Monday, June 30, 2008

Vampires = Bad Sales People

Ever seen Interview With The Vampire or read the book? Its a great book, and the movie... Well... The movie sort of sucks, to be honest (no pun intended).

I was thinking about the book and I realized there are parallels between the story and online ad sales people. In thinking about this relationship I came to realize that Vampires can suck the life out of people and so can poor Sales Reps.

A bad Sales Rep will sit and talk AT you rather than engage IN a discussion. They will enter a room with an agenda, in much the same way a Vampire does. The Vampire is looking for blood. The Sales Rep is looking for money. Both will take over a situation, with the Vampire raising its victim off the ground and sucking the blood from their neck. A poor Sales Rep will take over the meeting and commandeer the discussion, not listening to what the media planner's needs are but rather trying to push their products above all else.

Of course, you can't stop a poor Sales Rep with garlic. Or can you???

No - a Vampire is the only creature adversely affected by garlic.

A poor Sales Rep can be cured, unlike a Vampire. A poor Sales Rep can change and become a good Sales Rep simply by listening first and tailoring the discussion to the person or persons they are talking to. Listen first, speak second. That is the mantra of a good Sales Rep.

So next time you enter a room with an agenda and you want to make your point get across, take a deep breath, sit back and ask a question first. You'll feel much better about the interaction and I am pretty sure you'll book more business in the long run.

Or else, watch this clip!








Saturday, June 28, 2008

By The Way - I Just Got Married

I know - this is a marketing blog, but I just got married!

I like to tell everyone because I love my wife!!!

Thursday, June 26, 2008

In Car Wi-fi?

Chrysler announced a development for wi-fi in their 2009 cars. As if they need one more distraction while en route to pick up the groceries!

While i love the Internets, is this really necessary? I mean really, really necessary? Are there not enough wi-fi spots available in your major city? Do you really need wi fi while driving?

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

The Gatorade Ball Girl Viral Video

This video is making the rounds and even though its not real, its pretty good. Does it help Gatorade? Probably not. Your thoughts?

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Batman Is Hosting Sportscenter??

Check this story out...

I Love This T-Shirt


Monday, June 23, 2008

Friday, June 20, 2008

The Round-Up Volume 1, Issue 7: Knock knock. Who’s there? The Round Up!!

Welcome to “The Round-Up”, where we aggregate together a selection of the most innovative and exciting companies that we’ve uncovered over the last two weeks!! At Digital Influentials, we find the best of the best and let you sort out the rest!

Our goal is nothing but letting you know what new ideas we’ve seen in our travels through the wonderful world of online marketing and let you determine for yourself if you want more information! Once in awhile one of the companies may be a client of ours at Catalyst:SF, but if they are we promise to let you know right away so as not to lead anyone on in an inappropriate manner. We take the line between editorial and marketing as a very distinct separation and we know you do too! In most cases our featurettes are just companies who’ve contacted us and we liked them or who we’ve been introduced to and who we felt were worthy of vetting out for you! If you come across a cool new company or something that the list should know about, please drop us a line and let us know at info@catalystsf.com.

Oh – and one more thing! If you write a blog, please send us your RSS information to eddie@catalystsf.com. We want to hear what you’re up to and increase the network of The Digital Influentials!

Let’s get right into it, shall we…?

Do you ever get stuck in a brainstorm and just can’t get any further? Search no more for the right kind of icebreaker… check out MOODSTREAM (http://moodstream.gettyimages.com/). The site is a beautiful mix of images and music designed to spur your inner genius. I played with this for 25 minutes and came up with some really cool creations (which is impressive because I’m color blind and design challenged all at the same time). Once in awhile you get a pop-up that reminds you these are images for purchase, so it’s actually a lead generation tool for Getty, but I don’t seem to mind seeing as how they gave me something to do with all my spare time!

Speaking of spare time, do you spend time on the phone? Do you ever wish that your social network was mapped to your phone? Well wish no more! SKYDECK (http://skydeck.com/) has it all figured out! Skydeck builds a map of the people you call, the people you don’t call and the people who need to call you back, all in the hopes of keeping your network fresh and vital. The implications of a company like this are pretty amazing and I’m surprised that no-one has jumped on this bandwagon yet!

