Download Online Advertising Working Group Call Notes_Mtg5

ONLINE ADVERTISING WORKING GROUP
CALL NOTES: MEETING 5 (10/27/15)
AGREEMENT ON DECISIONS TO-DATE
- Patty Babb recapped what has been discussed during the four calls to-date:
o CNIC HQ will place enterprise-wide commercial advertising banners in the middle of the
MWR website’s home pages (below the large, scrolling internal ads). The commercial
ads may be animated, rotating, or collapsing – there are many options. However, if there
are no ads to display there at any given time, that space will condense and no longer be
visible.
o CNIC HQ also will place commercial advertisements along the bottom of the GoWiFi
log-in page, enterprise-wide. Additionally, after logging in to GoWiFi, users will be
redirected to their local MWR website, which will increase traffic.
- The group unanimously agreed with these key points, and Patty said the group will now
move on from those discussions.
- Patty raised a question: Should we post commercial ads on interior pages? Most participants
felt that the ads should appear only on the MWR home pages (at least, just to start – perhaps
they could be expanded later?); however, Jay Whiteside noted that traffic on the home pages
is only a fraction of the total traffic the sites receive. By limiting the ads to the home page,
we reduce our potential revenue. Jay will share home page metrics so the group can continue
discussing this issue.
- A discussion of next steps followed: Bill Winters indicated that work already is underway on
the policy letter that will give regional and installation marketers some top-cover as we begin
rolling out commercial ads (we are still not sure who will sign that letter). Further, Rick
Trimmer said he would discuss a process with Patty for handling the GoWiFi redirects.
FOLLOW-UP DISCUSSION: CLICK-THROUGH POLICY
- Patty reviewed the language in SECNAV 5720.44C, section 7-13, which appears to allow
click-throughs on our commercial advertisements. Bill will look into whether the instruction
sufficiently empowers us to move forward.
SPONSORSHIP TRAINING UPDATE
- Bill discussed the status of training modules 1 and 2 (there will be 8 total), which are ready to
roll out. Bill was able to bypass one testing hurdle in the roll-out process, so the modules
should be available within the next month. More information is forthcoming.
- Patty noted that changes can be made, throughout the roll-out process, to the curriculum. Bill
added that the training team (Randy Sells and Paul Ayers) are the POCs for the
functionality/flow of the training (or if you spot typos, etc.). Bill is the POC for any policy
changes/questions.
RECAP FROM DOD SPONSORSHIP SUMMIT
- Bill and Shannon Leonard attended a DOD sponsorship summit in San Antonio last week,
which was very fruitful. The summit was organized by the Army, which is extremely
advanced regarding online advertising and sponsorship. Bill noted that the Marines seem to
be roughly on par with the Navy; the Air Force is a bit more bullish, and it seems to be ahead
of us at this point.
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Bill mentioned that the event included networking opportunities with several potential
sponsors, such as Sprint or USAA, which may be beneficial for us going forward. He said the
bulk of the event focused on digital advertising initiatives, most notably digital signage. He
said that the Army has a large team (and large facilities) dedicated to these efforts, and they
are willing to share their resources, ideas and even contracting vehicles with us (the Air
Force is already engaged with the Army). Patty and Bill will look into this further.
Bill also shared the outcomes of discussions about sponsorship agreements with University
of Phoenix and other academic institutions. Bill said that no current agreements should be
terminated by our regional commercial sponsorship teams; by the time those agreements
expire, there should be some resolution at the DoD level, and we can then decide how we
will operate in the future.
ONLINE METRICS DISCUSSION
- Patty and Jay reviewed the metrics document that was circulated before the call, which
details the traffic our sites received in September. Leslie Gould asked why so few sites were
listed, and Jay explained that while almost every installation has a new MWR website in the
works, many still have yet to launch. The group discussed how much the metrics will jump
when Mid-Atlantic and Southwest launch their new sites. Nancy Walker and Rusty Johnson
said they would share their current metrics with the group.
- There was additional discussion about page views vs. site hits, and the difference between the
two. Our sites have tens of millions of hits each month, but just over a million page views –
why the discrepancy? Patty and Jay will look into it further.
- Rick discussed the metrics he collects via GoWiFi, which are different than the metrics Jay
collects on the MWR websites via Google Analytics. Rick is able to measure bandwidth,
number of users and peak usage times. He will share some metrics with the group from some
select locations.
- Google Analytics can offer some demographic information (gender, age, etc.), but not much.
Patty and Jay will look into what data can be pulled.
- Jason Marti and Jared Nakayama discussed Apple ios 9 search capabilities (such as Apple
Keynote), which was new to much of the group, and whether they are marketing
opportunities within those systems. Jason will share some information with Patty.
HOUSEKEEPING
- Patty briefly discussed the POC list that she distributed – please use it to share best practices
and bounce ideas off one another!
- Patty also asked if the group wanted to continue meeting every two weeks – most agreed that
that was ideal.