Delicious Library

Delicious Library
This is how it works. You hold up a package barcode to your webcam and it retreives product info via the Internet. You keep scanning and build your own personal library or home inventory. This desktop app is Mac OS X only. But the idea for how it works is extensible to practically any platform. For example, somebody else already make a Palm OS app that essentially does the same thing.

The sky falling? What, me worry?

Nothing says convergence like the redistribution of media consumption among mainstream mass audiences. Still the vast majority of advertising managers and agency execs I come into contact with remain in a state of denial. Don't get me wrong: I'm very, very pro-TV. I LOVE TV and its commercials. But I also love the agency business and prefer avert its financial collapse.



Broadcast Erosion: Many Culprits, Few Solutions - 04/25/2007

THIS SEASON'S SURPRISING DIP IN broadcast ratings has many analysts digging deeper into the reasons, exploring type of programming, DVR usage, the Internet and even the usual suspect, cable TV.

Live-only broadcast ratings are down anywhere from 11% to 15%--a steep fall off from the last three years, when broadcast viewership has been basically flat versus the seasons before.

Just a handful of network prime-time shows have seen ratings improvements over a year ago, such as "House" and "America's Funniest Videos." But the list is long on the other side of the ledger. Shows like "24," "Desperate Housewives,' "Lost," and "CSI" have taken sizable dips.

MIT Warns Against Emotive's Push Ringer ...

Advertising Lab: Ringtone Spam

"Emotive's flagship product, the patent-pending "Push Ringer", reverses the common ringtone model. It enables a caller to push an outgoing ringtone to the receiving phone allowing the caller, not the called person, to set the tone. The chosen Ringer is transmitted to the recipient's handset and temporarily overrides the phone's pre-set ringer. The ringers can comprise audio, video, animations, avatars or flash files." Fortunately, only works on 3G, 4G and VoIP services.

Try, try again ...

My Video Battle

Just because thousands of people record themselves lip-syncing to their fave pop tunes on YouTube doesn't mean they'll want to elsewhere. Um, are you listening Cingular/at&t?!?! Want proof? Look here. Nobody's uploading nothing. Here's a thought: take the whole idea and execute it on YouTube. That's where the audience is. Go fish where the fish are.

I Remain Skeptical, But ...

Study Says Marketers Should Embrace Social-Net Chatter

The Momentum Effect, a metric for gauging what's more commonly known as Word of Mouth, is what comes into play when people spread the word about products via social networking services such as MySpace, according a research report published Monday by Fox Interactive Media (FIM).

FIM said the Momentum Effect is "a new metric coined by Marketing Evolution," one of the companies that conducted the study, which investigated social networking sites and marketing. Joining marketing consultancy Marketing Evolution in the study involving about 3,000 Internet users were marketing services outfit Isobar, agency Carat USA, and research firms TRU and TNS.

Second Life was so 2006 ...

New Virtual World Attracts 2MM Uniques · MarketingVOX

Gaia Online, a San Jose-based virtual world and social networking site has managed to keep under the radar while attracting troves of teens - clocking two million unique visitors last month, with 85 percent living in the U.S., according to GigaOM.

FYI, 13yo skool grl is nu US txt mssg chmpN - Yahoo! News

Some 250 challengers shunned the warmest day of the year for a dark ballroom where they battled it out for a chance to take on the reigning West Coast champion, 21-year-old Eli Tirosh, for the title of US Texting Champion.

Contestants had to stand with their hands behind their backs until a bell sounded and a message appeared on an overhead screen. The winner was judged on whoever's message -- checked for exact punctuation -- reached the judges first.

The text tests ranged from "faster than a speeding bullet..." and "what we do in life echoes in eternity" to the less poetic "OMG, nd 2 talk asap," which for those over 30 means "Oh my God, need to talk as soon as possible."

MobileTechNews - Emotive announces "Push Ringer"
Emotive's flagship product, the patent-pending "Push Ringer", reverses the common ringtone model. It enables a caller to push an outgoing ringtone to the receiving phone allowing the caller, not the called person, to set the tone. The chosen Ringer is transmitted to the recipient's handset and temporarily overrides the phone's pre-set ringer. The ringers can comprise audio, video, animations, avatars or flash files. Closing the loop, if the called person likes the ringtone, the service also enables him or her to instantly buy a copy of the ringtone for his or her own phone.

