Saturday, October 11, 2008

Bubble 2.0 Video - Don't Stop Believin' Dot Commers

Bubble 2.0 needed a signature video. These fine dotcommers had a party in Cyprus with the feva of the second digibubble. The anthem of 2.0 is chosen. Or is it the deathmarch of 2.0:



Apparently, according to the Crunch, these younguns are getting a lot of shite for this video being released as the pink slips go out in several big players across the Valley. I'm afraid I don't see the problem with this. They had a party. They took a video. Good dorky fun in keeping with the ersatz cool of siliconers.

No one was killed. SO the kerfuffle seems a bit silly to me.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Googling Your Ex

Excellent piece on Divine Caroline. On Googling Yer Ex. Stop laughing. You know you've done it. ;-)

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

FanPop Asks 'What Are You a Fan Of?'



My earliest memory of being a kid in the Philadelphia Area is "Wee Willie Webber's Colorful Cartoon Club'. As I recall, it was a sort of club -- you could write in an get a membership card and all that, but they called it a club because people like to be part of something.

And not just kids. So, with all my Obama talk on this blog, you might think that I was always a Dem. But ACTUALLY, I did an internship at the RNC when I was a wee one, working in their direct mail department. And the RNC was king of clubs -- the Ronald Reagan Victory Club, the Golden Eagles Club, it was all designed to make people feel empowered and part of a group.

With all this web bruhaha, you might think clubs were dead. Nope. Not by a longshot. And FanPop is a remarkable site designed to be your starting point to find, join, and communicate with clubs on anything -- and I mean ANYTHING -- that you might be interested in.

Here's how they describe themselves:

Loads of people are using this site -- I went to check out the group about one of my favorite TV shows -- House, and there are almost 7,000 participants in that group alone. There are 6000 for the US The Office, and so on.

On this site you can read and make posts, upload and watch videos, post and check out links, view and share photos, and participate in many other ways by sharing and consuming content.

Here's how they describe themselves:

It's tough to keep up with the world wide web when it keeps getting bigger and bigger each day. Wouldn't it be great if someone organized the web into topics you care about? We thought so too, so we created FanPop. FanPop is the one-stop destination for real people with real passions to find real content and community. Remember when the web was small enough that you could look at a directory of the best sites on the web for a certain area of interest? We missed those days, but felt like the community should be the editors who contribute and decide what the best content on the web for a given topic should be. We like to think of FanPop as the next generation of fansites created for the fans by the fans. It's a one-stop destination for fans of anything and everything and the place to find fellow devoted fans. We wanted to make discovering and sharing content fun, easy and social.

You can tell that the people who created this site are very passionate. One proof of this is that there are but four people behind this massive collection of content.

According to their site, the stats are impressive:

2,000,000+ monthly uniques (and growing)
3,000,000+ monthly visits
22,000,000+ monthly pageviews
Users average 7 pvs/visit
Users average 7 min/visit
Gender ratio - 55% female : 45% male
Over 90% of the audience is 13-34 years old (75% are between the ages of 13-24)
95% are surfing with broadband connections
10% of the audience visits 51 or more times/month


Their audience is also global -- about half of their traffic comes from North America, and a third from Europe. The remainder comes from Asia and Australia.



With all of the different groups available here, the opportunity to do highly targeted contextual and demographic advertising is definitely there. The basic ad sizes area available, as well as promotions, interstitials, and video ads.

Check out FanPop. It's definitely worth a visit.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

The Importance of Buying Quality in Video

This piece ran in iMedia a couple weeks ago. I thought I'd post it here in case you missed it.

-----

There used to be two kinds of traditional agencies. One kind believed that placements in highly rated shows worked better on a dollar-for-dollar basis than ads placed in low-rated shows. The second group believed that "a GRP is a GRP" and, therefore, one should buy the cheapest GRPs in a daypart.

The corollary was that half the world paid premium CPMs for top 10 shows and the other half didn't. I confess to have always been a proponent of the second view. In my opinion, a person watching "Jake and the Fat Man" reruns can be just as passionate about his TV choice as a viewer of a hot show.

