The Marketing Debate - Internet Marketing and Online Advertising » Search Marketing

Tamar expose World Cup sponsors for scoring own goals in search – then score one themselves

mattbrocklehurst — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 20:16:04 +0000

Tamar, the search agency, got some great publicity last week with their report highlighting the lack of paid search ads on World Cup terms by the sponsors of the tournament. Shame, then, that Tamar themselves are also guilty of neglecting paid search to make the most of this publicity.

The report is a great marketing idea. It looks at how World Cup sponsors such as Adidas, Sony and Coca Cola are not yet placing paid ads against terms such as “world cup 2010” and “soccer world cup”.

Indeed days after the report hit the press, they’re still not. See below screenshot.

This is a missing an open goal. These brands are spending tens of millions of pounds on the actual sponsorship and search would be a highly effective way to leverage the association with the tournament. They’ve got the websites crying out for traffic. Take CokeZone – below – for example.

Curiously even the PPC ads that Coca Cola do run on terms such as “coca cola world cup 2010” link to a pretty confusing blog page when the above would seem a better landing page.

For highlighting the missed opportunities by the World Cup sponsors, it’s definitely top marks to Tamar. It got them some outstanding PR including the Guardian and is a probable door opener to talk to the sponsor brands, and other brands, on their search strategies.

My one gripe is that when I search on Google for the report, using the obvious terms such as “Tamar search marketing world cup report”, not only did the agency not appear in the organic listing they were nowhere to be seen in the paid listings either. Their competitors are though. See the below screen shot.

A bit like a football commentator berating a player in the premiership for scoring an own goal then turning up for his Sunday morning team and doing the exact same thing.

Can Google predict who will win the Premiership?

mattbrocklehurst — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 19:41:21 +0000

Google Suggest, you know the popular terms that appear under the search box as you type, is a nice tool for users but can it be used to help marketers understand customers and gain insight into the fortunes of brands. I thought I’d have a look at England’s top football brands and, for a bit of fun, see if Google Suggest can shed any light on the premiership race.

First, let’s get a clear understanding of what Google Suggest does and how it operates. By suggesting phrases as the user types, it gives a short cut to save typing out the whole phrase. It may even change the user’s mind by showing a more interesting area to search on. It also provides entertaining insight into what the nation currently cares about. Typing the simple word “is”, for example, produces “is Lady Gaga a man”, “is Louis Walsh married” and “is Cheryl Cole pregnant”. This is what the UK cares about in Jan 2010 apparently!

So how does it work? What determines what phrases appear? Google last month clarified for Search Engine Land that:

“Google suggestions are based on aggregate data including popular searches that have been entered on Google over time. In addition, Toolbar shows queries that a user has typed before, which are retained on the user’s machine.”

Not exactly a scientific definition but it confirms that Google Suggest is a barometer on what people are searching on. You do, though, have to bear in mind results are skewed if you’ve searched previously on the term. It’s reasonable to assume that the terms that appear higher up the list are the ones that Google think are the most likely to “fit” your search and by extension are currently the most popular.

Let’s look at the current suggestions on, arguably, the five most talked about football teams in England: Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool. I’ve not previously searched on these terms and I have no allegiance so please no allegations of twisting the results.

Starting with the cash rich Manchester City, it’s of little surprise that the suggestions are dominated by questions surrounding who they will buy. Interestingly, for City there are no suggestions on winning the league just yet.

In fact, the only club where winning the league is the top suggestion is Arsenal. The Gunners also get the rather desperate “will arsenal sign anyone”. Both suggestions are a telling reflection on the pent-up frustration for Arsenal fans of trophy-less years and limited big name signings.

Chelsea, on the other hand, have two players firmly in the collective consciousness: Aguero and Ribery.

The Google suggestions for “Will Liverpool…” offers a mixed bag very much representative of the troubles tormenting the club and its supporters. They are the only club of the five where the sacking of the manager, Benitez, and selling the star player, Torres, feature. On the bright side there is considerable interest in them winning the Europa Cup. Maybe it’s not such a lame duck competition as is commonly thought. It seems to matter to a large amount of fans. A little good news then for the club and its marketing dept.

