Bogdan Gavrila – Core Target

Gabriel Boaca, Sales Director at Intact Interactive, presenting the large banner format as a new trend for Romanian online advertising during the financial crisis:

- increased exposure on the visuals and also better click rates
- large formats proved to be more cost effective than the standard formats (which are well known, with the click rates decreasing every year)
- more space available for product/service description (a big plus on creativity)
- the NEW! factor involved (most of the Romanian websites not using very often these formats, although some publishers are including large ad spaces into their sales offer)

details here…

I liked this particular comment on YouTube:

More like the “big brother” network. I don’t want a phone company that knows what I’m doing every second I’m on their network – I just want good coverage, good bandwidth and no dropped calls. Guess I’ll stick with AT&T.

Then again, maybe this is why I’m still a big fan of T Mobile

Quick notes:

- 20:18:48 – earthquake starts;

- Hotnews is the only website to publish the undocumented news – 20:21 (~2,3 minutes after the earthquake, title “Cutremur in Bucuresti”);

- 20:25 -20:28 – no news on Antena3.ro/Realitatea.net – both websites receive heavy traffic;

- Antena3.ro – 20:29, first documented news;

- Realitatea.net 20:32, first news about the earthquake, heavy traffic, website is down;

- 20:33 – Panic hits Bucharest – main phone lines are down;

Conclusions:

- Hotnews was the first to mention the earthquake while Antena3 is the first channel to provide the official intel in less than 10 minutes. Realitatea.net copied the info 3 minutes after was published on Antena3 and now it looks that Hotnews copied the info from Antena3;

- the competition between the first 3 players is very hard and every minute can make a difference;

- Antena3 had the fastest reaction and broadcasted the first news but Hotnews had the fastest online presence announcing the event in a very short time;

- StirileProTv.ro is the only website without a reaction in the first 30 minutes after the earthquake mainly because they don’t have dedicated online editors and they depend on Mediafax and PROTV;

- Mediafax had its first release on 20:59;

- It seems that people, instead of going outside their buildings, they went online;

- 100 blog posts in the first 50 minutes after the earthquake (Google Blog Search/tag: cutremur);

- more reactions (compared to blogs blogs) on twitter #cutremur;

- I recall an early study made by Romanian government – during a crisis, Romanians switch to official state channels (TVR, Radio Romania) to find out more about what is happening. I think that we can notice a switch in this behavior since many people try to go online and find out more;

Congratulations:

- Gandul.info – they published the news at 21:20 but on Google it shows that it was published 19 hours ago – nice Google trick but I don’t think they’re going to rank very high.

Amelie.ro launched its mobile version in beta one month ago and was one of the first websites targeted on women (in Romania) to have a mobile version.

Today I see over 10.000 mobile readers but the best thing is that it’s the 5th mobile website in portfolio @ Intact Interactive.

Karsten Wildberger, Chief Commercial Officer, Consumer Business Unit, Vodafone Romania said that their mobile traffic registered right now is 15 times higher than the one they had last year when they first launched “Vodafone Internet on Mobile”.

Vodafone mobile users can now access premium websites like m.gsp.ro or m.antena3.ro on their mobile phones and Intact Interactive is the first online sales house able to deliver targeted ads in its mobile portfolio (includes Vodafone Live!, no1. mobile portal in Romania).

INTACT Interactive prepared the first Internet Business Intelligence Report regarding Romanian Online Advertising in Q1. The report is available in english for all the publishers in our portfolio and for our partners interested in online advertising and Romanian Internet.

The report is based on advertising campaigns served by Boom (Netbridge Investments), ARBOInteractive, AdEvolution, MediaCafe, MediaPro Interactiv, F5X Media (Realitatea-Catavencu), InternetCorp, AdTarget, Sanoma-Hearst and Splendid Media.

The good news is that beginning with March 2009, more clients started to spend their budgets on online advertising.

