Jonathan Miller of News Corp on the state of the advertising industry

David Spark here, reporting for ad:tech at ad:tech NY 2009.

On day two of ad:tech NY 2009, Drew Ianni of ad:tech interviewed Jonathan Miller, Chief Digital Officer, Chairman and CEO, Digital Media Group, News Corporation. Here are some highlights from their discussion.

• Miller reiterated much of what Sir Martin Sorrell said yesterday regarding ad spending online.Display advertising spend online is falling behind.
• Is mobile a derivative of the web or a new beast? Miller argues that mobile is a new medium. In Asia, the mobile web IS the web.
• What keeps Jonathan Miller up at night is the free vs. paid discussion in the media and content industries. You want to get value from your content and that leads you to a paid discussion. But that’s a beehive of issues. For example, how do you get people to pay? How do you prevent theft?
• When you shift to a paid model you have to have a strong value model. Miller thinks the WSJ is pulling that off.
• People are paying for digital media. He points to the growing success of the Kindle and people paying for subscriptions on the device.
• Do people see the mobile platform as a premium location and so people will pay for that? Miller takes it one step further and suggests a bundled experience.
• Even though we’re having economic issues, consumption is still continuing to go up strong. Dollars need to still chase that.
• Unless you’re Google, media companies need to partner to sell inventory. Ultimately, that’s not going to be an issue because we’re moving into an exchange buy/sell model for advertising.
• Miller also sees an arbitrage business where inventory is purchased in bulk and then resold. But he warns that could run into many conflicts of interest.
• Miller argues that Facebook is about “What people are UP to” and MySpace is about “What people are IN to.”

Marketing 3.0—Building Great Brands in the Digital Age

MODERATOR:
Amanda Richman, Executive VP, Managing Director of Digital, MediaVest USA

PANELISTS:
Rod Lehman, Senior Director, Americas Marketing, HP Software
Chris Chambers, Director of Digital Marketing, Tourism Queensland
Zdenek C. Kratky, Director of Marketing, Philips Consumer Lifestyle
Chance Parker, VP and General Manager, J.D. Power Web Intelligence, J.D. Power and Associates

This was a “show and tell” session—one of my favorite formats. The panelists began with a discussion on how to convince management in these tough times to shift money to digital to build brands.

The evidence was overwhelmingly in favor.  In an HP software campaign, 80% of the people were people who they weren’t talking to before, and 1/3 actually bought something.  At Philips 5 years ago digital was the space that needed to be proved.  Today, it’s a part of the total engagement strategy, Philips even has had mandates on how much to invest in digital.  Social media is a good example.  Marketers don’t have to do a lot of convincing, they just have to figure out what to invest in.  Yet right now a lot of companies are not convinced about shifting money to social media so they’re not doing it.  Industry is trying to “metricize” social media.  There is a lot of convincing, and the jury is still out.  In reality it’s a combination of measurement and “gut”.  E-mail remains the killer app: it still has a 10:1 advantage vs. social networking.

On to the show and tell!

Chris Chambers of Queensland Tourism started things off nicely.  Remember “The Best Job in the World” campaign?  The challenge to address was that there were not enough people coming down to Queensland.  There was lots of fragmented marketing and low awareness as a result, and Queensland needed to tell more of the story in a cohesive fashion.  The campaign for the Great Barrier Reef was in market for 2 years to the trade first to prepare for consumer campaign (so when you go to your travel agent they actually know what you’re talking about).  The campaign advertised a job blogging about the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef for 6 months with a salary of AUD 150,000, about $140,000, nice work if you can get it!  It launched January 11 with a series of small recruitment press placements and a web site in 8 languages.  The campaign was in phases to maintain interest with a real teaser effect: applications open, shortlist, wild card voting, interview event, caretaker starts, best experience competition.  They narrowed applicants down to 50 candidates, then selected the winner.  The campaign got live coverage on BBC and other media.  The caretaker started July 1st.  Then a “best experiences” campaign followed to win a 7 week all expense paid trip to Queensland.

The results were awesome.  8.4 million visitors to the site, 900,000 in the first few days.  400,000 from Facebook.  Average time on site over 8 minutes, 34,680 applications.  An equivalent of 390 million AUD ($350 million) of publicity, including Oprah, Time, BBC Documentary, 13 part TV series, 5.9 million views of Queensland content on YouTube.  Increased Queensland product in programs, reported increases in visitation from key markets, and valued longer term engagement opportunities.

What were the learnings and benefits?
- Give yourself permission to think big
- The idea alone is not enough, be prepared
- Be honest, transparent and true to your brand
- Have plans not to disappoint your advocates
- Implement solutions which can scale up
- Social networking and digital are now central to marketing

How much was planned?  Quite a lot took them by surprise.  The expectation for the campaign was that it was a great idea.  They thought they would get 400,000 visitors to the site and then had to move from 1 server to 11 servers.  9,000 video applications in the last weekend alone. They were really pleased about the campaign, but had to “let it go”.

Rod Lehman of HP next talked about HP Software.  HP is sold on digital media.
For them it’s part of a holistic picture.  When HP combines digital with print and traditional they get twice the response over if they do those things individually.  However their approach is broader.  They have to do digital media then have to follow up with more targeted things on the back end.  They’re also doing a lot of social media—not into FB or twitter, more about the brand.  Getting 10,000 people on a Facebook page is merely HP talking to customers, business as usual.  Viral or refer a friend programs and people forwarding content to Facebook community works better: the trust factor is higher and there’s a better conversion rate.  Digital first, other channels later. 

HP looked at its engagement model and did a DM piece wihich got 13% response rate.  HP uses a high touch approach.  They did a telemarketing followup and more.  This generated a huge ROMI: HP invested $100,000 and the influence was $2.8M revenue.  Strong conversion initially, best in class conversion in the end.

HP also did the Scrawlr viral campaign, in which they created a free trial version of a security product and popularized it by having bloggers in the security space talk about it.  WItihin 72 hours they had tens of thousands of downloads.  They also got 18 original press articles in traditional media with no press releases from HP.

Zdenek Kratky, Director of Marketing of Philips Consumer Lifestyle was up next. The Stop Brushing/Start Sonicare Campaign had as its objective to grow marketshare by converting manual users to switch to Sonicare.  The Consumer Insight?  14% of registered Sonicare users cited friends and family recommendations as the greatest purchase influence; second only to the dental practitioner recommendation.  The strategy was to leverage existing Sonicare loyalists to drive word of mouth and make recommendations more easily and effectively

Philips started by creating a Facebook Fanpage supported by paid media to create a community of Sonicare advocates.  The quotes were amazing, not only from users but dentists, dental hygienists, etc.

Current results: the campaign generated 14,000+ fans and 1,557 wall posts over a 3 week period; 80% of posts are positive, 20% neutral.  Unexpectedly,
17% of the posts were from dental professionals.

After the wow factor of the “show and tell”, Chance Parker of JD Power Web Intelligence offered a more sober perspective.

His advice?  Take a step back from tactical things and how you think about social media, moving beyond the buzz.

The conventional wisdom for listening to social media is that it’s for monitoring and threat detection.  Most companies get into social media out of fear.  Identify a threat before it happens.  Think about Domino’s pizza or Starbucks problems.  Social media can backfire and amplify those problems.  “If I can just watch social media I can defuse the nuclear pizza before it explodes…”

Next, they realize people are out there talking about their brands and companies realize they need to be part of the conversation: this is influence and outreach.

Metrics are a trap, or at least an obstacle.  Social media can do great things to help you build your brand but metrics are a trap.  If you focus on just measuring you limit yourself on how you can use social media.

For example, the panel before this one was focused on digital moms.  We can isolate them, measure the brands they talk about, index them, but we miss a huge opportunity to gain insight about what moms are saying about your brands, and drive innovation.

Turns out there are GenX moms and GenY moms.  We can quantify how they talk about diapers, which constitutes (believe it or not) 20% of blog posts.  GenX moms have more than one child and are very focused on price.  GenY moms are talking about “this is my first kid how can I make him more healthy”—they’ll consider cloth diapers, even making their own.  If you focus on the metric alone you miss that. 

JD Power also did research on teens.  You can miss insights such as when today’s teen turns 16 they don’t look forward to getting a driver’s license.  They’ve lived through the struggles their parents lived through.  They’re more interested in helping out, in getting a good job to help their families (cars are expensive, after all).

Despite all the cool things, listen and hear.  Don’t just listen, hear. There’s a huge opportunity to gain rich insight from what these people are saying.  The blogosphere is a focus group of 1 million people.  It’s very sincere.  Don’t miss the opportunity to listen.  It’s unfortunate we refer to it as “media” as that limits us.

So if social is the foundation of marketing 3.0 what else would the panelists like to see next year?  Mobile will finally take off (I’m not so sure)…  It’s a great opportunity to encourage people to spend longer in destinations.  Zdenek Kratky of Philips said “I wish for an increase in consumer spending” (I think we all agree).  He also thinks social media is not media, it’s just like walking now, we do it all the time.  When you’re not at your computer you have a handheld—it’s ubiquitous.  You’re not doing it so people can advertise to you, youre doing it to gain knowledge.  Media should do more to push knowledge for consumers.  Rod Lehman wishes people would “respect the social media”.  How do companies like ours use social media?  We should deliver things of value.  When I sign up to your Facebook page I form a relationship, I expect something of value—and I will terminate my relationship with you if you just push ads at me. 

Chance Parker concluded by saying that he hopes more companies will stop “half-assing” social media.  If you’re going to get in the pool, get in the pool, don’t just screw around.  If you’re going to half ass it, don’t bother.

Amen.

Ad network tip: How to reduce churn with local small businesses

David Spark here, reporting for ad:tech at ad:tech NY 2009.

I spoke with Kevin Ryan, CMO of Webvisible and Gordon Borrell, CEO of Borrell Associates. The two of them gave me some of the highlights from their panel discussion, “The Almighty Local Dollar: How to Reach and Monetize the Local Digital Consumer.” One issue was the need to set realistic expectations. Local businesses think that online advertising is this wonderful panacea that will deliver much higher ROI and they’re always left disappointed. This is necessary to reduce churn with customers. Ryan’s company offers an ROI calculator to set an expectation level so they know what’s going to happen. Interesting discussion about educating customers about the process such as how to navigate a shared inventory system and what your ad looks like when it appears.

The Art of Conversation: Are You Listening?

I was intrigued by this ad:tech session as it addresses the current $64,000 question all marketers should be asking themselves: are you listening?  Most think they are, but are they really?

Customer conversation 1.0 involved as little conversation as possible (focus groups, suggestion box, call center, surveys).  Actually, often it evolved into figuring out ways to avoid customer conversations: witness the endless prompts in customer service telephone menus.  It was all about avoiding having customers speak to humans at all.  I call this the “neutron bomb” effect in business.

Today’s consumer on the other hand wants conversation. 

Is there something valuable for brands in that conversation?  The overwhelming answer was yes, but with some cautions. Today, unlike the old model, I the consumer am an individual, empowered. This is both an opportunity and a challenge.  Now there’s a quest for engagement, perpetual communication, and all static one-way modalities now are two-way engagements.

For the current empowered/entitled consumer, customer connection = customer service.  Before, consumers spoke to brands only when they were angry (customer service) or paid (focus groups).  Brands add value through the conversation.  They get innovation, feedback, and loyalty. 

Though the panelists were fans of social media, they had differing opinions on its effectiveness as a marketing tool.  For example, marketers at Fox are completely enamored of social media, but according to the panelist, the impact of social media on the business is none.

Social media is an enormous commitment, especially because fostering engagement has to be truthful.  Also, one has to let go when using social media, and this has the potential to backfire because the marketer no longer controls the conversation.  It’s essential to be completely genuine and authentic (read: honest) in social media because lies are quickly revealed and can be catastrophic.  However, social media can yield concrete real-time feedback (before one had to wait months and months).  Real customer understanding has evolved, social media marketers get unexpected insights and answers to questions they would never ask (or think of asking).  Members have conversations among themselves that really give feedback. Social networking is the meeting point of customers and research, the way to have a consistent dialogue with the consumers. 

A lot of corporations are not using social web correctly.  People are doing coupons on twitter but that’s not new, just another distribution channel.  Consumers want to hear a marketer talk about what they think.  Not just from a research point, rather in general: what’s bugging you, what music do you listen to, share what we did.  It’s a two way dialogue.  We’re able to do it more aggressively thru social networking.

Here’s an example. Mountain Dew is colored with yellow dye number 5.  There’s a myth that yellow dye number 5 can be used as a contraceptive and also that it shrinks your manhood.  People would say “I know about Mountain Dew” referring to yellow number 5 issues. Mountain Dew could launch an ad campaign but using social networking the brand could feature a Pepsico scientist about what is really going on.  This allows Mountain Dew to talk to consumers directly about this stuff.  On Mountain Dew there has been a high degree of consumer empowerment about developing colors, products, etc. through the MD Lab.  They are in midst of a program called democracy where the consumers will tell them flavor/color/name and making decisions collectively.  What Mountain Dew then does is take those samples and let people create “flavor nations” to build products from the ground up.  They become advocates for the new products—“you’ve got to go try this”.  The brand is letting people into the innovation process.  It’s not about creating, more about fostering advocacy.  We don’t need to create advocates, they’re already there.  Make sure you repay them for their kindness. 

Samantha Frey, the moderator, next asked this question: what is the greatest opportunity to be had within the customer conversation, and what is the greatest pitfall?

Melva Benoit of Fox said the coolest thing is advocacy—“when someone in Project Fox is so inspired and empowered that they spread the word and we get the marketing benefit.”  A negative?  The community has had “private conversations” with executives and content has gotten out (posted all over the web) before they wanted.  However, the controversy ended up being a PR coup, so all ended well.

Michael Desmarais of VH1 sees the opportunity as advocacy, making better content.  The pitfall? Speed.  One more voice at the table but not the loudest voice.

Brett O’Brien of Mountain Dew sees the opportunity as hearing directly from your most loyal fans. The pitfall: a lot of times you can get little negative comments that freak you out.  Be active in negatives and positives, don’t overreact.  Don’t let negatives derail the ability to have conversation.  Keep a steady hand on the tiller.

This panel had some good pearls of wisdom and some great examples.  All the panelists had small teams which deal with social media, but only part time.  It’s best to know how to ask the tough questions (or hire a guide to ask the questions), then jump into the water quickly—you have to embrace social media or it won’t work.  Social media has great possibilities, but “caveat emptor”—let the buyer beware!

Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP: The need for country managers for worldwide internal communications

David Spark here, reporting for ad:tech at ad:tech NY 2009.

Here’s a portion of the opening keynote of ad:tech given by Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP. Sorrell said CEOs now have ways to communicate that they’ve never been able to communicate before, especially internationally. You can’t just run an international business sitting in just one country. As companies become larger and more complicated there is still role for an intriguing and powerful role for country managers that deal with governments, technological change, research and development, and education.

Mobile is not a mass shared experience. It’s an individual experience

David Spark here, reporting for ad:tech at ad:tech NY 2009.

After a mobile metrics panel I spoke with Paul Kultgen, Client Service Director, Mobile Media and Advertising for Nielsen Online and Bruce Braun, CEO of Agent M. Braun moderated and Kultgen was on the panel and I asked them what were some of the insights. First, they mentioned mobile’s aligning with the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and the need to understand that mobile is not a mass shared experience like television, but an individual experience and you have to treat the experience as such.

Email 3.0—The Rise of Social Media and Integrated Video

Since this was a session with a strong social media focus ... since it’s the end of the day ... since everyone on the vendor floor is busy drinking, here are takeaways from the session in 140 characters or less:

Reports of email’s death are premature and greatly exaggerated.

The first use of a social media link in an email evidently happened in 12/04 (it was a LinkedIn link).

The growth of using social media links in email campaigns has been explosive.

Email *is* social media.

Email remains the most preferred channel for people to receive opt-in promos (vs text, phone, direct mail).

