More on the growing confluence of large companies and blogs, as a follow up to an earlier thought.
Advertising: Science Blogs as a Vehicle for Upscale Ads
A new blog network from the science publisher Seed Media Group is a sign of growing interest in using new media for an old purpose: selling.Seed Media, which produces science publications in print and online, is seeking to broaden its audience - and its appeal to advertisers - by introducing on Monday a network of blogs, or Web journals, devoted to science and science-related subjects. The network is to be made available on a Web site, scienceblogs.com, that is now operating in beta, or test, mode.
The Web site will initially bring together 15 blogs bearing names like Adventures in Ethics and Science, Cognitive Daily, Living the Scientific Life and Stranger Fruit.
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Seed Media will sell advertising on scienceblogs.com as it does in its magazine, Seed, which is published every other month, and on its Web site (seedmagazine.com). The idea is to not so much to carry ads for beakers, test tubes and centrifuges as to attract ads from marketers wanting to reach bright, curious consumers who buy products like automobiles, books, cellphones, computers, liquor, music and watches.The blog network is a sign of the growing interest among media companies and advertisers in using new media for an old purpose: selling.
and my friend Eliza gets quoted:
“This intersection between science and culture is something we've been very interested in for clients at our New York office such as Pfizer, Unilever and Estée Lauder,” said Pilar Cortizo, the planning director at JWT New York, which is part of the JWT unit of the WPP Group. JWT New York and Seed Media are collaborating on a study exploring the relationship between consumers and science.The research has identified about 20 million Americans, 7 percent of the population, who are labeled in the study as “Leonardos,” named after da Vinci for their avid, Renaissance-style interest in science as well as subjects like art and politics.
Leonardos are mostly male, in their 30's and middle to upper class, said Eliza Esquivel, a planner at JWT New York who is working with Ms. Cortizo on the study.
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One big difference between then [1970's and 1980's] and now is the increasing pervasiveness of technology in everyday life, Ms. Esquivel said, a trend that leads people “to feel more than ever they understand a bit more about science” and towant [sic] to learn even more about it. That can be seen in an announcement yesterday by Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. that a commercial it will run during Super Bowl XL on Feb. 5 will be devoted to a hybrid version of the 2007 Camry.Another important finding from the survey, Ms. Esquivel said, is that consumers say they “want to be more involved with how products are made, and want to know more about ingredients and how things are packaged and advertised.”
Tags: Advertising
