|
|
|
 Media firm advances beyond traditional services The Business Journal of Milwaukee TAP into the Internet's potential: Rich Kirchen Perhaps growing up the son of a television station executive explains Mike Schuch Jr.'s side projects that have become part of the family business. Schuch, whose father, Mike Schuch Sr., ran WVTV-TV (Channel 18) and WCGV-TV (Channel 24) in Milwaukee for many years, followed his father into broadcasting. Schuch Jr. held a series of television and radio sales positions and finally served as local sales manager at Madison NBC affiliate WMTV-TV (Channel 15). But the younger Schuch had a creative and entrepreneurial itch to advance businesses' use of not only traditional media but also the Internet for marketing. "Even when I was working in media, it was sort of my hobby coming up with promotions and new ways to use the Internet to help businesses," Mike Jr. said. Mike joined his father's business, TAP Media, in 2002, and brought with him his ideas for online marketing and combining those with television and radio advertising. TAP Media sells Web applications it calls "Store & Play" that store, schedule and stream video on a business Web site. The firm also developed what it calls "Walkout Video" on which a retailer or other business runs a videotaped greeting - which can be taped at TAP Media's small studio - in which they appear to walk onto a prospective customer's computer screen. Aside from its Web services, TAP Media is a full-service advertising agency, creating and placing advertising in all forms of media. The firm's largest Milwaukee-area client is Appliance World, a three-store appliance retailer. Shared ownership Mike Sr., 65, and Mike Jr., 42, each own 50 percent of the five-employee Sussex company, but Mike Jr. has run day-to-day operations since 2003. Mike Sr. started the business in January 1999 after finishing a three-year stint running a TV station in Tampa, Fla., and yearning to return to Wisconsin. The initial concept for what he called Television Advertising Partners (TAP) was consulting with local TV stations on improving their advertising sales. The Internet focus started when Mike Jr. joined and brought with him "Ask the Experts," a feature TAP Media sold to TV and radio stations for use on their Web sites. Web site visitors could connect, for example, to a local physician who paid to be the local expert on health care. TAP Media had 50 stations in its "Ask the Expert" network when it sold the business in 2003 for an undisclosed amount to Broadcast Interactive Media of Madison. TAP Media still receives residual payments for the service, Mike Jr. said. Mike Jr. has recruited clients locally and nationally for the Store & Play and Walkout Video products. For business development, he has relied on both old-fashioned networking and his firm's online marketing through Google ad words and search optimization. He won the Appliance World account on a cold call. By networking at conventions, Mike Jr. said he parlayed his firm's ad agency relationship with Malkin's Carpets in Menomonee Falls, a Mohawk flooring dealer, to work for Mohawk Flooring, Calhoun, Ga., and Abbey Carpet & Floor, Bonita Springs, Fla. Abbey Carpet dealers can hire TAP Media to custom-produce a Walkout Video for their Web sites, and about three dozen have done so this year. Barbara Wells, Abbey Carpet's advertising director, credits TAP Media with learning about each retailer's business and how best to employ the Walkout Video on their Web sites. "They're very proactive - they have a lot of great ideas," Wells said of TAP Media. TAP Media's latest idea, which will launch in 2009, involves selling local television stations a service to their advertisers who want to bolster their Web sites. TAP Media will, for about $2,500 per advertiser, help them develop their Web sites. TAP is partnering with Carl Schulhof, a one-time sales manager at WISN-TV (Channel 12) in Milwaukee who's now in Santa Barbara, Calif., to sell the service. The Schuchs believe the timing is right because TV stations nationwide will be seeking new revenue sources due to the down economy and the end of political advertising after the November election season. They're looking to diversify their own revenue stream, which Mike Jr. said is in the $2 million to $3 million range annually. Mike Sr. mainly plays a consultant role these days, which often involves evaluating his son's latest idea and suggesting when to take it to the action stage. Mike said he values his father's guidance and will continue to rely on it. "I have a file of ideas I haven't used yet," Mike Jr. said. LESSONS LEARNED By Mike Schuch Jr. What has been your toughest business decision? "Deciding to sell a large portion of our business to a then startup company for membership interest." What's been your best business decision? "The