People use email to share product news, sometimes far, far more often than Twitter or Facebook.

If you’re going to use video in an email, focus on customer service, not putting your commercial out there.

Product demos and instructional videos are among the best uses of video in email.

Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP: Retail is leading the way in new media advertising

David Spark here, reporting for ad:tech at ad:tech NY 2009.

Here’s a portion of the opening keynote of ad:tech given by Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP. Sorrell talked about some of the innovating things the retail market are doing.

Hispanic media: Everyone follow what telco is doing

David Spark here, reporting for ad:tech at ad:tech NY 2009.

I spoke with Liz Sarachek Blacker, SVP Multi-Platform Sales impreMedia, who was just on a panel about Hispanic marketing. I asked her what were the takeaways and she said they discussed what industries were getting the Hispanic market and those who weren’t. No surprise, telco is doing it right. But she surprised me to say that financial services was missing the boat.

AcrossAir: Augmented reality iPhone applications

David Spark here, reporting for ad:tech at ad:tech NY 2009.

OK, this is plenty cool. Dana Farbo of AcrossAir, manufacturers of iPhone apps, are creating augmented reality iPhone applications. It turns on your camera and given your location and where you’re pointing it at you can annotate your world. I must agree with Farbo in that this truly is one of the best examples and future uses of location based content.

To see some better videos, go to AcrossAir’s website or check out their YouTube page.

Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP: Success is a function of branding and innovation

David Spark here, reporting for ad:tech at ad:tech NY 2009.

Here’s a portion of the opening keynote of ad:tech given by Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP, He talked about success being a function of innovation and branding. The most successful companies do both. “You can have innovation without branding, but you can’t brand without innovation,” said Sorrell.

Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP: Doing good is good business for building brands

David Spark here, reporting for ad:tech at ad:tech NY 2009.

Here’s a portion of the opening keynote of ad:tech given by Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP, He talked about the need for corporate responsibility. He pointed to the fact that it’s no longer just a nice thing to do, but critical to building brands.

Show report, Day 1: ad:tech NY 2009

David Spark here, reporting for ad:tech at ad:tech NY 2009.

Here’s my show report from the middle of day one at ad:tech. There was so much going on and so much to see, this is just a sliver of what I saw. I’ll have lots more reporting tomorrow. But I think Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP probably had the best summation of the industry. I’ll be posting some videos of his presentation shortly. But he focused on the need to spend more in digital, focus on international markets, innovation, brand, and corporate responsibility.

WPP’s Martin Sorrell: ad spending online isn’t keeping pace with people’s time online

David Spark here, reporting for ad:tech at ad:tech NY 2009.

Sir Martin Sorrell Chief Executive Officer at WPP literally took to the floor at ad:tech. The house lights went up and he stepped into the aisle to conduct his opening keynote on Wednesday. He wanted to conduct an interactive session with the 1200 people in attendance. Before he went on stage I caught him for a quick interview for which he was a bit coy about what he was going to talk about. But he did admit to one issue that’s going to change over the coming years and that’s our increased investment in digital. He said depending on the study you look at we only spend 12-13% online, but we’re spending 20-28% of our time online. Spending on online advertising isn’t keeping pace for what we’re spending. That’s definitely going to change.

The Almighty Local Dollar: How To Reach and Monetize the Local Digital Customer

After the obligatory introductory comments from each panelist, moderator Gordon Borrell (President and CEO, Borrell Associates) got down to business, pointing out to the panel that advertiser churn in local business is significant, then asking the $64 question: Why?

David Kidder (Co-Founder and CEO, Clickable, Inc.) didn’t really have an answer, but more or less said that his company was there to help advertisers do it better. Chris LaSala (director, Local Markets, Google) said that the more customers are educated (sort of a plug for Google’s place pages), the less churn there’ll be.

How much is the typical local advertiser spending? Kevin Ryan (CMO, WebVisible) pretty much gave my favorite answer to any Web-related question: “It depends,” mainly on the specific field (it can be anywhere from $500 a month to $5,000 a month).

But the issue of churn remained the core of the session. One audience member suggested that perhaps local advertising needs to embrace par-per-performance ads to a greater degree. Matt Crowley (CMO, AT&T Interactive) and Gordon both kept coming back to the point that offline advertising remains very important to the local advertiser, and perhaps there’s no real way around that.

Ultimately, perhaps Gordon said it best: Don’t overestimate the intelligence of the local advertiser. While digital veterans are thinking ahead to mobile marketing and coupons on cell phones and all the rest, local businesses keep coming back to retail legend John Wanamaker’s famous quote: “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.”

Today’s reality may very well be that, for most advertisers, digital marketing falls into the half that doesn’t work.

Translation: Digital veterans have a LOT more work to do on the local level.

It’s a Multi-Platform World

You’ve got high quality, relevant content. You’ve got a targeted, attentive audience for your content. You’ve even got advertisers who agree with you.

Is this heaven? No, it’s the joy of being a publisher like the Weather Channel, Forbes, A&E, and Condé Nast. But even the most bright-eyed & bushy tailed digital media publishers with a solid reputation in TV and print have some fears. Here are the ones that snuck out at this noontime Media and Entertainment panel:

Media fragmentation
This is not new news, said moderator Patrick Moorhead, from Razorfish, the self-proclaimed Agency Guy. The rate of consumption on mobile has recently doubled, and there are now 1,100 types of cell phones in the U.S., which the Weather.com (NBC Universal) senior VP was quick to point out can be super-costly to adapt to all of them.

Another challenge is the idea of creating custom content for each platform. Josh Stinchcomb from Condé Nast Digital tells us that it’s not a “huge expense” to do so, but if you look at the cost in proportion to revenue, it’s a downer. This of course will improve when they are able to scale out the model.

The problem with fragmented media experiences, said Matt de Ganon (Weather.com), is that there’s not a lot of value in it. The consumer loves the fact that they can consume weather information, for example, on their iPhone or television, via widget, website, or even their car GPS. Advertisers are not so pleased, as this disjointed consumption means lowered value for them.

How do you compete with free?
Stinchcomb: You can’t. Deliver something else instead. In the web space, the basic model that developed was to offer free content and get your revenue from advertising. Consumers were trained not to pay for content, and so now we’re in this position where we try to find new revenue streams (affinity groups, access to editors).

Paul Jelineck (A&E) adds to his idea that it’s darn hard to monetize expensive content. We don’t want to make the same mistake with mobile, he said, so take a good, hard look at your business goals before you enter that space. Map your product and make your investment based on that. Don’t try to do everything.

There are opportunities for revenue from premium content, he added—especially for movie studios and sports products. They will lead, and the rest will follow.

Content vs. Experience
What’s difference between plain copy and an integrated, customized experience? It’s the difference between a good and a great online experience, but it’s also the difference of many zeros. The cost of customizing web advertising can be astronomical, said Jelinek, so you’ve got to make sure you have a good mix of traffic volume and targeting: it’s pretty hard to create the right package, the right content experience where people don’t bail.

Final wisdom from Stinchcomb: “Find a way to deliver value to the consumer, then translate that for advertiser.”

Looksmart: Save money and increase ROI with tiered PPC advertising

David Spark here, reporting for ad:tech at ad:tech NY 2009.

I spoke with Ted West, CEO of Looksmart, a search advertising network that has just begun introducing “optimal pricing” which allows advertisers to buy different sources of traffic for queries across their network. Traditionally advertisers are purchasing PPC ads on a blended model. When you buy “blended” you may pay $.25 for something that’s worth only $.10 or pay $.25 for something that’s $1.00. Now of course you would love to pay under all the time, but it doesn’t work like that. With Looksmart’s “optimal pricing” which is essentially a tiered pricing model you’re paying closer to what you’re getting and as a result, said West, you’re spending less and getting better results.

Looksmart is a sponsor of ad:tech and this video.

TV Still Biggest & Baddest of All

In Room 7, the vote was unanimous: TV is still the biggest, baddest form of advertising out there.

John Saroff (Strategy Partnership Development, Google TV ads) was the one to actually say it, but it got an energetic nod of agreement across the panel, which consisted of sales, program operations, and biz dev execs from Univision, NBC Universal, Program Partners Inc. and Microsoft.

TV viewing is at an all-time high, he continued, and it still constitutes the bulk of advertisers’ media spend. But even while time is going up, rates are going down — likely because viewership is becoming more fragmented, and it’s becoming more difficult for publishers to prove consistent value.

Battle this with better measurement, Saroff suggested. Show advertisers the viewer who is watching televised Metropolitan opera at 2am, or glued to Premier League soccer 5 hours a day. He explains that Google is currently working with Nielsen, Equifax, and other companies to gather data from the 50-some legitimate networks that are left out of Nielsen’s original set-top box and panel measurement system — a project that could potentially open up publishers to higher revenue streams. “Two years ago we were selling into an abyss: now there’s a number.”

Jennifer Pirot from NBC Universal chimes in: That’s right! Priorities differ among advertisers: some are rabid about reach, others want targeting, and some are beginning to place a higher value on engagement from TV ads. Sell them what they want, she said. And there’s no reason to be scared about fragmented platforms, she told the panel’s easily excitable moderator Daisy Whitney. TV will still be #1. Today, NBC is “scared” about the the same thing that has always scared it, and probably always will: creating content that people will want to watch.

So it’s a programming challenge, ultimately. As TV viewership grows, networks risk losing ad dollars not from the inability to integrate TV with other platforms (e.g., web, mobile), nor from inaccurate measurement and perception of value. Rather, if content cannot keep up with the audience demand — and adapt to fit those emerging platforms — that’s where the true loss potential lies.

Afilias will help you get your own top level domain name (e.g. .info, .org)

David Spark here, reporting for ad:tech at ad:tech NY 2009.

Guess what? Did you know that as soon as by the end of 2010 you could have your own top level domain (TLD)? That means you could be as powerful as a country who until recently have been the only ones authorized to have their own TLDs. So instead of only Canada getting .ca and India getting .in, you could have your own TLD like say .sports or .ads. Is it as easy as registering your own domain name? Unfortunately not. Afilias who has tons of experience in the area of domain name registration and knows the ins and outs of ICANN, the organization responsible for authorizing the TLDs can help walk you through the process which requires a rather detailed application. Roland LaPlante, SVP CMO at Afilias explains.

Afilias is a sponsor of ad:tech and this video.

Master Class Workshop: Digital Moms—How to Reach and Harness This Consumer Marketing Force

If you’re a mom and you’re active online ... better yet: If you have a blog ... even better still: If you’re open to hearing about new products and services and telling your (online) friends about them ... well, you’re living at the epicenter of digital marketing today.

So how do companies get through to the Mom Marketing Monolith today?

Well, first you have to know who the moms are, right? Enter Mike Fogarty (Group Publisher, Babycenter LLC), who explained the relatively obvious notion (obvious, at least, to a parent) that when it comes to purchasing habits, a new mom’s buying concerns change radically—it’s not just about diapers and bottles, it’s about cars and insurance and everything else in their lives.

So what are the implications for marketers? Well, for one thing: a mom’s media consumption (television, print and Web) is reduced drastically as a result of motherhood, from 9 hours a day to 6.1 hours. That means marketers have to be smarter about reaching the moms. But wait, there’s more: 39 percent of new moms say that the time they spend online is the most peaceful part of the day, which has creative impications—DON’T SCREAM AT THEM.

But moms of babies grow older, as do their kids, which made a great segueway to Jodi Kahn (Executive VP, iVillage Networks), who spoke about moms of tweens and teens, 50 percent of whom are on Facebook, and who they are.

But beyond WHO moms are, WHAT do they want online? Well, for starters, they don’t want to be reminded about how stressed they are as moms, they want convenience and utility: reliable product reviews, solid advice about raising kids and, ultimately, ways to make their lives easier. (As for that last one, stand in line.)

Okay, so we know moms are online, we know they’re active, we know that a woman who is 12 weeks pregnant is different from one who is 36 weeks pregnant, we know that the mom of an infant has different concerns than the mom of a tween ... that’s the WHO and the WHAT, but what about the HOW?

How do companies get through to the Mom Marketing Monolith today? How do companies harness this consumer marketing force? How does a marketer go about building trust among moms through digital marketing?

Great question ... with only three minutes left in the session. The short answer, courtesy Mike: Through authenticity and the simple act of listening. Good advice, and the audience could have benefited from discussing this point for more than just a minute or two ... which is probably why the session ended with polite golf applause and not enthusiastic hand-clapping.

Coin magic from Acxiom

David Spark here, reporting for ad:tech at ad:tech NY 2009.

Acxiom had this fantastic magician doing tricks in the booth. Here’s a great video of him doing a coin trick. Quite impressive.

Afilias: You’ve got back up of your data and your web services. Do you have a back up of your DNS?

David Spark here, reporting for ad:tech at ad:tech NY 2009.

I spoke with John Kane, VP, Corporate Services for Afilias, a domain name service (DNS) management service. We talked about the unfortunate ignorance most people have about DNS and DNS management. DNS is the Internet’s addressing system. If you’ve got a website, you’ve got a DNS. But what you don’t have is multiple points of redundancy like you may have at other points of your business and data center. Kane talked about the need for DNS management so you can avoid having a single point of failure for your entire online business.

Afilias is a sponsor of ad:tech and this video.

Lyris: Improve messaging management with email, social media, and mobile triple play

David Spark here, reporting for ad:tech at ad:tech NY 2009.

I spoke with Joe Harrell, Director of Marketing and Project Management for the Alliance for the Arts and Erick Mott, Communications Director of Lyris (@Lyris on Twitter) .

The Alliance for the Arts does research and advocacy for the non profit arts community in New York and New York City. They’re one of Lyris’ customers that’s trying out the company’s new Lyris HQ product which integrates email with search, social, and mobile, backed up by analytics. Lyris provides this integrated solution so you can do more with less. More importantly, Lyris’ Mott notes that most people don’t fully comprehend that tri-messaging (email, social, mobile) is NOT about spam to the third power, but rather opening up an inbound communications link and being ready for that level of communications. How does that translate to your workflow? Harrell at the Alliance for the Arts says it’s taken the load off of the front end and put it on the back end, but in a good way. Instead of spamming people up front, they’re more targeted upfront, but then receive inbound communications which allows them to nurture a relationship.

Here’s some more info on Lyris HQ and tri-messaging.

Lyris is a sponsor of ad:tech and this video.

CoverClicks Media: drive more traffic with social media and holiday traffic

David Spark here, reporting for ad:tech at ad:tech NY 2009.

CoverClicks Media is an affiliate network (their other site) that pushes out offers, mostly email submit type offers. The company’s goal is to simply drive more traffic to your site. I spoke with Steven Haim, CoverClicks Senior Business Development Manager who talked about their current efforts to drive more traffic through holiday themed offers, social media, and list management which is the bread and butter of their business. NOTE: In the video we say coverclicksmedia.com to get to the site. You’ll actually reach the site just through coverclicks.com. CoverClicks is a sponsor of ad:tech and this video.

Pre ad:tech Working, Partying, Networking and Bikini Bullriding

Tuesday was ‘setup’ day for the ad:tech booths at the Javits Center.  Joe Vaughn phoned to ask if I could help set up the IZEA booth as his co-worker Ashley Edwards missed his flight.  No problem, helping others is my forte and I’m always happy to be asked to help!

I ran into Dina Riccobono and Andrea from Market Leverage as I walked into the exhibit hall.  After a quick setup, Joe and I walked to the Latitudes Lounge where a group of us planned a meetup.  Jim Banks, Murray Newlands, MicroSteph and two others joined Joe and I for dinner and a few drinks, enjoying catching up and networking.

I love New York at night.  The streets are busy, taxis honking and people are friendlier.  Steph and I headed to Johnny Utah’s to attend the party.  We were given great tank tops when we entered and I wore mine.  When a company creates a shirt I like and will actually wear (rather than a fugly t-shirt) I’m going to show them I appreciate it!

