BPA or Bisphenol A has long been a controversial chemical found in some plastics, mostly those found with the recycling symbol #7. Some studies show the dangers of this chemical which is commonly used in baby products, specifically baby bottles. A new study released recently has stirred up the controversy again but this time prompting major reactions.
Canada has approved a ban on the use of BPA in baby products prompting reactions from both manufacturers and retailers alike. Wal-Mart Canada immediately began pulling the BPA products from their shelves. They will also remove the products from their US stores by year end. Babies R Us is also pulling the products from their shelves.
Looking at the RelevantNoise system there was a dramatic increase, well over 200%, in the number of BPA related posts since the announcement from Canada. 65% of the posts are from women, with the majority being between the ages of 20-39.
Bloggers, most of them Moms are outraged and panicked about BPA in their babies products and are looking for alternatives if they haven’t already switched. Playtex actually proactively reacted to this latest uproar by offering a sample of their Drop In bottles which are BPA free. Many are just looking for information on which products are safe. Others just want to find information on BPA. And yet others are posting information on what they have found to help spread the word.
Gerber baby food that comes in plastic containers marked with the #7 are controversial among moms with some deciding to choose another brand packaged in glass to be sure they are not packaged with BPA.
And then there are those, few as they may be, that think the panic is premature and unfounded .
Im sure this controversy will be around for a while, however this time companies are reacting to public pressure. Even if BPA is found to be completely safe, the damage is done. I expect all bottle makers will eventually have BPA free alternatives if they want to stay in business.
May 2nd, 2008
Last week, Pope Benedict XVI made his first visit to the US. Bloggers took on the topic writing about his historic trip.
Many topics were covered, from his visit to Ground Zero, to his mass at Yankee Stadium, to his visit to Park East Synagogue, to the meeting with victims of abuse by Catholic priests.
While most bloggers felt the Pope’s visit was inspirational, there were still those that were less than impressed.
Demographically speaking, males’ blogged about the Pope’s visit more than females with a 61% share of chatter. The majority of all the bloggers were between 20 – 29 years old with 44% of the posts. Next would be the 30-39 year olds with another 25%. The under 20 group was the smallest with only 5% of posts coming from this group.
The Pope is back at the Vatican now, having left JFK Airport yesterday after saying some words to over 3000 guests including Dick Cheney. In his own words:
“These days that I have spent in the United States have been blessed with many memorable experiences of American hospitality, and I wish to express my deep appreciation to all of you for your kind welcome,” the pope said. “It has been a joy for me to witness the faith and devotion of the Catholic community here.”
It is always interesting to see what bloggers say about big events, Pope Benedict’s visit to the US gave bloggers many uplifting things to talk about as they recounted how his visit impacted their lives.
April 21st, 2008
The airline industry is taking a lot of hits lately. From ATA to Aloha Airlines closing their doors, stranding thousands of passengers, not to mention all the employees who are now unemployed, to the recent troubles of American Airlines.
Unlike bankruptcy which plagued ATA and Aloha, American Airlines faced safety issues with their MD-80’s and grounded all the planes. Knowing how frustrating a cancelled flight can be I wanted to see how bloggers felt about the recent problems especially since the problems were safety related.
Most bloggers seemed to take the cancellations in stride. Over the past two weeks according to RelevantNoise the tone of the posts was only 44% negative. Of those blogging about American Airlines, when gender is known, 64% were males to 36% female.
Some bloggers were lucky and got booked on another flight others posted responses they received from the airlines and then there are those who felt no love for American Airlines or their employees. I’m sure with the thousands upon thousands of people needed to be rebooked on other flights the ticket agents are doing their best, but people need someone to take out their frustrations on.
And then there are those with their own theory on why the planes were really grounded.
A website was set up as a place to put your American Airlines stories . Here there are stories from passengers such as:
“CJ, stuck in DFW due to improper AA inspections and repairs on MD80 aircraft:
Cost to You: $450
The price of my dress and shoes, never mind food, heartache and stress. Missing my sister’s wedding? You figure it out. Why AA couldn’t have told me that my airliner was grounded for inspections BEFORE I flew in on their commuter is beyond me. Stuck at DFW with everyone else. Idiots.”
Or from AA pilots:
“JC, AA Pilot, paycheck threatened by yet another grounding of MD80 aircraft due to improper inspections:
Cost to You: at least three days of pay.
Contrary to AA spokespeople, the grounding IS about safety: as APA says, it’s about wiring–and potential fires–in the wheel wells near the fuel tanks. That’s safety, period, despite the CorpComm spin.
