Associated Press Teams With 40 Newspapers On Mobile Coupons

from www.paidcontent.org

The new mobile initiative, dubbed “iCircular,” will start rolling out on Monday within the mobile sites and apps of the 40 newspapers.

The iCircular feature will be found within newspaper mobile apps on the iPhone. The feature will be available on other formats, such as Google’s Android, later on. It’s HTM5-based, so that will also be available on newspapers’ web and mobile wap sites and ultimately ease iCircular’s transfer to other operating systems. The app will be situated within a special “Deals” section on each of the newspapers’ apps and mobile sites. 

“It’s essentially an app within an app,” said Mary Junck, chairman of AP’s board of directors’ revenue committee and CEO of Lee Enterprises (NYSE: LEE). “We didn’t want to create an app separate from the newspapers. We wanted something that would be as integrated into the newspapers as a Sunday circular is in the print editions.”

Interestingly, the program is open to all newspapers, not just AP members, Junck told paidContent in an interview. “This is meant to address a problem and promote an opportunity for all newspapers,” she added.

Launch partners include the New York Daily News, The Philadelphia Inquirer, the New York Times (NYSE: NYT) Company’s Boston Globe, Hearst’s San Francisco Chronicle, Cox Media’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution, AH Belo’s The Dallas Morning NewsTribune Company’s Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune,  and other representatives of nearly every major newspaper company. (The whole list of iCircular newspaper launch partners.)

It looks like this is going to become an ongoing theme of concern for newspapers. Coupon sites like Groupon continue to grow at astounding rates, offering advertisers another option and, presumably, depleting  marketing budgets off the businesses who use them. The secret to their success - advertisers pay for results, not impressions. Mediabids' per inquiry program (www.mediabids.com) has had success in measuring the results produced by publications and  paying publications based on measured calls. Will daily newspapers see the light and begin to offer a program that competes with Groupon and the other coupon/group buying sites? I guess we have to wait and see but if classifieds (Craigslist,), real estate (realtor.com) and employment (Monster.com) are any indication, I wouldn't bet on it.  Full story here.

Consumers Seek Online Coupons in November

Coupon sites ranked as the top gaining US web category for November 2010, according to [pdf] new comScore MediaMatrix data. A record 44 million Americans visited a coupon site during month, up 40% from October 2010. Groupon ranked as the number coupon site with 10 million unique visitors (up 54%), followed by CouponCabin.com with 8.8 million visitors, representing a 400% increase from the prior month. Coupons, Inc. came in third with 6.4 million, while BlackFriday.info saw 5.4 million, up nearly 1,000% month-over-month. RetailMeNot.com rounded out the top five coupon sites with 5 million visitors, up 20%.

 

Who Switches Brands For Coupons?

Top 10 DMAs in which reside adults who agree with the statement, "I will gladly switch brands to use a cents-off coupon."

1 Pittsburgh, PA

2 Detroit, MI

3 Johnstown-Altoona, PA

4 Harrisburg-Lancaster-Lebanon-York, PA

5 Savannah, GA

6 Atlanta, GA

7 Syracuse, NY

8 Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY

9 Wilkes Barre-Scranton, PA

10 Buffalo, NY

Source: GfK MRI's Market-by-Market study,

Women Clip Most Coupons

Women are primarily responsible for clipping coupons, according to research by The Integer Group and M/A/R/C Research.

Women Primarily Obtain Coupons
Coupons fit into the lives of male and female shoppers differently. They search for coupons in different media, redeem them in different channels, and use them to accomplish different shopping objectives. Across both gender groups, newspapers and direct mail/circulars hold the top spots for finding deals (62% and 58%, respectively). However, women are clearly more involved in clipping coupons, surpassing males in just about all coupon sources except mobile phones.