The XY7 party was packed with bodies, the music was very loud and the bull was calmly sitting in his ring awaiting the bikini bodies.  Apparently so was Steve Hall and he has photos of them ALL - what a surprise, huh?

Steph, navigated our way via her iPhone to ‘Old Castle’ where Missy Ward and Shawn Collins were hanging out. We joined them and a few others for more conversation and a couple of beer. 

Networking with old friends and new at conferences is the absolute best part of attending, often providing exciting opportunities as you meet more people who drive the world of ‘Digital Marketing - the focus of ad:tech New York. 

Party Post! Party Post! Party Post! Oops. Sorry. This Is A Serious Blog

Posted by Steve Hall · Tuesday October 27, 2009

Oh yes. For certain the ad:tech blog is a very, very serious media outlet. After all, it’s our job to share with you every up to the minute happening we can find during each conference. From panel content to keynote quality to exhibit hall activity to important exhibitor announcements.

But, let’s get unserious for a minute here. Everyone loves a great party. Everyone loves the chance to mix and mingle with their fellow industry mates. And that’s what conference parties provide. So, serious or unserious, we consider it our job to make you aware of all the partylicious goodness that’s scheduled for each conference. So, here we go.

As previously mentioned, Moss Networks, along with Advertise.com, Adknowledge and GenieKnows, will host its VIP MIX + Mingle at the Hudson Terrace Wednesday, November 4 from 10PM to close. Also on Wednesday, The Oldtimers Foundation will host an event at the Thom Bar from 7PM to 9PM. Also on Wednesday (yes, this is always the problem), Elephant Traffic will host a VIP (is anyone not a VIP?) Launch Party at 1 Oak from 7PM to 11PM.

Also on Wednesday (get used to this), Mozes, Billboard and ad:tech will co-host the official Opening Party at the Roosevelt Hotel from 7PM to…we have no idea. Also on Wednesday (yawn…), Eyeblaster will host its 8th Annual Eyeblaster Awards party at Providence from 8PM until midnight. And, and, and also on Wednesday (WTF???), the Mother of all Parties, Money Makers III will take place at Pacha from 9PM until, well, breakfast the next morning.

Oops. Oh wait. Another one! Epic will be hosting their second annual party at Marquee from 9PM until 2AM. This one’s called Heaven and Hell. Interesting.

Got it all? Are you sure? A Google calendar of all the parties is here. If there’s one saving grace here it’s that we can all go to bed early the second night of the conference because not a single company we know of is hosting a party. Not. One. Party.

So feel free to party all you want Wednesday night because it looks like that’s all you’re gonna get. On Thursday night you’ll just have to settle for a quiet dinner with friends. Or a hook up with that special person you met the night before. Either choice is a good one.

Related topics: New York, ad:tech NY 2009, NY 09 Parties

Home » You Can Get A Lot of ad:tech For $35!

You Can Get A Lot of ad:tech For $35!

Posted by Steve Hall · Monday October 26, 2009

For just $35, you can get yourself an ad:tech New York Exhibit Hall pass. That low price will get you into the exhibit hall wwith 250 exhibitors, access to seven keynote presentations, the welcome reception party, lunch forums, Google workshops and three keynotes at the concurrent Content Revenue Strategies conference.

All for $35. Seriously. Register here.

Related topics: New York, ad:tech NY 2009, NY 09 Conference Info

Home » Don’t Fret. You Will be Able to Get to and From Javits

Don’t Fret. You Will be Able to Get to and From Javits

Posted by Steve Hall · Wednesday October 21, 2009

OK so this year, after many years at the Hilton, ad:tech New York is moving to the Javits Center. It’s a mixed blessing. It’s a bigger space so it won’t be the sardine can-like crowding the Hilton conference became famous for. But it’s not exactly near anything in the city.

To make things easier for those of us who loved to be able to pop up to our hotel room between session, ad:tech will have several lounge areas where attendees can work. The Beer Garden, where food and beer will be available, will also be back. And there will be a full on bus shuttle service between Javits and several Times Square hotels:

Shuttle Transportation provided by Academy Bus - Buses will run on a 10 to 15 minute pickup schedule:
ROUTE 1 (464) SERVICING:  Westin New York, W NY Times Square
Pick-up on 45th St, Off Broadway (near Marriott Marquis Hotel)

ROUTE 2 (1406) SERVICING: Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers and Sheraton Manhattan
Pick-up on 7TH Ave, BTW 52nd & 53rd St (Across from the hotel)
HOURS OF SERVICE:
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4 7:15 am – 11:15 am; 4:00 pm – 7:30 pm
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5   8:00 am – 12:00 pm; 3:30 pm – 7:00 pm
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6       8:00 am – 2:30 pm

Related topics: New York, ad:tech NY 2009, NY 09 Conference Info

Home » Exhibit Hall Drinking Returns to ad:tech

Exhibit Hall Drinking Returns to ad:tech

Posted by Steve Hall · Wednesday October 21, 2009

On Wednesday, November 4, the first day of ad:tech New York, from 4:30PM to 6PM, ad:tech will be hosting a welcome reception in the exhibit hall to celebrate its move from the Hilton to the Javits Center. Just like the old days when a certain ad network whose name we can’t remember at the moment used to host exhibit hall receptions at every conference.

You’ll be in the exhibit hall anyway (won’t you?) so you might as well grab a drink and mingle a bit. It’s your perfect chance to go talk to that booth babe you’ve been eyeing all day.

Related topics: New York, ad:tech NY 2009, NY 09 Parties

Home » Sir Martin Sorrel Is In The House

Sir Martin Sorrel Is In The House

Posted by Steve Hall · Wednesday October 21, 2009

WPP Chief Executive Martin Sorell will deliver the opening keynote at ad:tech New York November 4-6 at the Javits Centers. Sorrel has been equally lauded and maligned over his tenure with WPP. Hes been sensationalized for his high-profile divorce, a libel suit involving “vicious” images and mergers and acquisitions that were questioned by some. No doubt, the keynote will be interesting. Hopefully George Parker will show up and ask some pointed questions. That could be interesting!

Related topics: New York, ad:tech NY 2009, NY 09 Conference Info

Home » We Messed Up

We Messed Up

Posted by Mike Flynn · Friday October 16, 2009

Dear ad:tech readers,

Today, we sent an email to a select group of past ad:tech attendees presenting them with an offer to post tweets for ad:tech in exchange for a free expo pass or discounted conference admittance. We now realize how wrong this was and apologize whole-heartedly for suggesting that we buy anyone’s personal endorsement. I’ve been around long enough to know that pay-to-play is not appropriate in any situation. It was a foolish move. With only a few weeks before our New York event, we hastily drafted this offer without proper thought or consideration. We immediately canceled the program as soon as we realized our error.

We appreciate the loyalty so many of you have shown ad:tech.

We fully respect Peter Kafka, and others who emailed us, for bringing this error to our attention. Please accept our sincere apologies.

Mike Flynn
Event Director
ad:tech North America

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Home » Moss Networks to Host VIP Mixx + Mingle at ad:tech New York

Moss Networks to Host VIP Mixx + Mingle at ad:tech New York

Posted by Steve Hall · Tuesday October 06, 2009

ad:tech New York is about one month away and you all know what that means. Party invites. So, yes, the first one are rolling in. First up is Moss Networks which, along with Advertise.com, Adknowledge and GenieKnows, will host it VIP MIX + Mingle at the Hudson Terrace Wednesday, November 4 from 10PM to close. So check out the details here and put it on your calendar.

Related topics: New York, ad:tech NY 2009, NY 09 Parties

Home » ad:tech London: Hashtags for Today’s Auditorium-Based Sessions

ad:tech London: Hashtags for Today’s Auditorium-Based Sessions

Posted by Angela Natividad · Wednesday September 23, 2009

Hallo, paisanos. Rough start today; the party at the Kensington Roof Gardens last night was chill, long-lasting and laced with vodka. As a result, attendance this morning is thin and slightly haggard.

But for the valiant, some good news: wifi is now available in the main auditorium. That means more people can participate in the Twitter orgy. (*does a little dance*)

I’ll be livetweeting a few sessions today: Trends & Predictions 2.0, What Makes Young People Tick Online?, and The Shifting Rules of Engagement in Digital.

Here are the hashtags for auditorium-based events this morning and afternoon, in the event you want to either join the conversation or start one.

o Keynote Presentation: A trip to the future... #at09future

o TRENDS AND PREDICTIONS 2.0: Interpreting global market trends to forecast the future for your business & community. #at09trends

o WHAT MAKES YOUNG PEOPLE TICK ONLINE? Engage youth audiences with meaningful dialogue, relevant content and targeted incentives. #at09youth

o JARGON-FREE APPROACH TO TARGETING: Right person, time, message, place. Sounds simple – so how’s it achieved? #at09target

o KEYNOTE: Loyalty, transparency, conversations and giving a damn! #at09loyalty

o CREATIVITY IN DIGITAL: Featuring Match.com and Playboy. How match.com remains the brand of choice for people looking for love. #at09matchplay

o THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN CONSUMER DIALOGUE: Blogs, UGC and communities – how are they changing the way people engage online? #at09engage

If you just want to lurk, visit search.twitter.com and run a search for the hashtags you want. Also be sure to check out #adtechlondon, an ongoing stream of what everybody’s seeing, doing and selling.

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Home » ad:tech London: Wedding Organization to Engagement, and Vice-Versa

ad:tech London: Wedding Organization to Engagement, and Vice-Versa

Posted by Angela Natividad · Tuesday September 22, 2009

This week I’m in the city of Big Ben for ad:tech London, which kicked off this morning with a keynote by Managing Partner Thomas Gensemer of Blue State Digital, who explained—as much as he could in a 30 minute space—what keys to success characterized the Obama campaign.

This particular ad:tech is unique because we’re trying something new and scary: livetweeting a number of the presentations. A feature called Picture on Picture enables us to broadcast three projections at once: a video projection of the session, the presentation (if panelists have any PowerPoints) and a dedicated window for the Twitter feed.

Each presentation has its own hashtag, which you can find in the ad:tech programme and which enables us to separate panel-specific tweets from general #adtechlondon tweets. For example, here’s the material from the Obama keynote.

The cool thing about this experiment:

o It’s new territory for ad:tech, an attempt to reap practical real-time application from a tool that’s captured the imagination of both brand folks and citizen users.

o You can see commentary while the speaker is presenting, enabling you to catch things you missed and also input feedback if you think a given point is exceptional or total crap. (Seriously. The ad:tech folks were like, “This is part of the new environment. We should all welcome that kind of feedback.”)

o People that get overlooked in the QA can air their views right over the speaker’s head—which certainly contributes to a session’s entertainment value.

Caveats:

o There isn’t any wifi in the auditorium, which means livetweet feedback is limited to users with 3G phones.

o Attendance is thin—about 200 pre-reg—which means that while the crowd’s a little more intimate, there isn’t a great deal of participation.

Still trying to work out the perfect formula. At the very least, I’m glad it’s something we’re trying and not just talking about. In the meantime, follow conference-related tweets at @adtech_london. Feedback that isn’t batshit-insane* will receive a warm fuzzy reception.

—-

* When I started tweeting as @adtech_london early this morning, somebody on Twitter ran off-field with the Obama conversation and tried converting my religion. Come on, there’s a place and time for that: college on the quad.

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Home » Rishad Tobaccowala Talks Brand-Building, Damage Control and the Art of Seduction

Rishad Tobaccowala Talks Brand-Building, Damage Control and the Art of Seduction

Posted by Angela Natividad · Friday September 11, 2009

At ad:tech Chicago last week, and prior to his opening talk, I approached Denuo CEO Rishad Tobaccowala in hopes of scoring an interview later on. He was in a hurry and answered in a way I found brusque and upsetting—which ended up colouring my feelings about the keynote.

Tobaccowala emailed to apologize immediately after reading the article I wrote, and was also good enough to give me almost three hours of his time in an interview—more of a conversation, really—later that week.

We never did get around to a formal Q/A. But I learned so much about branding and relationships from him that most of the gems would be lost if I didn’t whip out the cam and start recording.

See the footage below the drop.

Four Things Your Brand Shares with Your Soulmate:

Second Chances at First Impressions, and Thinking Fast When Your Brand Gets Sullied:

This is the longest of the videos. At the start, Rishad gives advice on what leaders should do when traveling abroad to impart wisdom: Google yourself in the country to find out “who” you are to the inhabitants.

He also details how he approached remedying our first impression—and why he plans to turn it into a case study for brands. For him, it was a colourful example of how marketers and clients need to resolve issues now: in real-time.

And I realized that there’s an intuitive “ethic” associated with being a persuader (like a blogger). After he took action to ramify our awkward exchange, he consulted with his social media team to gauge how I might react. They gave him three possibilities; I did them all within 24 hours.

Rishad’s Exercise for Building Your Personal Brand:

It sounds simple, but it’s hard; I’ve spent two weeks trying to nail the first part. He also reveals his own results.

And that was that. Once we wrapped up, I crept around his house touching porcelain, glass and stone things that I probably shouldn’t be touching. He was cool about it, and wrapped up our afternoon by showing me an amazing view of Chicago from his terrace.

It’s incredible what kind of power comes with taking a bit of time to bandage a bruised user experience. Because today, whenever somebody says something about Rishad Tobaccowala, sunbeams and rainbows come shooting out of my face.

Related topics: Chicago, Keynotes

Home » Headlines & Heroes Party Returns to ad:tech New York

Headlines & Heroes Party Returns to ad:tech New York

Posted by Steve Hall · Friday September 11, 2009

Whoa. ad:tech Chicago’s just ended and already ad:tech New York is approaching. Alreay, you can register for the conference. And…the firt party has made itself known. Our friend over at Headlines and Heroes, Josh, who’s been organizing amazing parties for ad:tech and Affiliate Summit for a couple years now is looking for sponsors for the party they will host at ad:tech New York on November 4. If you’re interesting in sponsoring, here’s the info you need. And you should know the parties are always great and always well attended.

H&H Events Presents:
The” Money Makers” III @ AdtechNY

Venue: PachaNYC
Date: November 4th, 2009
Time: 9PM-2 AM
Full Open Bar: 10PM-12AM

Sponsors: 9 Sponsors Wanted - $7500

In case you forgot here is a video from the first party w/ Rob Base.

Here are images from the other parties Headlines & Heroes have held to date:

1) Pictures from Nov. 07 Adtech NY w/ Rob Base & DJ Red Alert

2) Pictures from Nov. 08 Adtech NY w/ Naughty By Nature & DJ Red Alert

3) Pictures from August 09 - Affiliate Summit NY w/ Biz Markie & DJ Steve Powers

Let Josh know if you are intersted in sponsoring the event.
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

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Home » Sharpie, Ben & Jerry’s Squeeze Merit Out of Social Media Sphinx

Sharpie, Ben & Jerry’s Squeeze Merit Out of Social Media Sphinx

Posted by Angela Natividad · Tuesday September 08, 2009

My last ad:tech Chicago session was the Social Media Industry Forum, presented by Geoff Ramsey of eMarketer.

The sesh had a festive air for many reasons, not least that it was Ramsey’s birthday. ad:tech’s Warren Pickett burst in near the end to furnish him with candle-lit cupcakes.

But the company was also lively: we had a frothy, sometimes cynical and perennially candid band that included Digital Marketing Manager Katie O’Brien of Ben & Jerry’s, President Rick Murray of Edelman Digital (which does interactive stuff for B&J’s), PR/Social Media Manager Susan Wassel of Sanford Brands (here to rep Sharpie), and Digital Strategist Akash Pathak of DraftFCB, which worked with Wassel to bring life to Sharpie’s label.

Sharpie: Uncapping the Creativity of Others

There’s not much at first glance to a suite of color-enhanced permanent pens, but by enabling users to engage with it, and send in ways in which they’ve used their Sharpies to be creative, the company discovered it’s at the center of a passionate and evangelical circle.