The product has already gained significant traction with consumers. Since its launch on Skype's VOIP network in 2006, Push Ringer (known to Skype users as "Ringjacker") has been installed more than 800,000 times and is demonstrating significant peer to peer pass-along rates. Emotive is unveiling its mobile prototype of the Push Ringer at the IMS World Forum in Monaco on April 24th 2007.

Goodbye Froogle

Thus ends the name Froogle as a Google brand. It was launched in 2002, never really went anywhere, and was unceremoniously dumped from the Google home page last year in favor of video search. Traffic to the site fell dramatically.



See? Not everything Google touches turns to gold. Some of it actually can fail. Sometimes, it does.

Virtual World Rich List

Here's an introduction to 10 of the most successful entrepreneurs in Second Life. All financial figures are converted to U.S. dollars from Linden dollars, the currency of Second Life, using current exchange rates

MediaPost Publications - ANA: Build Brand Equity With Television, Net - 04/20/2007

THE Association of National Advertisers has found, that marketers' main goal continues to be building and maintaining brand equity. In a new survey with market researcher Guideline Inc., 75% of marketers say their brand equity is the most important element to a company's success, and that the best way of building that equity -- for 76% of the survey's respondents -- is television.

In looking at a key subset of all brands -- younger skewing products -- the survey says Internet brand-building is the most important. In particular, for young and emerging or strong brands, Internet banner advertising, ranked third overall, 56%, as most effective.

What are the tell-tale signs of a brand gone wrong?

Seventy percent of the time, it results from the customer rate of return business waning; it goes to the competition. High on this critical list: when consumers knock down a brand from a rating of "excellent." Additionally, consumers don't think much of products that are sold through promotions, discounts or price reductions.

To combat this devaluation of brands, marketers suggest product innovation, exploring new target consumers, starting up new researching with focus groups and refocusing overall marketing.

MediaPost Publications - All-In-One: AT&T: Users Can Program DVR From Cell Phone - 04/20/2007

The DVR programming via cell phones allows U-verse TV and Internet customers to schedule shows to be recorded, as well as delete programs. The new service augments an existing option to program U-verse DVRs remotely via computers.

"Any television viewer can relate to the frustration of forgetting to program his or her DVR," says Rick Welday, chief marketing officer-AT&T Consumer. "Now, whether they're at the airport or stuck in traffic, AT&T U-verse customers can rest assured they won't miss their favorite shows."

AOL beats TV with word of upcoming shows - Yahoo! News

The online company hosted more than 500 advertising executives and media planners at a "First Look" showcase Tuesday — what Chief Executive Randy Falco described as a "coming out party for AOL" as a major online advertising platform.

"What we're interested in is making sure when advertisers and agencies are deciding what their budgets are for the coming year, they understand there's an enormous shift going on," the former NBC executive told The Associated Press.

Create Your Own PaloozaHead - Visit Lollapalooza.com

Google Tips Its Hand On Voice Search With Speech Interface Patent -- InformationWeek

Last week Google announced a free voice beta called Google Voice Local Search, which is a telephone information service. Arnold referred to the effort as "Google baby steps," but he sees it as pointing the way for the company's future in voice search.

Users call 1-800-GOOG-411 to search for business titles. Some calls are connected to Google's maps database.

It's the Conversation Economy, Stupid

Marketers are finding themselves in an increasingly frantic race to get people talking about their brands. The desire to produce something "viral" is nearly ubiquitous in the marketing world. But it's unclear who exactly "consumers" are these days. We don't even know what that word means any more. Can consumers be producers? Yes. Can they be users? Yes. Can they be active participants, members of niche communities, or even critics capable of effectively mobilizing others? Yes, yes, and yes.

Broadcasters Form Mobile Video Coalition

As TV stations prepare for the switch to all-digital broadcasting by February 2009, new ways of monetizing the spectrum are being explored, including pushing content to scores of new mobile vide devices entering the market. In 2007, the sale of portable and mobile devices capable of video is estimated to reach 100 million units.