But online video is a different world entirely. In my view, there are four tiers of video content quality:

* Broadcast quality and content
* Professionally produced and screened content
* Pro-am and positive UGC
* Rants and negative UGC

Because the range of online video content is so large in terms of quality, subject matter and production values, brands need to take extra care that the environments and content they support meet their minimum standards of acceptability.

Nearly everyone agrees on that. But this view takes a purely negative perspective on the issue. It's essentially saying, "We don't want to be anywhere awful." Fine for as far as it goes, but should we view video content beyond of a binary prism of acceptable and unacceptable? Can great online content actually increase the impact of our advertising and, in and of itself, drive improved brand perceptions simply by dint of our being in it?

Sadly, there is precious little hard research on the subject. My online searches for studies uncovered exactly none.

In the absence of research, we all need to make decisions on where to run ads and how much to pay for one type of content over another. As a starting point on how to do this correctly, here are five reasons why paying a modest premium for high-quality video content may well be worth it as a means to deliver valuable brand benefits through your online ad program.

1. Content quality is something brands can still control. In a world where "the consumer is in charge," brands need all the edge they can get to create appealing images. Although I suspect the impact of content quality on brand perceptions is only moderate, moderate is far better than nothing.

2. The industry is getting better on contextual targeting in premium video content. Context can certainly deliver positive benefits in terms of pre-screening eyeballs and ensuring greater attention to relevant messages. It is now getting easier to buy by context, whether overtly or through site selection. That's on high-end content. But as for the cheap stuff? Nobody knows what's in most of it. Automatic brand protection screening systems can usually keep us out of prurient vids, but to my knowledge they can't contextually target yet.

3. Premium content is largely positive. I am a huge believer that the tonality of content affects brand impressions. When people feel good, they'll feel better about the brands they find in what made them feel good. And premium, professionally produced content is much more likely to be upbeat and positive than lower-tier content, which is loaded with questionable UGC and rants.

4. Premium content is often "destination" media, low quality content is often a "time killer." Although I have no empirical evidence with which to prove this theory, I am convinced that much low-quality content is low involvement -- something to view when there is nothing else to do. There are, of course, exceptions... highly viral content like the vids of Britney defender Chris Crocker certainly attract engaged eyeballs. But for the most part, I suspect that such engagement is unusual.

5. Viewers understand the need for ads on premium content, but may be less accepting on lower-quality content. Most research shows that consumers are willing to accept pre-roll and other forms of advertising when paired with high-quality video content. Something has to pay for these productions; consumers understand that. But for lower-tier vids, which are frequently short or have low production values, the value proposition may be less apparent to consumers. I imagine that, to viewers, YouTube running the skateboarding dog clip seems essentially free to all parties -- that no ad is necessary to show this content. Few would question pre-roll on a "Desperate Housewives" episode; many might on a video of a skateboarding dog.

On the issue of quality, UGC is a bit of a googly at the moment. Certainly there is great, contextually targeted UGC that could be quite brand enhancing. I'm thinking, for example, of some of the "how to get this look" videos on YouTube, or the UGC Burger King raps. Why wouldn't Cover Girl and the King want to be right there in places like that?

But advertisers remain less willing to support UGC -- not because of what it is, but rather because of what it might be. Certainly the automated porn detector technologies out there help make UGC environments safer, as will video and auto-recognition technologies. So that's good news for the future.

The other challenge, of course, is that there is a lot more lower-tier inventory out there than premium stuff. So brands need to be prudent about the sorts of premiums they are willing to pay to be associated with the best content.

A "W" Trailer Running on Whitehouse.Gov? Let's Get 'Er Done!



Another c'est magnifique post from consumer expert Steve Peace, our esteemed Hollywood reporter:

-----

Media efficiency is dead. Long live media efficiency. That’s what everyone says, in the blogs, on agency sites, in the trade pubs. Efficiency as a guiding principle for the development of a media plan is laughably unsophisticated, they say. It has been replaced by effectiveness, which is currently being defined by the word that everyone hates but still grudgingly uses, “Engagement.” To most communications planners the word is cringe inducing because of its vagueness, because of the lack of hard metrics associated with it. What does it mean? Does it mean more time spent on a website, interacting with a rich media unit, watching a show with a product placement? And, what do those things mean? Can we tie them to getting more butts in seats in the theatre? So, there are problems with the concept.

