Last night, my 26 year-old son, home from a Miami Ad School gig with Crispen Porter Bulgoski told me that he was reviewing the Xbox 360 games I had been playing in my man cave in the basement.  I have to admit, I go in an out of mild addiction to video games.  He proceeded to tell me that I was missing some of the most highly rated games.

Then he asked me if I knew what E3 was.  To which I said of course I do (I didn’t).  Then he proceeded to tell me that Blizzard Activision was coming out with some outstanding games and that EA Sports had totally ruined the NCAA 2K basketball series by coming out with a boring 2K nine version.  He told me that he totally opposed the practice of EA buying up franchises so that other game makers couldn’t improve on the games.

Whoa…too much information about video games.  I thought he was supposed to be learning how to be a great copywriter.  But it did give me inspiration for this post.

My son’s pretty normal.  Or at least as normal as anybody who wants to be an advertising copywriter.  When he’s interested in something he spends time researching about the product and what people are saying about it.  While he looks to opinion leader, when he publishes ratings he becomes an opinion leader.  And when he discovers a great product, he’s more apt to broadcast his opinion.  Likewise, when he gets burned by a bad product, he gets even.

I really don’t know much about EA Sports strategies.  But I do know that they have an image issue with gamers…at least one anyway…that will affect their sales to some extent.

The time Net Geners spend scrutinizing their next purchase should cause all marketers to develop strategies to deal with both positive and negative reviews.  If you don’t join the conversation, your ears will ring with this audience talking behind your back.  That said, if your policies offend them, if your product doesn’t meet their expectations, or if it’s just a product that doesn’t perform, no amount of conversation will change their opinion.

Well maybe that’s a little overstated, but a poll conducted for last month’s issue of the National Retail Federation’s Stores magazine reported 81 percent of respondents said that expenditures for Internet service were among the “untouchables” in their household budgets during tough times.   Cell phones garnered 64 percent and cable TV 61 percent.  We may be moving back to a time of long hair as only 40 percent said that haircuts were untouchable.

We are a society of connectivity and we value that connectivity more than we value haircuts, new shoes, vacations, cigarettes and alcohol according to a Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll.  Imagine that!  We’ll wear our hair long and dress in last year’s stiletto heals before we lose our high-speed internet connection.

Americans thirst to be entertained and connected digitally to the world around them.  Is it any wonder newspaper and magazine subscriptions are declining?

The ramifications of the Internet becoming a staple are profound.  As we come out of this blasted recession and budgets start to get back to normal…whatever normal is…think about the power of the staple.  The Internet is higher on the hierarchy of needs than alc0hol and cigarettes.  Where should it fit in your planning?

Just when you were ready to believe that television advertising was a thing of the past evidence to the contrary gets in the way.  Certainly, television spending leaves took a tremendous dive as a result of this lousy recession, but its effectiveness apparently hasn’t.

Advertising Age recently reported that a new seven figure ethnographic study conduced by the Neilsen Co.  found that “TV remains the dominant medium even for reaching youth, despite the inroads of digital and social media.”

The article goes on to say that Media Marketing Assessment (MMA) a unit of Aegis Group’s Synovate has not seen a trend toward the erosion of effectiveness of TV.  In fact a third of search queries for brands studied are driven by offline advertising, particularly TV.  Higher than what’s driven from online.

Leonard Lodish, a marketing professor at Wharton and author of “Why Advertising Works,” says that TV advertising’s effectiveness has actually increased since 1995.

So, in the face of the clamor from “new age media” gurus, what do you do?  Our suggestion is to not buy the hype, but listen.  We are big believers in the power of the web, but we’re also big believers in the power of traditional media when combined with the web.

No one goes searching for a product that they don’t know or care about.  I still haven’t received an answer to the question of “Can you name one consumable brand built entirely on the web?”  Traditional media, while changing, is not dead.  It’s a good thing too.  I’d hate to miss the next episode of the Simpsons.

The time of silo interactive activities is over.  The time for integrated interactive strategies is now.

Integrated interactive planning is about producing measurable results for less.  This economy demands the reinvention of your marketing plan.  Most companies can no longer rely on a fat media budget to drive business.  Now is the time to look differently at your interactive strategy because it may provide a way for you get through this recession and come out stronger on the other side.

The first thing you have to do is forget about silos and remember that all of your interactive, traditional and non-traditional marketing activities must work together.

The first thing to do is to realize that your web site is the most efficient sales tool/retail location you have.  It’s open 24/7, you don’t have to feed it, clothe it, move it, pay it(much), or insure it.  It won’t call in sick, argue with you or goof off on the computer.  That’s why we’ve put it in the center of the Interactive Integration Wheel.

Second, forget about silos.  Forget about branding being separate from web development.  Forget about search being separate from online media.  Instead, consider how they all can fit together.  Duh?  Maybe it seems like I’m pointing out the obvious, but we see all too many marketers who keep everything separate.

Specialists often find it difficult to think about the interaction all the different marketing activities that go into a successful integrated plan and prefer to work only in their comfort zone.  So, the danger is that one activity will receive more attention than another, creating an imbalanced marketing plan.  It would be like spending 90 percent of the budget on a beautiful website and only 10 percent driving people to it….or vice versa.

Third, think of every circle outside the hub as being a hub of its own wheel.  For instance, social networking would be surrounded by Facebook, Myspace, twitter, YouTube, blogs  and a few hundred others. It’s kind of like a never ending galaxy of opportunity and much of it is in the economy of free except for the labor required to make it happen.

Fourth, some activities on the wheel are one way communications and some encourage a dialog with your customers or sales force.  Dialog that makes or saves money should receive top priority.  Customer service is a prime example.  You can provide customer service online with FAQs, chats, e-mails and as a last resort, phone support.  If you’re successful in supporting your customer without a phone call, you’ll save money and return more to the bottom line.  The best part is you can document the ROI.  If you have a call center, imagine the savings if you could cut 10 percent of the cost of phone support.  Think you could find something else to do with that money?

Fifth, somethings won’t fit.  Just as some media won’t fit your target audience, some interactive activities won’t fit your marketing needs.  For instance, if you’re marketing to teens, twitter is not a good choice.  Myspace might be.  On the same hand, don’t discount an activity until you’ve thought about it.

The more you want to prove ROI, the more attractive integrated interactive strategies become.  You can see the results.  Your CEO can see the results.  And you can soften the blow of a draconian budget cut by redirecting a little of the money into a highly effective arena.

We’ll be the first to admit that on the surface, integrated interactive strategies can look a little intimidating.  But there’s gold here.  If you’re interested we’d love to talk to you about how we can move your business forward with a comprehensive interactive plan.  Not just a website, not just an e-mail campaign, but an overall plan of attack to make your marketing budget more effective.

We have been using cinema advertising in conjunction with television for some time feeling that it was a great TiVo proof medium to reach our target audiences.  Turns out it’s a great strategy.

The Cinema Advertising Council recently unveiled results of a research study conducted on behalf of 82% of U.S. movie screens.  According to the study, the results of a combined television and cinema ad campaign more than doubled the conversion rate as compared to television alone.

Cinema delivers hard-to-reach demos.  Men 13-17 are 124% more likely to go to movies than the average American and men 18-24 are 49% more likely.

While your target audience may not be men 13-17, there is a lesson to be learned here.  If you can communicate in an environment where your target can’t avoid being exposed to your message, you’ll be more effective.

So what does this have to do with you if you do not use television or cinema? There are an increasing number of online opportunities to eliminate your audience’s ability to totally avoid your message.  Your interactive strategy should include using those techniques to break through.