sale of our convergent programs to Broadcast Interactive Media, as they have grown to be one of the largest providers of online services to media companies nationwide - serving 160 radio and television stations." What is the biggest risk you've taken so far? "Purchasing a large office for future growth." What was your biggest mistake? "Not delegating as often as I should." Download PDF here Survey: Youth Are Willing Companions to Online Advertisers Clickz.com As any visit to a school full of Hollister- and Abercrombie-adorned students reveals, young people are brand-conscious. A new study shows that many young adults not only buy brands but also talk about them and add brand content to their instant messenger services, Web homepages and social networking sites. The global survey, conducted by Synovate in conjunction with Microsoft, was designed to find out how much young adults will interact and engage online with brands on a daily basis. The survey revealed that 28 percent say they talked about a brand on a discussion forum, 23 percent added brand-related content to their IM service and 19 percent added branded content to their homepage or favorite social sites. The research, called the 'Young Adults Revealed' survey, included 12,603 people 18 to 24 years old from 26 countries, according to Synovate, an arm of Aegis Group plc that conducts market research into consumer behavior. The researchers found the survey respondents spent an average of 2.5 hours online daily in non-work-related activity. Nearly half of the surveyed people said they click on banner or online ads. Some 18 percent said they accessed brand and product information via portals. But, as Synovate noted in a statement, "they are also interacting in a more engaged way," with 24 percent reporting they uploaded ad or marketing clips to social networking or video sites in the last month. Synovate's global manager of syndicated research, Julian Rolfe, believes the research shows young people are not only "totally comfortable with the idea of branded content and branded entertainment," but also reveals they are "openly willing and eager to engage" online with brands. "They clearly feel their opinions about brands are important, they want to associate themselves with brands they see as 'cool' and this is why we see them uploading clips to their social networking sites and IM services," said Rolfe in a statement. Among the study's other findings: 94 percent of young people regularly read e-mails, 80 percent get news online, 76 percent use the Web to read about movies, music and games, and a similar percentage chat on IM. Synovate found that nearly three quarters of the survey respondents watched online video clips and about one in ten said they passed along viral ad and marketing clips. --Fred Aun, The ClickZ Network Spending on online advertising surpasses TV, report says Los Angeles Times Everyone knows that online advertising keeps growing and growing. But according to a report being released today, it's growing so fast that in 2008 it is projected to surpass ad spending on TV, radio and movies combined for the first time ever. To be sure, Outsell Inc., based in Burlingame, Calif., tallies the numbers a little differently. It counts the money companies spend on their own websites as part of their advertising budgets, because websites are ostensibly used for marketing. Its data indicates that companies are expected to spend $105.3 billion online in 2008, which beats the $98.5 billion they're projected to spend on TV, radio and movies. But that isn't quite as much as the $147 billion they're likely to spend on print media, up 12% from the previous year. Much of the report is pretty wonky, unless you're interested in tracking cost per lead and conversion rates, whatever those are. But the overall picture is interesting. For instance: online advertising is expected to grow 12.3% in 2008, but much of that money will be spent on companies' own websites, rather than on marketing agencies or search or display ads. That's not good news for advertising agencies, said Chuck Richard, Outsell's lead analyst. "For more than decades, media companies have been the channels for advertisers to reach audiences," he said. "Suddenly companies don't rely completely on them." The 1,088 US-based companies surveyed will spend $61.5 billion, or 61.8% of their online advertising and marketing budgets, on their own sites, siphoning away money from other options, he said. The report does predict that advertisers will still spend the most money on print media in 2008 - but it's not a shining ray of hope for the newspaper industry. Companies will spend 35.5 percent of their budgets on print media in 2008, and will spend nearly a third of that on newspapers. That's down 4 percent from the previous year. --Alana Semuels Semuels, a Times staff