One thing media folks in the movie biz do seem to agree on is that media innovation is a good thing. New ways of presenting a message are generally considered more likely to capture the attention of a viewer than the same tired old ways we’ve always used. Engagement has become a shorthand way of referencing more innovative approaches to media placement. This line of thinking has led to the broad adoption of a communications platform that guides media choice. When applied to movie marketing, a communications platform becomes a way to take key themes in the movie and try to amplify them, as selling points, through the selection of media vehicles.

For example, let’s look at the movie Hairspray. It was generally considered a success based on box office performance, which was surprising to some given that it was a musical – a big question mark in terms of modern day box office appeal. The communications platform focused on the positives of a musical – of the innocent throwback joy exhibited in some of the great all time musicals, of the freedom that we all associate with expressing oneself through dance and song. Consequently, media environments were chosen based on their ability to communicate that simple truth, “singing and dancing is fun.” Final placements in the plan included bringing the cast of the movie to perform on popular primetime dance shows. Spots were placed on modern revue shows that represented content consistent with the theme. This ensured the message would be put in front of dance/song fans, but also that there would be editorial and content integration opportunities to give the consumer a closer look at the movie, beyond the trailer. This is what we all now know as engagement. Blech. Sorry to use the word.

The question still remains, though, of how much of a movie’s success in the box office depends on the use of a communications platform to amplify key selling points of the film vs. being smart about allocation, targeting, and flighting strategies. The pendulum of advertising theory seems to slowly, but continually, swing between the supremacy of right brain and left brain thinking. Is media more important in this age of fragmentation or is creative? That question now applies to media itself. Is creativity in media more important or is mathematical genius the secret ingredient. Like Obama, I’m a middle of the road, find the common ground, sort of pragmatist. I’d like to think that both aspects of media planning can coexist. That we can put together a plan that delivers the best coverage against the audience at the lowest cost and be able to highlight key selling points through innovation. Given the competitiveness of today’s film industry, maybe those are the entry stakes. Our challenge, as planners, is to put a value on the use of theme-based media planning, and this is where the tools of measurement have yet to catch up. It’s not yet cost effective to measure the value of each point of contact with a consumer through control/exposed studies. So, while we all believe in some of the principles that are now grouped under the widely loathed term of engagement, we still labor to find a way to more accurately measure its effects.

Digital PigSty

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

When Hockey Moms Attack...Sarah Palin



I love the Mom in the Santa sweater.

eBay Wins $1.2 Billion in Auctions! Good Feedback Too!

Well, eBay laid off a boatload of people this week. Ouch.

But they also did some other big stuff. Including spending $1.2 Billion to buy a couple of companies. Let's do a rundown.

1. $380MM for DBA.dk

DBA is the largest classified ads portal in Denmark.DBA describes itself in the following way:

dba.dk

dba.dk gik i luften i 1995 og er i dag Danmarks største handelsportal.
Med omkring en million brugere om måneden er sitet blandt de 10 største i Danmark.
P̴ dba.dk findes ca. 350.000 annoncer Рfordelt p̴ b̴de nye og brugte varer.
dba.dk består af 35 forskellige sektioner. De tre største er Biler (DBA Biler), Motorcykler (MC-Basen) samt Bolig & Have. Der bliver oprettet over 275.000 nye annoncer hver eneste måned, og det gennemsnitlige tidsforbrug på sitet pr. bruger er 1 time og 11 minutter om måneden. Som en supplerende handelsform lancerede dba.dk i 2008 auktioner.


Translation? I haven't a clue, but I am guessing that somewhere in there are "leading", "transparency", and "best in class". But all of that is neither here nor there. eBay purchased the site presumably to increase their global reach, presence, and dominance of peer to peer selling.





2. $820MM (and some stock options) for Bill Me Later



Bill Me Later is a service that lets web sites accept an IOU from customers by doing an instant credit check using a last name and four digits of your social. The beauty of BML is that it makes people far more likely to buy something if they are on the fence. I worked with an ecommerce site that saw almost a 30% sales increase when they implemented it. Now I doubt every site is seeing those kinds of numbers, but it is in use by a number of sites. More than a couple as you will see below in their site list:











I would imagine that eBay will save a lot of service fees and grow sales by broadscale implementation of this. And since they are moving toward more buy-it-now versus auctions, it makes sense.