Speaking of your phone, how much do you spend on your phone bill? Do you ever get the feeling that you spend too much? If so, check out BILLSHRINK (http://www.billshrink.com/). BillShrink takes the entire complicated math behind what plans you should use and recommends the right plan for you. In an age where every dollar is becoming a valued asset, saving money on everyday services like your phone is a smart idea!

And if you really needed a shot in the arm to spur some creativity, check out this link to BMW’s GINA concept car (http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1075-bmws-fascinating-gina-light-visionary-model-design-study). This is an example of a company taking a bold, new approach to recreating a stagnant concept; the automobile. I can’t say I discovered this all on my own. I had some help from COOLHUNTER (http://www.thecoolhunter.net/). I discovered this site and I love the ideas they bring to the front, so check them out! How did I live without it! For those of us who aren’t cool, we need sites like this!

That’s it for today. The Digital Influentials will be taking next issue off for the 4th of July week and a much needed summer vacation, so keep an eye out for our return in the middle of July!

And please don’t forget to drop us a note and let us know what cool ideas, companies and sites you come across over the next couple of weeks!

Thanks!

New Jersey

Pearl Jam is on tour on the east coast, and since I can't make it I thought I'd leave a picture on the blog. How do I tie that into my business? Simple - these guys are selling bootlegs from their shows online, they are #1 in fan satisfaction with their digital efforts. They are an example of a how a band uses media in the 21st century. Plus I like them a lot and this is my blog.

I hope you get to see them!

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Should TV Stations Change Their Names?

This article from Mediapost is very interesting. The idea that TV stations will drop their call letters in favor of a URL or some digital moniker is very interesting.

It's worth a read, so check it out!

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

The 10-20-30 Rule for Powerpoint

Guy Kawasaki wrote this piece and you MUST read it. If you don't, then I cannot be responsible for what does or does not happen to you in the next few months...

Read me!

Yahoo and Google: What's The Big Deal?

My take on the deal between Yahoo and Google... I don't really see the big deal. Yahoo is basically allowing Google to monetize the search results that Yahoo isn't selling. This is really no different than how the major sites back-fill remnant inventory with ad network inventory.

Let's call this remnant search.

I know the hullabaloo is all around the fact that Google and Yahoo make strange bedfellows, but worse deals have been made in the market before. I think if Yahoo tried to integrate more of Google into their platform, there would be something to worry about but at this level I don't see the problem.

Am I missing something here?

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Internet TV Opportunities Are Increasing

I originally ran this article with iMedia a few months back and coming across it today I felt it was still relevant, so here you go!



The entertainment and automotive categories are typically where much of digital innovation comes from, primarily because they lend themselves very easily to the application of new ideas and they have the budgets large enough to experiment with, which is why it surprises me that they haven’t yet latched on to Internet TV.

As the dictionary defines it, Television is defined as “the transmission of visual images of moving and stationary objects, generally with accompanying sound, as electromagnetic waves and the re-conversion of received waves into visual images”. As the Wikipedia defines Internet TV, it is “television distributed via the Internet”. Internet TV is also referred to as IPTV, Interactive TV, Online Video, Digital Video and a number of other terms.

Internet TV is inevitable. It encompasses network or cable programming available online (Online VOD), original programming aired for the web (already referred to as Slivercasting), location-shifted programming run through the web to a remote device (e.g. TiVo-to-Go and SlingBox Media), and general online video viewer-ship (whether professional or user generated). All of these are elements of Internet TV in much the same way that traditional TV has reality programming, studio-produced programming, long and short form programming, etc. 2007 is home to the shift from a content-centric model to a consumer-centric model. Programming is delivered in a non-linear delivery schedule (on-demand vs. scheduled) and the consumer has options as to how, where and when they view or interact. Internet TV is the ultimate pay-off for this model; an on-demand, mobile access model where time shifting and location shifting are the norm.

