Marcom this week: From A to zinc – 1/27/11 edition

From social networks' expanded ad offerings to celebrity endorsement ads for the Super Bowl, here is a look at what made headlines this week in the integrated marketing communications industry.

Social networks expand ad offerings
Facebook made a move this week to provide more social context for advertisements through Sponsored Stories. The Sponsored Stories format ditches the days of stock promotional copy and serves ads based on user interactions with a brand. The ads leverage the power a personal network has on purchase decisions by pulling content from a user’s feed to display on their friend’s page. Research shows that contextually targeted ads are more relevant to users, which increases ad effectiveness. Sounds like it will be a win-win for Facebook’s advertisers and users.

LinkedIn also beefed up its display ad offering, announcing many new features, including expanded targeting that enables advertisers to serve ads based on age, location, job title, and seniority. The expanded features were launched in an effort to improve LinkedIn's ad effectiveness and increase its share of revenue from display advertising.

With rumors swirling around impending initial public offerings, both social networking giants are finding more and more ways to monetize their sites. What do you think will be next?

Edelman Trust Barometer®: Trust across all U.S. institutions declines
According to the 2011 Edelman Trust Barometer survey, the U.S. is the only country to see trust in business and government decline. This statistic is not surprising following years of financial crisis and corporate scandal. To build trust, President and CEO Richard Edelman recommends corporations adopt a new trust architecture built on profits with a purpose, transparency in reporting, and multi-channel/multi-communicator engagement.




Super Bowl update: Celebrity endorsements all the rage
The Super Bowl is synonymous with attention-getting, low-relevance advertisements. A couple of weeks ago Vitamin IMC reported that the 2010 Celebrity Advertisements study found that celebrity ads performed below (or on par) with other advertisements. Despite these findings, advertisers continue to sign on hot (and expensive) celebrity personalities to push their product during the big game. A few noteworthy pairings include Kim Kardashian for Sketchers and Justin Bieber for Best Buy. And don’t forget about the yet-to-be-revealed mystery celeb for GoDaddy.

Marcom this week: From A to zinc is compiled by the Vitamin IMC editorial team. They can be reached at vitaminimc@gmail.com. Miss your vitamins last week? Visit January 21's “Marcom This Week.”