at McKinney, a breakfast matchmaker is kiboshed ASAP, as well as an idea involving a dead body (wow, mornings really are viewed as a time of coming back to life!). We hear other ideas including sandwiches as art and something about cheerleaders until the room is silenced with “Is that all you got?”

Finally, McKinney lands on two strong ideas to bring to Subway. The first idea is tied to a theme of "Let’s Fix Breakfast!" and involves a talk show that depicts a Subway Sandwich as king. The king lords it over cheesy breakfast competitors like energy drinks, bearclaws, and other non-fresh on-the-go breakfast items.

The second idea is Freestyle Breakfast. McKinney finds Mac Lethal, a breakfast rapper with rapidly growing YouTube views. They snap him up, then create a video at a Subway that's a step up from YouTube, and build creative around it.

Both teams are taking huge risks and they know it. WDCW’s zAMbie concept is unlike anything they’ve ever done. It includes a very annoying commercial that hurt my ears. However, their passion for it is so strong it won me over just like the Meatloaf song, I Would Do Anything For Love. Yep, their passion for zAMbie is that powerful.

McKinney loves the Mac Lethal rap, however it creates a conundrum because they must work backwards to create advertising from the rap. There’s some very healthy dialog between McKinney team members. The younger team wants to focus on the rapper and the veteran team reminds them that at the end of the day it must be about the product. This raises a compelling generational viewpoint. A younger McKinney writer makes the excellent point that she doesn’t want the ad to scream "commercial" or force the message. She doesn’t waiver while going head-to-head with someone that could probably get her fired. She holds strong to her viewpoint, and I give her kudos for it.

It’s execution time…

The final 12 hours…the not-so-glamorous business trip begins for both teams as they show up in their Sunday best.

McKinney starts the pitch with “Let’s Fix Breakfast” and “Freestyle Breakfast.”

The Let’s Fix Breakfast idea is described as a talk show hosted by Subway breakfast sandwiches and an audience comprised of Subway breakfast sandwiches.

Subway looks unimpressed. Steely silence fills the room. So McKinney moves on to the second strategy – Mac Lethal. They run the Freestyle video. Smiles breakout amongst the Subway team…there’s even a few chuckles. Heads are nodding up and down. Mac Lethal delivers an impromptu rap in-person and everyone claps – as if it were Glee!

Now WDCW is up and they launch into a description of Breakfast Zombies…now called zAMbies. They display the incredibly bold creative as well as an extremely loud commercial. It caught the attention of Subway execs who smiled and laughed.

Finally, it comes down to decision time.

Subway execs appreciate the robotic creative such as the No Be zAMbie tagline, but raise the question of how it fits with the brand.

The conversation moves to McKinney, who thought they  had a strong strategic starting point. Subway felt McKinney understood the challenge and translated it very well with insights into the creative.

But this is no easy decision. Subway can’t ignore that WDCW grasped the 18-24 target language and culture. Subway VP, Suzanne Greco, commented that neither agency delivered on the appetite appeal, making the food look so good that everyone wants to rush into Subway for a breakfast sandwich.  

Stomachs are churning with anxiety for both teams, and viewers as we wait for the final decision.

Subway execs come out and share that sometimes it comes down to a narrow margin, however the win goes to McKinney! Immediately, Liz Paradise takes a moment to recognize her team as the backbone of the win – well done Liz.

Tracy Wong stresses that WCDW believes in focusing on form and process. They are an agency that believes in sticking to passion and conviction, not about winning or losing. It’s clear they are a group with cutting-edge ideas.

The show fades with McKinney celebrating a very big win! High fives, cheers, hugs and tears! The joy of teamwork wins the challenge of the Subway breakfast sandwich!

I've been part of new business pitches on both the client and agency side. You're part of pitches, or seeing it around you in your agency.

• Do you think the show honestly captured the process?
• Was it more reality or show?
• Does it have an audience beyond us agency / media geeks?

I'm going to keep watching and decide. Let me know what you think.