New Form of Impulse: Shopping via Text Message - New York Times

A company called ShopText has introduced a system that lets people buy products instantly using text messages, a process that eliminates the need to go to a store or even visit a Web site. For instance, a woman seeing an ad for a pocketbook in a magazine can order it on the spot simply by sending the text code found beside the item through her cellphone.

Dave Clark shares two excellent examples of interactive video sites. Sites like these show conclusively that reading web "pages" is a dying artifact of the Web 1.0 era. People like to be entertained and "engaged." Now that broadband is in 102 million US households, people want video. However, the nature of interactivity itself is changing. The "DVD on Demand" model, in my opinion, is now in full effect.



Great Pockets by Henry Needle & Sons -

http://www.greatpockets.com/index.php



Nokia's The Internet Walk -

http://www.theinternetwalk.com/index.php

Google to buy DoubleClick for $3.1 billion | News.blog | CNET News.com

Google says it has agreed to buy online advertising company DoubleClick for $3.1 billion in cash. The acquisition will give Google the ability to sell online ads that appear on Web sites other than those in its network. The deal will mean that Web site publishers will get access to new advertisers, and agencies and advertisers will be able to manage search and display ads in one centralized spot, Google says.



... So, that 1.6 billion for YouTube was just chump change!!!

MEREDITH IS LAUNCHING BETTER.TV, the company's first broadband video network, gleaning content from its array of home-making magazines. Better.tv will also offer original content and programming from the company's television stations, book division and other areas. With some 20 video channels--spanning food, family, home, style, remodeling, entertainment, relationships, fitness and health topics--Better.tv can mine material from its magazine stable.

Those publications include Better Homes and Gardens, Ladies' Home Journal, More, Family Circle, Parents and Fitness.

Like other media companies, Meredith wants to be a "360-degree" company for its advertisers, encompassing all relevant media extensions, including a broadband Internet channel. Meredith Publishing Group President Jack Griffin says the company currently reaches 75 million women through its media properties and has a "unique understanding of how to deliver service-based information to them..."

Better.tv will also film on location. One of its first efforts is a behind-the-scenes look at the Family Circle Cup women's tennis tournament.

From Mediapost

Marketers create their own shows - USATODAY.com

Problem: TV watchers don't want their shows interrupted by ads. Solution: Make the show the ad.

That's one approach being used by marketers as they try to keep consumers' attention.

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Women Outnumber Men Online

"For girls who have grown up with technology, there is no significant gender gap in internet usage, and the rise of activities that are particularly appealing to young females, such as social networking, will result in even greater usage," said eMarketer analyst Debra Williamson.

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Comverse Brings Second Life to Mobile Phones · MarketingVOX

The application requires a PC or other server to act as an intermediary but will allow people to log in to Second Life and control their avatar from their cellphone.



More at Comverse.com

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Research Firm Wins Second Life Business Model Contest · MarketingVOX

A market research firm has won a contest looking for the most realistic and profitable business model for execution within the virtual world of Second Live, reports CNET. The firm, Market Truths, was determined to have the most potential for profit of the business plans submitted to the contest, which was sponsored by public relations firm Edelman and Second Life-services provider Electric Sheep.

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Mini Web Sites Target Users of Mobile Phones - WSJ.com

As technology allows consumers to access the Internet with their cellphones, many big companies have launched mobile versions of their Web sites, including big media brands like MTV and ESPN and news sites like USA Today and The Weather Channel.

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Arbitron Finds More People View TV Out-of-Home - 4/4/2007 5:09:00 PM - Multichannel News

More than one-third of TV viewers spend some part of their week watching TV at a location other than their own home, most typically in another person’s home, according to an Arbitron study released Wednesday.



Of the Arbitron out-of-home survey respondents, 25% watched TV at someone else’s home; 11% watched at a restaurant or bar; 7% at work; 5% at a hotel/motel or vacation home; and 12% at any other location away from home.



Nearly equal percentages watched a sporting event, 20%, as a local station’s newscast (19%) and an episode of a TV series (18%) away-from-home.

Arbitron also found that women are almost as likely as men to watch TV in some place other than their homes.

