Turn On, Tune Out, Click Here - WSJ.com

Complete episodes of about 90% of prime-time network television shows and roughly 20% of cable shows are now available online, according to Forrester Research analyst James McQuivey. There are still notable holdouts, such as Fox's "American Idol" and current seasons of HBO series like "Entourage."

Turn On, Tune Out, Click Here - WSJ.com

Here we go. Another conspiracy theory: When the economy tanks, consumers will cut cable and keep broadband. Most of their favorite shows are online already anyway. Besides, we can't survive without Facebook. Now here comes a far-fetched (but eminently possible) prediction -- once the bad economy doesn't let up, consumers cut broadband and keep their mobile contracts. Why? We can't survive without Facebook. But we've got it on our phones already anyway.

In sum, the bad economy will accelerate the convergence. Discuss.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Tug of War - Creative vs. Media

In the continuing tug-of-war between what drives the train--creative or media--a top Unilever executive Thursday came out in favor of creative. While there is an argument that lackluster ads can still deliver a message with shrewd placement, Babs Rangaiah said if the creative does not drive demand, a strong media plan is not likely to save the day. Rangaiah, the director of global communications planning at Unilever, said if the creative appears banal, it's time to yank the media spend and use it somewhere else.

MediaPost Publications - Advertising Week: The Future Belongs To Creative - 09/26/2008

I firmly believe and will continue to believe that the new advertising era that has dawned requires that we embrace complexity, whereas the old advertising era that is lingering beyond its much ballyhooed demise worshiped at the altar of simplicity.

While a great, persuasive message must be "simple" in its singularity of focus and incisiveness, the act of developing that message and disseminating it across the mediasphere will only continue to befuddle and perplex those of us who don't ... again ... embrace complexity.

How each simplified meme is launched into that matrix; and how each grows on its own without negating its brethren in the chaos of an on-demand world, is the work of big brains and fearless intellects.

Ack ... I got on a soap box. Apologies.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

The Future Of Media: The Internet

"People go online to do many things," says early Internet pioneer Esther Dyson. "One of the reasons they go online is to create a presence. With Geo Cities, you had your presence in one place. With Facebook, you are distributing your presence to anyone who is your friend."

Dyson says this extends well beyond the cross-linking aspect of Facebook pages to include widgets and even real-time applications such as Twitter.

"With Twitter, people are distributing their presence incessantly. Personally, I think that is a little obsessive, but what people are really doing is collecting social interactions," she explains. "If we had a biological urge to spread our genes, now people have the means to spread their presence."
|
So what's the future of the Internet? Well, technology, regulation, business models will surely be important factors, but if you look at what has really been shaping the Internet - both past and present - it is people. And some day, we may even send one over the Internet.

MediaPost Publications - The Future Of Media: The Internet - 09/23/2008

Sometimes I like to post an article just because it's good. This one's awfully good.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Current TV to broadcast `tweets' during debates - Yahoo! News

During the debates, the network bent on viewer-created content will broadcast Twitter messages — or "tweets" — from viewers. In close to real time, Current will display comments on the screen while Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama face off.

Current TV to broadcast `tweets' during debates - Yahoo! News

Didn't see this one coming ...

Blogged with the Flock Browser

TV's Future Looks Like Web's Present

TV advertising is poised to change dramatically over the next decade, embracing the kind of targeting and user control already common on the Web, according to a new report by Forrester Research.
 
Forrester lays out a decade-long evolution that will ultimately result in most programming delivered on-demand with targeted ad messages based on location and behavior, along with community functions.
 
This "Personal TV," as Forrester calls it, would also deliver a Web-like experience for consumers, with a portal-like menu of programming options and search functions.

TV's Future Looks Like Web's Present

More evidence for one of my favorite media conspiracy theories -- "mass" media out of home while "personal" media moves indoors.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Research Brief » Blog Archive » I Want It My Way

Ads delivered via mass media are preferred by 17% of U.S. adults, and an additional 17% of consumers are most interested in ads delivered in print. 32% of U.S. all adults are either disinterested in advertising delivered by any medium or they have not been exposed to a particular ad platform.