The numbers also support growth potential. Currently there are TV sets in 98% of US households, and currently there is a broadband internet connection in 51% of US households with PC’s in approximately 77% of US households. Broadband penetration increases at a staggering rate (the mainstream adoption of YouTube has helped to significantly raise the awareness and ease of use for the general consumer). According to a study from Burst Media, 69.5% of respondents watch video online, with 63% of those stating they watch video at least once a week. As the general consumer becomes more comfortable watching video online, their length of exposure and comfort with the medium will increase, making watching TV on your computer, or transporting it from the computer back to your TV set a viable option. Especially as we see more announcements from companies such as Sony and Apple, both of who are working on launching consumer-focused devices that stream online video to the TV set.

The models are being developed by any of the various categories that fit under the heading of Internet TV. The two primary elements of growth are in UGC video (user generated content) and Network programming. The UGC sites include YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/), Revver (http://www.revver.com/), College Humor (http://www.collegehumor.com/) and Veoh (http://www.veoh.com/). On the Network side the players are very obvious with companies such as NBC (http://www.nbc.com/), ABC (http://www.abc.com/) and CBS (www.cbs.com/innertube) as well as MTV (http://www.mtv.com/), In2TV from AOL (http://www.in2tv.com/), and some interesting plays like Brilliant But Cancelled (http://www.brilliantbutcancelled.com/). In the middle of these two categories we see a number of players who are blending UGC and Studio production to develop narrow-audience original programming and distributing to many devices. Some of these players include companies like Current TV (http://www.current.tv/), Ripe TV (http://www.ripetv.com/), and smaller players like VegTV (http://www.vegtv.com/) which provide unique, exclusive content to smaller segments of the mainstream audience.

Also contributing to these models are companies focused on distribution or technology to distribute Internet TV content. Companies such as TiVo (http://www.tivo.com/) and SlingMedia (http://www.slingmedia.com/), but we also see companies like Brightcove (http://www.brightcove.com/), MeeVee (http://www.meevee.com/), MobiTV (http://www.mobitv.com/) and Blinkx (http://www.blinkx.com/). On the far end of this spectrum you can count Google Video as well.

Here are four ways to characterize the advertising model in this evolved medium:

In-Stream: “commercial” type placements typically run as: 15’s or: 30’s and mirror the model set aside for traditional TV. They are usually in smaller pods of one, maybe 2 commercials, and allow for 4 pods per ½ hour of programming. Based on a study from HP and MSN dating back to early 2006, these ad formats are as effective as TV in driving general brand metrics and my feeling is that consumers are accepting, even though maybe not favorable, of this model.
In-Page Adjacent: this model is where a rich media unit runs alongside the video placement and may tie into the in-stream advertiser. These stay in the window while the video is playing, unless switched to full-screen mode. This has proven to be very effective for companies at driving ROI as well as traditional brand metrics and can be seen clearly in the AOL video platform, as well as MSN’s video platform.

Product Placement: this is where a brand, product or service are actually worked into the content and either called out by a virtual “host” or factored into the programming itself. This is a natural extension of what we have seen in network programming over the last couple of years and can actually be easier to maintain in a digital environment where products can be swapped out from time to time.

Content Development: this is a more in-depth product placement model and is an extension of the old BMW Films model where a brand actually creates and distributes content. These can be very effective, especially if you have a lifestyle brand that can be reflective of the target audience. The costs are greater and you still need to promote it, but this is a very effective strategy.

Of course these are not the only models that we are seeing online, but they are the current models being applied to Internet TV. Surely there will be some new ones over the coming months and we will watch them with a keen eye, but as the consumer becomes more aware and comfortable with the category the advertising opportunities will continue to increase. I leave this final thought with you based on a recent study from CBS. Their stud stated that only 56% of TV users were aware they could watch their favorite programs online, but 62% stated they would definitely watch at least one in the coming months.

Internet TV is on the horizon, so stay tuned!

Monday, June 16, 2008

What Should I Be Reading?

Ever wonder what you should be reading if you want to know all about online marketing? Well, beyond reading my blog (which you are reading so “bravo” to you), there are lots and lots of other ones. To get started, check out this link to the Top 50 blogs about marketing in 2008. I didn’t write it, but it is pretty comprehensive.

