Media Sales Today

Despite increased belief in the future of 30-second television ads, advertisers question TV’s effectiveness and are dissatisfied with measurement. According to the joint ANA and Forrester Research survey of more than one hundred national advertisers, marketers also want to be able to target television ads, but don’t want to pay extra for that ability.

More advertising executives plan to increase their ad spending over the next twelve months than decrease it, according to the latest Advertiser Optimism Report (via marketingcharts.com).

Are you familiar with the term inattentional blindness? It’s when someone can’t see something that’s actually there, usually due to the fact that they’re focused on something else. And it might be why so much online advertising doesn’t work.

More data from a McPheters & Company study about online ad effectiveness shows that content on the site where the ad runs is very important to ad recall. Which, let’s be serious, makes a lot of sense.

Now that thousands of auto dealerships have learned their fate, the survivors have an opportunity to remake their businesses – even in this down economy. As John Baldoni points out in his post on Harvard Business Publishing, many of these dealers are small business owners who have endured decades of economic expansion and contraction. This longevity, according to Baldoni, can be linked to plain and simple business excellence.

Looking forward to 2009, more than a quarter of recently surveyed small business owners plan to spend more on advertising, and another 60% plan to spend about the same as in 2008. The Ad-ology Small Business Marketing Outlook survey found that small business owners are cautiously optimistic going into 2009. While 25% stated they are fearful about the current economic situation and 58% are concerned, 83% expect 2009 sales to be up or about the same as 2008.