February 1, 2006

Getting Ready for Super Sunday

A year after Last Year's Super Sunday, they're still talking about the spots. I just read that GoDaddy.com - which was ridiculed for stepping up to buy TWO spots in last year's Super Bowl - ended up having the last laugh. By April, the company had passed Network Solutions to become the web's leading domain-name registrar.

GoDaddy banked on the fact that their exposure ran way beyond the 30-seconds of airtime. After all, Super Bowl spots are replayed, talked about, written about and highlighted for weeks after the game in all kinds of media.

Equally important is the fact that there is probably no better way to optimize reach than through Super Bowl advertising. How else can you get the attention of such a sizeable audience in one shot? No way.

This year, experts estimate that half the Super Bowl audience will be women. So we'll be seeing ads for products that appeal principally to women (such as Dove soap). And we'll be seeing even better rings at the register after the Super Bowl, since women control 80% of the purchases in this country.

It's just so darn difficult to reach a lot of people all at once. The Super Bowl is solution number one.

RFID = BIG (as in "Brother"?)

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) has been getting a lot of play...especially in our security-conscious society.

A new application of the technology enables companies with in-store displays to use radio frequencies to monitor those displays. Are the displays on the floor? Are they in the right aisle? What sales are being generated?

For companies that want to assure that their displays are properly placed and measure that placement against sales, this is big news.

For privacy advocates, concerned that the data will be used in frequent shopper profiles, this is Big Brother.

Fact is...it's now possible to attach small sensors to shopping carts so we can trace each shopper's path and pace through the store...which aisles did they go down, which products did they stop and look at, and for how long? And, ultimately, what did they buy?

The information is virtually endless, as is the opportunity to put it to good use.

Is there a point at which customers will balk and say, "Hey, you know too much about me. Get out of my life!"

I'm not sure...after all, the more we know about our customers, the better we can serve them. Right?

And why weren't people more upset with the story that anyone's cell phone records can be purchased for less than $200?