Friday, June 13, 2008

PROmoting PROnet

Have you read this blog?

I have. It’s a good one… I love these regular round-ups of the world of social media. They are straight to the point and they provide you with very useful information. I highly recommend it.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Get Ready For Creative Auto Development.

It’s always been a hot topic, but now there are a number of companies that are specializing in the auto-development of creative. Three of the leaders in this space are QMeCom, ScanScout and AdReady. All of which have slightly different models and slightly different goals, but all of which exist to make it easier for people to create online creative and optimize their campaigns.

The goal of these is to develop templates and personalize the delivery of creative based on any number of factors. These factors can behavioral data, they can be recently searched data or they can simply be demographic information.

At first blush they are all very different and to be honest, when you visit their sites they are not too clear on what they are doing, but they all end up in a similar area. If you are a Direct Response marketer, you need to use these tools to create more ads to optimize too. If you are a Brand marketer, these tools allow you to create ads that are hopefully more relevant to the specific user or audience they are being shown to. They provide scale at a fraction of the cost of hiring a team to bust out ad banners.

These do not replace a creative team entirely. They provide a solution for scaling that portion of your budget which is not high impact and needs to remain fresh.

Check them out and see what you come up with!

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Are You Buzzword-Compliant?

Check out today's post at Mediapost!

Or read below...

Over dinner the other night I had an epiphany. Since life is a series of little epiphanies that you string together to create logical associations and bring a sense of calm and order to a world that is otherwise thriving on chaos, I felt the urgent need to share with you this epiphany.

This came while deep in conversation over dinner with a few people from our industry. The company included Joe Dumont of Questus, who confirmed that he is 100% “buzzword-compliant”! He said it completely as a joke and to make light of a recent situation — but in the context of the joke, I saw an element of truth that lines our industry and continues to make it difficult for us to scale our business. The issue is that we are still trying to redefine what we do in terms that no one other than those people raised and trained in our industry will possibly understand. We refuse to accept the fundamentals of what’s been done before as effective, and we constantly look for ways to prove that we’re different, possibly superior, and definitely more complex.

I like the fundamentals. I like to make things simple. One of my business partners has the unmistakable skill to digest down the most complex challenges facing clients and spit out the simple truths and facts of their situations, thereby allowing us to build an effective strategy for them. This is a skill I wish I could replicate and give to every person in any form of marketing services, whether they are agencies or sales groups or any other type of company. We make things too complex in order to justify our own existence, as if a simple problem would not be an adequate challenge.

I disagree with that idea immediately. The most effective strategies I’ve seen are the simplest. Think of Starbucks in its heyday of trying to provide the ‘”third place” for people (vs. home and work). Think back to the simple idea of Nike and “just do it” and showing athletes as our role models. Effectiveness comes from being able to understand a complex issue and provide a simple solution. A simple solution can be messaged in many ways, conveying the emotional and practical components of a solution, influencing a customer. You hear about the “Big Idea” all the time, but the “Big Idea” is really just a simple solution to a complex problem.

The fundamentals of Marketing 101 get overlooked in our industry. So my epiphany is that while we certainly need to spend time to be “buzzword-compliant,” I would also ask that you spend time training your teams to find that nugget of truth that can make a complex problem a simple one. Tap into the creativity of your teams and try to find the simple solutions and apply the fundamentals of marketing that tend to get overlooked. If that happens, then I guarantee that your business will scale and get more efficient over the coming year or two.

Of course there are some buzzwords that we all have to learn and use. They aren’t going away because some guy who writes a weekly column says they should. Besides, what would I do without the ability to hypothesize about the tools of engagement that can monetize my platform for customer synchronization, right? I mean, without that, how could I possibly automate the optimization of my behavioral targeting methodology or expand the customization engine with which it meets my ROI?

Or something like that.

Pearl Jam And Verizon

Pearl Jam is always leading the music industry forward with their use of digital distribution, but now they are heading into mobile. Check out this link to the Ten Club!

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Are You A Cewebrity?