Facebook and YouTube were used to give advocates a place to demonstrate the ways they’ve Sharpie’d their lives. You can check out the gallery at Sharpie Uncapped. (At left, for example, is some Sharpie art from Buenos Aires.) YouTube also sports how-tos for decorating shirts and other “useful information,” Wassel dryly quipped.

The effort is also buttressed by the Sharpie Squad, a broad mix of creative but wholesome folk, like mommy bloggers.

One of the coolest things about launching a social media campaign is that it required little in cash, but Wassel admits Sharpie aired concerns about not being able to control the response. “What if people talk about huffing Sharpies?” (One guy asked if “huffing” meant “inhaling,” and Wassel said, “Sorry, yes.” I was the only one who laughed.)

Wassel acknowledges these concerns needed soothing. But however much you prep yourself beforehand, there’s no way to know how people are going to appropriate and manipulate your message; I guess you just need to have a team that’s fluent enough in social media (and diplomacy) that they know how to respond. (Incidentally, the US Air Force has a pretty good response flow chart for dealing with social media.)

At this point Pathak interjects to talk measurement. To measure a social media campaign, they look at four things: volume, sentiment, topics and engagement. And here are the four things they learned after the effort was up and running:

• 1. With social media analysis, opportunity is better than originally thought.
• 2. Just preparing the campaign raised awareness of social media throughout Sharpie’s own organization.
• 3. Each social media tool grew to fit a defined role: relationships, two-way conversations, support and inspire communities.
• 4. LISTEN, QUICKLY ADAPT AND REPEAT.

The last one was the most heavily-emphasized.

Ben & Jerry’s: The Broad Appeal of a Hubby Hubby

O’Brien of Ben & Jerry’s discussed a couple of campaigns, including Free Cone Day, which was promoted in part via virtual gifts on Facebook. The 500,000 virtual cones they purchased to give away on the socnet were gone in 24 hours.

More interesting was an effort whose fruits were being reaped as O’Brien was speaking. The day before the session, Vermont’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage went into effect. Ben & Jerry’s renamed its Chubby Hubby ice cream “Hubby Hubby” within the state to honour their decision.

About 9 this morning, there were 5000 blog posts ... and 100 tweets a minute, 99% positive,” said Murray of Edelman. Both O’Brien and Murray admitted they weren’t sure the “Hubby Hubby” effort would draw much interest outside the state, but the pure virality of the effort showed otherwise.

It was a “combo of effective blogger outreach, search engine work, ChunkMail support drove a lot of traffic,” Murray continued, concluding, “but driving it all was the cultural relevance of the idea.”

After all this, Ramsey asked what department social media rightfully belongs to, and the answers were understandably varied. For Ben & Jerry’s, “It’s digital, right now.” O’Brien added that functionally it “falls into marketing, sometimes brand marketing, sometimes integrated marketing.”

Pathak interjected, “It can be a lot of things ... digital ... events…” and Wassel corroborated that, arguing that various departments use social media in different ways.

Finally Murray hit us with a gem: “I think it belongs to any agency that gets it. It belongs to the agency that get it and can operate in social media speak.”

Top benefits of social media? Relationship-building (O’Brien); love and loyalty (Wassel). I couldn’t help but think about that online dating sesh from the day before.

“What brand or company doesn’t want love or loyalty to be successful?” Wassel pointed out.

Finally we got into the topic of why Ben & Jerry’s and Sharpie decided to go into social media anyway—which is what the heart of this session was about. Wassel and O’Brien gave similar answers: that social media was, in a way, part of the DNA of their company: communicating with people, sharing in their life experiences, engaging with them.

“Figuring out how to do it and do it right based on your industry is one thing. But to not play in it at all is a miss,” Wassel crisply observed.

I liked that.

Related topics: Chicago, ad:tech CH 2009, Keynotes

Home » Weighing Hearts and Brands on Ancient Scales

Weighing Hearts and Brands on Ancient Scales

Posted by Angela Natividad · Sunday September 06, 2009

ad:tech Chicago’s “Love for Sale—How Great Creative Seduces Its Target” session was broken into two discernably useful parts: statistics on online dating, and seduction as a metaphor for marketing.

We’ll begin at the beginning.

The Online Dating Crowd

Accompanied by Liz Ross of Digitas US, Fusion Idea Lab’s Matt Brennock regaled us with both statistics and close-to-home anecdotes—the kind that’s fueled many a romantic comedy.

I heard one guy say the pair had great chemistry, and he commended them for “[opening] the kimono” the way they did. Given the topic matter, and Brennock’s zeal for reminding us (first once, then twice, then…) that men really do just wanna get laid, the geisha metaphor was oddly appropriate.

Some stats:

• The average online dater is 42 years old.
• Match.com remains tops, with 3.4 million uniques/month, but people increasingly drift away from these big-box dating sites and into more niche fare: j-date, veggiedate, Christian singles. (AdAge blogger Kelly Eidson seized this opportunity to send me a link to STD Match, a dating site targeted to people living with sexually transmitted diseases. There are also—as if you didn’t know—ethnicity-specific sites.) If the world wasn’t our oyster before, the marvelous advances of the internet, coupled with mankind’s enterprising creative spirit, have ensured it certainly is now. There’s a match worth blogging.
• Average time spent on an online dating site is 15 minutes; during that period users view around 5-7 profiles.
• There’s a 50/50 gender divide, but mentalities are different: men approach online dating as a numbers game; women agonize and analyze. Across the board, everybody’s favourite adjective—“authenticity”—is a crucial factor.

Seduction as Metaphor for Marketing

Here is where the session takes an interesting turn: anecdotes about online dating become broadly-sketched metaphors about marketing in general. Apt when you think about it; aren’t we all looking for the lonely marm who’ll put out?

“The minute you start believing that you own your brand, you have lost,” Ross proclaims, and with that, she and Brennock explore the 5 Key Ways to Seduce Your Target:

1. The pool feels bigger than it is. Desperate people don’t want to meet, they want to connect. They put themselves out there, but in reality they’re looking for themselves too.

2. Guess what: it’s not about you. This goes back to the point above. Brennock explains: “The reality is, the person looking for love is really looking to hear about themselves. They wanna know if they’re interesting, attractive, worthy. The consumer is just ilke that: they want to be romanced.”

3. Looks (sight, sound and motion) matter to both genders. More from sage Brennock: “The reality is, we are biologically programmed to care about looks.” Human beings do 3 things: eat, sleep and have sex. And oh, shop. (Guffaws all around.),

4. The product has to be good—and described accurately. Transparency matters. This merits some emphasis. Brennock observed that people on dating sites are most inclined to lie about truths that are easiest to discover when you finally meet them. Men lie most often about their height, for example.

He adds that marketers, even the ones that back claims up with research, are also, well, liars. “I consider myself a researcher in this category, and the research is nothing but lies,” he preened.

5. People and products aren’t the sum of their parts (or stats). No matter how you fudge your profile (or ad), chemistry can’t be contrived.

“Even though we love lust ... the reality is, we know that goes away. And as marketers we have to be vigilant about protecting that moment,” Brennock somberly concluded.

And in his view, the $5000 question is “how far can we push the truth and how do we serve something up so it’s appealing to the consumers, but honest.”

At this point Ross takes over to barrage us with ad campaigns that she feels are infused with personality, because that’s the key to massaging consumer sentiment without outright lying. Examples include Internetiquette, The Corona Beach, the stomach growl translator and this saucy Canadian Club Calendar effort.

There wasn’t much wrap-up to this, although I do recall Ross and Brennock tag-teaming at the last minute to tackle us with a plug. Check out Second City My Ass, an effort to remind the fickle public that there’s more to Chicago than its wind.

Related topics: Chicago, Keynotes

Home » Japan’s Mobile Technology Amazes

Japan’s Mobile Technology Amazes

Posted by Ayako Bingham · Thursday September 03, 2009

Mobile in Japan

Every time I am in Japan, what impresses me the most is its amazing mobile technology. The Japanese mobile industry is often described as suffering from “Galapagos Syndrome”. That is because the mobile market in Japan has been taking a unique evolution pathway different from any other country.

So what kinds of advertising are working out for the mobile market in Japan? After attending mobile sessions at ad:tech Tokyo, I learned that there are four major key points of running successful mobile campaigns. They are:

• Entertainment : Need to have core concept behind core experiences
• Involvement : Plan campaigns that urge users to participate and get involved
• Timely : Create contact points by providing information at the right time
• Convenience : Should be convenient and useful for users

In Japan, people commute using public transportation more so than driving. During their commute, people usually play games, read news, watch TV, read books, etc. by using their mobile devices. Mobile is such a “personal” product, so it is extremely important to maintain the pleasant user experience.  All of the innovative mobile advertisement examples were far ahead of what is happening in the States and it actually got me looking forward to the future. But, what happened in the mobile market in Japan five years ago is still not happening in the States and that made me wonder how we will ever be able to get closer to all the cool stuff they can do with their mobile phones.

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Home » The Next Big Thing In Advertising: Anyone? Anyone?

The Next Big Thing In Advertising: Anyone? Anyone?

Posted by Corrie Commisso · Thursday September 03, 2009

Welcome to The Next Frontier In Advertising—Widgets, Apps, and Viral Video at Chicago’s ad:tech Conference.

Or, as one tweep called it, “Shiny Objects 101.”

Or, as I would call it, “Let’s talk about what we’re doing today and whether or not it can be measured.” I think maybe we need to work on our session naming conventions next year.

Everything starts out ok, except for the fact that I have to sit on the floor and my right foot keeps falling asleep. The room is packed, because, of course, everyone wants to know what cool thing is next, what new technology will make their client’s eyes light up and cause said client to bestow large amounts of money on their marketing partner.

So first the expert panel talks about the difference between widgets and apps. Most of us have probably used both at some point. A widget is a small flash application that delivers a small stream of information…say, the weather in Chicago or your Twitter feed. An app is essentially a microsite…a stand-alone experience. Like those Pick Your Top Five and What Flavor of Ice Cream Are You? things that are always asking to access your Facebook page. And also the things that let you turn your iPhone into a kiddie phone that won’t let your three-year-old accidentally dial your boss.

And then it happens. The kick-off question from the audience: “Which one is more effective?”

Excuse me?

I thought it was common industry knowledge that the answer to that question depends entirely upon who your audience is, what your objective is, and how you define success. You know, metrics within a context. Apparently I’m part of a secret society with exclusive access to this knowledge. And so are the panel members, who look at each other like, “Umm….you want to take this one?”

So in one swift blow, we move from cool, shiny things to measurement. I swear, the word ROI comes up in conversation and my eyes instantly glaze over. But the session isn’t a total loss, if you’re into talking about the business end of things. A good conversation erupts about engagement vs. reach, and the panel unanimously agrees that a smaller, more engaged audience is often more “effective” than a wide reach. Case in point: the Visual Bookshelf app on Facebook gets more daily book reviews than Amazon. That’s engagement. If you’re a publisher or bookseller, that little tidbit should be very enlightening.

And engagement comes from content that, as Ro Choy from RockYou says, “people actually give a shit about.”

This is the point at which I’m ready to get back to the real question of the hour: Ok, so what’s next? What’s the new thing? How about augmented reality? Is anyone going to talk about these unbelievably awesome glasses or the holographic image of Optimus Prime embedded in the Transformers 2 packaging? Or this insanely cool iPhone app? (Thanks to my supergeek buddy @bdwassom  for keeping me in the loop on this stuff).

I have my suspicions about how this is going to end. The agency guy in the panel confirms it in his answer to the question: “We don’t know.”

Who knows what’s next? Who would have said a few years ago, “I think people are going to go nuts over telling the world what they ate for breakfast in 140 characters or less.”

But.

We can set ourselves up to be ready to capitalize on whatever comes next. We can build technology partnerships, structure our companies to accommodate change, shift our philosophies and our budgets to encourage experimentation. If you’re not engaging in a few things that make you a little nervous, you’re probably going to miss The Next Big Thing while you’re busy trying to calculate the ROI of your latest widget.

So the session doesn’t really deliver on the promise of Shiny Objects 101. Then again…I guess I’d rather be out there inventing them instead of in here looking for them.

Related topics: Chicago

Home » Search, Social Media, and Sex

Search, Social Media, and Sex

Posted by Corrie Commisso · Thursday September 03, 2009

Remember the opening keynote speech: social, mobile and search are the trends of the future? Let’s talk about search. And I don’t mean keywords, text, or how your site or product ranks on Google or Bing or Yahoo. Those are so 2008. What’s hot now—and in the future—is social search.

Social media has opened the doors to so many touchpoints—images, video, voice, and mobile. And if you need proof of how search is changing, chew on this: YouTube—that site with all the user generated video content—is the third largest search engine.

Wednesday’s expert panel in the session Search—Not Just About The Desktop Anymore: Tactics and Techniques for Emerging Platforms, started out discussing whether or not social is just the flavor of the month. Which we all know the answer to, because we all know that guy who said two years ago, “Facebook is just a fad. Put your budget towards banner ads, because that’s where it at.” And is now wishing he could CTRL-Z his words.

But panelist Bob Tripathi, search marketing strategist for Discover Financial Services, made a good point in this discussion: social is about the underlying shift in consumer behavior…about our (analog) need to connect (digitally). The behavior, as we all know, is here to stay. But the tools? Those are up for grabs. Not only will they evolve, but some of them will change completely. 

The panel offered up some interesting examples of social search. Blendtec Blenders, for example. Maybe you’ve heard of them: the brand behind the “Will It Blend?” videos where a guy in a lab coat takes everything from golf balls to whole frozen chickens, sticks them in a Blendtec, and grinds them into juice. If you happened to be looking for an iPhone around the time Blendtec put one in their blender, you would have seen that video pop up pretty high in your iPhone search results.

That’s social search.

Go ahead and google United Airlines. That #3 search result is causing them a lot of trouble. One guy, one song, and overnight United has a reputation management issue.

That’s social search, too.

And speaking of reputation management, Twitter is one of the fastest-growing search-based customer service tools. Case in point: Comcast. Not exactly known for their great service. Lots of irritated customers. They launch @ComcastCares on Twitter, where their customer service team searches the site for mentions of their brand, and deals with any negative comments personally—and immediately. Guess what? Comcast’s customer service ratings actually went up.

No question—these are pretty significant implications. So how does the traditional SEO/SEM marketer begin to incorporate social search into their strategy?

Twitter, Facebook, and blogging are all easy entry points for social search. It’s hard to really screw things up when you play in those sandboxes. Mobile can be a little more challenging, and has had a slower adoption rate due to the expense and technology involved at this point, but it’s the space to watch in the coming years. There are still entry barriers for a lot of people in mobile in the U.S. (a $200 phone, a $100 a month media plan, etc.), but the fact remains that social spaces are no longer confined to the desktop.

According to the panel, forget about testing the waters. Just jump in. Tripathi summed things up best: “Social media is like sex. Unless you do it, you won’t get it.”

Related topics: Chicago

Home » Threadless says “Hire the musicians and empower your geeks!”

Threadless says “Hire the musicians and empower your geeks!”

Posted by Amanda Mooney · Wednesday September 02, 2009

I’ll start this post off by saying that I was pretty skeptical when I saw that there would be an entire session devoted to Twitter today. “This is either going to be really horrible or surprisingly great,” I said over pre-panel lunch with @stevehall @luckthelady @saraburton and @keidson. After a remark in the first keynote of the day disregarding Twitter as “a place where you share what you’re having for lunch- I just don’t get it,” I assumed that the conversation was at risk of turning into either:

A) A Seinfeldian rant on the pointless anomaly of 21 million people tweeting about their lunch plans

B) Or a cringe-worthy discussion about how to increase your followers count

Well… I’m happy to report that it didn’t go in either direction and it was actually surprisingly great.

Cam (Threadless), Ben (Allstate) and Erin (Pixel) were all incredibly smart, rational and grounded about the role Twitter plays for their company or clients.

