Mobile Internet Advertising Surges Past TV Media Spend

Mobile Internet Ad RevenueFor the first time in 2013, US internet advertising revenue has surpassed broadcast television advertising revenue.

Online ad sales in the US went up 17% to $42.8 billion according to data by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Broadcast Television came in second at $40.1 million. However television as a whole leads at a fairly wide margin if you combined the revenue totals of both broadcast and cable.

Mobile Advertising Revenue Continues to Rise

Contributing to this growth is the rapid rise of mobile advertising. In 2013, revenue has grown more than double to $7.1 billion. It is the third year in a row that the mobile ad space has shown triple-digit growth.

“The news that interactive has outperformed broadcast television should come as no surprise,” said Randall Rothenberg, CEO of IAB, in a press release. “It speaks to the power that digital screens have in reaching and engaging audiences.”

Google and Facebook together account for two-thirds of the all mobile global spend.

Continue Reading

“Unsung Hero” – TVC Thai Life Insurance Commercial

This Ad has generated more than 9 million views and counting. An Ad by Thai Life Insurance, it shows a young man who daily helps those around him. The heartwarming message is that though acts of kindness may not impact one’s own life directly, it can bring tangible happiness into the lives of others.

The ad, of course, teaches us nothing about Thai life insurance other than making you feel good and as we are doing, talk about the company.

Who is ready to buy thai life insurance? Whatever it is.

Continue Reading

How Our Kids Perceive Beauty In The Modern World

Beauty Perception of Children

They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but what if your young daughter is the beholder and she’s being manipulated by clever, yet misleading, advertisements to form her perception? Until recently, almost all popular fashion and beauty billboards have painted long, lean and skinny women who are accessorized by expensive clothes and handbags as the beauty norm. But thanks to the beauty industry’s evolving agenda and big brands backing the efforts (the real life portrayals of young women in the Dove Campaign For Real Beauty is one example) today’s modern girl is beginning to feel more confident embracing her version of beauty and style. Young minds will likely be tempted by how media outlets present beauty, but below are a few tips to help your daughter feel happy in her own skin when she’s struggling most.

1. Experiencing big body changes

Puberty is a whole mess of changes and hormones. While we can hopefully chuckle at those days, for your daughter, the experience is happening now and is a very real weight on her self-esteem. If your daughter is feeling conscientious about the changes she’s going through—maybe all of her friends are taller and developing faster or maybe she’s breaking out and can’t wear makeup yet. This is a great time to help her bust through the one-size-fits-all approach to beauty. You can’t tell her enough how bright her eyes sparkle or how amazing her hair is; research shows that positive encouragement from parents positively influences children’s self-perceptions.

2. Glasses are in, but contacts boost self-esteem in teens

Most teenagers who experience eyesight issues are psyched that glasses are in style, and could spend hours online finding their favorite styles. Some kids still feel self-conscious wearing eyeglasses though, and might find a big self-esteem boost when allowed to choose contact lenses, according to optometrist researcher, Jeffrey J. Walline, from Ohio State University’s College of Optometry. By the end of his study, he found that kids wearing contact lenses were more confident about their appearance and athletic performances. Your optometrist will help your daughter find the perfect pair of contact lenses for her needs. If you’re a busy parent, order her contact lens prescription online. Internet retailers like Vision Direct even have auto-reorder features that make keeping fresh contacts on hand effortless. When they arrive, help her practice putting them in so she feels comfortable and confident.

3. Weighing in

In the past, everyone wanted to diet and lose weight to become the ultra-skinny envy of their friends and family. Unfortunately, body image experts say the “thin ideal” is still in. With today’s pressure, the new beautiful is to still be thin, but also super fit. Let’s face it, no matter how much some of us work out, the bone structure we were born with is not going to budge and that tiny waist/curvy butt combo is fought down by genetics. If your daughter struggles with her perception of weight—whether she thinks she is over or underweight—assure her that regular exercise makes her beautiful because she’s engaging in a life-long healthy activity. Encourage her to find fitness she actually enjoys doing though.

Show her how powerful the media is by showing her pictures of what beautiful was in the ’60s and ’70s. She’ll be surprised when you show her people once thought a woman holding a cigarette was “beautiful” because that’s what popular media convinced them to believe. Unhealthy habits can often be glamorized, and just helping create awareness will help your daughter begin raising her own questions about what beauty really is to her.

