The Wall Street Journal
By Mike Shields
THE APPLE REACTION: It was an exciting day for Apple fans, but it wasn’t exactly a day of massive surprises. As expected, Apple rolled out two new iPhones, a watch and a digital payment system during its mega-hyped event on Tuesday. It remains to be seen how consumers react. But the most intriguing element for advertisers may be Apple Pay, the company’s attempt at a digital wallet. It raises some questions: Could retailers flood a person’s iPhone with all sorts of digital coupons at the point of purchase? Could brands get their hands on people’s phone-shopping data for future ad targeting? Another question: Just how many consumers want to leave their ability to make purchases in the hands of a device that can run out of batteries, and to a company that just had a horrific security leak? Apple does have American Express, Visa and Mastercard lined up as partners, and it is promising better security that credit cards offer. But we’ll see if Americans will be willing to give up their beloved wallets.
SMARTWATCH WARS?: Meanwhile, speculation has already begun about how many marketing dollars Apple will pour into its new watch. Samsung spent $31 million last year to tout its Galaxy Gear smartwatch, according to Kantar Media. And the two tech rivals have famously gone after each other in advertising their smartphones. A smartwatch ad war would be good news for the media world, reports WSJ’s CMO Today. Last year Apple spent $351 million on advertising its wireless phones, up 5% from the year prior, according to Kantar (that doesn’t count online video). Apple has had a long list of memorable ads (here are the top five according to the research firm Ace Metrix. ). That was before Apple had a bunch of new toys to show off to consumers.
YOUTUBE KEEPS TOUTING STARS: When you think about what new shows you might be looking forward to this fall, do your thoughts tend toward “NCIS: New Orleans”? If so, then you probably aren’t looking forward to season three of “Video Game High School” one of the biggest scripted series on YouTube. The first two season of the show, a teen high school drama set in a future where video game stars are the new jocks, generated 84 million views. Even so, few folks over 30 probably know what the show is. That is likely why YouTube is using “Video Game High School” as the latest installment in a long running ad campaign aimed at telling the non-teen masses that YouTube is way more than baby and cat videos. The new campaign, set to kick off in October, will employ primarily digital media. But it will also feature a heavy mix of out of home ads in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, places where lots of advertisers and agencies tend to cluster. This YouTube effort is surely aimed at convincing those “older” NCIS-loving ad execs that YouTube shows are as legit as any other media spot.
COMCAST AND UNIVISION SYNC UP: It seems as though Comcast Corp. is taking every step it can to calm critics’ concerns over the company’s pending acquisition of Time Warner Cable Inc. For instance, Comcast has agreed to carry Univision Communications’ sports channel Univision Deportes. Univision CEO Randy Falco had complained publicly that Comcast hadn’t agreed to carry the network, while making sure that people knew just how big and powerful a combined Comcast/Time Warner entity would be, WSJ reports. Looks like Mr. Falco might have indirectly sent a message that helped get him what he wanted.
BARNES & NOBLE’S NOOK STRUGGLES: Whither Nook? Barnes & Nobledisclosed on Tuesday that it was in discussions with possible new partners about financing for its Nook Media unit, a sign that B&N could be looking to raise more money for the soon-to-be-spun-out company. Microsoft and Pearson are already strategic investors in Nook Media, which houses both the company’s Nook digital business and B&N college bookstores. But given Nook digital’s losses, strengthening the balance sheet of the company before it separates from B&N’s cash generating book stores would make sense.
ELSEWHERE: Microsoft Corp. is close to acquiring Mojang AB, the Swedish company behind the popular “Minecraft” videogame, reports WSJ. Politico is partnering with German publisher Axel Springer to start a European version of the politics news site, WSJ reports. Conde Nast’s Wired has a new publisher, reports the New York Post. Nike has dumped disgraced NFL star Ray Rice from its roster of sponsored athletes, reports Adweek. Ratings for Monday afternoon’s mens final of the U.S. Open, which was devoid of superstar players, slid 42% versus last year,reports the Los Angeles Times. Several brands used Apple’s big product rollout on Tuesday to initiate some real-time marketing of their own, reports Ad Age.
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