The OTHER thing that BML would have is a ton of data on the transactions and business volume of hundreds of sites, though I would imagine they will take pains to assure existing customers that they won't be using that data to kill them off with eBay. But me, if I were a retailer, this acquisiton would give me some pause.

There are those in the blogoshpere that think it is bad form to lay people off in the same week as you make a billion in acquisitions. That doesn't bother me per se, and the price for BML doesn't shock me. The DBA price seems like a lot for a site aimed at a country with less than 6 million pop. But perhaps they have technology or something...

Anyway, they won their auctions. And take it from an eBay fanatic, that can be a sparkle of joy in itself!

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

Dang! It Was Supposed to Be Me Going Down That Aisle!

A sad day for me as my idol, MY IDOL, got hitched. Not to me. ;-( Seriously, I am thrilled that MY IDOL found love. Sniff.

White Paper Wednesdays: The Future of Web Design

This powerpoint from the FOWD conference in London will provide you with insight into the creative process and emerging design principles that are driving change on the web. By Mathijs Kleverlaan.

The Nine Things That Made Me Think Twice this Week

iMedia has given me the opportunity to blog on their site and I am more than a little grateful for that. The blog is here. I'm going to do a repost of my Wednesday entries here.

9. Google Growth So Slow It May Begin Advertising

From Henry Blodget at Silicon Alley Insider: Google “has recently held discussions with several Madison Avenue agencies, including Wieden + Kennedy and the boutique firm Taxi New York, about new efforts to promote some products, according to people familiar with the matter.In August, Google launched an advertising effort in Japan that included outdoor and online ads created by Wieden + Kennedy, which is best known for its Nike "Just do it" campaign...” MORE

Yes, the word is that the company that has built one of the largest brands on earth without advertising itself may be pondering a significant ad effort. I wonder…is it slowing growth or the declining luster of the brand that promised to “do no evil.”

8. Lots of Bloggers Are ACTUALLY Making Money

Michael Estrin reports “Half of all bloggers run ads, and of that group, 70 percent use self-service contextual ad platforms such as Google's AdSense, according to Technorati's "State of the Blogosphere" report. The report, which Technorati has compiled since 2004, also found that 23 percent of bloggers use three or more ad platform MORE

We’ve all seen blog ads for years, but frankly I always thought that people were tilting at windmills with all those ads. But the recent Technorati report shows that both lots of bloggers are making SOME money, and a lot more people than you think are making a living at it. Democratizing content has led to democratized profit!

7. Microsoft’s Ads Go Viral, And Prove That Any Publicity Is Good Publicity

Mario Sgambelluri reports, “Microsoft’s bizarre Gates/Seinfeld ads racked up 3.2 million online views during the 10 days following their launch, while the latest Mac “I’m a PC” ads netted less than half that, reports online video measurement company Visible Measures.” MORE

I hated this new MSFT campaign and blogged about it in a rather negative way. But maybe the joke's on me. When you’re trying to restage a brand in a world where talk is more important than GRPs, maybe producing an ad campaign explicitly designed to drive digital discussion is the best way to dig a brand image out of a hole. One thing for sure, a LOT of people are talking about Redmond!

6. Online Video Penetration Doubled in 12 Months

Michael Estrin reported that There are twice as many Americans watching video on their computers than there were this time last year, according to a recent study from ABI Research, which surveyed nearly 1,000 users. In 2007, ABI found that 32 percent of users were watching video online, but that figure has spiked to 63 percent of those surveyed in 2008. MORE

I would imagine that no one is surprised at massive growth in video. But penetration doubling in a year? Fantastic! I guess I should have known something was up when my Mom sent me a link to an embedded video a couple of weeks ago. If you’re a brand that uses TV and isn’t using online video, what ON EARTH are you waiting for?