Cam presented these basic best practices, that seemed to be shared by his fellow panelists:

• Before even thinking about Twitter, it’s about making amazing products that people can’t help but talk about or at least treating your customers incredibly well
• Twitter’s just another channel, but if you use it correctly and creatively, it can help build a really strong sense of what your brand is about
• Keep your voice genuine
• Get your best content out there- whether it’s about your product or anything else that you think is cool, interesting and funny
• Participate and respond
• Encourage and reward participation from the community
• Empower your community (by providing access, information or retweeting and finding other means of promoting them as much, if not more, than you promote yourself)
• Keep it real- the disingenuous will get derided
• Hire the musicians and empower your geeks!

I loved Cam’s last exclamation, “Hire the musicians and empower your geeks!” He reiterated how important it is for Threadless, or any brand for that matter, to present a solid mix of cool content that will tell a story about the lifestyle that the brand embraces. His Threadless crew tweets promotions, new shirt designs and contests, yes. But they also tweet about the music playing in the office at the moment, new Web sites and posts that caught their attention during the day. I’ve written about this before in relation to Kate Spade’s Behind the Curtain site.

And beyond the rather limited perspective of Twitter as that “place where you share what you’re having for lunch,” Craig, the moderator, summed up the opportunity for brands on Twitter when he outlined the following Twitter hacks:

• Use it for direct sales (@Dell)
• Use it for reputation management (@Southwest)
• Use it for customer monitoring and service (@comcastcares)
• Use it as engaging content for advertising (this ad)
• Use it to drive in-store traffic (@freshii)
• Use it for SEO
• Use it to disseminate thought leadership

The panelists added:

• Cam- Again, use it to showcase the culture and lifestyle of your brand
• Ben- Use it to uncover great content from other users. “We’re not in the content business, so we appreciate the help from the community”
• Erin- Consider using it to create an exclusive brand community that offers rewards that will capture the attention of the community at large but is selective about who gets the premium experience

Fortunately, they did not agree with the member of the audience who asked, with a scary hint of “I actually just sold this into a client” confidence, “Should we use URL shorteners on Twitter to create mystery around what we’re linking to?” The statement was translated by the panelist as “Is it ok to trick Twitterers into thinking that they’re going to an amazing, exciting destination when you’re actually directing them to your corporate about page?” and fortunately, the response was a resounding “No.”

Finally, they were asked, “What’s the one thing you wish Twitter could do that it currently doesn’t offer?” They responded with a resounding “analytics!” Cam brought up a good point that it would be great to have the kind of analytics on brand followers that exist for brand fans on Facebook, along with the ability to segment followers into groups and target content that will be specifically relevant for them.

Anyway, it was a well-rounded, and more importantly, grounded discussion with some simple but important points on the value of Twitter for a brand and best practices for engaging the community.

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Home » The “Horror of Audience Fragmentation” and the Splendor of… Clip Art

The “Horror of Audience Fragmentation” and the Splendor of… Clip Art

Posted by Amanda Mooney · Wednesday September 02, 2009

After thoroughly enjoying the discussion about the importance of delivering compelling local engagement in the “Transformation of the News Media” panel, I expected the conversation at the Almighty Local Dollar panel to create a tangible link between local engagement and advertising. I expected stories like this one about small local street food vendors using Twitter in a fresh way to add value to and create buzz in the local market, while doing so in a manner that warranted national attention. Or perhaps, the example, presented in an earlier session, of Pantene* partnering with britekite to reach women as they entered local salons. The example showcased a major national brand finding a way to reach local consumers in a relevant way while still achieving overall national business objectives.

However, the discussion unfortunately didn’t create that link for me. While the points made by the panelists were certainly valid and worth noting- points like Chuck Lee’s nicely summarized takeaways that agencies and media must always seek to provide advertisers with “value, value, value,” speed, flexibility and tracking mechanisms and do so understanding that advertisers want to see immediate value- I left wanting a little more on the how of local digital engagement than placing geo targeted ads in geo targeted content.

I have to say that I think it was purely a product of the panel set up. All of the panelists had nice sound bites like Greg Sterling’s “Then, it was all about the splendor of the local media monopoly. Now, it’s the horror of audience fragmentation. We have to find a way to put the world back together in a new way.” I wish those would have been explored more. When you’re on a panel, please save significantly more time for discussion with your fellow panelists and the audience than you spend presenting slides. I’m not sure about you, but I’d rather see a debate, an ellipses, something that isn’t necessarily resolved but keeps your head buzzing as you walk out of the session, than a nicely packed presentation. However if you do opt for slides, take a note from Joseph Farrell and proudly present a deck full of clip art graphics. No, seriously, it was full of images like this and this and I completely appreciated the digital hipster humor he intended.

*Full disclosure: Unilever is a client and competitor of Proctor and Gamble
Image borrowed from Serious Eats

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Home » ad:tech Tokyo Day One Opening Keynote

ad:tech Tokyo Day One Opening Keynote

Posted by Ayako Bingham · Wednesday September 02, 2009

Day 1 of ad:tech Tokyo started off with an awesome introduction by the fabulous Cindy Gallop from http://www.ifwerantheworld.com and Toshio Tsuchiya (Nippon Television Network Corporation). They had fantastic chemistry together and even cracked some jokes about both of them being blonde.

The opening keynote was “The Future of Marketing - The Digital Transition” by Josh Bernoff.  Josh is the coauthor of the bestselling book “Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies.”

He started off the session by saying marketing needs to be more digital, interactive and social. According to Josh, five reasons to be more digital are:

1. Your customers are digital

Josh showed the audience survey results about Japanese online adult digital participation from Q2 2009. According to that data, 72% purchased products/services online. However, close to 50% of ad spend still goes to TV in Japan and about 20% to Newspaper. That means there is a lot of room to grow digital advertising in Japan. I find it extremely important for all marketers to pay attention to where customers are and to be proactive in providing what they need instead of being reactive.

2. It’s time to take the right risks

It is extremely important to enhance what is available, include and emphasize with your audience, and measure improvements to maximize ROI.  I agree that it is extremely important to take risks to innovate, but at the same time, it is really important to do some research and make sure that the plan is scalable.

3. Digital feeds the whole funnel

Ads that used traditional media, such as banners, blogs and videos can go through the funnel to include awareness of the product/service advertised. During that process, if the message is powerful, that product/service may create a buzz among friends and social networking sites. That ultimately results in leads/purchases.

4. People believe people

I am one of many who seek and consider friends’ recommendations on making many different decisions. According to a survey on how much people trust the content (news, information, or recommendations) from each of the following sources, 51% of people answered ‘e-mail from people they know.’ There are tons of review sites out there and many retail sites include a review section. I think the reason is because people believe people.

5. Short-term investments, long-term pay off

Starbucks has over 1 million fans on Facebook.  It took a while for them to build this large of a fan base, but now they are able to promote new products to their fans to try out.
National Instruments also utilizes the online community to announce product releases and to seek feedback. From this short-term investment, they gain a long-term asset they can build upon to grow their business.

Overall, this opening keynote set a great tone to start the conference. I was curious on how ad:tech sessions were done with simultaneous interpretation service since I have never attended any multilingual events before. The screen on the left side of the stage had the presentation in English and the right side had one in Japanese.  Even though some people had their headset volume a little too high and translation noise was leaking out around me, I was able to manage to concentrate during this session because the keynote content was so excellent.

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Home » The Transformation of Media: How To Build Sustainable Business Models in the Digital Age

The Transformation of Media: How To Build Sustainable Business Models in the Digital Age

Posted by Justin Celko · Wednesday September 02, 2009

KEYNOTE:
Bob Bowman, President and CEO, Major League Baseball Advanced Media LP

If there was one thing that the audience walked away with from Bob Bowman’s keynote address, it was this: The existing models for evaluating web traffic are archaic and need to be reassessed.

MLB.com was launched in 2000 after Commissioner Bud Selig convinced league owners to centralize their digital assets. Having consolidated all online assets, MLB was then able to offer fans, regardless of team (and really, market) affiliation the same quality of product. The site for the New York Yankees is the same as the site for the KC Royals.

Bowman was extremely proud to proclaim that MLB.com was the first to offer users live, streaming video of sporting events, though even he had to admit to the rather poor quality of the video in the player’s first incarnation. Today, for $19.99 a year, users can receive high-quality streaming video of every MLB game played. 

Bowman noted the importance of distinguishing between sites that offer paid content vs. free content. He has been told often that the web will inevitably offer solely free content, to which he responds with the story of when MLB.com first decided to offer paid content. “You’re crazy if you expect users to pay for and view videos online.” Today, over 1,000,000 people subscribe to this premium service.

What makes MLB unique to the other major sports leagues is that 60% percent of its revenue is produced by fans, as opposed to similar percentages being represented by television revenue for the NFL and NBA.  It is vital that MLB.com offer its users a product that appeals to them as fans, and not simply visitors.

When the topic moved to online measurement, Bowman offered some stern critique of the existing models, specifically of Nielsen’s model. Nielsen’s model is still very similar to the one the company has historically (and successfully) applied to the measurement of television audiences. Bowman showed two cases in which Neilson grossly underestimated users and page views of MLB.com. He was quick to say that he was open to any auditing of the internal metrics he was showing the audience.

What Nielsen is failing to take into consideration, Bowman argued, is the influence of the physical environment around the user, who may be at work and less likely to go to MLB.com and more likely to briefly scan Yahoo Sports. He was also skeptical of how accurately Nielsen is tracking mobile views. He offered a solution that would be great in practice, though not likely to actually occur. Bowman hopes that all content providers will one day pay for the auditing of their own internal analytics by third parties.

Bowman also went on to express his lack of faith in CPM models of measurement in general. His view is that CPM is one of, if not the, most inaccurate ways advertisers seek to monitize the web.

Along the lines of monetization, Bowman discussed many examples of how MLB.com is committed to offering sponsors, marketers and advertisers opportunities beyond traditional banner ads and spots in streaming video. MLB.com tries to incorporate sponsorship throughout its editorial content. He cited the site’s “Break the Streak” promotion, which encourages fans to select a MLB player each day in the hopes of building a “hitting streak” that would “break” the existing, real world record of 56. Participants receive sponsor-branded SMS texts and emails reminding them to submit their picks.

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Home » ad:tech Chicago Attendees Politely Converse at CIMA Enclave Party

ad:tech Chicago Attendees Politely Converse at CIMA Enclave Party

Posted by Steve Hall · Wednesday September 02, 2009

Last night CIMA and Tatto Media sponsored a party at the Enclave nightclub in Chicago after the first day of ad:tech. The place filled up quickly. The party, which is perhaps a Chicago thing, never ended up like San Francisco or New York ad:tech parties where loud music and drunken dancing prevail. Rather, during most of the party, everyone just stood around and conversed. How amazingly refined!

That, of course didn’t preclude some of us from consuming one too many martinis causing this particular article to be written, shall we say, a bit later than intended. But it’s all good. The party was fun. It was great to catch up with Chicago friends and traveling conference buddies.

And the photographic evidence is here.

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Home » Marketer’s guide to Digital Moms: Be invited, add value, be present

Marketer’s guide to Digital Moms: Be invited, add value, be present

Posted by Corrie Commisso · Tuesday September 01, 2009

Ok, the last thing I expected to hear in Tuesday afternoon’s master class workshop on Digital Moms was a Booty Call. I mean, seriously. What mom has time for that anyway? (I’m a digital mom. I know about that sort of thing.)

And yet, apparently it’s been a huge success for BabyCenter.com, and a good example of how marketers are using technology to connect moms with the information they need and want. Booty Call is a fertility alert devised by BabyCenter, offering women the opportunity to receive ovulation alerts on their cell phone based on information they input about their menstrual cycle. And according to at least one BabyCenter.com member: “It works!”

The Digital mom is kind of a Holy Grail for marketers. She’s the CEO of the home. And the CFO. And also the janitor, the chef, and the Community Relations Liaison. She shops more, buys more, and recommends more. On the other hand, choose poorly when speaking to her and your brand might end up a shriveled mess like that guy from Indiana Jones.

Choose wisely: that’s the bottom line from Digital Moms: How to Reach and Harness This Consumer Marketing Force. She’s crunched for time—marketers lose three media hours a day when a woman becomes a mom—so it’s critical to be precise about how and when you engage her, and always offer something of value.

In a session largely dominated by impressive statistics, but somewhat lacking in true implementation ideas, I got a pretty good picture of how I must look to marketers:

I’m impossible to define. I’m not just a mom. I’m also a wife. A Gen Xer. A career ad girl with a thing for shoes. I’m doing things that have nothing to do with being a mom. Which platform will you reach me on?

I have a Swiss Army Knife approach to technology. I use a mix of online content, everything from practical management tools to social communities to shopping sites. I’m mobile. I never leave home without my cell phone (and I’m among the 55% who let my kids play with my phone in a desperate attempt to entertain them at the grocery store). I have multiple social media accounts and rely on social communities for product and service recommendations.

I thrive on social communities. And my reasons for connecting with each community are different. Find out what they are.

I’m A-D-D. My attention is fractured. When I became a mom, I added 10.7 hours of parenting duties to my day. That doesn’t leave much time for anything else. I want to connect online, but I also want to unplug every now and then.

You want my attention as a digital mom? Here are the rules: be invited, add value, and be present.  And throw in the occasional Booty Call.

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Home » Creative Spotlight II: War of the Worlds: Branding vs. Technology

Creative Spotlight II: War of the Worlds: Branding vs. Technology

Posted by Justin Celko · Tuesday September 01, 2009

MODERATOR:
Marshall Ross, Executive VP and Chief Creative Officer, Cramer-Krasselt

PANELISTS:
Sol Sender, Associate Partner, VSA Partners
Murray White, Executive VP, Executive Creative Director, Doner
Zac Rybacki, Executive Creative Director, WhittmanHart

When the moderator is a Creative, you know that you’re in for an entertaining panel. The only thing this panel failed to live up to was that there was absolutely no “war” going on between the panelists. There wasn’t even a little feigned animosity.

Ross began the session with a story about how he was able to witness the transformation of Crammer-Krasselt from a traditional advertising agency to what he defined as a “brand experience” agency. According to Ross, this transition wasn’t easy and certainly not without its battles. What he found most telling was that the battles were not over UX or creativity, but almost always about whether or not the traditional thinking about branding still held water.

Ross stated that there are three enduring tenets that still remain relevant to how we as advertisers conduct our business. These tenets are:
• Know yourself
• Know your audience
• Stay true to both

Easy enough, right? But what Ross finds troubling is how difficult it has become in this day and age to determine who actually “owns” the brand. Is it creative? Digital? Or is it the consumer? (Well, the client OWNS the brand, but I think he was talking in the abstract)

He went on to lament the growing disconnect between the online and the offline experience. The online experience, he argued, has become more about the numbers and less about the narrative. What’s to become of story telling? The emotional experience?

It was these questions he poised to a panel that represented a sampling the types of advertising soldiers waging the battle between creative and technology: The Creative Director, The Digital Strategist and The Artist.

Each panelist displayed an example of work they had executed that was a product of collaboration between the two warring camps. Murray showed off a Mazda campaign that is simply too complex to cover here (it incorporated guerilla marketing, digital, traditional media and much more), Sol discussed the Obama campaign logo that he had helped craft and how the adoption of it by constituents threw out the notion of proprietary branding, and Zach showed off a Harley Davidson campaign that WhittmanHart had developed in harmonious tandem with the more “traditional” agency Carmichael Lynch.

It was truly a treat to watch these four professionals, each with wholly unique takes on the subject at hand, sit down and debate the direction technology is taking this industry. White believes that the goal should not be to adjust to what is happening at the moment but to instead prepare for challenges on the horizon. According to White, the prototypical Adman of tomorrow will have knowledge that stems from a myriad of practice areas. Perhaps he is right. But this begs the question: If you are good at a number of things; can you be truly exceptional at just one?

