Ambient = opportunity

Fragmenting audiences are a major strategic threat to the current broadcast TV advertising model — as audiences split between ever-increasing channels and other places and activities, like the Web and both online and offline games.
But the other side of the SWOT analysis here suggests a massive opportunity exists for outdoor and indoor ambient advertising channels which exploit the patterns in our lives which have remained broadly the same.
Like how we travel to work by car or bus or train or underground in our millions by, usually, the same routes past the same advertising billboards. Or how we still shop in the same aisles of the same supermarkets week after week.
These lifestyle patterns are changing far more slowly and so can be capitalised on for much longer.
So if you're looking to promote brand awareness amongst a broad audience, ambient advertising on billboards, in train stations, bus sides in on trains and buses is surely the place to be.
And why not look at the following other options:
* The walls of clubs — posters and/or wall screens (a bit like the Post Office ones) They can deliver younger audiences who, by their presence, show they have available cash to spend.
* Bus/Tube/train TV — LCD screens showing ads to commuters, just like "queue TV" at The Post Office. But the ads would have to be good, easily repeat-seen without irritation, or they'd backfire on the brand — seen as a pest.
* The intros of rental DVDs — just the same as the trailers for other movies and equally targetable for the demographic groups targeted by that film/show.
* "Workplace TV" — ads could be shown by screensavers on workplace PC screens in an agreement with employers', who could share the revenue and supply stats on the hours they'd been screened when someone was logged on.
* Works canteen TV — LCDs in works canteens.
* Hospital canteen TV
* Bus/train waiting room TV
* Mall TV — the same as Tesco's experiment in "aisle TV" for shoppers.
Audiences may be fragmenting in their leisure time, but everywhere they still regularly flock together and that’s when there’s an opportunity to get marketing messages to them.

Customers’ needs are core to long-term growth

http://www.economist.com/surveys/displaystory.cfm?story_id=E1_VPRDQSN
After reading this interesting survey, it came to me that a constant drive to meet customers’ needs is core to sustainable long-term organic, not R&D spend or innovation or “marketing” (for which they mean promotion).
Unless any or all of these are focussed on what customers want, they’re a waste of time and won’t deliver any growth, never mind the long-term sustainable kind!