Men Use Tech for Planning
Interestingly, when it comes to technology and coupons, men start to become more involved in the shopping process with coupon, retailer, and brand websites coming in right behind newspapers as places where they actively seek out coupons. The increased interest in online coupons indicates that men who are seeking coupons online during their pre-planning and research stage of shopping are more open to marketing messaging if provided with the right amount of benefit.

In this case, the coupon would not serve as an awareness-raising vehicle or customer-acquisitions device but as a driver to CRM marketing programs, like frequent-buyer clubs and memberships.

Consumers Eye Coupon Convenience
Nearly three out of four shoppers (74%) report using coupons because they are convenient and useful, while 26% say coupons take too much effort to find and use. Older shoppers (50-plus years) use coupons often and are more likely to use them to buy familiar brands and products, yet a significantly higher amount (32%) report that coupons take too much effort to find and use.

Interestingly, shoppers are split when addressing the issue of whether coupons cause the brand decision or the brand decision drives the coupon search. Shoppers who report that coupons are “convenient and useful” are using them for items that they buy and re-stock often (e.g. paper products, cleaners, cereal).

For items that have a larger repurchase cycle (e.g., furniture, electronics, motorcycles), coupons may not be as useful to the shopper unless they receive them at precisely the right time when they are considering a repurchase or close to a repurchase point.

Full story here

Before you get too excited about this report from MediaPost, read the very last paragraph. Full story here Bargain Hunters Start With Newspaper and Magazine Ads

by Jack Loechner, 2 hours ago

According to a recent Adweek Media/ Harris Poll, 23% of adult Americans believe that newspaper and magazine advertisements are where they can find the best bargains. 18% believe online advertisements are most likely to help them find the best bargains. 10% say direct mail and 12% catalogs, 11% television commercials, and just 2% say radio. And, 34% of Americans believe the type of ad makes no difference when they are looking for the best bargain. When looking for the best bargains, different age groups have different ideas of where to look: 18-34 year olds are more likely to say online ads (22%) and television commercials (17%) are the best places to go 35-44 year olds go online (26%) 24% of those 44-54 and 33% of those 55 and older say newspaper and magazine advertisements those are media most likely to help them find the best bargain Advertising Most Likely to Help Find Bargain - Age (Base: All U.S. adults; % of Category Respondents)   Age   Total 18-34 35-44 45-54 55+ Newspaper/Magazine advertisements 23% 15% 16% 24% 33% Online advertisements 18 22 26 17 12 Direct mail and catalogs 12 13 13 14 10 Television commercials 11 17 12 8 7 Radio 2 2 3 < .5 1 None- the type of ad makes no difference 34 31 31 36 36 Source: Harris Polls, January 2010 Among the genders, women are more likely than men to say newspaper and magazine advertisements, and direct mail and catalogs are more likely to help them find a bargain. Men, on the other hand, are more likely to say online advertisements are more likely to help them find a bargain. There is also an interesting educational difference in the media people believe can help them find the best bargains: One-quarter of those with a high school education or less say newspaper and magazine advertisements are more likely to help them find a bargain, compared to 20% of those with at least a college degree. 29% with at least a college degree believe online advertisements are more likely to help them find a bargain compared to 12% of those with a high school education or less Advertising Most Likely to Help Find Bargain - Gender & Education (Base: All U.S. adults; % of Category Respondents)     Gender Education   Total Men Women HS or less Some college College grad Newspaper/Magazine advertisements 23% 22% 24% 25% 23% 20% Online advertisements 18 21 16 12 18 29 Direct mail and catalogs 12 11 14 12 12 12 Television commercials 11 12 10 12 12 8 Radio 2 2 1 3 1 1 None- the type of ad makes no difference 34 32 35 36 33 31 Source: Harris Polls, January 2010 The report concludes that, while newspaper ads are still slightly ahead of others among all adults when it comes to bargain hunting, online is not far behind. And, online ads lead newspaper and magazine ads, as a source of information about bargains, among younger, better educated consumers, who are much more attractive to most advertisers.