I made up this word last week and I like it. I use it to describe someone who has created a personality or some sort of following in the digital space. Perez Hilton is a Cewebrity. Arianna Huffington is a Cewebrity. Harry Knowles is a Cewebrity.

These folks are taste-makers and opinion leaders. They influence the masses by being a conduit for the cool or the uncool and they have built up rabid followings of people online. Arianna Huffington regularly bleeds over into the offline world as a result of her opinions and views.
Sometimes these Cewebrities are just glorified paparazzi with an easy outlet to post their opinions and views. In some cases these are the lowest common denominator for the American audience, which unfortunately can lead to dumb-down the masses, but with a self-publishing format such as the web, this is a price we have to pay.

Cewebrities are tech savvy. They know how to get their message into the marketplace. They know how to leverage blog tracking tools to get eyeballs. They know how to leverage Digg and Delicious. They know about Feedburner and Blog Catalog. They know what it takes and they are certainly not afraid!

If you put in the time and you work really hard, you too can become a Cewebrity. It just takes some time and a topic that you think someone, somewhere will be interested in. Give it a shot and become a member of the media overnight!

Monday, June 9, 2008

Duct Tape Marketing

I love the name of this blog and I especially like the post here. This provides a very nice, very easy-to-understand summation of what is going on in Social Media and how to view the different players in the category. I highly recommend you check out what he is saying and leave him a note saying I sent you over!

iPhone, iPhone, iPhone!

If you are interested in following the day of discussions from this morning's WWDC, check out the link from Gizmodo and what was their live blog activity.

If you just want to know the details on the new iPhone 3G, click through to here.

It’s Time Go Back. Way Back!

Ever sat and played with the WayBack Engine ? It is a lot of fun. The site allows you to go back and see what some of your favorite sites looked like back in the day, in their “formative years”.

For example, Google in 1998 was a little chubby.

Yahoo in 1996 was quite different.

Netscape was just a burgeoning little portal back in 1999.

Remember Alta Vista, Infoseek and Excite?

Have some fun and take a trip down memory lane!

Friday, June 6, 2008

The Round Up (of the past)

“Four score and seven years ago” (or thereabouts) we launched The Round Up for Digital Influentials and we already have more than 500 industry thought leaders and opinion makers reading our little list! Given the environment and the world around us we decided to go with a patriotic edition of the Round Up featuring the Red Click, Blue Click title (and that was all we could think of this week, plus it rhymed)!

It’s June 6th and now we know who we get to vote for in the general election for President of the United States in November. That being said, this list has already gone global so we’ll avoid all mentions of preference in politics and just acknowledge that there’s a big decision to be made in the coming months! Until then, if you find some down time in between work and researching your personal politics online, check out a few of these up and coming companies! They may be of interest to you or your clients, or maybe they’d be of interest to a friend of yours! Forward these sites along and let the companies know what you think of them!

Now, let’s get on with it!

Kosmix (http://www.kosmix.com/) is a site that I first discovered about a year ago and in the last few months I’ve heard their name come up in conversation at least 4 or 5 times. There’s a buzz about this newly redesigned search/directory site. They have a very well organized results engine that focuses on Health, Auto and Travel. If you’re looking to expand your ad buys and go after any of these 3 primary targets, consider Kosmix and see if they work for your campaign.

Meebo (http://www.meebo.com/) is another company that we’ve come across recently and they profess to be the ultimate online communications tool (and I think they deliver quite nicely). They bring together all your instant messenger services into one single location, but they also power discussions and live chats on a number of syndicated sites. Their model may include using the conversational data to deliver targeted ads in the same way that Gmail does currently, so check them out and see what you think!

Kanye Travel Ventures (http://www.kanyetravel.com/) is a site that we read about and we can’t believe it truly exists. This is, believe it or not, a travel site started by Kanye West. Yes – that Kanye West! The guy with an ego the size of California and the hit parade to match. He put some money into a travel site and I have to say it’s pretty bad. I’m not highlighting it here as a good site, I’m highlighting it as an example of a good idea gone bad. Celebrities should not start general interest sites that having nothing to do with their core image or business. ‘Nuff said on that.

