26MM Monthly Unduplicated Audience on What?!?!

MediaPost Publications - Meebo Adds IM Network Partners - 10/14/2008

Instant-messaging site Meebo has added nearly a dozen new partners for the syndicated IM service it plans to launch next month. The new sites include youth-oriented properties FanPop, GlobalGrind, OrangeShark and Zorpia.

Along with existing partners such as DanceJam, Flixster, myYearbook, MTV Networks' Addicting Games, the sites have an unduplicated U.S. audience of 26.2 million.

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So you're asking yourself: What the heck is Meebo?! It's a web-based instant messaging aggregator. In other words, if you use more than one IM -- such as AIM, Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, Gtalk, etc. -- then you can sign up with Meebo and use them all at the same time, crisscrossing your buddy lists, on the Web. (If you're older than 35 years old, this is a foreign language. Sorry.)

Now ... name one print publication that delivers an audience of 26MM per month.

Right. Now that's (at least partly) why CosmoGirl has gone bye-bye.

Viral Video Marketing Budgets Expected to Increase in 2009

Viral Video Marketing Budgets Expected to Increase in 2009

Blatant self-promotion of the day ... Warning: I am quoted in this press release. And I want YOU to know all about it.

MediaPost Publications - Premier Retail Networks Strikes Ad Deals for Interactive Shopping Carts - 10/10/2008

The first companies to advertise via the shopping cart displays are Unilever, Cadbury Adams, Bush's Baked Beans, American Greetings, and Church & Dwight Co., which includes brands like Arm & Hammer, Aim toothpaste, Arrid deodorants, and Scrub Free.

Their ads will appear on screens in Cabco's TV Karts in Wal-Mart, one of PRN's biggest retail partners.

MediaPost Publications - Premier Retail Networks Strikes Ad Deals for Interactive Shopping Carts - 10/10/2008

Oooo ... Looks like the "radical fringe" of marketing maniacs are adopting insane technologies in a desperate attempt to reach consumers because the death knell of advertising-as-we-knew-it has rung. (That's humor, people.) If we succeed in putting the right offer in front of the right consumer at the right time, our clients win. Growing the client's brand comes from a combination of positive messaging and effective marketing - getting the brand into the consumers' hands.

Sounds easy enough.

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Camera Toss (The Blog)

Camera Toss (The Blog)

The coolest part of growing up in the dot com era has been the incessant invention of new forms of expression. Today, my colleague Martin Serra turned me on to Camera Tossing. It's a form of digital photography in which the photographer sets the camera on auto-timer and tosses it in the air. What happens, happens. The images are wonderful.

The blog is a great resource. But there's a wild world of camera toss images on Flickr as well.

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A 'Virtual' Escape From Economic Pain - Forbes.com

Companies such as Gaia Interactive and Habbo are expecting a boost as consumers reduce spending on real-world goods and luxuries and console themselves with so-called virtual goods--digital copies of products that can cost just pennies, allowing users to indulge their materialistic fantasies without spending much.

"As the 'real world' gets worse, virtual worlds get better," Gaia Chief Executive Craig Sherman told Forbes.com

A 'Virtual' Escape From Economic Pain - Forbes.com

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Study: Mobile Web sites need improvement | News - Wireless - CNET News

Keynote Systems, which provides testing tools to help companies improve their mobile experience, found in a study released Thursday that satisfaction rates of iPhone users using certain sites were low and only a small percentage of users clicked through on advertising. The results suggest that the usability of many mobile Web sites still needs improvement. It also suggests that advertisers might have to adjust their practices on the mobile Web.

Study: Mobile Web sites need improvement | News - Wireless - CNET News

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MediaPost Publications - iPerceptions: 'Old School' Ad Units Fare Better Than Emerging Media - 10/06/2008

"I think the biggest takeaway from the data is that the current ad formats aren't very effective," said Jonathan Levitt, iPerceptions' vice president of marketing. "Brands are going to have to start looking at things like direct content integration and product placement. There's still a place for things like banners and skyscrapers, but it's much more about brand awareness than inducing conversions."

MediaPost Publications - iPerceptions: 'Old School' Ad Units Fare Better Than Emerging Media - 10/06/2008

It's not that banner ads (or as I'd prefer we call them, display ads) are ineffective. In fact, their presence increases brand awareness, recall and perception. The problem is that agencies and clients rely on display ads for clicks, a task they're less and less capable of performing.

The problem I encounter every day is that so many marketing professionals are just embracing foundational interactive tactics - such as banners - at a time in which the interactive sector is undergoing rapid change. So you've got agency people advising their clients to jump in with a mix of tactics - banners and microsites, usually - that don't fit the business problems and marketing outcomes the clients wants to address.