So tell me, given the danger, the millions in lost revenue, and the passenger and employee upheaval, why is Bob Reding still the VP-Ops? Why is Mark Hettermann still VP-Flight? And RD Johnson still MD80 Fleet Manager? How come no one answers for this, Mr. Arpey?”
Now it seems that the troubles for American Airlines has passed as they have finished inspecting their MD 80’s, hopefully the industry will settle down and flights get back to normal.
April 16th, 2008
Britney Spears guest starred on How I Met Your Mother this week and gave the show its highest ratings ever. Bloggers were very chatty about Brittney and her role on a sitcom. Could this be her comeback?
According to RelevantNoise the tone of the posts is overwhelmingly positive with 75% of the posts feeling the love for Brit. Some bloggers were just happy to see Britney making a comeback. Others speculate if she will do another guest spot . One thing is for sure, bloggers are rooting for Britney. While others commented on how good she looked.
With the good of course comes the bad. But in this case the bad wasn’t so … well bad. Some bloggers were more negative about the hype than the actual performance. While others were hesitant to give her any praise saying her performance was “above par”.
All in all, I think having Britney Spears as a guest star was a good thing for HIMYM, their ratings were up and people are talking. For a show that has been on the “endangered list”(and the upfronts are coming soon) positive chatter can go a long ways.
March 27th, 2008
With all the Presidential polls looking at what the public opinions/desires are as to who will become the 44th President of the United States, what about the bloggers? We all know they can sway public opinion and start some great viral marketing? But are they a good barometer for how Clinton, Obama, and McCain are faring?
According to RelevantNoise™, Zeta Interactive’s technology that mines the Internet’s social media landscape — including over 80 million blogs, as well as Consumer Generated Media (CGM) - the bloggers have a strong opinion as to who they want to see seated at the oval office come next January.
Looking over the past 30 days of those that expressed a desire to see one of the three candidates move into the White House, Barack Obama wins easily with 57% of the nods. Clinton and McCain trail with 28% and 15% respectively. On the other hand, of those bloggers who stated they would not vote for a particular candidate, Hillary leads the pack with 44% of the votes while Obama and McCain follow with 33% and 23%. From a party perspective, the bloggers are clearly leaning towards Barack for the Dems with a 2:1 lead over Hillary.
How does gender play a role in the bloggers voting? Hillary, perhaps not surprisingly, has 61% of her supporters being female, while both McCain’s and Obama’s supporters were males (66% and 58%). When it came to the critics, males took the lead with their votes over 55% of the time for each candidate.
How does this compare to the likes of the Rasmussen and Gallup polls? These polls show the race a lot closer for McCain - but don’t bloggers tend to be democratic anyway? Might that explain the stronger pull for the Dems than for McCain? Time will tell.
March 17th, 2008
Starbucks closed their doors yesterday for 3 hours for employee retraining in an effort to improve their sagging sales.
Bloggers are all over the closings amazed that they would do something so drastic. Others are upset that they will not be able to get their caffeine fix .
The number of posts for Starbucks increased 54% in one day once the announcement was made to close the stores. Females dominated the topic with 60% of the blogs coming from women (are we just more caffeine addicts?)
Smaller coffee shops are taking advantage of the closing to try and gain customers as well as some other national chains . Dunkin Donuts for one offered 99 cent Lattes.
Will the retraining help Starbucks sales? We will have to wait and see. Will Dunkin Donuts or McDonalds continue to steal market shares from Starbucks? Only time will tell. I think I will sit back with a hot cup of joe and see what happens.
February 27th, 2008
Now that it appears that HD DVD is going the way of the Betamax what do bloggers have to say. Are they running out for the Blu Ray players? Are early adopters mad that they spent money on something that is going to be useless?
One blogger compared Barack Obama with Blu-Ray, the unexpected front runner in a battle against the expected winner, in this case Blu-Ray.
Manufacturers from Samsung to Toshiba have given HD DVD the boot handing Blu-Ray the win in this format war.
LG has the HD DVD consumers in mind when they announced they will continue to produce dual format players. If you were not one of the lucky ones with a dual format player or had the HD DVD player, there are instructions on how to convert the HD DVDs to Blu-Ray.
Retailers from Best Buy to Target to Walmart have given their nod to the Blu-Ray technology.
This blogger explains why he thinks Blu-Ray is the winner based on the technology of the two formats; with Blu-Rays thinner coating resulting in 67% more data fitting on a single disc.
