One of my favorite SNL skits is the NPR Delicious Dish episode with Alec Baldwin. I love food, eating, enjoying, staring, and smelling unique flavors to excite my palate. And, in fact, my post today will be centered on FOOD!

Currently at Razorfish, I work with a CPG client on the paid search side of the house. I get exposed to the “food industry” and all the latest trends or buzz surrounding food both offline and online.  Earlier this year, Google released the “Google Recipe Tool”, which foodies and non-foodies alike, jumped on-board. The feature lets users filter search results according to ingredients, cook time, calories and more. Users can search, for instance, for recipes containing certain ingredient, devised by a certain chef, and even narrow down to how long the item takes to prep and cook. Pictures, ingredients and one- to five-star user ratings are highlighted in the listed results, helping users quickly discover or bypass recipes.

However, with this sudden influx of searches on the Google Recipe Tool, the search engine decided to do something with this data. Google created the Consumer Food Index, a handy internal tool that was created to gauge recipe and food search queries, trends and seasonality. For me, that is called “winning” because the team and myself now have access to see what you, the consumer, is searching on, what kind of food you love, tips/tricks, and popular recipes. The beauty of this is that our team can make a stronger connection between a brand and consumer based on this data.  That is what I like to call, making online paid search magic.  For our team to create this “magic” and have access to this data, there are a few things to keep in mind:

• This data is not available to the public. Sorry Mom.
• The queries are a request made to your Google Reps.
• The Data Dump of the queries comes in a raw excel file. Thousands upon thousands of queries. *Google is hoping to find an easier way to extract the data, but in the meantime, your search team has the chance to get down and dirty with the data.

This tool is even more valuable to a paid search marketer, since Q4 is the largest volume of search on recipes, snack ideas and holiday meals.  The chart below highlights spikes in search around Q4.

Why is this even relevant to you…? As a search marketer, it is crucial to have more data available to identify valuable insights within the user’s behaviors throughout the search process.  Gaining as much insight as possible into the consumer behavior, activities happening offline and online, will ultimately lead to a more positive online experience for the user. In addition, it will also establish a stronger connection with the user to the brand.

Interested in the Google Consumer Food Index Tool? A POV will be available the week of July 11^th, 2011.

Authored by: Rebecca Keen, rebecca.keen@razorfish.com

It is the ever-so-popular time of year, where us consumers are inundated with constant reminders that the holidays are soon upon us. I personally look forward to it, not for the days full of gift giving and receiving, but the 24 hour marathon of The Christmas Story (and for the record, I do own the infamous leg lamp).

However, what I have on my mind during this time of year is in the minority. Consumers are preparing to ramp up on the holiday shopping, and retailers are ready for the shoppers to come flooding to their doors or websites.

Retailers are looking for ways to break through the clutter and lure customers to spend spend spend, whether offline or online. As the consumer rolls out holiday plans, they will include online research to help ease the holiday rush and find the best deals around. Retailers are going to be pushing “special offers” in the upcoming weeks (especially in the online space), such as free shipping, promotional coupons, etc…

According to Google Trends, the holiday deals spike began as early as October, as if you did not already know that from walking into your local Macy’s store.

With that, retailers, or search marketers for retail companies, should keep a few best practices in mind during the holiday season.

• Make sure to allocate appropriate budgets and include promotional messaging on key shopping days like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Green Monday
• Incorporate the spirit of the holidays in all marketing channels, including the website
• Create unique landing pages for Holiday Gift Guides and Specials
• Test marketing messaging and offers to see which resonate best with your audience
• Be relevant to your consumers and personalize when possible

I wish you happy searching and to all a good find!

P.S.

Dear Santa,

If you are reading this a) I have been nice and b) would like an official Red Ryder. I’ll leave the cupcakes out for you to enjoy.

Your loyal fan,

Rebecca

Google (i.e. John Wayne) is roping in the bad advertisers (bandits) once again in the recent crackdown in the online space. If you think this feels like the intro to a John Wayne Wild West movie where the good guy goes after the bad guy through a series of standoffs, you might be right.

Google announced  on September 22, 2010 it is going after rogue pharmacies and filed a federal lawsuit against fraudulent pharmacy advertisers that illegally advertise on its’ search engine. The announcement may not be surprising when you consider that Google has been facing exponential growth in the number of advertisers claiming to be a source to sell online drugs. Plus there are additional regulations coming down on the healthcare industry from the FDA, which impose further restrictions on advertising. 

Google does have safeguards in place to prevent the promotion or misuse of illegal pharmaceutical products. However, even with these safeguards in place there are still a small percentage of pharmacy ads from rogue pharmaceutical companies that continue to appear on Google.  So the showdown continues….

2010: the Year the West was Won?

The FDA has also been involved in combating “fake” pharmacies and advises consumers to alert their doctor and pharmacists when they encounter non-approved FDA drugs.  According to the FDA, “this practice undermines safeguards of direct medical supervision and a physical evaluation performed by a licensed health professional,” says Jeffrey Shuren, M.D., medical officer in the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Policy, Planning and Legislation.  While the FDA has come down on drug companies for advertising, the agency is trying to maintain the regulated advertising practices so consumers know when they read or view drug information in the online space it is 100% accurate and safe.

Google, along with other online spaces, is under a microscope from not only the government but legitimate advertisers. This latest move from Google will hopefully deter rogue pharmacies from continuing to illegally advertise online. Will this be a happy ending like in most Western movies, or is this only the beginning on this frontier?

Confession: my guilty pleasure and my true love are cupcakes. I go to great lengths to find the perfect cupcake, no matter which city I am in. In my quest to find the perfect cupcake shop, I search the web for all the local cupcake shops, read reviews and just recently started to turn to my trusty iPhone to use one of my location-based apps.

There is no denying that location-based apps are dominating the social space right now and are changing people’s approach to finding items or businesses. These apps are a simple way for business to build discovery and drive customer loyalty.  These interactions prove mutually beneficial: apps like foursquare allow local businesses to post specials and review data on check-in behavior and users can give tips, read reviews and redeem offers. Thanks to foursquare and businesses posting specials for check-ins, I have redeemed several discounts for free cupcakes, coffee and ice cream. I find myself visiting more local businesses to take advantage of specials they post via foursquare.

My increased reliance on these apps has highlighted areas that warrant further exploration. For example, I would love to see location-based apps recommend business or services based on my check-in behavior. Behavioral targeting would be a great way to facilitate new discoveries based on a user’s past behavior.

A recent Forrester report pointed out that adoption of foursquare and other location based apps is still too low to warrant strategies from major marketers. That may be the case, but adoption will likely increase with the recent Facebook Places launch and it’s time for big marketers to pay attention. With more and more people using foursquare and Gowalla and new location-based applications hitting the market, including Facebook Places, where is the future headed? Share your thoughts below (and any tips you have on the best cupcake shops in your city).

And in case you were wondering, here’s one of my favorite cupcakes from NYC:

image from billysbakerynyc.com