5. Doritos Stakes $1 Million On the Power of Consumers to Out Do DDB

Michael Estrin writes “The marketing team at Anheuser-Busch may not know it, but there's a $1 million bounty on their heads courtesy of PepsiCo's Doritos brand. Doritos, which has garnered a fair amount of attention with its user generated Super Bowl ads, is taking the format to a new level this year, promising $1 million dollars to the winner if the ad ranks No. 1 on the USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter. Anheuser-Busch has placed No. 1 for the past 10 years running. MORE

Bud has been on top of the Super Bowl ad stakes for years upon years. And Doritos is sick of it. So their new contest asks Doritos eaters to come up with an ad that can beat some of the greatest creative minds in the biz. Do I hear a tremble in Mad Ave’s voice? I’m betting the public can do it!

4. The Politics, They Have a Changed

I got reminded of this video, which shows us all how much the digital revolution has changed the world, including politics. Now, if you're in your early 20s this may seem like politics as usual to you. But lemme tell you, we’re a long way from the campaigns of yesteryear!



3. Time to Tighten The Belts?

Steve McClellan of AdWeek reports: “But privately, some industry executives now believe this year's ad spend might actually end up in negative territory, and might not improve at all in 2009. They point to figures just released by Nielsen Monitor-Plus that show a first-half U.S. ad spend decline of 1.4 percent, compared with the same period in 2007, to $67.6 billion, with significant drops in spending in major ad categories including automotive (down 8 percent to $5.3 billion), pharmaceutical (down 5 percent to $2.6 billion) and movie studios (down 5 percent to $1.7 billion).” MORE

No surprise that the recession will be affecting the biz, but two years of declines is a pretty sobering prediction. Those on the digital side should find it less painful, but it appears that times are going to get kind of tough.

2. Twitter Continues To Grow By Leaps And Bounds

Michael Estrin reports: “Apparently micro-blogging your way through American politics has an enormous appeal. Twitter reported a 23 percent jump in signups from the previous week, and the company cited last week's presidential debates as the primary source for the increase.” MORE

I never really liked Twitter, well, that’s not true. I hated it. I keep thinking the whole thing will collapse like a house of cards when people wake up to the maddening annoyance of 140 characters. But apparently I am the one who doesn’t get it. More than 20% growth in a week? On an already large base? Good Lord. Resolved, I will hold my nose and try it again.

1. Widgets Most Assuredly NOT Dead

Michael Estrin reports “Coming soon to a Facebook page within your network: video content from your favorite big media companies. At least, that's the plan under the terms of a new deal that Slide has inked with CBS Interactive, Comcast's E! Entertainment channel and Time Warner's Warner Brothers, as well as News Corp. and NBC Universal's jointly owned video site Hulu, among other companies. MORE

Last fall the CW was that widgets were hotter than lava. Last spring they were virtually DOA. But the pendulum seems to have swung into the black again, with companies that actually have reasons to have widgets and content in widgets offering widgets. Imagine that.

Well, that’s The Nine this week. Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to write.

Geeks Can Rap: Google v. MSN Rap Off!

GoldMail: Rich Email Messages, The Concept's Right There In The Name On The Tin



It's no wonder that people have been predicting the decline of email. With the immediacy of Twitter and SMS text messages, it's natural to expect that such technologies would potentially take a bite out of the email category. Because, after all, email is slower, and often not that much more rich and informative than a Tweet.

GoldMail is out to change all that.

How, you ask?

So let me do this in a sight smell and taste metaphor: Text, pictures, slides, V/O, photos, web excerpts and PowerPoint baked together in a souffle of communication goodness.

Here's the demo from their site -- it's the clearest demo I have seen in months BTW.



The price ain't bad, neither. You pay by the seat, and here's the price list:

1-10 seats: $10/Month per seat or $100 per year
11-25 seats: $9/Month per seat or $90 per year
25+ seats: $8/month or $80 a year

You can also get a branded GoldMail template and package for $150 a year.

Ah, finally, a revenue model i understand!

To use it you have to download a 12MB application, which may turn off some of you, but GoldMail is getting good press so I wouldn't worry about it.

I am very impressed by GoldMail. I view it as a sort of cross between traditional email and a GoToMeeting. I've signed up for a 14 day trial, so if you want to see how it works, send me an email at my OlderThanThou address listed in the upper right of every page of this blog, and I'll send you one! Then send me your reactions, I may become a payer, but I want to hear what you think!