Demographically speaking males dominate the chatter with 85 % of the posts. The posts are dominated by the 20-29 year olds with 49% followed by the 30 -39 year olds with another 30%. The over 50 crowd is not interested in the format wars with only 2% of the posts coming from this age group.
In the end who is the loser in this format war? The consumer that’s who.
February 22nd, 2008
Now that Super Tuesday has passed I looked to see if bloggers were writing about the elections. Not necessarily what they are saying but who is mentioning Super Tuesday in their blogs. What I found was very interesting.
Of the Super Tuesday bloggers:
• 55% were male vs. 45% female.
• 49% are aged 20-29
• 25% are aged 30-39
• 9% are under the age of 20
• 10% are aged 40-49
• The over 50 bloggers made up 7%
Since the tightest race is between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton lets see how they fare demographically.
Looking at the bloggers buzzing about Barack Obama:
• 61% are male
• 51% are aged 20-29
• 24% are aged 30-39
• 9% are under the age of 20
• Only 8% are over age 50
The bloggers writing about Hilary Clinton:
• 38% are female
• 49% are aged 20-29
• 10% are under the age of 20
• 24% are aged 30-39
On the Republican side looking at Huckabee:
• 69% are male
• 50% are aged 20-29
• 10% are under the age of 20
• 8% are aged 40-49
The bloggers writing about McCain:
• 72% are male
• 46% are aged 20-29
• 25% are aged 30-39
• 10% are over age 50
Some key observations:
• McCain received the most mentions by male bloggers
• McCain has the highest percent of bloggers over 50
• Hillary Clinton and Mike Huckabee have the most mentions by bloggers under 20
• Barack Obama has the highest percent of bloggers 20-29
As the race for President heats up, and both parties’ candidates solidified, it will be interesting to see how the bloggers demographics change as well as what topics become top of mind. Will it become the economy, immigration, the war or something else? Only time will tell.
February 11th, 2008
It’s that time of year again. The time some people dread and others live for. That’s right, the dreaded Black Friday . The shopping day that retailers depend on to kick off the holiday shopping season with either a bang or a whimper. Some stores are opening at 4 am, yes that was 4 am to entice bargain hunters to come to their stores. Initial reports show that shoppers were out there looking for that big bargain (really is anything worth sitting overnight on line for? Not for me thanks. Yes, I saw the lines at Circuit City starting around 8 pm, had to be about 50 people there already, wow. )
There are many sources online to find out where the items will be on sale and bloggers love to spread the word.
Some bloggers are really excited to get out there and shop till they drop. While others are disappointed with the offerings and are considering staying home (which is where I was) . Some in the industry give the real truth to the sales that the prices are not as great as the stores make it seem. Other bloggers wrote of their Black Friday shopping trips , their successes or failures.
According to Sonar, bloggers who wrote about Black Friday are predominately female, with over 60% of the posts. However when it comes to Cyber Monday posts, males are slightly higher than females with 54% of the posts.
As for Cyber Monday the new online phenomenon, many stores are offering sales to kick off the online shopping season as well. Some stores such as Walmart.com are offering sales all week online . Sites such as http://dealnews.com/ and http://www.slickdeals.net/ have listings for the Cyber Monday sales. According to Shop.org, 72% of online retailers have planned special promotions for today and they expect abut half of the American workers to shop online while at work today.
We will see how the shopping season starts out soon. It will be interesting to see if online shopping grows even bigger than last year. I think people are getting a taste of how convenient it is and retailers offering up deals for their online customers are just the thing to keep consumers happy. After all, who doesn’t love a bargain?
November 26th, 2007
Not long ago, we became part of Adverb Media, joining sister companies DigitalGrit and Temel in becoming one of the largest privately-held, full-service digital marketing agencies in the US.
Last month, we launched a new release of our proprietary Sonar technology, delivering business intelligence from over three-quarters of a BILLION blog posts via a beautiful, user-friendly dashboard.
Today begins the next chapter, Zeta Interactive. What’s next in online marketing.
Here’s the press release to tell you the whole story. (We’re psyched! You should be, too.)