Speaking of good ideas, check out Google Sites (http://www.google.com/sites). I know that some of you won’t like it simply because it’s Google, but it’s another killer idea from the killer company that is leading the online industry. They allow you to create group websites and little corporate intranets for your small business. It’s not unlike Google Page Creator (http://pages.google.com/) but who said you can’t have competition inside your own company, right?

What do you do online if you’re a mom? Well, you go to Café Mom (http://www.cafemom.com/) of course! Moms are an under-serviced group online, at least when it comes to the larger sites. There are lots and lots of smaller sites but if you’re trying to reach Mom with targeted content or an ad campaign, they don’t make it easy. Sites like this one are starting to service this need and they do a great job of it. What’s really funny is that this one was started by Andrew Shue (yes – that guy who used to be on Melrose Place). Oh, and if you want another one, check out Posh Mom (http://www.poshmom.com/).

Want to know where all that VC money is being spent? Check out the Deal-I-pedia (http://www.dealipedia.com/). This site tracks all the various M&A activity and venture funding in the marketplace. It’s pretty granular and seems updated regularly, so see if any of this info meets your needs.

Well – that’s it for now. We tried to cover a wide array of business types this week and I think we succeeded. Until 2 weeks from now, have fun! Stay cool! And register to vote!!

And if you want more witty writing or commentary that will teach you about online, check out two of our blogs from Catalyst:SF at http://www.treffiletti.com/ or Jim Nichols at http://oldestliving.blogspot.com/.

Thanks!

The Round-Up Volume 1, Issue 6: One Click, Two Click, Red Click Blue Click

“Four score and seven years ago” (or thereabouts) we launched The Round Up for Digital Influentials and we already have more than 500 industry thought leaders and opinion makers reading our little list! Given the environment and the world around us we decided to go with a patriotic edition of the Round Up featuring the Red Click, Blue Click title (and that was all we could think of this week, plus it rhymed)!

It’s June 6th and now we know who we get to vote for in the general election for President of the United States in November. That being said, this list has already gone global so we’ll avoid all mentions of preference in politics and just acknowledge that there’s a big decision to be made in the coming months! Until then, if you find some down time in between work and researching your personal politics online, check out a few of these up and coming companies! They may be of interest to you or your clients, or maybe they’d be of interest to a friend of yours! Forward these sites along and let the companies know what you think of them!

Now, let’s get on with it!

Kosmix (http://www.kosmix.com/) is a site that I first discovered about a year ago and in the last few months I’ve heard their name come up in conversation at least 4 or 5 times. There’s a buzz about this newly redesigned search/directory site. They have a very well organized results engine that focuses on Health, Auto and Travel. If you’re looking to expand your ad buys and go after any of these 3 primary targets, consider Kosmix and see if they work for your campaign.

Meebo (http://www.meebo.com/) is another company that we’ve come across recently and they profess to be the ultimate online communications tool (and I think they deliver quite nicely). They bring together all your instant messenger services into one single location, but they also power discussions and live chats on a number of syndicated sites. Their model may include using the conversational data to deliver targeted ads in the same way that Gmail does currently, so check them out and see what you think!

Kanye Travel Ventures (http://www.kanyetravel.com/) is a site that we read about and we can’t believe it truly exists. This is, believe it or not, a travel site started by Kanye West. Yes – that Kanye West! The guy with an ego the size of California and the hit parade to match. He put some money into a travel site and I have to say it’s pretty bad. I’m not highlighting it here as a good site, I’m highlighting it as an example of a good idea gone bad. Celebrities should not start general interest sites that having nothing to do with their core image or business. ‘Nuff said on that.

Speaking of good ideas, check out Google Sites (http://www.google.com/sites). I know that some of you won’t like it simply because it’s Google, but it’s another killer idea from the killer company that is leading the online industry. They allow you to create group websites and little corporate intranets for your small business. It’s not unlike Google Page Creator (http://pages.google.com/) but who said you can’t have competition inside your own company, right?

