A weekly digest of the most important stories and ideas in advertising and media, from our colleagues at Marketing
Other items of note from Marketing:
Google released the list of the top 10 most-watched YouTube ads of 2014, including spots by TD Bank, Budweiser, Dove, and since this is the Internet and you can’t lose with cats, Purina. One interesting takeaway from the list is that the traditional 30-second spot doesn’t really work on the web: “Transplanting a 30-second ad from TV isn’t what resonates with Canadians online. The average length of a video on the top ten is a whopping 2:39.” That’s an opportunity for brands to hold viewers’ attention longer, but only if they have a captivating concept that people are actually interested in.
See the complete list of Canada’s Top 10 YouTube ads of 2014 »
Brands should look at the possibilities of advertising to “forgotten demographic” Generation X, argues Weber Shandwick Canada president Greg Power:
They were labelled Generation X — children born between 1965 and 1980 — and while they may not be a marketer’s bulls-eye, the first wave of them will be turning fifty years old in 2015, and it’s a milestone not to be missed. […]
[N]ew research by Weber Shandwick in the U.S. has brought Generation X to the fore as a forgotten demographic in a communications industry still tailored to millennials and boomers. We found that the latest recession hit them hard — the hardest of all demographics — and as a result, in the years when they should be in peak accumulation, they’re struggling to reach their savings goals. They represent a wealth segment of $3.9 trillion in the U.S., and as they approach retirement, they are looking for help from financial services providers to resolve their uncertainty about the coming years, an uncertainty that includes concern about their long-term health.
And therein lies an opportunity for everyone.
Read the rest at MarketingMag.ca »
Finally, outdoorsy retailer MEC has debuted a Santa-esque character—bearded, dressed in red, riding a bike—named “Nick” to provide sporty gift-giving ideas. “I ride with raingear, not reindeer. I run on streets, not milk and cookies,” he says.