Zustek Corporation Acquires Adverb Media; Launches Full-Service Digital Marketing Agency - Zeta Interactive
New company combines talents and technologies of five digital marketing leaders to provide customers with complete marketing solutions
NEW YORK, Nov. 15 /PRNewswire/ — Zustek Corporation, a leading provider of email marketing communications solutions, today announced it has acquired Adverb Media, an award-winning interactive marketing, technology and services agency. Adverb Media is comprised of DigitalGrit, a direct response and search marketing firm, Temel, a brand strategy and creative agency, and RelevantNoise(TM), a technology firm dedicated to mining the social Internet for business intelligence. With this announcement comes the formation of Zeta Interactive, a company that combines the talents and proprietary technologies of all five firms, offering complete, cross-media, multi-channel marketing solutions to its customers worldwide. Al DiGuido, a digital-marketing veteran and CEO of Zustek will continue as CEO of Zeta Interactive.
“For the first time, the industry has an organization that has a suite of services and technologies that allow a marketer to truly leverage the promise of an integrated, interactive-marketing strategy,” said DiGuido. “The days of working with multiple agencies and specialists with disparate platforms are coming to an end. We have assembled the best technology, services and people to provide our customers with a one-stop solution for their marketing challenges and objectives. We are truly excited to partner with Adverb, who we believe represents the best in the business, and look forward to an incredibly exciting future together.”
The announcement comes following significant developments in the digital- marketing arena as companies look to acquire digital assets and gain a foothold in this expanding market. A key differentiator for Zeta Interactive is the company’s proprietary, in-house technologies. With technologies from Zustek and Adverb, Zeta Interactive offers Fortune 1000 companies state-of- the-art, interactive-marketing solutions, incorporating email communications, SEO, social media mining, web development, strategic and creative services, plus, offline and online advertising development. Its wide array of digital marketing platforms and technologies include:
eBizMailer(TM) — A high-performance, email deployment, automation and analytics platform designed to allow businesses to take advantage of email as a marketing medium.
InsightGrit — A powerful analytics and reporting technology, developed specifically for search marketing, allows for real-time optimization and campaign management. The system is flexible enough to fully integrate with a company’s existing web analytics system to provide a comprehensive view of campaign results from impression to conversion.
Sonar(TM) — A web-based, social media mining technology that allows clients to view the “buzz” surrounding their business interests, brands and products and measure the success of their marketing efforts
FeedBlaster - An innovative, search-engine optimizer that takes a client’s site content and makes it visible to search and shopping engines.
“We are forming Zeta Interactive in response to the growing demand for full-service firms that help businesses leverage the Internet in its entirety to drive significant business results,” said Dan Lynn, CEO of Adverb Media. “With Al’s leadership and expertise in the interactive marketing industry, we are confident this acquisition will enable us to not only quickly become a leader in the marketplace, but help move the marketplace itself to an entirely new level in which marketers come to expect an integrated, cross-media approach.”
Headquartered in New York City, the newly merged Zeta Interactive now has more than 300 employees worldwide located in California, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Nevada, New Jersey, Texas, Rhode Island and India. The company serves more than 200 clients currently, including such world-class companies as Time Inc., Sony Electronics Inc., Cephalon(R), and LiveNation.
The announcement is one in a series of acquisitions that began last month, when Zustek announced it had been acquired by Investcorp Technology Partners, a major private- equity investor in small-and medium-sized technology businesses in North America and Europe, and named DiGuido as CEO.
“We believe this latest acquisition is a win-win for all involved and is clearly filling a need in the marketplace,” said Alex Guira, managing director at Investcorp Technology Partners. “With the acquisition of Adverb, Zeta Interactive has tremendous potential for growth, and is well-poised to quickly become an industry leader.”
About Zeta Interactive
Zeta Interactive is a full-service digital marketing agency offering a wide range of services — from email and search marketing, to web site development, creative, business intelligence services and more. The company is a leading provider of integrated, interactive services that help marketers realize the full potential of the Internet to build brands, increase sales, improve processes, and reduce costs. Zeta Interactive’s specialty is in crafting strategies and programs for customers that help them acquire, retain, up-sell, cross-sell and win back their customers-cost effectively and efficiently. The company does so by providing superior proprietary technology and a marketing approach that is focused on accountability, measurability and ROI metrics. For more information please visit: http://www.zetainteractive.com.
About Investcorp Technology Partners
Investcorp Technology Partners is a leading private-equity investor in small and medium-sized technology businesses in North America and Europe. The group focuses on growth buyout, corporate carve-out and take-private transactions, generally investing between $15 million and $40 million of equity. Investcorp Technology Partners is part of Investcorp, a leading provider and manager of alternative investment products with more than $13 billion in invested assets under management. Further information is available at http://www.investcorp.com.
November 15th, 2007
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