What do you do online if you’re a mom? Well, you go to Café Mom (http://www.cafemom.com/) of course! Moms are an under-serviced group online, at least when it comes to the larger sites. There are lots and lots of smaller sites but if you’re trying to reach Mom with targeted content or an ad campaign, they don’t make it easy. Sites like this one are starting to service this need and they do a great job of it. What’s really funny is that this one was started by Andrew Shue (yes – that guy who used to be on Melrose Place). Oh, and if you want another one, check out Posh Mom (http://www.poshmom.com/).

Want to know where all that VC money is being spent? Check out the Deal-I-pedia (http://www.dealipedia.com/). This site tracks all the various M&A activity and venture funding in the marketplace. It’s pretty granular and seems updated regularly, so see if any of this info meets your needs.

Well – that’s it for now. We tried to cover a wide array of business types this week and I think we succeeded. Until 2 weeks from now, have fun! Stay cool! And register to vote!!

And if you want more witty writing or commentary that will teach you about online, check out two of our blogs from Catalyst:SF at http://www.treffiletti.com/ or Jim Nichols at http://oldestliving.blogspot.com/.

Thanks!

Back To Basics: The Fundamentals of Online Marketing

One of my business partners is an extremely efficient and strategic writer and he has been writing a series of whitepapers that are extremely useful at understanding the basics of online marketing. You may know him as the Oldest Living Digital Marketer, but I know him as Jim Nichols. Anyways, I thought you might want to read some of the most recent whitepapers, so see below!

Beyond the Browser
Prescription to Heal The Agency Business (That one's mine)
Marketing Through Games Marketing on Mobile Phones
Marketing on Facebook

More to come every week, so stay tuned and keep checking back!

Thursday, June 5, 2008

The Apparent Lack Of Intelligence in Online Media Planning. Scary, Isn't it?

Is it possible that media planners in today's market are way too dependent on the research tools in the marketplace and is it possible they are losing the ability to think creatively? Is it possible that they are planning poorly?

The answer, from my perspective, is yes.

I see and hear all sorts of horror stories about the RFP's that media people send out and I bear witness to the lack of intelligent thought that is applied to the business of media planning. Did you know that most media planners ask the sales people to fill in templates for their decks these days rather than write the decks themselves? Did you know that if your site doesn't show up in Comscore or @Plan that you have virtually no chance of getting on a buy? Did you know that some planners will layer in 4 or 5 ad networks into a single campaign and have no idea what the duplication is among those networks?

These are all true stories. i won't even get into the ridiculousness of the other questions such as "can you take my $10,000 budget and run that in 25 top markets"? These are a portion of the reason why it is so hard to get effective campaigns in the marketplace - the lack of intelligent thought being applied to the business.

Planners need to do more of their own work. They need to think before they RFP. My teams have always known that 75% of the work should come before they send out RFP's. You should not be sending an RFP to a site that has no chance of making it on the plan. All you are doing is creating work for someone and not acknowledging their time or respecting them as people. This is not how you do business. Imagine what it would be like if your client kept asking you to do plans for their business, say 5 or 6 in a year, and they never ran any of them and they never told you why. I think it's safe to say that you would be frustrated and upset. Imagine if they asked you to reach a 100% SOV against Men 18-34 in the US and they gave you a budget of $15,000 for the year. That would be stupid, wouldn't it?

Now go look at what you are RFP'ing. It's pretty ridiculous.

And do not rely 100% on @Plan and Comscore. There are lots of ways to get a message in front of the customer that are not shown in these tools. There are lots of innovative ways to reach a customer without spending money on paid placements and some of the smaller sites that may offer a 100% composition of your target are not tracked there, so you shouldn't overlook them.

Of course, you could just go back to being a time-wasting, paper-pushing lackey, if you like. It's your choice :-)

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Why The Upfront Season Is (Still) Important.

Reprinted from my Mediapost blog today, check it out here...

If you believe the Upfront – that reliable bastion of old media where the vast majority of Television programming is purchased by advertisers in advance of the upcoming season – is flawed and dated and should be sedated and put to bed, then you need to wake up to reality and understand the flaws in your own thinking.