writer, covers marketing and the L.A. tech scene. Consumers to Watch 25% More Video a Day in Five Years Viewing on Computers, Mobile Phones Will Drive Increase Advertising Age NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Consumption of video content is expected to rise 25% to five hours per day by 2013, compared with the four hours now watched in 2008, according to Forrester Research. The firm suggests the increase will be driven by consumers watching programming of all grades via computers, mobile phones, portable media players and even digital photo frames. "There will be more advertising inventory coming from this extra hour of video," said James McQuivey, the Forrester analyst who authored the study containing the prediction about the increase of video consumption. "People will still be watching, but it probably won't have the same form that we're used to." Content's ubiquity TV as a medium has already begun to overspill its screen, as it were. Video displays are available in the living room, of course, but also at gas stations and in taxicabs, to name just a few places. Content is being produced by everyone, from professional Hollywood studios to amateurs transferring shots from their mobile phones. Forrester calls the phenomenon "OmniVideo," and expects it to continue to be driven by high-speed internet connections, consumers' ability to store megafiles of data (including video) and cheap display screens. Forrester forecasts that the percent of video viewed on demand will increase to 45% in 2013 from 20% in 2008. The percent of video delivered via the internet climbs to 35% in 2013 from 10% in 2008. The percent of video consumed on mobile or portable devices increase to 15% in 2013 compared with 8% in 2008. The amount of "personal" video -- i.e., created by oneself or one's peers -- is predicted to increase to 10% in 2013 from 2% in 2008. Predictions by firms including Forrester, PQ Media, eMarketer and the like are best taken with a grain of salt. The numbers can often be wildly ahead of consumers' ability to achieve them. More often than not, however, the predictions are directionally in tune with mass behavior. Mr. McQuivey does not believe TV networks would be hurt by an increase in video consumption, although the Forrester report does note that, already, 39% of viewers watched some type of video on either a desktop or laptop computer, as per a survey conducted in the fourth quarter of 2007. "People love their content and want to watch it no matter where they can get it. They'll even watch it on a small device, if that's the option they have," said Mr. McQuivey. Consumers and advertisers still want high-end video content, he said, which YouTube does not specialize in. "YouTube video, as fun as it is, is forever a niche and it fills certain gaps in people's lives, but it doesn't take over. It doesn't become dominant." TV networks are likely to fare better than cable providers, who will see audiences migrate to other means of video distribution. IAB: Web Ad Spend Tops Cable, Radio Internet ad spending in 2007 was $21 billion, up 26 percent from the prior year ADWEEK May 15, 2008 Online ad spending exceeds outdoor, magazines, radio and cable TV. NEW YORK Spending on Internet advertising has surpassed the outlay devoted to cable television, according to figures compiled by the Interactive Advertising Bureau. The IAB, working with PricewaterhouseCoopers, reported that Internet ad spending in 2007 was $21.2 billion, up 26 percent from the prior year. At that level, it exceeds spending on outdoor, magazines, radio and now cable TV, which collected about $20.9 billion in 2007. The IAB has tracked four straight years of strong revenue growth for the industry following the dot-com downturn and slumps at AOL. Spending growth, however, has begun to slow. In 2006, the IAB tracked a 35 percent growth in revenue compared to this year's 26 percent. Search advertising continued to serve as the dominant vehicle for advertisers, who devoted 41 percent of their budgets there in 2007, up from 40 percent in 2006. Display ads showed a larger increase, going from 32 percent of spending to 34 percent. Despite popular discussion of the potential of the long tail, the IAB charts an industry with spending concentrated among the top players. The top 50 sites accounted for 89 percent of spending, the top 20 represented 80 percent and the top 10 accounted for 69 percent. Those figures are nearly unchanged from 2006. The IAB tracked a slight increase in performance advertising. The percentage of deals classified as either pure performance or hybrid went from 52 percent to 55 percent. Strictly CPM buys fell from 48 percent of spending to 45 percent. Cisco Projects Growth To Swell for Online Video Wall Street Journal Cisco Systems Inc. is projecting a sixfold jump in Internet traffic