Versant Blog Center

Evolution

Media is continuing at a rapid rate of change from traditional media to digital media. For the first half of 2007, television and radio media were down almost 2.5%, as compared to 2006. Newspapers continue their long-term decline, down 5.8% so far this year.

The effectiveness of television is being dramatically impacted by the use of DVRs. Forrester research predicts that by 2010, more than half of all U.S. households will own a DVR. It puts us in control and we are using that control to skip the ads interrupting our programs.

Newspaper circulation continues to decline, as more readers are going online for their local news and to look for items they once found in the Classifieds (Jobs, Auto, Real Estate, etc.).

Radio is losing market share by the use of MP3 Players (iPods) and the personal digital media they offer.

The Internet will continue to be a huge force of change with the increase in online advertising, up over 17% in the last year. This significant growth is predicted to continue at a similar rate over the next five years.

The Internet is now the source of information and entertainment for an ever-increasing number of individuals. During the month of July, there were over 9 billion videos viewed on the Web, indicating that the propensity of broadband has made video an interactive mainstay of the Net.

What this means for the future of advertising is that it will need to evolve. It has to. Successful marketers will need to integrate advertising into people's lives by engaging them in the communication. The reality is that consumers and technology are both evolving quickly, and the advertising industry must evolve along with them.

A Changing Health Care Market

I recently attended the 26th Annual Meeting of the National Association for Home Care & Hospice which took place in Denver, Colorado. I’ve gone to this show for the past three years not only because we have clients who exhibit there and we want to see firsthand what their competition is doing, but also because it’s a snapshot of what’s happening in the home care/health care market overall.

It was interesting to note that in the telemedicine field, there was no one making the “big splash” this year – some vendors had reduced the size of their booths, some were changing their brand position. I got the feeling everyone was looking around to see what the other guy was doing, which is different than the last two NAHC shows I’ve attended. There were also a lot of new players entering the field. 

My sense is that while everyone is holding back, trying to figure out how to position their ROI to the home care market within the ever-changing regulatory and payment environment, there’s a vacuum waiting to be filled. This is a prime window of opportunity for one of the new (or firmly established) telemedicine providers to take the lead in this industry with cutting edge technology, a strategically sound brand strategy and the team onboard to make it happen. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if that happens by this time next year.