The most interesting results are for Manchester United. Again it’s a mixed bag. Who’d have thought a few months ago that “will Manchester United go bust” would feature but this worrying dent to the global brand perception is there for all to see. They could earn some extra cash, judging by the suggestions, from a tour to the USA so it’s not all bad news.

On the subject of international interest, by using another Google tool, Insights for Search, we can see there is a massive interest in these clubs – but not Manchester City yet – in Africa and Asia. Arsenal, over the last 90 days, has enjoyed the highest interest levels, particularly in Kenya. Football’s marketers should explore more with this tool and cross reference with merchandise sales to see any opportunities there.

Search tools are undoubtedly a valuable resource for marketers seeking to gain a better understanding of their customers. While Google Suggest is not by any means comprehensive or in-depth it does provide quick and powerful illustration of what’s on people’s minds and highlights areas for further research. No, it can’t tell us who will win the Premiership! But you can argue that winning the Premiership matters most to Arsenal fans – from North London to Nigeria. And they want to sign anyone to help them do that. Well, to be fair, probably not anyone. I doubt they’d want Lady Gaga even if she might be a man!

Marketing success is simples for Compare the Market in 2010 with Orlov and meerkats

mattbrocklehurst — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 20:17:58 +0000

New year, new chapter in the financial services comparison sites battle and the meerkat campaign, with its new ad, looks like its going from strength to strength. Some creative types may call it cheesy. Some online marketers may squirm at its lack of a call to action and question the ROI. In my book it’s a winner.

Though the new “journey of the courageousness” ad out last week seems a little laboured – I prefer the trailer – the campaign continues to fire across all channels, traditional and online, and this is what makes it so powerful. That and, similar to the Cadbury’s gorilla, people just love Aleksandr (okay cards on the table: so do!).

Search on “compare the meerkat” and you’ll see PPC ads referencing the meerkat not just from Compare the Market but from competitor Confused.com. The organic results positively bloom with all things Orlov with varied listings for the spoof site and YouTube videos.

Search was actually instrumental in the evolution of the Meerkat and Aleksandr Orlov campaign.

The meerkat campaign began as a reaction to the difficulty in getting people to differentiate between “compare” brands. Compare the Market ads were being confused with Go Compare and vice versa. The focus was therefore on “market”. The Meerkat campaign initially had a mixed reaction. The play on words evoked a groan but not much warmth. However there were pluses online. People liked to literally compare meerkats on the spoof site . On PPC ads the keyword “meerkat” was coming in low at 5p compared to £5 for “market”. Building on the meerkat site interaction and exploiting the cheap keyword, Aleksandr Orlov hits all the right notes. A cuddly, funny character, he is popular and crucially is, or certainly was, different in what is a very competitive market. There is little to choose between the comparison engines. They all save the consumer money, they all save us hours and they all make it so much easier then it was before.

But only Compare the Market has Aleksandr Orlov and boy are they making him work for them.

Hitwise last year reported a 75 per cent increase in traffic market share for Compare the Market. Orlov’s Facebook profile has, at time of writing, 637,843 fans, who were the first to see the previous ad that contributed to a 400% increase in visitors to the Compare the Market site last year. The word “Simples”, the catch-phrase of Orlov, is now so popular it could be accepted into the Oxford English Dictionary according to The Sun no less. If you want to buy the talking toy (limited edition of 5000 sold at Harrods) it’s going for £350 on eBay. He has 36,000+ followers on Twitter and he’s following 33,000. A Flickr gallery is devoted to him and his relatives. I did a search on ITunes for comedy podcasts to subscribe to this year. Guess who appeared in the top results? Aleksandr Orlov. I subscribed and it’s pretty good – even an interview with David Hasselhoff – with not one mention of Compare the Market. It’s all the stronger for it. They don’t need a Call To Action. It’s a brand play and whether online or on telly it works just fine. He and they are now in my head.

Some marketers, notably from competitors to Compare the Market, argue that this brand building may not be converting into sales. Interesting, then, that Admiral, owner of confused.com, referenced the meerkat when explaining disappointing results. We’re now seeing a GoCompare Opera singer and a Haggling Omar Djalili of MoneySupermarket. I wonder whether they’ll find success so simples.

Orlov Toy - no call to action in sight