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Home » The power of the Social Graph: It’s all about influence

The power of the Social Graph: It’s all about influence

Posted by Corrie Commisso · Tuesday September 01, 2009

You know focus groups, right? Where a bunch of strangers, connected only by the fact that they recently bought a (insert random product here), sit around a conference table, smiling politely and answering scripted questions about their experience with said product? Focus groups. Market segmentation. Personas.

They still have their place in market research. But these traditional methods of understanding our client’s consumers don’t deliver the kind of information that matters in a social marketing strategy: an analysis of their online social behavior. (And if you were paying attention this morning, you know that nearly 60% of ad:tech conference-goers agreed: social is where it’s at. More precisely - social is where consumers are.)

In her session, The Power of the Social Graph: Mapping Your Influence, Razorfish Strategy Director Andrea Harrison says it’s also the best way to find and understand your brand’s influencers. According to Harrison, social graphing is a key element in developing successful social marketing programs.

A social graph simply shows a network of personal connections through which people communicate and share information online.  It gives you a glimpse into:

* A consumer’s online networks and the ones on which they are most active
* Who they are connected to on those platforms
* The quality of the relationships

In a social world, influence is everything. Adding social graphing to your strategy mix shows you more than just individual behaviors. It shows you the flow of influence around your brand - where it’s coming from and where it’s going.

Social graphing isn’t exactly a new concept. It’s been around a few years. But social portability is something new to talk about. Harrison highlighted portable social graphs from places like Facebook, MySpace, Google, Twitter, Yahoo and Microsoft as the next generation user experience (cue Star Trek music).

A portable social graph is when a user takes his or her identity from one social site to another…say, for example, using Facebook Connect to log into Vimeo to comment on and share videos with their social media network.

(Since I mentioned Facebook Connect, you might as well know that Facebook is poised to take over the world. Well, the portable social graphing world, anyway. It’s giving tools like OpenID a run for their money.)

There are lots of benefits to portable social graphs like Facebook Connect. Sites get authenticated users with an actual identity (no more anonymous posters), registration is quick and painless for users, and, of course, there’s the data. Lots of it. User data, content data…the kind of stuff you can really use to amp up your site analytics. 

But the biggest benefit of portable social graphs? As Razorfish puts it: “creating customers who create customers.”

More on social graphing from Razorfish here.

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Home » Know Thy Consumer: Hard Data + Fresh Insights

Know Thy Consumer: Hard Data + Fresh Insights

Posted by Justin Celko · Tuesday September 01, 2009

MODERATOR:
Damon Ragusa, Founder and CEO, ThinkVine

PANELISTS:
Janet Eden-Harris, VP of Web Intelligence, J.D. Power and Associates
Rafael Alcaraz, Director of Advanced Analytics, Hersheys Foods
Mike Hess, Executive VP Research, Marketing Science, and Consumer Insights, Carat

This session (thankfully) wasn’t so much about “hard data” as it was about the models we communication professionals use to capture information in the modern era of media. This was a discussion about how we as marketers and advertisers use demographics to craft campaigns, quantify metrics to track the effectiveness of campaigns and about how this practice has grown over time. What is unique about the growth of this practice is that it has historically been driven by internal factors. Even with the advent of the Internet in the 90’s, it was the expansion and adaptation of existing models that signified a growing acumen. According to the panel, today there exits a fundamental need not to adapt, but rethink from the ground up how we approach demographic research and qualitative measurement. In short, entirely new models are necessary.

Eden-Harris stated that the driving factor in the sea change that is occurring is the new dominance of Generation Y. Old models were developed in the days when the Baby Boomer was King, which is no longer the case as Gen Y represents a group of consumers 85 million strong. As Alcaraz pointed out, using consumer history to predict future trends is becoming increasingly less accurate. The new consumer is entirely different then his/her predecessor in terms of buying habits, media consumption, motivations, etc. Furthermore, he noted, the factors just mentioned are in constant flux as one of the defining characteristics of Gen Y is its constant evolution.

During his brief presentation, Hess commented on the need to combine the traditionally segregated online and offline analytical worlds. What is occurring today is a cross-pollination of media and in turn, Hess argues, so too should we merge the different models used to quantify metrics.

The panel did not omit from discussion the danger of heavily relying upon data to justify ROI. As Eden-Harris put it; If I am a CMO and my CEO is telling me that ROI should be the driving factor of all my communications efforts, then I may not have a very effective CEO.”

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Home » Master Class Workshop: The Modern Agency

Master Class Workshop: The Modern Agency

Posted by Justin Celko · Tuesday September 01, 2009

MODERATOR:
Tim Hanlon, Executive VP, Managing Director, VivaKi Ventures/Denuo (Publicis)

PANELISTS:
David Hernandez, ECD/MD, Tribal DDB
Drew Ianni, Advisory Board Chairman, Programming, ad:tech expositions
Christopher Miller, Senior VP, Group Management Director, Digital, DraftFCB Chicago
David Friedman, President, Americas, Razorfish

First question from moderator Tim Hanlon, “Is the ‘modern agency’ an oxymoron?”

There was an awkward silence from the panelist for several seconds. What followed were a series of surprisingly candid takes on that question. The overall group consensus was that the advertising industry has historically had an allergy to change and that, even today with so many agencies developing or strengthening their digital offerings, agencies are still attempting to break from the traditional communication models that have been the status quo for much of their existence.

Interestingly, with Razorfish, Tribal DDB and DraftFCB comprising ¾ of the panel, it seemed that no one was ready to define what that “modern agency” will be exactly. As Chris Miller noted, DraftFCB is seeking to redefine itself as a truly full-service agency, one where media, creative, digital and more are all represented under one roof, and where the term “digital” doesn’t simply apply to a practice area but more to a discipline applied across all efforts. Meanwhile, Razorfish and Tribal will continue to remain focused on providing niche services as uber-digital agencies. With the term “digital” being an ever-evolving and vast-in-scope definition of the services these two agencies offer, one can be sure that they will have remain relevant players in the industry.

Perhaps the most refreshing aspect of the workshop was the honest assessment from the panelists, and even the Publicis-employed moderator Hanlon, of the repercussions of the consolidation of communications agencies by the four major holding companies Omnicom, WPP, Publicis and IPG. To illustrate how influential holding companies have become, one of the panelists pointed to the fact that 80% of the world’s advertising is produced by these four conglomerates. All agreed that innovation is the key to remaining relevant, yet the economics of these holding companies hinder agencies from taking the risks associated with innovation. The holding companies have also contributed to the commoditization of the services agencies offer. As it becomes more difficult to distinguish what makes agencies unique, clients begin to look more at the bottom line (mainly, cost of services) as opposed to the intangibles (creativity, history, etc.) of each bidder.

The panel also addressed how the client perceives the role of the ad agency in modern terms. Cited specifically was social media and how the emergence of this medium provides an example indicative of the industry’s reluctance to adapt. Agencies stood waiting on the sidelines as social media became a go-to medium for engaging consumers, perhaps because, as the panel confessed, social media is in truth a medium of marketing and not advertising. Meanwhile, clients took it upon themselves to launch social media campaigns, leaving their marketing, advertising and PR agencies fighting for the leftover social-scraps. The lack of innovation in the agency world has lead to some clients regarding ad agencies not as strategic partners, but as the firm they turn to simply for the production of a 30-second spot.

Chris Miller noted that he was the amazed by the fact that at the first ad:tech years ago he and his colleagues were discussing the very same things as they are today. As much as things have changed over the years, it seems that still much is the same. However, as this panel made apparent, the industry-leaders of today seem even more committed to making the “modern agency” a reality and not merely an amusing oxymoron.

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Home » Hard Knocks in Social, Starring Rishad Tobaccowala

Hard Knocks in Social, Starring Rishad Tobaccowala

Posted by Angela Natividad · Tuesday September 01, 2009

I admit it: I was eavesdropping.

Me and a crew of other bloggers invaded the press room early today. We were setting up our things, chatting about nothing, when I overheard something really interesting.

I looked up just as the guy was finishing his surmise: “In the future,” he was saying, “I think people are going to wonder what the need was for keyboards. Or why we needed dial-up to access the internet. It will be free, and everywhere, like air.”

This struck me as simple but inspired. I put my glasses on, checked out his tag: Rishad Tobaccowala, CEO, Denuo. It hits me: Hey! This is the guy who’s doing the first keynote!

So I sit and futz with my thumbs for awhile, and finally I get up and walk over.

“Excuse me,” I say. “I’m a journalist. Just wanted to catch you before your talk. Do you think I’d be able to interview you this afternoon? It’d just be a couple of minutes.”

He looks politely iffy. “Actually I have to go back to my office after the talk,” he says. “Maybe we can do something by phone.”

“Sure,” I say.

“Great.” He passes me his card. “Set something up with my secretary.”

And I leave, feeling really really crappy.

It wasn’t an out-of-ordinary exchange. All right, I get it, dude’s busy. But there was something about the way he tossed that in—“set something up with my secretary”—that left me feeling sorry I asked in the first place.

Moments later he was gone, and I followed his footsteps toward the Grand Ballroom, where ad:tech’s Drew Ianni was introducing the first keynote: Advertising 3.0: Thriving in the Age of Chaos. After leaving us with a provocative, if unsettling, snapshot of today’s industry—that it’s TRENCH WARFARE!—he made way for the arrival of Mr. Tobaccowala himself, who perched close to the edge of the stage and tackled Ianni’s questions with studied modesty.

I livetweeted the talk, but here are some highlights (not written to scale):

On what’s top of mind

Tobaccowala: “Social is going to be the big tsunami to overcome marketing in the next decade. Bigger than Search” (another biggie). These two are followed by Mobility—of which the mobile phone is only one component.

He explains that in search, “The consumer gets more info, marketers get intent-based targeting and the industry gets a scalable mathematical model.” Speaking of scale, social is scaling so much faster than search—and marketing in this arena must involve people, ideas.

Ianni interrupts the grok for another Q: Where does the marketer fit in if, in social, you’re being sold both scale and niche? How do you find niche?

This makes for an excellent Tobaccowala Segue into mobile, and how it’s going to be great for retailers. (To note: Amazon’s already experimented with mobile search and e-commerce conversion. It ain’t perfect, but it’s the perfect way to nail the price-comparer and impulse-buyer.)

On managing in social

With regard to clients that ask, hands all clammy, for a “Facebook strategy,” Tobaccowala profoundly proclaims, “In the days of TV I never heard you ask for an NBC strategy.”

He emphasizes focusing on a great product and service experience. “You’ve got to recognize there is a reason—besides network effects—iPhone and Google are as dominant as they are. They just make great products,” he preaches.

“A brand gets built on ... desire, culture, performance and intrigue.” Three of those things—I’ll leave you to guess which three—have nothing to do with data.

Also, deal kindly with detractors, which are more likely to WOM it up than people that like you. (Sidenote: “The single most effective form of media has tended to be ... television. Only one thing is higher: word of mouth.”)

In short, don’t be a generic client seeking the “best of breed with minimum drama”—run your service company like a software release, with integrations and changes every year. Sometimes, you’ll find your service has ceased to be relevant. Gotta own that too.

On what he looks for in talent

“People that can laugh at themselves. You cannot be successful in this busines unless you fall down often.”

Also: a high degree of energy, because, without exception, you’re just gonna have to work. A lot.

Finally—and the hardest thing to find—integrity. Have that, and in social media, my friend, you have all. (This is my view, not something Tobaccowala said.)

Something that resonated with me: “Employee politics are going to be less and less important in a transparent world”—which is exactly what social media brings you.

On Twitter

“It’s actually better than search. But you have to know how to use it.”

On staying on top

Newspapers, serving on boards outside your arena, talking to clients, and letting yourself be educated by people that are better than you at what you want to learn.

—-

That about wrapped up the keynote for me. The one thing I struggled with over the course of the hour was that I agree with Tobaccowala’s positions; I’m even tempted to say he’s one of those unicorns we try to find when we pursue an industry icon to idolize: The Real Deal™, whatever that is.

So how do I relegate those feelings to the ones I was left with during that off-putting exchange in the press room? Guess it comes down to something else he said: in the end, people are analog. “Analog” means they operate primarily by feelings.

It’s hard to say this, but the “feel” you have for a person, that thing that ultimately spurs your conviction that this guy is or isn’t cool, is always going to be something we struggle with, even in a “transparent” environment where merits rise more readily to the top.

That’s not to say this is a bad instinct; it’s to say we should be aware of it. For all that high-tech gabbing, we’re still just fleshbags of feelings.

—-

Update: In a surprisingly cockles-warming turn of events, Rishad Tobaccowala emailed with an apology and a phone number. He also agreed to do an interview after all. This gave me a day-long glow.

Related topics: Chicago, Keynotes

Home » ad:tech Chicago Delivers Eye Candy…And Valuable Insight

ad:tech Chicago Delivers Eye Candy…And Valuable Insight

Posted by Steve Hall · Tuesday September 01, 2009

The Chicago ad:tech conference is always much smaller than the coastal behemoths New York and San Francisco but the “windy” city (which, by the way didn’t get it’s name from the wind , rather the “windy” politicians) has its charms. The river. Navy Pier. Lake Michigan. And a conference setting that’s manageable.

As always, the exhibit hall is where a lot of the action is. Where the conversation occurs. Where old acquaintances are rekindled. Where you can hear your share of elevator pitches. And where booth babes pimp products. Hey, it’s an ad conference. These things happen.

Check out the pictures here.

Related topics: Chicago, ad:tech CH 2009, CH 09 COnference Info

Home » Lebolt says, “It’s not the last chapter; it is merely Chapter 11”

Lebolt says, “It’s not the last chapter; it is merely Chapter 11”

Posted by Amanda Mooney · Tuesday September 01, 2009

“This is not the end of the newspaper business. It’s not the last chapter; it is merely Chapter 11.”

Fred Lebolt, President and Publisher of (and prepare for attribution to an incredibly long title) Sun Times Newspaper Group Suburban News Division and New Media Integration, kicked the Transformation of News Media session off with this rather epic sound bite. Fred was joined on the panel by Mark Marvel (MSNBC), Kinsey Wilson (NPR), Kay Madati (CNN) and moderator David Griesing (The Chicago Tribune).

Rather than cranking out a giant post attempting to summarize an incredible panel, I thought I’d share a few more sound bites that caught my attention and captured the key takeaways.

Local is incredibly valuable in the new model:

“Our ability to share deeply relevant local content and engagement is key…. One of the keys of local content is the database- not merely disseminating the local news but using the apps model and making that content very easy to target and easy for the audience to find.” –Lebolt

“Our view is that, in the future, no single or handful of news organizations will dominate the local scene…. It is an advantage that we don’t have a big established legacy in local communities…. We are attacking local as a startup would. Partnerships are important and you have to let those partners stand on their own.” –Marvel on the acquisition of EveryBlock

Selling against breaking news is tough but there is a huge opportunity for media companies to serve as creative consultants:

“Monetization of breaking news is tough because the advertiser has less control and involvement.” –Marvel

“The second Black in America 2 took two years to make. We worked hand in hand with the sales team to create a content experience that was meaningful to the audience and the advertiser.” -Madati

“When I was at USA Today, we had a unit dedicated to it [creative consulting]. We had a person who worked between the sales and editorial group and would work on RFPs to provide creative solutions. We had designers in house.” -Wilson

“This isn’t the displacement of the agency. It’s a consultative relationship.” -Lebolt

As Kay Madati stated, social media integration can’t just be “about publishing headlines” in new places:

“We look at social media integration in three parts: news gathering, publishing and content delivery and audience engagement.

In terms of news gathering, we’ll miss the boat if we’re not actively playing attention in the space…. we got killed for not being more aware and on top [during the Iran protests] and we’ve made a lot of changes since then.

You also have to be a player as a publisher in the space.  Talent and shows need to be inserted into the conversation. However, it’s not just about publishing headlines.