The game of catch up is no fun to play.

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techPresident – Ask Sarah Palin: CA Dems' Interactive Billboard Goes Live [UPDATED]

techPresident – Ask Sarah Palin: CA Dems' Interactive Billboard Goes Live [UPDATED]

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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.

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Darned You Philips Bodygroom!!!

Philips Bodygroom Manalogues

The third branded-content "hit" for Philips' Body Groom is a smart and entertaining twist on user-generated content in which the consumers need not appear.

MediaPost Publications - ClipBlast Partners With Clearspring For Widget Distribution - 09/29/2008

ClipBlast will use the Clearspring platform to distribute widgets that provide custom video content, channels and playlists. The widgets will feature the ClipBlast Intelligent Index, which enables users to pull video from thousands of sources and play the content from any Web page, social profile, blog or other Web location. Clearspring's real-time analytics tools will track and monetize the widgets and their activity.

MediaPost Publications - ClipBlast Partners With Clearspring For Widget Distribution - 09/29/2008

Note to self: Call them up and see what we can do together. Note to readers: There's absolutely no pain in reaching out to companies you read about in the press to start a conversation about working together. It amazes me how few businesspeople, especially agency people, actually do it. No wonder agencies are lagging behind.

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Texting Outpaces Calling On Mobile Phones

While the number of calls has remained relatively steady, text messages have shot up 450% in the last two years.

Not surprisingly, the biggest gap between calls and text messages is found among teenage mobile customers. Those ages 13 to 17 sent or received on average 1,742 text messages a month, compared to only 231 calls.

For those ages 35 to 44, the ratio was about even at 223 to 236. And for mobile users 45 and over, voice is still the preferred method of communication.

MediaPost Publications - Texting Outpaces Calling On Mobile Phones - 09/23/2008

And, as I beat this drum over and over, here is more evidence of the new generation gap.

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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.

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MediaPost Publications - Retailers Search Report: Use a 'Portfolio' of Search Tactics - 09/26/2008

Indeed, just 12% of searchers that converted into buyers had clicked on both branded and non-branded terms. The majority (51%) of conversions stemmed from branded terms alone, while 37% came from non-branded terms. "Most companies pick one or the other," said John McAteer, Google's industry director, retail. "Very few are spending accurately on both their branded terms and the category terms, and I think this info should be surprising to them."

MediaPost Publications - Retailers Search Report: Use a 'Portfolio' of Search Tactics - 09/26/2008

Search is the primordial ooze of advertising's future. Google clearly knows that all TV advertising will be placed dynamically to every household based on contextual and behavioral criteria. The digital changeover will enable the technological underpinnings to be built. That's why the practice of placing ad units based on consumer input is the future of all media planning and buying.

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Ahead of the Curve

File under: Shameless self-promotion. Coverage of the inaugural Chicago New Media Summit including a major mention of this self-effacing blogger, my current employer and client (whose project is called out in the segment). Shout out to Nat Jones, Ryan Page, José Rivera, John Zajac, Jeff Brown and Janet Barker-Evans.

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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."
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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.

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Putting a Price on Digital Production - Advertising Age - Digital

Ever since the first friend-of-a-friend proposed that the first web developer build him a site (for no money), the effort and cost associated with digitally driven creativity has been a misunderstood and, sometimes, thorny issue. Unlike TV-commercial production, where there are some established cost parameters and you can typically see the budget on the screen, it's tough to price innovative web work.

Putting a Price on Digital Production - Advertising Age - Digital

The danger of undervaluing interactive services by agencies is putting downward pricing pressure on the rest of agency services as well.

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Among Mobile Marketing Techniques, Text Messaging Responded to Most Often - Media Buyer Planner

"Some 70 percent of consumers who have responded to a mobile marketing offer say they’ve responded to a marketing text message - compared with 41 percent who’ve responded to a survey and 30 percent to email offers - according to the Direct Marketing Association"

but ...

"One-third (33 percent) of the group that did not respond to any mobile marketing (76 percent) reported that they had never received an offer; lack of interest and cost of airtime was cited as the leading reasons by those who haven’t responded to mobile offers."

Among Mobile Marketing Techniques, Text Messaging Responded to Most Often - Media Buyer Planner

So, 76 percent reported they'd never even *received* an offer. Are we not trying hard enough here?! Practically every time text messaging comes up in a meeting, it dies a swift and sudden death. Maybe that's the problem. We're not trying it, people.

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ClickZ Forum Interview

13 Hours per Minute

Today, 13 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute, and we believe the volume will continue to grow exponentially.

Official Google Blog: The future of online video

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