Forgotten your wallet? I have an app for that....

The era is nearly upon us where here in the UK, we will be able to pay for goods using our mobile phone! The technology has already hit america and is proving to be a success - the technology used is the same as the Barclay's pass card, where you can pay just by swiping your card.

The proposal is that the your mobile phone will have the details of your bank card(s), which to access you need to type in your pin code, then you swipe your mobile across a machine (similar to that of an oyster), which then deducts money from your account... crazy eh?

At first this screams SECURITY ISSUES!  and WHAT IF I LOSE MY PHONE? - all very good questions. The security however, will not be any different from internet banking/shopping as you still need to enter your pin code to access it. However, if you lose your phone, well you better hope you have your bank card on you (thus slightly defeating the point of it in the first place). however, people are convinced this will revolutionise how we use our phones and access our money - digitalisation as we know it - no need for individual tangible items, you can have it all on your one phone!

It will be interesting to see how this takes off in the UK as English culture is quite different to that of the US and not as open to everything (especially outside of London). It has sparked questions in my mind, would I use it? - Probably, if everyone else used it and it seemed to enhance my lifestyle. Surely, though, this is for people trying to shave milliseconds in every action they do in order to save time within their horrendously busy lifestyle - is anyone really that busy?


Anyway, thought I would forewarn you of the future if you did not already know....

See life in 3D....

I have not blogged in a while as work has seem to of consumed my life.... however, I have been learning a few things along the way which I shall be sharing....

The cinematic experience is revolutionising...... the experience is becoming much more exciting and involved as 3D technology gets better and better. Is cinema, though, at the forefront of buyers and clients minds? Cinema advertising has gone from strength to strength with 2010 being one of the strongest years for cinema yet - with 2011 proving to be another great year. As a result there are big expectations for 2012, which by looking at the 2012 line-up, they might not be wrong!


Cinema poses a good argument when it comes to media planning; they have the audience in the right frame of mind - whereby they are fully engaged and susceptible to the advertising they are played;

There is also very low ad-avoidance - people do not tend to leave the cinema after they have seated, and a lot of people turn-up 20 mins before the cinema show, meaning they are present for almost 80% of the ads shown to them. In comparison to other mediums it (obviously) shows the lowest in ad-avoidance; 

In fact, 3.3. million people visit the cinema every week, with 39% of people going more than once a month. usually they attend, on average, in groups of 3. This means that as the ratings of cinema advertising is based on admissions, this could mean some juicy viewing numbers of your target audience. Saying this, you can be very specific in your targeting through choosing specific films to advertise in, by buying certain 'film packages' - whether its a general all adults package (whereby kids films are excluded) or a male/woman packages.... therefore you are targeting your audience when they are most receptive, most engaged and most relaxed.

Cinema advertising has broken through the boundaries recently in terms of innovation and new creative formats. DCM recently hosted the England rugby final, where they invited all the hardcore England fans to watch the screening of the game in central London in a Vue cinema.... needless to say all cinema etiquette went out the window as screaming fans and booze filled the cinema. The response was epic with everyone saying they loved the experience and would go again. Some advertising has even gone into the cinema seats..... where they had actors within the seats that collaborated with the advert on screen. An example of this was for St john's ambulance, where a family had a child chocking on some food in the advert on screen, then an actor from the audience got up from their seat and shouted 'I'll help her', walked up behind the screen, which the advert then showed the same lady walking into the room on the advert and saving the child's life -  wicked innovative thinking in my eyes. Imagine if that happened in a screening you were sitting in? I would remember that brand for sure.

St John's ambulance on/off screen advertising

Along side the frequency of cinema viewers, there are 550 films released every year (approx 46 per month), leaving many options open for your brand in terms of what content they want to be next to. Since, the introduction of Orange Wednesdays, mid-week cinema viewings has dramatically increased - leaving open the opportunities for advertisers and brand to exploit the high admission numbers that have been proven through-out the year.

If you are wanting a sneak peak for films to come 2012, then check these out;

2012 - the year for cinema advertising!

(Information obtained courtesy of DCM Cinemas)

A published author in our very own adstats magazine!

By Rebeca Gonzalez, MEC

ITV’s current weekend prime-time schedule seems to be a battle of the giants with both X factor and Downton Abbey pulling in 23 million viewers. Downton Abbey first aired on 26^th September 2010 at 9pm on ITV, with an average number of viewers of 10.5 million people in the first series. It’s success confirmed it’s spot for the second series in 2011 which has attracted 11 million viewers since airing. This contrasts to the established X factor, which is now in its 8^th series since airing in September 2004. The show has seen a decline in the last year of 686,564, perhaps due to the dramatic change in the judges panel. Using MediaZ, we can see people perceptions of the programmes and what their attraction to the show is.

MECs MediaZ tool is a study which asks the viewers whether they love/like/dislike various media properties, whether they watch it regularly/occasionally/rarely and what qualities they think exemplifies the properties. These measures can help indicate how people feel about certain shows and give insight as to the cause of their popularity. Using MediaZ we can look at the perceptions and personalities of these two colossal weekend programmes. Two prime-time TV programmes included in wave 3 of MediaZ are X factor and Downton Abbey. Interestingly, despite Downton Abbey’s high popularity, 34% of respondents are not interested (4% above the UK average across all TV programmes) and a further 23% (6% above UK average) have never heard of it or don’t know much about it. However, out of the 22% of viewers who love/like watching Downton Abbey, 90% of them watch it regularly; denoting the loyalty of the viewers and the consistency of the show.  Additionally, the respondents said they regularly/occasionally talk about the programme (26%) as well as recommending it to a friend or family (19%). This suggests the show has characteristics which are regularly talked about (thus increasing interest and viewing numbers) - this is supported by the 1,000 online mentions following episodes 3 and 4, 90% of which were on Twitter.

In contrast, X Factor viewers have more of a ‘take it or leave it’ attitude, whereby more people said they find the show ‘OK’ (22%) or ‘dislike it’ (21%) verses 14% who say they ‘love it’. This attitude has recently developed as in 2009, 22% of the respondents said they loved the show, suggesting it is losing its loyal fans. However, only 3% of the respondents said they had never heard of X factor, showing its huge brand presence and wide target audience compared to the 23% who have not heard of Downton Abbey. Out of the 35% of viewers who either love or like the show, 85% of them said that they watch it regularly, showing that the show has consistent attraction. X factor generally has higher talkability (42%) with 26% of respondents regularly/occassionally recommending it to a friend/family. This could be down to the younger respondents who are more likely to use social media as a source for discussion. The X factor has high online mentions, receiving 35,000 X factor mentions across all social mediums following episodes 12 and 13, 90% of which were also on Twitter).

The MediaZ tool can help personify a show through various traits that the consumer believe it to have. This personification can help distinguish X factor from Downton Abbey and highlight what type of audience would be more likely to watch them. X Factor is perceived by the respondents to be more adventurous (37% vs 15%), fun (76% vs 25%), successful (60% vs 57%) and modern (42% vs 4%). Whereas, Downton Abbey is perceived by their audience to be more creative (53% vs 51%), intelligent (34% vs 4%), trustworthy (40% vs 4%), stylish (57% vs 16%), authentic (55% vs 9%), high quality (74% vs 22%) and friendly (43% vs 22).

As illustrated by the popularity of these two very different programmes, there is no generic solution as to what makes a show popular, this is essentially down to the targeted consumers and how they relate to the show. The programmes are both very different, as represented in the graph below, which adds a spice of variety to the Channel’s prime weekend spots.