Continue Reading

Covenant Eyes Introduces Family Pricing

Covenant Eyes Internet AccountabilityCovenant Eyes Introduced Family Pricing

Covenant Eyes introduced a big pricing change this week that can save families quite a bit of money. Families can now pay a flat rate of $12.99 which comes with unlimited Covenant Eyes usernames for each of their family members and those they deem appropriate. This is great for those with several children they want to protect (or for families who were trying to save money by sharing usernames!). You can also add filtering to any username at no additional costs.

What is Covenant Eyes?

Covenant Eyes is an excellent internet accountability and filtering solution for any family. Great for both monitoring your children as well as keeping even the adults accountable to what they visit on the always precarious internet and for how long. How does it work? Simple. You install a small program that helps monitor your internet use. You pick your accountability friend(s) (or if you are a parent, you pick yourself on your children’s accounts). Then if you or your children happen to visit a questionable site, it will let the friend you chose know via email. Having that extra layer of protection can be invaluable for many. It is also a great way to curb the dangers of the internet for your children. You can also filter bad sites or if you choose, choose times your children will not be able to access the internet (think past midnight).

For a more extensive review, read our article: Covenant Eyes Internet Protection

Covenant Eyes: Highly Recommended

If you are concerned about your children’s internet use and what they may be exposed to on the internet, I highly recommend you try out this solution.

Check out these sobering stats:

  • Americans spend over 20hrs a week surfing the net.
  • Teens spend over 31hrs per week online
  • The average age of a child’s first internet exposure to pornography is 11yrs old
  • Largest consumers of internet pornography are ages 12-17
  • Over 50% of teens, 30% of children surf without supervision

If you want more information about Covenant Eyes or want to try it for one month FREE, following this link: Covenant Eyes 30 Day Money Back Guarantee

Continue Reading

Basic Human Needs: Shelter, Family & WIFI

Basic Human Needs: Shelter, Family & WIFI

More and more, our Basic Human Needs are looking like this.
Air, Shelter, Water, Food, Friends, family, Self-esteem… but holding it all up is WIFI.

  • Do you agree?
  • Anything else that should part of this list?

Share this hilarious sad picture with others!
(use can use the social buttons on the left)

[poll id=”39″]

Basic Human Needs WIFI

Continue Reading

Children Identity Theft Happens – Online Safety Tips

Child Playing on Ipad Tablet1 out of 40 Deal with Underage Identity Theft

Identity theft is an ever-growing problem as generations grow up with the Internet at their side. This isn’t a crime that only happens to adults, as the Identity Theft Assistance Center reports 1 out of 40 households deal with identity theft of underage members. Thieves target minors for social security numbers not already used to obtain credit and jobs. The Parent Teachers Association and LifeLock have teamed up to help parents and children understand online dangers and how to avoid them so they stay safe.

Interactive Tools to Present Dangers of Identity Theft

The PTA and LifeLock are creating interactive tools and learning kits to present the dangers of identity theft and online activity in a kid-friendly way throughout 2014. The goal is to have engaging tools that teach children to stay safe during online activities. The program also teaches the specific dangers to keep in mind when they use the Internet. The tools target several audiences during the tools development process, with some kits designed to help parents thoroughly explain the issues to their kids, and others designed for classroom use.

Tips for Family Safety Online

First consider an Internet Filter or Monitoring program such as CovenantEyes for your children. It will not only help you keep tabs on what kind of websites they visit, but will allow you to filter dangerous or inappropriate website as well as monitor how often your child is on the internet.

SEE: CovenantEyes Review

Teach your children to only enter personal information on secured Web forms for approved services and websites. Make sure they know “https:” indicates secure webpages, as do common security seals such as McAfee Secure. Point out red flags in phishing emails that mimic a login page of a legitimate service. Often the phishing emails have bad spelling or grammar, use a website address that is close to, but not exactly, the legitimate URL, or send you to a different URL than the link’s anchor text. When your child discovers a phishing email, send it to the company it’s spoofing so they shut down the scammer.

Use anti-virus software that includes email and Web protection as part of the package. A typical anti-virus program only scans the files on your computer. Instead, use an anti-virus application that also checks email and websites to protect your children against phishing, malware, and trojans. The scheduling function ensures that your computer gets a full scan every day without fail, helping to minimize potential damage caused by a virus that got through the active protection.