The 9% of U.S. adults who prefer "Ads on Emerging Media Vehicles" are far more likely than the average adult to agree with the following statements.

• A celebrity endorsement may influence me to consider or buy a product.
• I'm always one of the first of my friends to try new products or services.
• I follow the latest trends and fashions.
• Brand name is the best indication of quality.

Anne Marie Kelly, Vice President of Marketing and Strategic Planning at MRI, says "Consumers who prefer advertising messages delivered through their mobile devices and product placement tend to be younger, pro-innovation, pro-celebrity and pro-fashion… this segmentation analysis helps them to target… consumers most receptive to their media plan."

Research Brief » Blog Archive » I Want It My Way

So, there's an 8 point gap between the "emerging media" consumers and the "mass media" troglodytes. How long before that gap evaporates? Hmm.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Levi's Invites Consumers To 'Unbutton' Artists - 08/19/2008

Levi's puts the focus on the 501 brand in its latest "Live Unbuttoned" digital campaign. The ads and microsites, featuring up-and-coming artists, offer a glimpse of the real person behind the celebrity, speaking to the hidden creativity in everyone.

EVB San Francisco built the campaign on the idea that everyone has an artistic side--they just need to "unbutton" it. The video and still ads directed by Pier Nicola D'Amico began rolling out last week featuring emerging artists including the British hip-hop singer Estelle, along with Nikka Costa and Wale. The concept, developed with support from music agency Cornerstone, gives consumers a glimpse into the style of several profiled artists.

MediaPost Publications - Levi's Invites Consumers To 'Unbutton' Artists - 08/19/2008

The standard argument I hear all the time is that only certain brands in certain verticals can produce this kind of work. The recently launched Converse Chuck Taylor campaign is strikingly similar to this one -- feature a bunch of up-and-coming artists (many of whom are known entities) and feature them via print and microsites. Got it. It's great for fashion, but how does Scrubbing Bubbles do one of these? Should some brands just step aside and continue to use more traditional advertising?

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Marketers Love Conversation, Unless the Consumer Starts It - Advertising Age - Digital: Columns

I dare you to find a feedback form that winks even a quasi-friendly smile. And if you find one that allows consumers to truly communicate in their native voices -- complete with links, photos, audio clips or videos -- I'll eat my just-published book.

Marketers Love Conversation, Unless the Consumer Starts It - Advertising Age - Digital: Columns

Blogged with the Flock Browser

RA DIOHEA_D / HOU SE OF_C ARDS - Google Code

RA DIOHEA_D / HOU SE OF_C ARDS - Google Code



The video version of this Radiohead music video has captured much attention. But his interactive version is the really fascinating version. In fact, you should not miss it. The drag-and-drop user control function works while Tom Yorke's face sings the song. You're in control. It's fantastic.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Media Life Magazine - Flight of the young from gossip shows

These days younger viewers who might have watched these shows a decade ago are turning instead to the internet and sites like TMZ.com and Perez Hilton for their celebrity gossip, driving up the age of the remaining audience.

Media Life Magazine - Flight of the young from gossip shows

The new generation gap is upon us. This time it's not defined by the music, hair styles or fashion. Now it's media usage. The young use the Net. Their elders -- including pretty much everybody 35+ -- use TV and email. The evidence is everywhere. Viva la difference!

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Making Cell Phone Games a Public Spectacle

Next time you're in Times Square, put on your game face. You may be able to challenge the weirdos around you to a videogame on MTV's big-screen billboard. The controller? Your cell phone.

It's the latest project from MegaPhone, a mobile gaming company founded by Jury Hahn (above). Looking to connect strangers in public places, Hahn dreamed up the idea of multiplayer cell phone games where people can interact with rivals they're battling onscreen. Here's how it works: When players dial a special phone number shown on a public screen like MTV's jumbotron, avatars representing the callers pop up on the display, identified by the last four digits of the participant's cell number. They're controlled using the phone's keypad or, more often, by speaking (or shouting) into the handset. Scream "shoot" in one game, for example, and your basketball player shoots. Who are you schooling? Look for the other goofballs yelling at their phones.