First of all, let me state for the record as a vocal proponent and avid veteran of the Internet Advertising industry that TV is still, and will be for the foreseeable future of the next 15 years, the most high impact and leading advertising medium. TV will most certainly change and continue to evolve as it shifts towards that fulfillment of a digital future, but there is still no form of media that can provide a stronger, more highly impactful, more widespread audience than Television. The Internet will continue to become the centerpiece of strategy and the focus for customer interaction, information gathering and information dissemination, but TV will always be our big brother. The one we look up to. The one we emulate and the one that we want to be just like! The Internet is a cultural phenomenon, but TV and the offshoots of TV such as Digital Video Shorts from SNL and the infamous skits of Jimmy Kimmel and Ben Affleck that air late, late at night are what get talked about at the water cooler every morning at work.

TV is important and the Upfront Season is important because it gives advertisers a sneak peek into what the fall season will create, providing insights into the American consumer and what popular culture items will shape their discussion over the coming months. The Internet is a more immediate form of media and it relies on that immediacy for relevance. TV is still appointment viewing. The Internet is where we go to see what we may have missed on TV and to discuss what we saw there as well. TV is what reaches the largest audience in a pre-specified amount of time. DVR’s notwithstanding, the audience for a crucial episode of a TV show or for a “live event” such as the Oscars or the Grammy’s still tend to view that show within 3-5 days, thereby creating a latency effect for what is otherwise referred to, as I mentioned, appointment viewing. The Internet has no form of appointment viewing. It is more fluid and the content is more dynamic and the content is archived for the viewer, ensuring that their appointments can be missed or delayed until a later time. The reason the Upfront is frowned upon by the Internet Advertising pundits is because it highlights the single flaw in our model; that appointment viewing is obsolete in a medium reliant on breaking the story first and aggregating the surrounding content the fastest. The closest that we could get in today’s world for a viable Upfront Season Online would be to predict what celebrity will first go bonkers in the fall and what sites will capture the moment!

Actually, the Upfront Season can be applied to Online if we focus on the locations and content that support the Television season. This content is timely in part due to the success or failure of the TV season itself. Additionally we could create limited opportunity content that would air online and be pulled once it was shown or after a specified amount of time, much the same way as V.O.D. on my cable system, but this model limits the viral nature of Internet content. In my current cable format, as supplied by Comcast, certain episodes of my favorite shows are only available for a limited time, creating a residual appointment viewing opportunity and something that can be used to lure eyeballs of value in a way that artificially creates demand.

It’s like the old cliché about buying the cow when you get the milk for free, but applied to media in its purest form. If you know you can watch a show at any time, what’s the rush to see it? If you know you can interact with content at any time, what’s the rush to read it?

The Upfront Season is still crucial because it can teach us lessons about free markets and the creation of demand through limiting supply. Websites could participate if they limited the access to content, but of course they would get criticism from the marketplace in much the same way that I will get criticized for this article. It’s a vicious little cycle but one that makes sense if you look at the situation with an open mind.

No, don’t you agree?

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Anyone Interested in the Semantic Web? Anyone?

I was just having a discussion about the semantic web and the implications it will have on the consumer and possibly advertising. The thing is, the semantic web is all about the consumer and the ways they can be delivered content and a tailored experience with the web. It's not really about advertising, though advertising will become more targeted as a result.

To that end, I am looking for someone - anyone - who is building these next generation tools and services. Can anyone explain how they are doing this? Can anyone let me know where they are going?

I owuld be endlessly grateful!

NBC & Nielsen Track... Video (Go Figure)

I like it when I see stuff like this, where NBC and Nielsen are partnering together to track online to TV patterns for consumer behavior because, as you all know, I am still a fan of TV. The marriage of the two is what makes us great, so this is where the future lies.

Read the article...

NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) is teaming with The Nielsen Company on creating sales metrics across several TV and online video streaming. Specifically, the ad sales collaboration will focus on finding the connections between viewers’ buying decisions and habits. Nielsen will provide data from its TV ratings service and its VideoCensus service, which measures streaming video, as well as databases of consumer activity for broader overall product categories, including packaged goods, pharmaceuticals, automotive and movies.