Seth Godin Agrees With Me
July 23, 2008
Or maybe I agree with him. Either way, I have been saying for a long time now that how many people follow you on twitter or read your blog isn’t nearly as important as who. Its a principle I learned from Dave Slusher, and I believe it completely. I would much rather have 20 high quality, important people reading my blog than 2,000 everyday joes.
But we haven’t come very far yet as every blog/podcast ad network still works under the presumption of numbers. Lots of raw numbers. They do this because this is what the advertisers demand. As an “old school” podcaster, I belived we were going to change the world. We were supposed to change the very face of advertising, forcing them out of their relentless chance for raw numbers and getting them to understand the power of who and the return on influence. But were trying to change an industry that has done what it does for many many years and change never comes easily. Until then, the fight goes on.
Won’t You Be My Fanboy?
November 8, 2007
The new Facebook social advertising platform puts forth the concept of “fans”. You can signup to be a fan of a participating brand. Technically, this is a little like a brand forming a Facebook group, as some have already done. But this takes it a step further and allows the brand to distribute to you ads and viral Facebook apps.
It all feels a little forced to me. Usually fanboys evolve organically. A product or company get popular and people of like interest form together to talk about that brand or product and some reach full fanboy status. But it all happens without influence from the brand itself. It’s organic and driven by the customers. The brand just has to stay out of the way.
Here, brands are trying to create fans out of whole cloth. Are there really going to be Clorox fanboys (fangirls)? It’s just not a product that lends itself to that and I don’t think it’s the kind of a thing you can force. It would make more sense to me to indicate your current interest level in certain product areas. If I am in the market for a new car, than I would actually appreciate hearing from car makers and I should be able to open myself up to that. When I am no longer in the market for a car, I can close down that channel. Here, in real new media fashion, the consumer is in control of the advertising pipeline. I decide when and how to open the faucet and for how long. Many ad systems try to guess what your interested in based on your age, demographics or by the content of what you read online. But why guess, why not let me tell you directly?
Social Media Ad Glut
November 8, 2007
Om Malik nails it on his latest blog post about the coming advertising glut in social media. Om asks, how much is too much? Facebook and Myspace have announced new social advertising initiatives as well as a recent forecast that US online ad spending with double between 2007 and 2011.
So indeed, how much is too much and are we going to find ourselves as over advertised and marketed to as we are in the current mainstream media? So far new media has found itself relatively light on advertising and marketing. But as ad banners on websites become ever less effective, online marketers are looking for new and better ways to get to customers.
Maybe the key question is now how much advertising will there be in new and social media because marketers will always beat a path toward customers and more and more of them are showing up on social networks, but how good the advertising will be. How intrusive and impersonal will it be? We talk so much in new media about engagement and conversation. New media marketing is supposed to be different than old media marketing and this is to be our saving grace in the new world. But has the old guard now rushing into new media really learned this lesson? Will these new platforms embrace and encourage the new ideas of new marketing, or are we moving back into the frying pan from whence we came?
Animals Audition For Miller
April 11, 2007
Spike Jonze has created a series of videos for Miller Beer called Miller Auditions. Funny stuff but I don’t know what’s to become of them. Part of a new tv campaign?
Do Advertisers Make Good TV Writers?
March 2, 2007
File this under bad ideas. Destined to fail. ABC will produce a TV series based on the caveman last seen in the Geico insurance company commercials.
“Cavemen” will revolve around three pre-historic men who must battle prejudice as they attempt to live as normal thirtysomethings in modern Atlanta.
You’ve got to be kidding me. Too many ad men and marketing wonks in the same room, enamoured by the smell of their own poop. I don’t know how else to explain it. The series is written by Joe Lawson who is the advertising copywriter behind the caveman ads. I would rather see a late night talk show hosted by the Geico Gecko.
Don’t Make Me Work For It
February 23, 2007
I never click on banner ads. For some reason, I clicked on this one, wanting to see what an online coupon looked like. I got this screen. I’m on a Mac with Firefox browser which is not uncommon. I’m not so desparate for your coupon, you just lost a customer because you don’t support one of the major browser choices. Dumb marketers.
Will Joost Eat YouTubes Lunch?
February 21, 2007
The smart guys who brought us Kazza and Skype are in beta tests for their latest venture called Joost. It’s an online video service but it’s not YouTube. It is not clear how much, if any, user generated content will be available on Joost, but the service has had success signing commercial content from National Geographic and others. And right in the wake of the announcement of Viacom signing a big content deal with Joost comes news that CBS and Google can’t make a deal on CBS content for YouTube. If the major content owners see Joost as a better deal than YouTube, Google could be in for a long road. All of a sudden Google isn’t the fast, small disrupter anymore. Now they are the big giant and there is another fast, small company disrupting them.
ABC/Disney Says Internet TV Works
February 8, 2007
By far the most groundbreaking network when it comes to new media and the Internet, Disney/ABC is reporting that it’s experiment in delivering TV content on their website via a streaming player has been completely successful. Advertising in the player for the first and second quarter this year is sold out and Disney is looking to expand its on-line digital markets even further.
Disney Chief Exec Robert Iger
“We think it is increasing the pie of media consumption” rather than cutting into TV ratings or DVD sales, he added.
Finally, someone who gets it. Maybe Steve Jobs is having a positive influence on what could be considered an old dog media company. I wish nothing but the best for ABC and Disney. Their continued success will put more pressure on all big media companies to keep pace in the fast changing new media landscape.
Free Cell Phones, More Ads
November 13, 2006
Google is going all out in the cell phone space with the release of AdWords for Google mobile search service. In fact, because of increased advertising, Google CEO Eric Schmidt told Reuters “your mobile phone should be free”. Would you want a free phone if it came with lots of advertising? Or do we want to continue to pay and have limited or no ads? It’s a real question because I don’t know that I want my cell phone cluttered with ads and mobile spam.
Google Likes Radio
November 7, 2006
It was only a matter of time until Google came up with adsense for radio and the time is now. Google may even buy out or buy into the nations largest radio conglomerate, Clear Channel. No word on if this technology will be used for podcasting ad insertion, but it would seem silly to not offer that service. Remember the days when we all feared Microsoft was going to take over the world? Microsoft looks like the new IBM. Enter the reign of Google.