Click here for more details…

During last days, several journalists wanted a point of view regarding our commercial relationship with Boom (Netbridge Investments). I’ve decided to publish the questions and some of the answers I gave (romanian only):

Q: Te rog sa ne spui oficial daca site-urile grupului Intact au de incasat de la Boom venituri aferente anului 2008 si despre ce site-uri e vorba( mai precis daca e vb de flota Gazeta, sfin.ro, jurnalul.ro, revistafelicia.ro, topgear.ro)

Bogdan Gavrila: Va pot spune ca au existat legaturi contractuale in 2008 intre companii ale INTACT Media Group si regia de vanzari online Boom (NetBridge Investments) detinuta de fondul de investitii NCH. Pe fondul crizei financiare, toate contractele au fost reziliate la inceputul lui 2009. Atat domnul Cristian Petriceanu cat si Boom au fost parteneri stabili in 2008 si au incercat sa-si onoreze angajamentele. In ciuda zvonurilor din ultima vreme, sunt convins de faptul ca, la nivel de NetBridge Investments, vor fi luate cele mai bune decizii si isi vor pastra bunul renume in piata.

Q: Boom are datorii/intarzieri de plata fata de gsp.ro? Daca da, care este valoarea aproximativa a acestora si ce masuri poti lua?

Bogdan Gavrila: Exista intarzieri generate de criza financiara in toata piata. In acest moment site-urile gsp.ro sunt reprezentate in regim de exclusivitate de Intact Interactive. Contractul cu Boom a fost reziliat la inceputul anului insa daca exista detalii referitoare la datoriile comerciale, acestea au fost sau vor fi stabilite doar de reprezentantii celor doua companii.

Q: Poate deveni ingrijoratoare crearea unei noi divizii a Boom, pentru furnizorii la care regia mai are datorii?

Bogdan Gavrila: Privesc cu interes infiintarea a doua noi companii care isi propun sa vanda aceleasi site-uri. Nu este o practica noua pentru piata de publicitate online. Cunoscand corectitudinea de business a Boom si a lui Cristian Petriceanu, nu cred ca aceste companii au fost infiintate pentru a evita plata datoriilor si cred ca Boom isi va pastra in continuare bunul renume in piata de online.

Q: Crezi ca ar fi posibil ca Boom sa incerce un “faliment fortat”?

Bogdan Gavrila: Costurile de imagine ar putea fi foarte mari in cazul unor inginerii financiare de acest fel. Cred ca Boom face eforturi in acest moment pentru a-si plati toate datoriile iar mutarea operatiunilor si angajatilor pe alte firme este parte a procesului de eficientizare. Boom a fost o regie extrem de importanta pentru Internetul romanesc si pentru piata de publicitate online iar un “faliment fortat” ar afecta credibilitatea industriei de publicitate online.

Related links:

• -Wall Street – Ar putea deveni Boom un nou caz Bigger? via Gusti Roman
• -AdPlayers: Urmatoarea inchidere tip Bigger: o regie de vanzari online?
• -PaginaDeMedia.ro – Tolontoan avetizeaza: Se pregateste un nou caz Bigger!

Catalin Tolontan warns in an interview about a new case similar to Bigger Group and their overnight bankruptcy.

Augustin Roman (General Manager at Gazeta Online) also has a post regarding this issue but in both cases, they don’t mention the identity of the companies involved.

I can tell you that the issue is related to the Romanian online industry and probably it’s about a big Internet player.

Although not related to the issues above, we should notice that Petrisor Obae also has a post describing how Boom (the biggest online sales agency in 2008) is now splitting in two. The interview with Cristian Petriceanu is very interesting – he says that they want to optimize the online revenues through several companies.

One thing is for sure: if a big player in the online advertising market faces big pr0blems, we can see heavy shifts of market and revenue  shares. My guess is that the next 60 days will be very demanding for local online companies.

2009: Liverpool Street Station

1944: Calea Victoriei, Bucharest, Romania (minute 0:41)

Notes:

- pre-existing social networks based on word-of-mouth can produce and increase brand awareness/social events and happenings;

- social networks exist beyond Internet;

- although the term/concept of “viral marketing” first appeared in mid 90’s, introduced by Tim Draper, we have viral campaigns caught on film dating back to 1944;

- the term “flash mob” was first used in 2003 when Bill Wasik launched the modern mobs;

- Romanians were the first to use Social Networking in organizing Flash Mobs, in 1944.