Audience engagement is a little harder but it’s so important…. How do you integrate immediate feedback into programming? Rich Sanchez is doing this on a daily basis with Twitter and Skype.” -Madati

Reinstating a pay model won’t work but there is absolutely a value that can be placed on specific kinds of content:

“It can’t be about metering the news; The idea that people will pay for individual bits of highly perishable content is a tough hill to climb.” –Wilson

In relation to the new NPR iPhone app, Wilson noted, “We did the math. We’ll make more money on sponsorship than on 99 cent downloads.”

“If we were in the business of making pens, no one would ask us to distribute them for free. However, it’s difficult after 15 years to call a mulligan at this point and say, ‘Let’s try this again.” Quality content is an expensive proposition, but it has value…. This will happen in varied vectors. Media companies will establish highly specialized content and charge for that; vertical niches that are specialized to target key audiences will be worth paying for and finally, convenience factors will be built in that make content easily accessible. People will pay for finely tuned information and audience focus or convenience. The question is, do you, as the advertiser, value a much smaller, but finely tuned audience willing to pay for content, or a significantly larger, although less targeted audience?” –Madati

“The future is not about finding a false way to keep people out…. MSN has more daily viewers than the top 20 newspapers combined. We can’t start gating the way in and place a funnel there.” -Marvel

Trust, personalization and storytelling are key differentiators:

“Google is the one company that has made us rethink our own business. Google makes news a commodity. It’s ubiquitous. As a user, you get the top five links and you don’t necessarily care who’s providing it. We’re trying to provide enough value so you’ll click on our link, trust our link.” -Madati

“As one of my colleague says, NPR is the only news organization that people put in their personal ads.” -Wilson

“Our differentiator going forward can’t just be about the collection of information. We must present a combination of news, whimsy and storytelling” – Wilson

Image borrowed from milllkmaid on Flickr.

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Home » MobileMix: Mobile is Here—Integrating Mobile Marketing and Advertising in Today’s Econom

MobileMix: Mobile is Here—Integrating Mobile Marketing and Advertising in Today’s Econom

Posted by Justin Celko · Tuesday September 01, 2009

MODERATOR:
Zaw Thet, CEO and Co-Founder, 4INFO

PANELISTS:
Kim Luegers, Associated Media Director, DraftFCB Chicago
Michael Chang, CEO and Founder, Greystripe
Patrick Moorhead, Director of Emerging Media, Razorfish

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: “Mobile is here.”

No, seriously. It is.

Mobile marketing may have plenty of detractors but many in the crowd attending this panel left as true believers. What made this session stand out were two things: The panelists took a break from the traditional, talking-heads format and the abstract observations associated with it and instead decided to show the crowd some real-world case studies of what their agencies have been doing to leverage the current generation of cell phone technology in marketing and advertising. The other aspect that made this session unique to others was that their was no snake oil to be peddled, they discussed the benefits of engaging consumers through mobile communications yet at the same time were quick to point out the many shortcomings of this medium. In short, they kept it real.

One of the greatest draws to mobile marketing/advertising is that it allows for exceptional metrics. As such, the two case studies presented were corroborated with some solid numbers. It would’ve been easy for this group to show off their latest and greatest iPhone application. Instead, the crowd was treated to something of substance. Here’s the gist of the two examples:

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Home » ad:tech Tokyo networking events!

ad:tech Tokyo networking events!

Posted by Ayako Bingham · Tuesday September 01, 2009

These are the 2 confirmed networking events during ad:tech Tokyo. They are

1. Networking event hosted by Microsoft

Date: 2 September 2009 (Wed)
Time: 6:00 - 8:00pm
Location: Prince Park Tower, Tokyo, Japan

2.広告系総会 meets ad:tech Tokyo

Date: 2 September 2009 (Wed)
Time: 9:00 - 11:00pm (Door open at 8:30)
Location: Venue：VERANDA（西麻布）
Fee : ¥2,000.（3 drinks included）

The 2nd location is about 10 min cab ride, so make sure to network and go together as a group. See you there!

 

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Home » Get Your Party Pants On; ad:tech Chicago’s Just Hours Away

Get Your Party Pants On; ad:tech Chicago’s Just Hours Away

Posted by Angela Natividad · Monday August 31, 2009

For those of you that value conferences for the “networking,” ad:tech Chicago’s opening night party kicks off at 8PM on Tuesday.

It happens at Enclave, which you probably remember from last year. From 8-10 there’ll be open bar and hors d’oeuvres—usually tasty but scarce; I stand by the kitchen entry for just this reason. From 10-11, it’s a cash bar, which is your cue to exit stage left and go find a good jazz club anyway. That’s what Chicago’s really about,* and boy will that SEO guru think you’re cultured!

Good news: sporting your ad:tech badge grants you free entry. Register before September 1 for a free expo hall pass. And if you want to know where Enclave is, it’s at 220 W. Chicago Ave—right between N. Franklin and N. Wells.

See you by the kitchen.

 

—-

*I also have it on good authority it’s the country’s capitol for improv.

Related topics: Chicago, Parties

Home » Things You Need to Know if You’re Going to ad:tech Tokyo

Things You Need to Know if You’re Going to ad:tech Tokyo

Posted by Ayako Bingham · Thursday August 27, 2009

A few personal tips for people who are attending ad:tech Tokyo from the States:
Transportation

From Narita Airport to the ad:tech venue (The Prince Park Tower Tokyo), you have two transportation options:

1. Bus: There is a direct bus line from the airport to the hotel and the cost is 3,000 yen and it’s approximately a 70 minute ride.
2. Train: I personally recommend taking a bus instead since carrying luggage and transferring trains after long flight is quite a hassle. Train ride also costs about 3,000 yen and it takes 1 hour and 30-40 minutes to get to the hotel.
3. Taxi:  Taxi is the priciest option, but if you do select this, there are two things to note. (1) You do not have to tip a taxi driver in Japan and (2) you do not have to open/close the door because it is automatic.

Business Etiquette

I am going to point out a few business etiquettes because I do my best to follow “when in Rome, do as the Romans do.” As you can see from Geert Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions analysis, Japan is very different from the States, valuing high masculinity and low individualism. While you will have plenty of opportunities to mingle with Japanese people during the conference, you can pay close attention to the following etiquette to show your cultural respect:

1. Greetings: The traditional form of greeting is the bow, not a hug or a handshake. Japanese people are not “touchy”. 

2. Business Cards: Use both hands when you give or receive a business card. Make sure that the printing is facing the recipient, so they can read what is on the business card without flipping it. A business card represents the individual, so never write on the card. Upon receiving business cards, you are expected to examine and read it to show respect/interest.

3. Punctuality: Being on time is extremely important in Japan. Tokyo moves in fast pace and you will even notice that all trains arrive right on time.

Random Tips

1. Tipping: Even though you will receive excellent customer service no matter where you go and you are probably used to tipping for service, you are not expected to tip in Japan for any services (unless you go to bars ran by foreign bartenders).  I used to feel guilty since I’m used to tipping but it’s really not necessary.

2. Cash or Credit Card: When I travel to Japan, I mainly use credit card. However, your bank will charge you transaction fees, so if you’d rather not pay for that, you can bring some cash. Also, please make sure to contact your credit card company and let them know about your upcoming trip. When I visited Japan a few months ago, I forgot to call my credit card company. Since my card was suddenly receiving transactions from Japan, my credit company automatically blocked my card and I had to make multiple international phone calls to get that block lifted.

Japan is an awesome country to visit and I hope you have a great ad:tech experience!  Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions!

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Home » Yes, There Will be Parties During ad:tech Chicago

Yes, There Will be Parties During ad:tech Chicago

Posted by Steve Hall · Saturday August 22, 2009

ad:tech in Chicago is quieter than New York or San Francisco when it comes to parties. Though the Chicago conference has, indeed, been host some some great events such as the MySpace cruise and a host of other evening events, the smaller market and shorter show length nets smaller and fewer parties.

This year, as was the case last year, the Chicago Interactive Marketing Association along with Tatto Media, TargetBase and Net-Results will host a party at Enclave from 8 - 11P. There’s open bar from 8 - 10 P so don’t be late. Enclave is located at 220 West Chicago Avenue between North Franklin and North Wells.

We’ll let you know about other parties as the roll in.

Related topics: Chicago, ad:tech CH 2009, CH 09 Parties

Home » WPP Chief Martin Sorrell to Keynote ad:tech New York

WPP Chief Martin Sorrell to Keynote ad:tech New York

Posted by Steve Hall · Saturday August 22, 2009

OK so we are focused on Chicago ad:tech which occurs at Navy Pier September 1-2 but we thought you’d be interested to know the one and only Sir Martin Sorrell will make an appearance as keynote speaker at ad:tech New York November 4-6. Sorrell is CEO of agency holding company WPP and has had his fair share of success as well as criticism for his handling of the business over the past few years. No doubt, the keynote will be an interesting one.

Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales will also keynote. Other speakers include IAB President and CEO Randall Rothenberg, Nielsen Online International President Jonathan Carson and SearchEngineLand Editor in Chief Danny Sullivan.

Related topics: New York, ad:tech NY 2009, NY 09 Conference Info

Home » Early Bird Discount Ends Friday

Early Bird Discount Ends Friday

Posted by Steve Hall · Thursday August 06, 2009

If You’re planning on attending ad:tech Chicago, make sure you take advantage of the early bird discount which ends Friday. That’s tomorrow, people! Use the promotional code EMCH93 and get an additional $200 off the conference rate.

At the conference, you’ll see speakers such as Mark Gambill, CDW VP and Chief Marketing Officer; Janet Eden-Harris, J.D. Powers & Associates VP of Web Intelligence and Joel Rubinson, The Advertising Research Foundation Chief Research Officer.

So get with it people. Register now.

Related topics: Chicago, ad:tech CH 2009, CH 09 COnference Info

Home » Direct Mail to Decline, Newspaper Ads to Bounce Back

Direct Mail to Decline, Newspaper Ads to Bounce Back

Posted by Steve Hall · Thursday July 30, 2009

In a recent ad:tech newsletter, MarketingSherpa collected some predictions and pointed ouot what we can expect over the next few years. Chief among the findings is a 38% decline in direct mail over the next five years. Television is still seen as a viable medium but local news coverage will shrink. Newspaper has hit bottom and is predicted to see a 6% increase over the next five years. Online will see slowing growth and, no surprise, yellow pages advertising will all but disappear.

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Home » Summer’s Fun But So Is Chicago in September

Summer’s Fun But So Is Chicago in September

Posted by Steve Hall · Sunday July 26, 2009

Alright everyone, it’s been a nice long time since we last talked and saw all of you in San Francisco for the last ad:tech conference. Now it’s time to get ready for the next conference which occurs September 1-3 in Chicago at Navy Pier. So here’s the run down. There’s a lot going on.

Keynote speakers included Starcom MediaVest Group President and Chief Digital Officer Sean Finnegan, Google managing Director of US Sales Jim Lecinski and MLB Advanced Media President & CEO Bob Bowman. Other speakers include Target Group manager of Media Strategy Jerry Courtney, Nielsen Online Senior VP of Research and Analytics Charlie Buchwalter, Kraft VP of Consumer experience Lisa Mann, OfficeMax Senior VP of Marketing and Advertising Bob Thacker, Gigita Chicago President Tony Weisman and so many more. You can view the entire list here.

Yes, Twitter will be discussed. What’s a conference these days without it. But other topics such as SEO, audience mapping, widgets, branding, location-based targeting, social CRM, mobile, video and much more.

MobileMix, a new series launched at ad:tech San Francisco returns with advice on how to integrate mobile into campaigns, how to engage social users on mobile devices and how to track campaign success.

And if you simply can’t wait until September to get your ad:tech on, check out ad:tech Virtual, a series of webinars. Two are scheduled so far. One is called Cashing In on the Top 10 Hottest Areas of Digital Marketing. The other’s called Building Great Brands in the Digital Age: Guidelines for Developing Winning Strategies. There’s more information about each of these on the ad:tech homepage.

And, yes, there will be parties. We;ll be sure to let you know when and where they occur as soon as the information in available. So get ready. It’s the perfect event to get yourself in gear for the Fall. Because, after all, Summer only lasts so long.

Related topics: Chicago, ad:tech CH 2009, CH 09 COnference Info

Home » San Francisco ad:tech Offers Up Optimism in the Face of Pessimism

San Francisco ad:tech Offers Up Optimism in the Face of Pessimism

Posted by Steve Hall · Tuesday May 05, 2009

With 12,000 attendees, 300 exhibitors, 125 press, 250 speakers, 63 sessions, Jimmy Wales, Kevin Rose, Steve Hayden, Jason Kilar, a separate contextual ad conference AdSpace, an SMX track and no less that 20 parties, ad:tech San Francisco, like ad:tech New York, kicked the recession squarely in the ass.

If you somehow missed the conference, be sure read the posts here on the ad:tech blog and watch David Spark’s spectacularly informative videos which capture the essence of the show. And don’t forget the party pictures too.

The next domestic conference will take place September 1-2 in Chicago. Be sure to follow @adtech on Twitter so you don’t miss a thing.

Related topics: San Francisco, ad:tech SF 2009, SF 09 Congerence Info

Home » Multi-Click Attribution: Tracking the Way Conversions Actually Happen

Multi-Click Attribution: Tracking the Way Conversions Actually Happen

Posted by Daniel Riveong · Tuesday April 28, 2009

Interactive marketing has long sold itself on the promise of accountability and ROI measurement. Yet, at the same time there continues to be challenges in solving John Wanamaker’s problem: “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.”

Indeed, the common analytics tracking for online marketing campaigns are simplistic at best. It cannot measure how display ads (seen as branding) can impact search (used mostly for sales). Nor can most analytics tracking attribute the multiple searches and visits a person did that ultimately led to a purchase (See image above).

Enter Havas Digital and Yahoo. Their panel, Search + Display—Moving Beyond the Brand vs. Direct Response Model, not only showcased Havas Digital’s solution to this question but show great case studies of the insight and optimizations gained from a better and more true multi-channel analytics. (Note: all of the images in this post was taken by the Havas Digita/Yahoo PowerPoint presented at ad:tech)

MODERATOR:
Rich LeFurgy, General Partner, Archer Advisors

PANELISTS:
Dan Boberg, VP, Advertiser & Agency Professional Services, Yahoo!
Ed Montes, Executive VP, Managing Director US, Havas Digital US

The Promise for Advance Attribution in Analytics
The benefit of building a system that can do sophisticated attribution tracking lies in being able to track what are known marketing truths but have been difficult to readily measure:

1. Display (Brand) Supports Search (Sales)
There has been countless studies revealing that running display banners, which may or may not have been clicked on, increasing searches for the brand and eventually in to sales. As far as data go, the panelists quote two of the most often cited statistics on the matter:

1. Display + Search Provides Improved Branding
   “Exposure to a display advertisement increased related trademark term searches (brand, company or product names) by an average of 26 percent” - Yahoo/ComScore study of Fortune 100 advertisers, “Close the Loop: Understanding Search and Display Synergy”
2. Display + Search Provides Higher ROI
   “Users exposed to both search and display ads convert at a higher rate: 22% better than search alone, and 400% better than display only.” – The Atlas Institute, “The combined impact of Search and Display advertising – Why advertisers should measure across channels”

Having an attribution system that can readily attribute how much a display campaign drove search ROI would shift our perception for display as “just” a branding tool.

2. Tracking Beyond the Final Click
By default, most analytics systems attribute sale to the last link the customer clicks on. It completely ignores the fact that people may conduct multiple searches and clicks to a ecommerce website before than actually make a purchase.

All marketers know that the “last click” is not correct. If a search marketer blindly believed in the “last click” and on strict ROI measurement, we would all just bid on our branded terms and go home.

Case Studies
Working with Yahoo, Havas Digital did build such an attribution system that would help track the two issues above. Havas Digital and Yahoo presented several case studies on the system, called Armetis. Here are slides from a few of their case studies.