between 2007 and 2012, as online video becomes the biggest driver of global data communications. The networking-equipment maker, as part of a study called the Cisco Visual Networking Index, predicts that Internet video -- which accounted for 5% of data traffic in 2005 -- will represent 30% of total data transfers by the end of this year. That will swell to 50% by 2012, Cisco estimates. Marketing: Website Video Advertisements Influence Consumer Purchase Process The addition of a "Video Spokesperson" to websites is driving sales and operations for many businesses Local businesses are taking advantage of new website marketing technology to influence consumer purchasing process and, ultimately, impact their firms. Steinhafels, Hupy & Abraham, S.C., and the Metropolitan Builders Association, best known for the Home Builders Expo, and The Parade of Homes have all found Walkout Video™ to be a powerful addition to their websites. Walkout Video™ through the use of a borderless media player, allows business, or organizations to use a "video spokesperson" to deliver a message on any page of their website. The subject is videotaped against a green-screen background, similar to a weatherman. In the post-production process, the background is edited out, giving the website the appearance of a person walking out on to the page. Samples of local businesses, such as Medical Associates' Crossings Medical & Well-being Center, and the various applications they have found for the product can be found on HYPERLINK "http://www.walkoutvideo.com" www.walkoutvideo.com. Attorney Jason Abraham of Hupy and Abraham, S.C. states: "Walkout Video has proven to be a fantastic way to establish rapport with potential clients, prior to meeting them". Abraham has had a Walkout Video™ of himself, introducing website visitors to his firm since 2006. Dirk Stallmann, Media Director for Steinhafels, reports that "Walkout Video™ will be a much more dynamic way to appeal to job candidates". Steinhafels will be utilizing the videos on the "Careers" pages of the Steinhafels website. The family-owned, Wisconsin furniture retailer will also be utilizing Walkout Video™ as a promotional tool for other areas of their website. The Metropolitan Builders Association, an organization of business in the homebuilding and associated industries will also use the innovative technology to tie into this year's PR campaign directed to prospective consumer homebuilders, which will have a theme of "The Best Move We Ever Made". According to Chellee Siewert, CEO and Matt Moroney, Executive Director of the MBA, "we are excited to have found a tool to add another dimension to our website, in assisting with our PR campaign efforts". The MBA is also putting Walkout Video™ in their portfolio of marketing tools the organization offers to their members. Walkout Video™ was developed by Sussex, WI-based TAP Media, Inc., a local full-service advertising agency. Mike Schuch, Partner of the firm, states: "we were looking for a way to help our clients bring their websites to life, and give them an affordable avenue to utilize the power and influence of the Internet. What we've really done is combine the visual impact of television advertising with the intimacy of the Internet. Regardless of your product or service, there's nothing quite like the power of web site video to capture the interest and imagination of your visitors and help get your message across", states Schuch. When a powerhouse like Yahoo! issues a statement as strong as: "U.S. online video advertising will grow to more than $4 billion in 2011"**, it's easy to see why TAP Media and its aforementioned clients are optimistic about the impact Walkout Video™ will have in businesses reaching out to consumers. TAP Media is a full-service ad agency, located in Sussex, WI, and has been helping business promote themselves, and assisting in their branding efforts for over 10 years. The company, founded by Mike Schuch, Sr., a media veteran, formerly running TV stations like Milwaukee-based WVTV Channel 18/WCGV 24 earlier in his career, and Mike Schuch, Jr., a seasoned media professional, started TAP by creating revenue programs for broadcast media firms nationally. TAP has changed with the times and now concentrates their efforts on online marketing, offering services, such as Walkout Video™ , website development, Internet advertising, and search-engine marketing. The firm does still have agency clients, who have more traditional needs, such as media buying and placement, and is always happy to accomodate businesses to that end. If you'd like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with Mike Schuch, Jr, please call Mike at 262/246-1960, or 608/217-6365 or e-mail him at mikejr@tapmedia.tv **source: http://www.redherring.com/Home/23743 (Red Herring is a Technology News online publication) |