Leadpile’s Blog

Creativity is not something that everyone has the ability to express, it takes a certain “breed” of people to be able to come up with the ideas and works of art that the rest of us often times look at with amazement, wondering “why didn’t I think of that”?

A creative mind and ability to market can be truly valuable and pay off for some lucky people and companies!

According to Entrepreneur.com here are few of the 10 of the most brilliant marketing ideas:

- “Danicing in the Tube” – an ad for T-mobile featuring flash mobs in the middle of a London Tube station. This YouTube video has received tens of millions of page views.

- “The Coke geyser” – The YouTube video of mentos being dropped into a 2-liter bottle of Diet Coke. Record numbers of people viewed this on the internet, and sales of Mentos and Coke went up much higher.

- “Does she…or doesn’t she?” – Clairol’s series of ads for hair tints and dyes asking the question and making you wonder “does she….or doesn’t she??

- “Marlboro Man” – Marlboro originally marketed to women introduced the American cowboy in an effort to grab more of the market. The ads made Marlboro the bestselling cigarette in the world!

- “A diamond is forever” – De Beers mining company promoted the “requirement “of a diamond for marriage and attached the two months’ salary spending rule with it.

To come up with an icon or phrase that everyone recognizes and last forever is something that is truly amazing and inspiring!

The last person I would have imagined who would be an advocate of social media is the Pope. I have to say hearing this on the news briefly made me want to know more. After searching the net, it seems this story is in fact true. The Pope thinks that Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube is a great way to spread a message. If you are maybe a company where there is some resistance to joining the social media buzz, you might want to reevaluate that decision. PCW Magazine is saying that in the Pope’s “message”, he acknowledges the new technologies our world is having available, so one must use these resources to spread the word. I guess religious or not, you might want to take the Pope’s advice, and that is utilize social media to spread “your” word.

Those five words seem to be to most said that day after the Super Bowl. It seems as if people are more interested in watching the new television ads rather than the actual Superbowl (unless your team is playing or you have money riding on it, of course!). This year does not seem as if it is going to be any different. According to a Nielsen survey, 51 percent of viewers are more interested in watching the Super Bowl for its ads, rather than the actual game. The survey also shows that viewers are more likely to remember the ads that are shown in the first quarter rather then the second, third, and fourth (the fourth having the least recall, only at 25 percent). Most of the ads that show in the fourth quarter tend to have similar ratings to a regular television commercial.
So how much cash is being shelled out this year? For a thirty second spot, it will cost an advertiser three million dollars. When spending that type of money for such a short period of time, advertisers are trying harder than ever to make sure that their commercials are remembered. Companies such has Papa Johns got creative by taking this years Super Bowls roman numeral and turning it in to a new pizza offer. Super Bowl XLIV will now be a Papa Johns Xtra Large four(IV) topping pizza. Boost Mobile is giving consumers a sneak peak of their ad on YouTube, for hopes that it will create excitement and buzz before it is aired during the game. Brands are also trying to use social media more for their Super Bowl advertising. Marketers are realizing that social networks is a great way to have people buzz about a product and get the word around.
It is interesting how on a daily basis so many of us will skip through the commercials, but for the Super Bowl we sit down to watch them. Some of the big players that you will see this year will be Frito-Lay, Boost Mobile, Diamond Foods, and many more. It is very important that brands are taking the time to make sure that they are remembered and are coming up with new and creative way to advertise. LeadPile has also been working hard to create new successful offers, however unfortunately we will be sitting this one out with advertising during the Super Bowl. Wishful thinking uh?
Now the only real question is, are you going to be watching it for the game, or the commercials?

In the last year or so we have talked about the controversy over China blocking certain websites from being viewed by the Chinese residents. Unfortunately, it seems there might be another website “victim” being added to this now long list – Wired.com. There doesn’t seem to be any common factor involved in the websites that this country continues to block, except for the fact that these sites are too dangerous. Currently, the sites blocked are: YouTube, Facebook, the BBC, Wikipedia, Google and a movie information site called IMBD. So does this sort of restriction prevent affiliate marketing from happening in China? Many use some of the banned sites as a source for traffic and some are even working with Leadpile……and WHAT is so “dangerous” about Google? I don’t get it! What will be next?