Making Cell Phone Games a Public Spectacle

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Tracking Video: How Audience Behavior Measurement Works

How It Works
Our patent-pending data collection approach captures every video interaction in every video from every viewer, from play to pause to rewind to forward-to-a-friend and more. When you're planning online video marketing and advertising strategies, Visible Measures VisibleSuite provides precise performance measurements including how audiences find, view, interact with, and share each online video.

Tracking Video: How Audience Behavior Measurement Works

I may have blogged this before. The URL is cached in my Flock browser. So ... pardon the redundancy. But this company has new news. And they're the only one I've seen that promise (at least) to track the impact of online video beyond counting views.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

The Location Is The Message

To illustrate how the new life pattern research can be applied, Bowen provided the “Digital Outsider” with detailed data on the “mobile millennials” cluster. If you look at the illustration on this page, you’ll see a map with push-pin icons highlighting key intervals for reaching the valuable consumer targets, starting when they leave their homes in the morning and fill up their tank at a local gas station, to the video rental store they stop at on their way home from work or school in the evening.

“The idea is to map that back to where advertisers can most effectively intercept them during their daily life, so that they can reach them in the most contextually relevant environment,” Bowen explains.

Digital Outsider » Blog Archive » The Location Is The Message

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Helpful. Or Creepy?

What if you could look at your cell phone and see a heat map of where everybody in the city was at that very moment? The more people at any given location, the redder it would appear on the map. That’s what Citysense does. It is a mobile application that is supposed to help you figure out where the hottest clubs and night spots are so you can go there (or avoid them, depending on your preference).

It senses where the most popular places are based on the location information emitted by everyone’s cell phones, shows the places with the most activity, and then links into Yelp or Google to help you find out what is at that location. Over time, it learns about where you like to go (fancy restaurants or punk rock clubs) and shows you other people like you, and where they are—right now. And it does all of this anonymously. (You can’t see your where your actual friends are). Citysense only works in San Francisco right now. It is available as a mobile download for the Blackberry and soon for the iPhone as well.

The application is essentially a demonstration for a startup called Sense Networks that is emerging from stealth mode today. Citysense is built on top of the company’s main technology platform, Macrosense. The company ingests billions of data points about people’s location from cell phones, GPS devices, WiFi, and even taxis. The company also collects geo-location data from everyone who downloads Citysense, or any future app (although, the company considers the data to be yours, and you can delete it from the database at any time).

Location-Tracking Startup Sense Networks Emerges from Stealth To Answer the Question: Where Is Everybody?

The question is, Is this an advertising medium? Because you can't advertise ON it. But if you're an advertiser with a product that can benefit from the buzz of being "hot spotted" in real time, then this is thrilling. From TechCrunch. Thanks to Mike Brooks for the tip.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Stations Go 'Back' to the Future - 5/5/2008 - Broadcasting & Cable

The Backchannel model can work in a number of ways. Kokernak gives the example of watching John Mayer perform on Jimmy Kimmel Live, then using the remote to purchase the Mayer song on iTunes. Or, a viewer of an auto ad can click on an icon to get more information on the car (as well as local dealer information) sent to their Backchannel Web account. Instead of trying to remember a Website that pops up in an ad or a promo for The Office, a click sends the URL straight to the user's account.

Backchannel's true believers say interactive TV might've finally reached its tipping point. “The idea of convergence is as old as time, but no one's been able to come up with the K-I-S-S—Keep It Simple, Stupid—technology,” says WJAR President/General Manager Lisa Churchville. “[Backchannel] is simple and accessible, and you use it in a way that's extremely familiar—clicking your remote.”

Stations Go 'Back' to the Future - 5/5/2008 - Broadcasting & Cable

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Contagious News - The Lost Ring by McDonald's

This week sees the launch of The Lost Ring, an ARG to neatly remind us that it’s not only the sexy advertisers - the movies, the games - that get to play in this space. In an odd yet intriguing pairing, fast food giant McDonald’s is sponsoring the game in conjunction with the International Olympic Committee.

Contagious News Article

Blogged with the Flock Browser