AdvetisingAge writes about Mindshare’s new metric for online video. The plan is for advertisers to start buying online video on a gross-ratings-point basis (GRPs), the same way they buy TV.

Click here to download iGRP Whitepaper.

Mindshare, Mediaedge:cia, MediaCom (also operating in Romania) are agencies within Group M.

Press release here.

Antena3.ro broadcasts live the revolution in Basarabia (Chisinau).

Interesting facts about the events in Basarabia:

• - active media censorship operated by special services;
• - gsm signal blocked near main conflict areas;
• - 360 media coverage from Romanian televisions;
• - no news on CNN/FOX, light news on Reuters/BBC;
• - main internet hosts blocked in Chisinau;
• - YouTube, Flickr, Facebook and Twitter used to broadcast video, photos and info from target zones.

The New York Times/Media & Advertising/ Study Findings:

In a world with grocery store television screens, digitally delivered movie libraries and cellphone video clips, the average American is exposed to 61 minutes of TV ads and promotions a day. – via Dan Petre

I found very interesting the data regarding young audiences and the indicators that the Web is affecting media usage.

People ages 18 to 24:

• generally college students and new entrants into the work force — watch the smallest amount of live TV of any age group (three and a half hours a day);
• spend the most time text messaging (29 minutes a day);
• watch the most online video (5.5 minutes a day).

People ages 35 to 44:

• spend more time on the Web than other groups (74 minutes a day on average).

People ages 45 to 54:

• spend the most time on e-mail.

The latest team building organized by IAA YP was a success and the Romanian chapter of IAA started to feel like a interactive community for young professionals from the marcomm industry.

The I still remember when Dan Petre (IAA senior) invited me for the first meeting on the 11th of July 2007 – now, in 2009, IAA provides probably the best learning resources and networking tools for the young people working in the industry.

Congratulations and keep on the good work!

BBC Top Gear Romania and Puma Sports Romania invited me yesterday to see The Fast and The Furios 4. Since I’m a driving fan, I really did enjoy the movie and the cars

PUMA Sports is the official partner of the movie (check it out at fastandfuriousmovie.net ) and the guys at Puma Sports Romania really made my evening (I’m quite a fan of their sportswear since Michael Schumacher) – at the end I received a miniature red F1 car complementary gift (cool).

Congratulations to my colleagues at TopGear, to Serban Barbato, Ana Oprea, Costin Giurgea for setting up a great event. I had a good time!

Last week I was blogging about the career opportunities we have at INTACT Media Group.

Here’s a fresh update: we want to hire THE BEST ONLINE PROJECT MANAGER in Romania  and give him the project of his life.

We have a challenging offer and we provide the chance to change the face of Romanian Internet. Think big, aim high, show us that you were born to be a winner!

Send your CV: bogdan.gavrila[at]intactmediagroup.ro.

Martin Lindstrom – Buyology

This is the next book I plan to buy and read since neuromarketing and neurotechnologies are a must for the modern marketeer – I always had a passion for understanding consumer behavior and what’s happening beyond rational choices.

Lindstrom is the CEO and Chairman of the LINDSTROM company and the Chairman of BUYOLOGY INC New York and BRAND sense Agency London. Details here…

People went crazy this week in Romania when the no.1 radio station (Radio ZU) started the second part of the campaign called “Trade your mother-in-law for a goat”. The contest challenged a couple to exchange their mother-in-law with a real goat and live with it for a week in the same flat.

The audience can check on the goat 24/7 on a webcam installed in the flat. The campaign is so viral that today we had a 42.000 spike on RadioZu.ro (triple the traffic of Radio21, the main competitor).

RadioZu is full interactive experience combining social radio with viral and online community elements. The concept is so powerful and so out-of-the box that the local competitors still don’t get it and don’t understand what hit them in the last six months.