In years past YouTube tried to roll out in-stream ads (in 1997), however the acceptance of it did not go to well with viewers. Time has past and there are other sites that have incorporates such ads, so YouTube is now looking at taking another stab at it. It makes sense because YouTube is utilized by so many people in so many ways, that incorporating some sort of ads had to become part the of “YouTube Revolution”. The good thing about what YouTube is doing, is that they are creating these ads that are actually able to be skipped. However, what they are finding is that if you have a short 15 second ad, more people are not “skipping” over the ad. This is great news for the advertiser trying to get their ads played. Maybe the future of high priced Super Bowl ads will continue on from our televisions to our computers?
Leadpile has incorporated YouTube into our marketing efforts to help get our name out there, and we can certainly see a potential with bringing in ads to these videos. YouTube has to learn to make money, so what other options do they have but to look at cashing in on all the eyes they have on their videos? I think it is a good marketing idea…..

We all know the importance of the internet in all of our lives, however there are some things that will go down in history. It’s like when a baby does little steps, talks, goes to school etc, you want to know what led up to that child to become who they are today. The internet is our world’s little baby!
11 Points.com points out some very interesting facts about “our” internet:

1. The first image posted on the internet was in 1992. This image was a random picture of 4 women.
2. The first email sent was back in 1971 by a programmer named Ray Tomlinson.
3. The first spam email to go out was in 1978 by a company called DEC (which is no longer in business).
4. The first banner ad was created by AT&T in 1994.
5. The first item sold on eBay was a broken laser point in 1995.
6. The first Tweet was performed by one of the founders of Twitter back in 2006.
7. The first search engine (called Archie) was created back in 1990.
8. The first domain name registered (symbolics.com) was in 1985.
9. The first YouTube video was created in 1995.
10.The first pornographic website registered was in 1994.

No matter how involved you are in the internet today, there is a deep history involved in what happened in previous years to create what we all call the internet today. I can’t wait to see the new list of “first” in 5-10 more years……… It’s such a big beast with so MUCH more potential!

How could we all not forget the YouTube Video that generated some massive buzz for Britain’s Got Talent singer Susan Boyle? She became an overnight sensation all over the world! Well move over Susan because now a new YouTube video is bringing some buzz for Microsoft. A crazy stunt type video recently came out and just seemed impossible to be true, but it generated 1.4 million + views already. After digging and digging it was discovered that this hard to believe video was in fact bogus. Some great video editing allowed this video to be made into something that looked real, but ended up being discovered that it was in fact the work of some “creative” editing. It seems that Microsoft Germany had not planned on this video getting the type of buzz it ended getting, but thanks to Twitter, YouTube users and other news outlets it did!
YouTube and other social networking sites are a great place to get some attention for your company. Leadpile uses YouTube to create a place for the social networking site’s users to learn about our company. If this is not something that you are currently not using as a source of getting your name out there, I would recommend it. Look how much attention this most recent YouTube video brought to Microsoft? The power of YouTube is priceless!

Do you ever wonder how the online experience will change over the years?  Well, to look forward, perhaps we should look backward.  Do you remember how you spent your time online just over a decade ago?  You probably started by firing up your modem, and going to your AOL account.  If you ventured away from AOL, you would use Internet Explorer (maybe Netscape) to explore a few sites. Remember, you were paying by the hour, so you didn’t stay online very long, and you were tying up a phone line.  Also, it took forever for pages to load, so it wasn’t very easy to move around.

Americans with internet access were spending less than 30 minutes a month online just 13 years ago.  Today, it is estimated that people spend over 27 hours a month online.  There was no Google, and YouTube was still years away.  The Web was completely different back then, and to predict what the future will look like is difficult.  The safe guess is that we will be spending more time online, but how will the experience change?

According to emarketer.com, 2009 is going to be the year of spending advertising dollars on online video.

US marketers responded on how they plan to spend their 2009 online marketing budgets.