Configure Windows Firewall or a third party firewall software to select which installed programs are permitted to access the Internet. Whitelist programs like Windows or iOS, your anti-virus software, and trusted online games. A whitelisted program always has firewall permission to connect to the Internet, while you get prompted by the firewall to allow other programs access on a case by case basis.

Social networks such as Facebook provide a range of tools to fine tune privacy settings on profiles, statuses, and other content shared on the website. Only allow your children’s Facebook friends or a custom list of friends to see their status updates, pictures, and other social network content. In addition, Facebook allows you to control who sees personal information on a profile, such as phone numbers, email addresses, and physical addresses.

Continue Reading

The Impact of the It Can Wait Campaign on Teen Driving Culture

Texting & Driving Teens Danger

Major mobile carriers like AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon have banded together, spending millions to convince teens not to use their services, according to The Dallas News. The powerful It Can Wait campaign urges teens (and drivers of all ages) to wait until they get to their destination before reading, writing or sending text messages. According to Distraction.gov, drivers are twice as likely to crash if they are texting while in motion.

The campaign’s adverts depict gut wrenching stories in an aim to save lives. One ad tells the story of a driver who hit and killed three Amish youngsters after texting “I love you” to his wife. Another features an 8 year old who lost his legs after being hit by a texting driver. These shock-worthy tales are changing the driving culture, making it socially unacceptable to text and drive.

The Documentary

One of the first facts to scroll across the screen in the 35-minute It Can Wait documentary: 100,000 people die each year due to texting and driving. The documentary has been viewed by more than 2.7 million people since it was first uploaded to YouTube in August.

However, the first story in the film is not about someone who died as a result of texting and driving. Instead, the film details the tragic story of Xzavier, an eight year old, who has been living incapacitated since he was hit by a texting driver as a toddler. The documentary expands on the ideas in the ads, and by getting deeper into the reality victims face every day, it has an impact on teens.

Integration of Social Media

Part of the effectiveness of the It Can Wait is that it goes beyond simple TV adverts. By inviting teens to get involved, the movement has gained a larger, more effective reach than it would have without cross-platform engagement. Teens can upload their stories to the It Can Wait website through short videos, take the It Can Wait Pledge on Facebook or Tweet their stories using the dedicated It Can Wait hashtag.

Texting_While_Driving_iphoneIncreased Parental Involvement

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, traffic accidents continue to be the No. 1 killer of teens, but in an effort to change this grim fact, parents have become more active in encouraging kids to wear seat belts and to never text while driving. Parents have also realized the importance of ensuring their teen drivers understand the rules of the road before they get behind a wheel and are focusing on finding free resources for practice tests and safety guides.

Safety apps have also sprung up as part of the cultural response. DriveMode, an app created by AT&T, can be set before a driver starts the car. As the teen drives toward their location, the app reads their texts aloud to them. This allows teens to quench their social curiosity without becoming a danger to others.

Continue Reading

Fisher Price’s iPad Bouncy Seat Controversy

Fisher Price Ipad Toddler Seat

As the holiday shopping season approached, Fisher Price made headlines for introducing its Fisher-Price Ipad Seat. No, it wasn’t lead paint or faulty safety straps that made the headlines. It was the inclusion of an iPad attachment in the seat, encouraging parents to strap their kids in and put on videos or games for entertainment. This was what prompted the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, an advocacy group based in Boston, to call for a recall of the toy. People’s displeasure with the product also led to numerous one-star ratings on Amazon.com.

You can see the actual product and some of the angry comment reactions here: Fisher-Price Ipad Apptivity Seat

Why All the Controversy About a Baby Seat?

Detractors cite the fact that today’s kids are surrounded by media from birth. The American Academy of Pediatricians estimates that the average child spends seven hours a day with entertainment media, and they indicate that excessive use of media can lead to a range of problems, from attention disorders to obesity.

Yet not all TV viewing is not a bad thing. According to TVproviders.com, television can have a positive influence on children. Educational programs help kids learn about the world in a way they can understand. So the question is not whether children should be watching videos and TV, but rather how old they should be before they start and how much they are consuming.

How Media Affects Babies

HealthyChildren.org warns that television viewing has a profound impact on a baby’s growing brain. Children’s brains triple in size between birth and 12 months. The stimuli they are exposed to influences that development, and images on screens do not behave in the same way that the real world does. Babies can’t understand the images on a screen as a result. They are fascinated by the glowing lights, but they glean nothing from them.