Case Study #1: When display drives sales-based ROI…for other campaigns

The above is a case study from an automobile manufacturer. While sponsored search drove the most “last click” conversion, the entire marketing picture shows that display advertising assisted in the conversion of 163 visitors. So scaling back down display advertising dollars may, in fact, cause lower sales for other marketing channels like search.

Case Study #2: Why some highly converting keywords cannot stand alone

From the above report, Campaign 2 seems to be both costly at a cost per conversion of $422 and one lowest leads performer. However by looking at search assist, we see it has been drive in assisting in leads for other campaigns. Without such data, a search marketer may have been too eager to kill campaign #2, yet end up driving lower leads for other search campaigns.

Closing Thoghts
While Havas Digital’s Artemis attribution system looks very impressive, there is no such thing as a perfect tracking solution. As the panelists pointed out, there are still large limitations based on the fact that users delete cookies and that cookies need to last (and survive) more than 90 days in order for tracking systems to properly attribute the multiple exposures and clicks that lead to a conversion. Then of course, comes the more complicated questions of how to weigh how far back can a banner show to user “claim” to have assisted in driving a sales one, two or five months later. The joke the panelists mentioned that one flaw is an agency could blanket the entire web with display banners and then claim “attribution” for any sale that happens there after.

In end, however, we do need tools like these to really optimize campaign and paint an ever more accurate picture of what really drives engagement and sales. Yet even the tool described here by both Havas and Yahoo were noted by both companies as still rough and far from complete. Indeed, the quest for ever better analysis is an interesting problem to me; I plan to write a follow-up to this soon on my own blog at Emergence-Media.com.

Related topics: San Francisco, ad:tech SF 2009, SF 09 Sessions

Home » Interview with Julian Brass, CEO of Notable.TV

Interview with Julian Brass, CEO of Notable.TV

Posted by Krista Neher · Monday April 27, 2009

Julian Brass of Notable.TV hosted a killer party at the ad:tech conference and I had the pleasure of interviewing him to learn more about Notable. Notable is a resource for everything Notable - it isn’t just a listing of all of the events in a city - it highlights the most “notable” things happening.  Be sure to check it out.

Don’t take my word for it - check out the Video where Julian describes Notable as well as some exciting news - a deal with the Olympics!!!

Ad:tech Interview with Julian Brass, CEO Notable.TV from Krista Neher on Vimeo.

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Home » Making Mobile Marketing Work

Making Mobile Marketing Work

Posted by Krista Neher · Monday April 27, 2009

Mobile is quickly becoming a must-have component of marketing campaigns.  The panel on Capturing Direct Response in Mobile Media: Entertainment and Publishing shared strong insights into mobile marketing and provided examples highlighting how to create a successful campaign.

Moderator:
Mark Donovan Senior VP of Mobile, Comscore

Panel:

Chip Canter VP Wireless Platform Development, NBC Universal Digital Distribution
Cheryl Lucanegro, Senior VP Advertising and Sales, Pandora
Niles Lichtenstein Director, Mobile Strategy and Integration, Ansible Mobile

What Are the Issues Facing Mobile?

Sharing some stats, of the companies with mobile currently in their media mix, all plan to continue. Of the companies which have never done mobile, 60 percent plan to include it. There is a barrier to entry in mobile marketing, however once a brand tries it they want to do it again.

Inventory is no longer the issue in mobile the two key barriers are the immaturity of the infrastructure and training.

The immaturity of the infrastructure creates a number of issues for marketers. There needs to standardized metrics and creative success stories to share with the faint-hearted. In many ways, mobile is sold, trafficked and tracked the same way as online media. If marketers wants this to scale, a large investment is needed. When this happens, “We can go out and sell and measure and traffic like we do the web”, said one of the panelists.

Training is another key issue facing mobile.  Marketers don’t yet understand how to develop the right creative for the mobile space and once the creative is developed, they are not always sending the traffic to a relevant landing page.  Agencies and marketers need more training to better understand how to optimize their ad campaigns for mobile - both in driving clicks and in driving action post-click.  The challenge is to “Make sure that you know what is happening on the back-end – what happens after the click and how are you measuring it?” said Niles Lichtenstein Director, Mobile Strategy and Integration, Ansible Mobile.

Mobile Success Stories

Cheryl Lucanegro, Senior VP Advertising and Sales, Pandora said that response rates are 3 – 4 times higher on the mobile phone than they are on the web.  Similar statistics have been reported by a number of advertisers.  Cynical marketers may attribute this to the newness of the medium (online response rates have steadily declined over time as consumers became able to identify and mentally block out ads) as mobile users click on ads simply to see what will happen.

While some of the success may be attributed to the newness of the medium, mobile success can be attributed to far better targetting.  Mark Donovan Senior VP of Mobile at Comscore reported that he was listening to Pandora upon arriving in San Francisco and heard an offer for a Dockers sale in San Francisco (he lives in Seattle). The contextual nature of the ad provided by the GPS in the mobile device has the potential to make advertising extremely powerful.

Mobile adds geotargeting, time of day, device profiles, etc to make the advertising more meaningful.  Layering on these contextual features gives marketers the opportunity to send the right ad to the right person at the right time.

How do you use mobile to build audience and experience?

They key to a successful mobile strategy is to build products specifically for mobile audiences upfront, not as an afterthought.  Build your main site for mobile users - don’t require them to go to a different .mobi site to access your content.  Browsers can identify the device that the internet is being accessed from and automatically redirect to an optimized page for that device - use a single URL strategy.  Create a great browsing experience for mobile web users.

As video sharing is shifting online, video producers can actually film videos to enhance the experience when viewing from a mobile device.  The music video“All the single ladies” by Beyonce was specifically filmed for mobile.  The key is “rethinking not re-purposing the content for mobile”said Niles Lichtenstein.

Ask yourself “What is going to be the best experience?”  Don’t create the content and then try to weave the advertiser in afterwards.  Build the advertisers in upfront to create the best possible user experience.

Mobile is Additive
Some factiods shared by the panel include:

  *Lite internet users are more likely to be heavy mobile users
  *Marketers have seen a 6% lift in audience from mobile by reaching users who were not online
  *Pandora says that over 30% of new users are coming through mobile and that 5% - 7% only use the site on their phone – they NEVER visit the website.
  *On your phone you are often on your “personal” time and not at a PC/employer time
  *People will watch live TV in their house from their phone
  *NBC has done studies (they use hulu and put full episodes on mobile) that supports that live viewership is up and the mobile viewers tend to be additive.

The Key to a Successful Mobile Campaign is Content
Like most media, content is king.  “When you put something out there that is fun and engaging, people will consume it” said the panel. Since mobile is permission based marketing (you need permission to send text messages, users choose to download your app or consume your media) creating content and programs that users want is the key to success.

Examples of Successful Integrated Mobile Campaigns
In the entertainment industry there are “Superfans.” They love everything and will consume it on as many platforms as possible. NBC did a test where they put a pineapple randomly in a show and viewers could text in every time they saw a pineapple in the show. The response was completely overwhelming (no numbers were shared). Viewers are eager to engage in content that is fun and interesting.

Project runway ran a campaign and over 90% of the people who received the first message participated in other components of the campaign.  The key is to know your audience and provide them with content they love. If the content is compelling enough, the audience will stick with that campaign and you can continue to build a relationship.

Before you Jump In…

Prior to engaging in mobile marketers should ask themselves “What is our goal and can we meet it or beat it through mobile?” Sometimes you have to walk away if the medium isn’t right for your marketing objectives.

“A brand should develop an app if they plan to use it in an interesting way; and also if you’re going to feed that app (ie. continue to develop it)”, said the panel. Pandora is an app that you will use every day or almost every day – how do you create an app that people will use regularly?  An app needs to be something that adds value and that people want to bring with them.

The key question is “Who are you trying to reach and what phone are they likely to be on? Will an iphone app help you reach your target audience? A mobile site? SMS?  Choose the right medium for your audience to maximize reach and your marketing objectives.

Related topics: San Francisco, ad:tech SF 2009, SF 09 Sessions

Home » Has “The Year of Mobile” Finally Arrived?

Has “The Year of Mobile” Finally Arrived?

Posted by Krista Neher · Monday April 27, 2009

This panel seemed to think so. The Future of Mobile: Adding Mobile to the Mix shared some great insights on how brands can effectively integrate mobile into marketing efforts.

Moderator:

Mickey Alam Khan Editor-in-Chief, Mobile Marketer Magazine

Panelists:

Sophia Stuart Executive Director, Mobile Hearst Magazines Digital Media
Tony Nethercutt VP of Sales, AdMob
Marcus Startzel – Senior VP of Sales,, Millennial Media
Mike Becker Executive VP of Business Development, iLoop
Matthew Valleskey Head of Marketing Communications for Mobile Services, NeuStar
David Katz, VP, Mobile Advertising and Publishing, Yahoo! Inc.

Quality vs. Quanitity

Marketers are used to mass marketing where reach is king. The focus of traditional advertising was heavy on the top of the funnel - “How many people am I reaching?”. Both the internet and mobile allow marketers to target in more meaningful ways and focus on reaching highly relevant audiences with the right message at the right time. This can result in better overall ROI by attaining higher conversion rates from a smaller audience vs. traditional mass marketing.

“There is a common misconception that more is better” said Mike Becker, Executive VP of Business Development at iLoop. He pointed to a campaign run by Hipcricket, who ran a case study for daisy maids. They sponsored a contest where consumers were entered to win a prize – 700 people opted in to the contest and of those they converted 540 to customers. It isn’t quantity it is quality. Getting a better response rate from a smaller audience can be far more valuable.

How Can Mobile be Measured?

Like many emerging mediums, mobile suffers from a myriad of questions about measures. “The hard core ROI trackers were the first to get into mobile in a serious way. And they did great – they brought the same experience they brought on the PC” said David Katz, VP Mobile Advertising and Publishing at Yahoo! Inc. They measured results, they rotated creative and have set the stage for strong metrics in the mobile space.

There is a misconception that mobile isn’t measurable. It is. Avoid missteps by working with an agency that can set up metrics and reporting.

Integration is Key

Mobile is a great stand-alone platform, but integrating it with other marketing tools is key. We learned from online that ROI is often improved when digital efforts are integrated with traditional media – the same is true for mobile.

Tony Nethercutt VP of Sales at AdMob shared an example of a campaign by Adidas. The goal was to get people to opt-in to an SMS campaign. The promoted the opt-in short-codes in-store, on billboards and in TV. However, they got 20% of the opt-ins by using mobile to encourage opt-ins despite mobile representing an extremely small percentage of their budget.

Mike Becker reminded the audience of the power of mobile opt-ins in this type of campaign “because they opted in they can now interact through direct response later.” Essentially, you are building out your mobile email list.

Integration Gone Wrong

Take the Super Bowl – people are sitting at home with their phones nearby but marketers didn’t take advantage of creating integrated campaigns to take advantage of this. Flashing a short code for 5 seconds at the end of a commercial doesn’t give someone enough time to act. Mobile must be strategically integrated to achieve results.

Additional Resources

The panel provided some additional resources to continue to enhance your mobile learning:

Mobile Marketing Association
Mobile Marketer
Nielsen
Comscore

Related topics: San Francisco, ad:tech SF 2009, SF 09 Sessions

Home » Levi’s Blueprint for Storytelling

Levi’s Blueprint for Storytelling

Posted by Angela Natividad · Monday April 27, 2009

“When presented with bold new ideas, people reference what they know more than what they can conceive.”

Senior Director Michael Perman of Levi’s passed us oranges, recounted memories of his dad and deluged us with blue-jean trivia in an ad:tech sesh entitled “The Power of Storytelling.”

See snippets of tweet coverage. It’s apt that Levi’s give us the skinny on storytelling’s underrated appeal, given that its capacity to spin tales has beguiled us for years. Anyway, here’s some videographic deja vu.

Denim—The Unlikely Mineral. On the origin of jeans, and how you can still find some balled-up in mines:

Stories as Tactical Strategy. How best to approach a story-driven campaign:

 

Storytelling Successes in Digital. Examples of online campaigns that successfully managed to incorporate narrative—and engage users:

 

Related topics: San Francisco, ad:tech SF 2009, SF 09 Keynotes

Home » Steve Hayden Replaces Industry Fear with a Wee Bit O’ Wonder

Steve Hayden Replaces Industry Fear with a Wee Bit O’ Wonder

Posted by Angela Natividad · Monday April 27, 2009

Ogilvy Vice Chairman Steve Hayden conducted a keynote titled “Fear, Love and Advertising” at ad:tech SF last week. I livetweeted it; you can see some of the tweetage here.

Hayden kicked off by explaining the premise behind his talk: in this dire economic clime, when everybody’s castrating their own creativity, he hopes to encourage the industry to shelf their fears in favour of a little (well-informed) wonder.

He woke the muse by blasting us with iconic ads, like the Apple Newton stuff and “True Colors” from Dove’s Real Women campaign.

Then he gave us a long, colourful explanation of a hexagon he calls Hayden’s Mandala—a complex (and yet simple!) cycle of everything a person/brand goes through when facing a major growth trajectory or change. Here’s a video snapshot of that:

 

Then Hayden did something I’ve never seen a keynoter do before: he passed the floor to people whose products he thinks will change the media environment. I was awestruck, and only more so when I saw what came next.

Following Steve Hayden’s report that 25% of users watch TV and surf the web at the same time, Intelevision lets users bridge those worlds.

The online interface is generic enough: you can showcase your favourite shows, and see what your friends’ favourites are. It’s the interaction that differentiates it: Intelevision makes it possible to click on your favourite show on the ‘net—an action that switches on your TV and actually plays it. Ad interaction is fantastic too: during their demo, the Intelevision folk aired a Capri Sun ad on TV while engaging users with Capri Sun games from the online interface. Users could also see alternate endings to the spot.

Here’s some video of the Intelevision demo, using Lost and The Kids Choice Awards as examples:

And here’s more neat footage of Lost, coupled with American Express ad integration/interaction:

 

Pretty saucy, right?

Richard Chandler of Bunkspeed came next. Bunkspeed is this mildly incredible 3D imaging software that makes it possible to develop product packaging and compose print, TV and digital/Flash creative with as much ease as playing a video game.

Witness while Chandler creates packaging for a Dove product, then incorporates it into client-approved ad imagery. It’s downright magical:

 

He also built some Flash animation for Stolichnaya right before our eyes, and brought Ogilvy’s classic (PENCIL-DRAWN) Rolls Royce ad into the 21st century, with as much ease.

If you’re as razzle-dazzled as I was, visit the Bunkspeed website (linked above) for a free demo.

Related topics: San Francisco, ad:tech SF 2009, SF 09 Keynotes

Home » Hashing Out Social Networking’s Impact on Photo Storage

Hashing Out Social Networking’s Impact on Photo Storage

Posted by Angela Natividad · Monday April 27, 2009

The stuff that comes out after an interview is sometimes just as good as what you get during. After our audiovisual taste of the future of HootSuite (and a power-fail story about ZipCar), founder Ryan Holmes of Invoke Media and publisher Krista Neher of The Marketess riffed on the photo storage merits of Facebook and flickr.

Compelling factoid: while it may be true that flickr hosts over three million photos, the unlikely Facebook totally pwns that figure. As of October 2008 Facebook became the largest online photo storage site—clocking over 10 billion pics and counting.

Obviously there are big differences between the sites. Krista argues that flickr’s too public for comfort, and people are more inclined to curate personal images in a space where they can control who sees what. (Apropos to that, I like how Ryan murmurs, ”...stalker” at :22.)

How has social networking changed online photo storage and personal life-whoring in general? What’s coming? We contemplate these questions and others while I clutch a digicam with one hand and macaroon-gorge with the other.

Related topics: San Francisco, ad:tech SF 2009, SF 09 Exhibit Hall

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