Of the people surveyed, here is who plans on spending their budgets on what:

1.  Online video  (66.8%)

2.  Social media   (41.6%)

3.  Search    (34.1%)

4.  Podcasts/webcasts (32%)

5.  Rich media  (30.5%)

6.  Banner ads   (22.8%)

7.  Mobile  (17.4%)

8.  Other   (6.8%)

This shows that more than two-thirds of respondents said they would focus their budgets on online video in 2009. According to the article, “eMarketer estimates that spending on online video advertising will grow to $4.6 billion in 2013, representing a more than sevenfold increase from the $587 million spent on the format in 2008.”  Therefore, if you are not planning on doing any online video with your marketing campaigns, you might want to at least entertain the idea.  Leadpile Lead exchange is utilizing online video to educate the public on Leadpile. Take a look in YouTube and see for yourself. How will you try and utilize online video to help promote your company?  Time to start thinking about that.

First, I would like to say congratulations to our next president of the United States. No matter who everyone voted for, we are all keeping an eye on how the future of our struggling America pans out.  Secondly, there was something that America should really pay attention to, and that is an amazing effect the internet had on the election of our 44th president.
The internet AND social networking tools contributed to the Barack Obama being elected. According to businessstandard.com,“Obama, on his part, has refined the digital act further — a fact revealed during his presidential announcement speech in Springfield last October when he said: “Let us be the generation that reshapes our economy to compete in the digital age…” A few examples of this being implemented, was in the case where almost 300,000 people created accounts on the barackobama.com website, he became the first YouTube politician, got involved on Facebook, MySpace, text messaging and all other avenues of the internet for fund raising and party awareness.
Another interesting aspect in this presidential campaign was, “Obama has proposed the creation of the nation’s first Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to ensure that the American government and all its agencies have the right infrastructure, policies and services for the 21st century. The CTO will have a specific focus on transparency, by ensuring that each arm of the federal government makes its records open and accessible as the e-government Act requires. The CTO will also ensure technological interoperability of key government functions”, according to Business Standard.
No matter who was elected, the excitement of the internet and the power it can have also excited Leadpile Lead Exchange. We are in it for the long hall on wherever this great internet craze LEADS us!

There is generation “X” and baby boomers that we all hear about, however have you ever heard of Generation “V”? Generation V is the generation of the future… the generation that is dealing with online EVERYTHING. Unlike the other generations, Generation V is not defined by an age, gender, social class or where they live. However, this generation is based on what they can and have achieved, accomplishments, and an increasing desire for the use of digital media channels to discover information and build knowledge. If you are a company that is not online… you better be soon!
According to marketingcharts.com, 80% of generation V will be “lurkers”. These are people that will reap the rewards of the online world. Others are trying to be apart of the online world by participating in the activites such as blog posts, forums, and YouTube. Those is previous years did not do such things to keep an online presence, however this is something that companies need to take a look at when dealing with how they market their company online. Defined demographics of consumers are a way of the past, because it is getting harder and harder to determine those that are online and buying the product.
Companies must change around how their online presence is represented, because so many people are using the internet as their only source for information and other key aspects to their daily lives. Why is it though that many create accounts in places such as dating sites, email providers and blogs, that is not themselves (anonymous)? Are they trying to protect themselves from people knowing who they really are? Not sure on why Generation V does this, but we will see how much more the online world really affects various things such as retail, dating, lead generation and other up and coming industries.
I have to say the publishers I work with in the Leadpile Lead Exchange are mostly going to be considered Genration V. These are people that live, breath and do everything around the internet.
We welcome all generations to our marketplace, but I have a feeling there will be much more Generation V making up the Leadpile Lead Exchange!

When I think of Sears, I think about hardware stores my grandpa and dad used to go to to get that new tool. However, over the years Sears has evolved into a store for more than just tools. No, REALLY! Trendy clothing lines, jewelry, and other non household items has turned Sears into a place all of us can shop at.

According to DMNews, Sears is now going to do some marketing in some social networking sites. They are looking to places like YouTube, Facebook and Myspace as a means to generate interest with the tween (for those of you out of the “loop”, Tween age is between childhood and teenage years) population.

This online marketing campaign is Sears trying to bring in some interest in their back-to-school website arrivelounge.com. There goes the days of Sears in 1886 when they sold watches as a mail order company. Times sure have changed, but I give credit to Sears for realizing that they need to continue to adapt to what is going on in the “world”, in order to stay a store people of all ages shop at.

This just goes to show you, if you want to survive and stay in business- you MUST be open to revising your current business plans, and be open to new ways of running your business. I can guarantee Richard Sears could have never imagined his company marketing to tweeners on social networking sites….social networking WHAT????????