Also, screen viewing before age two has been shown to shorten memory, impact language development and harm reading skills, because it prevents children from meaningful interaction with caregivers. It can also have a negative effect on attention and sleep patterns.

Because babies are not interacting with the world around them when staring at a screen, they miss out on important developmental cues their brains need to grow. Even turning the TV on for background noise can limit language development. Adults speak an average of 940 words per hour when a baby is in the room, but that drops to 770 when the TV is on, so young minds aren’t learning.

The Official Recommendation

Because of this, the American Academy of Pediatricians recommends no television or video viewing before age two. The AAP recommends that parents establish “screen-free” zones at home by removing all televisions, computers or video games in children’s bedrooms. This my be a difficult proposition for many, but worthwhile to help your child’s development. In replacement, they can offer educational outlets in non-electronic formats. It is recommended that even children and teens should engage with entertainment media no more than 1-2 hours per day.

In light of these facts, parents are shunning the new Fisher-Price infant and toddler seat. While it may be advertised as the ultimate electronic babysitter, the seat will do more harm than good for the target market. Media is educational and helpful to kids, but only when they are old enough to benefit from it.

Simple put: Parents, don’t be lazy. Play with your kids.

Continue Reading

How Facebook can Hurt Teen’s Chances for College

Facebook LogoDid you know that last year, Facebook changed the minimum age requirement for joining Facebook to 13 years old?

Yet a survey in 2012 showed that 38% of children on Facebook were actually under 13. In fact over 5 million users were under 10 years old!

So what’s the big deal? Teens are at a time in their neural development where they are more likely to take risks and not consider the full reach of the consequences. According to the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, the still-growing teenage brain causes teens to engage in risky behavior and act impulsively. It is no different in their user of social media. Ok so, they post a few bad pictures up on the web or they say inappropriate or explicit “teen” things on the web, what has that got to do with college?

Are Colleges looking at Social Media?

The application process for college has always been extremely competitive. Good grades and high SAT scores matter a lot, but so does extracurricular activities, a great essay, world experiences and so on. But with so many similar applicants and rising competitiveness, it is becoming more commonplace for admission officers to visit social media sites in order to gain additional information on their applicants. With the growth of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram among many social media outlets, teenagers are laying out their lives all over the net making it easier for admission officers (and in the future, job interviewers) to get a deeper look into a person’s character. In a recent 2013 survey of admissions officers by Kaplan Test Prep, they found 31 percent of the admission officers visited an applicant’s Facebook or social networking page. This is a whopping 3x more than in 2008.

Social Media Documents Everything

Unlike their parents, when teens make poor decision in life, often it is marked on the internet forever. It doesn’t simply disappear like it did for past generations. One bad picture or comment can haunt them for a long time. Teens need to be careful and recognize that what they do now can have repercussions for many years to come. Simply posting and deleting a image from Facebook or other online medium does not mean it is gone forever. It still can get picked up on the web, get caught in cache, stored in social media company servers, or copied by other readers.

Of course social media isn’t evil in itself. if your social media presence shows you are an upstanding individual with many awards and good extracurricular involvement, it can be for your benefit.

Related Post: Internet Accountability for Children

Continue Reading

P&G Thank You, Mom, Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games TV Spot

Thank You Mom, Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games

Enjoy this spot from Proctor & Gamble called “Thank You, Mom”.

This is a feel-good, tear-filling spot created for the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games. The video speaks of athletes practicing, falling and getting back up again, with the encouragement and faithfulness of mom. Just watch it.

If you like it, please share the video using the facebook & google plus buttons on the left.

Enjoy!

Continue Reading

Westjet Christmas Surprise Video

Westjet Christmas Surprise - Child

Westjet Surprises Travelers with Christmas Gifts

WestJet, a Canadian Airline created this sweet christmas surprise video that will undoubtedly bring a smile to your face. Not only is this an incredible way to build a great brand and promote a name, they were able to make this Christmas time, a wonderful memory for all the travelers that were involved.

WestJet created a fun way to ask their travelers what was on their wishlist. Then during their flight, more than 150 WestJet employees ran around, purchased these gifts, wrapped them and delivered them at baggage claim.

This is the type of clean cut advertising I can get on board with. Pun intended.

Westjet Christmas Surprise Video

Westjet Christmas Surprise Bloopers

Continue Reading