Kozlen Communications

The US Department of Commerce reported that online retail sales grew significantly in the second quarter of 2005, to $21.1 billion (seasonally adjusted). Unadjusted growth was 3.5% and seasonaly growth was 7.2%. For the full year, projections show online retail sales rising 22.1% to $84.5 billion. Online sales remained steady, accounting for 2.2% of all retail sales in the US during the second quarter. Percentages seem low because overall retail estimates include categories such as motor vehicles and parts, food and beverages, and gasoline, which represent almost half of total retail sales.

Ford Motor Company announced that it will spend 30% of its estimated $1 billion+ marketing budget on “targeted” media. Ford defines “targeted” approaches as direct mail, video on demand, mobile-phone ads, sponsorships, customer relationship marketing and Internet marketing. Half of that will go toward digital means of directing customers to fordvehicles.com.

In its seemingly endless release of new information, products and services, Google is in the process of introducing a few new tools this week. The first is Google Talk, its instant messaging software that also allows users (with a microphone) to call and talk with each other. It is not much different than other IM tools available, but does tie in with your GMail account (which – also this week – is now past its year-long beta test, and available to anyone who wants one). The other tool that Google release is Google Desktop 2. This program allows you to quickly and easily find files on your computer. However, it also comes bundled with Google Sidebar – which finally allows you to personalize a Google homepage (without actually affecting their white-space rich homepage). You don’t have to customize it, it actually gives you content based on your previous website visits (scary for privacy reasons), but you can select the content you want. It’ll be interesting to see what they come up with next, and how they can expand these new tools.

The AdFreak blog had an awesome article today about The Ring 2′s viral marketing efforts. I must admit (if you know the concept of the movie) that it is brilliant. I wish I would have come up with it.

‘Ring Two’ viral so good it’s scary Viral marketing, like a good joke, often seems to work best when it’s at someone’s expense. Thus, we see great promise in New Media Maze’s viral effort supporting the DVD release of The Ring Two in the U.K. Nefarious pranksters are invited to visit 7DaysLeft.com and enter a friend’s e-mail address and cell-phone number. The site then sends the friend an e-mail, inviting him or her to view the Ring Two trailer online. As the video plays, the friend’s cell phone rings, and a voice on the other end whispers “seven days”—which, if the friend has seen the Ring movies, might just prompt a soiling of the friend’s trousers.