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Alpha Moms leap to top of trendsetters - USATODAY.com

An Alpha Mom typically has money to spend, and — key for marketers — she is, as the label implies, a leader of the pack who influences how other moms spend.




She's also wired — online 87 minutes a day, estimates ComScore Networks, an Internet market research specialist — and she spends a hefty 7% more than the typical Internet user. The impact of her purchases or what she touts can spread on the Internet far beyond her e-mail list or blog.

If your product or service passes the Alpha Mom test, it's gold. That's why the nation's biggest marketers, from Procter & Gamble to General Motors to Nintendo, are focusing on this remix of the modern mom.

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MediaPost Publications - Clear Channel Expands Digital Billboard Network - 04/02/2007

CLEAR CHANNEL OUTDOOR IS EXTENDING its digital billboard network to four new markets, the company announced today, bringing high-tech billboards to Akron and Columbus, Ohio; Memphis, Tennessee; and Wichita, Kansas. All four cities are located on or near major interstate highways, which are crucial for reaching a large commuter audience. The additions bring Clear Channel's network of digital billboard markets to 10.

*The billboard shown above is NOT part of the digital billboard network. Just testing.

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MediaPost Publications - Advertisers: Hispanics Love Media, Like TV/Net Bundled - 03/29/2007

HISPANICS ARE AVID CONSUMERS OF all media--more so, in fact, than the general U.S. population. And they expect TV and Internet content to be delivered in tandem, according to a new joint study titled "Connected Culture" from the Yahoo-Telemundo partnership, with Experian Simmons Research. The data--gathered in an online and phone survey of more than 2,600 Hispanics ages 18-55 who regularly use Spanish at home--should stoke advertisers' already burning interest in the Hispanic market, the nation's fastest-growing ethnically and linguistically defined demographic group.





According to the study, the average Hispanic consumer spends more than half of each day somehow engaged with television, the Net or communications devices, like mobile phones--often simultaneously. Respondents record an average 13.5 hours spent with media out of a total 51-hour multitasking day. Fifty percent of U.S. Hispanics also use the Internet while watching TV--in what Jose Rivera-Font, general manager, Yahoo North Latin America, referred to as "media meshing" behavior.

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New Bar Codes Can Talk With Your Cellphone - New York Times

It sounds like something straight out of a futuristic film: House hunters, driving past a for-sale sign, stop and point their cellphone at the sign. With a click, their cellphone screen displays the asking price, the number of bedrooms and baths and lots of other details about the house.

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FastCompany.com - Perceptive Pixel Showcase

You may ask yourself, "What's this got to do with advertising?" Well ... let's say you've got a really big flat-screen TV in your house. Who said you have to navigate the thing with an infrared remote?! Isn't that sort of so 20th century?!?

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Mediaweek - Ajax to End Page View Metrics

Ajax Puts Page-View Math, Web Ad Sales in Peril

Emerging Internet publishing technology Ajax, which promises to make Web sites more dynamic, is threatening to make one of the industry’s core metrics—the page view—irrelevant. And as the Web gets more interactive, the way online advertising—estimated to hit $20 billion this year—is measured and sold is set to undergo a dramatic change.

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Twingly Screensaver Beta
Burned by the Windows-only requirement again, darn! Click through to this page and see a YouTube video that demo's what Twingly does though. It's fantastic. I've seen a similar visualization at Google's office wherein they show vertical bars ascending from points on a spinning globe to quantify search activity. Twingly does it for blogging activity. Very cool.

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Brand Monitoring - Yet Another New Marketing Practice
Online Reputation Management Basics | WebProNews: "Companies that want to protect their brand visibility on the web would do well to make optimizing their brand content a best practice. Optimizing all digital communications including: PR, marketing, SEO, HR, investor relations and related electronic content that is publicly available on the web as well as social media: text, images, audio, video will produce more branded content in the SERPs. Doing so doesn’t necessarily put the brand in control, but it’s a much better situation than scrambling after the fact."

My top list of Brand Monitoring service providers -

• MotiveQuest
• Nielsen BuzzMetrics
• Cymfony (TNS)
  
• New Media Strategies