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write!

All New! Well, Some New! Kindle 2!

The Boy Genius Report blog has a number of photos of the new Kindle. Check them out here. From what I can see, the 2.0 version is a significant upgrade in that the keyboard looks better, and gone are the long "next page" "prev page" side bars and Praise the Lord Besos for that!



Go over to the BGR - they've got all the scoop.

It's bigger, which I'd have to hold to determine whether that is a good thing or not. What's making it larger is that keyboard -- you'll recall that on this blog earlier this week I showed a picture of the Sony Touch Screen, which is decidedly smaller.

Well, let the eBook steel cage match begin!

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

McCain Memory Lane: "Short War, Low Cost, Few Casualties, Lots of WMDs..."

Archived video: the politician's worst enemy...



From Crooks and Liars.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

White Paper Wednesdays: David Provost: There's Loadsa Dough in Semantic Webbery

Make yourself read this baby, people! An excellent and also in plain English report about the dynamics and prospects of the Semantic Web category is available now. The link to the report is below. This is really an important read because semantics is absolutely the future of this space. Excellent stuff.

It's 38 pages, and while I don't often recommend printing because I am an unabashed treehugger, this is something you should print and keep.

PRINT THIS DOCUMENT.

David Provost knows his stuff backwards and forwards. Read this, and you will too!

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Letterman Sends Up Palin

New Research: The Origin of the HIV-1 Virus



No, this has nothing to do with digital marketing. But it is fascinating, and that's good enough for me to write about it.

There's been a great deal of research done on both the origin and the spread of HIV. Years ago I remember a CBS 60 Minutes report that appeared to trace the spread of the disease in the US to an Air Canada Flight Attendant, Gaetan Dugas, who was believed to be...Patient Zero, the first person in North America with the disease, who proceeded to spread the disease to a variety of very sexually active partners, who subsequently spread it. And so on. The evidence came in part from the fact that over 40 of the first 240 patients in 1982 were known to have been with Dugas, or have been with people who had.


Gaetan Dugas

Dugas was vilified by the press for years. And not without reason. Toward the end Dugas was fully aware that he had a deadly disease and could be infecting others. But he continued to infect new partners.

Later, and decidedly more quietly, a rival piece of research traced the origin of HIV to Africa, and posited that an immigrant brought it to North America.

Whatever the origin of the virus in the US, the fact remains that this is a global disease, with tens of millions infected. There are a variety of theories as to the origin of the condition, but new evidence points to an origin place and time of the strains of the virus that infect most people.

This article on Ars Technica reports on an upcoming piece in the magazine Nature that traces the common strains of HIV to Kinshasa Congo, and the turn of the century. The means by which this conclusion is reached are fascinating in and of itself, and I urge you to give the Ars Technica piece a read.

But in short, the belief is that urbanization in Africa contributed to the spread of the disease. The roots of the virus appear to lie in the consumption of bush meat -- people eating primates, especially the organs of primates. The virus is believed to have jumped from primate snacks to living man, and spread from there. Now, in all likelihood, HIV didn't just pick a year in early 1900 to arise and to make the species hop. Rather, it is believed that AIDS had affected small African populations -- villages -- in the past. But because of the limited mobility of people prior to 1900, the outbreaks were ultimately confined to small populations.

Urbanization by definition smashes thousands or even millions of people in one place, and the inevitable human kanoodling thus has the potential to expose far larger number of people. From there, trade and travel likely took the disease to other locales.

Here's an excerpt:

This possibility raised a couple of additional questions. First, chimpanzees infected with SIV that are most similar to group M strains live about 435 miles away from Kinshasa, in the southeast corner of Cameroon. So, why did the virus originate in Kinshasa? Second, what made the early 1900s particularly favorable for the start of an infection spread?

The researchers point to the rise of cities as the reason. Kinshasa was known as Léopoldville at the time, and its location near the mouth of the Congo River made it a key transportation spot. When populations grew in the early 1900s, Léopoldville became the largest city in the area. Infected chimpanzees and/or their handlers could have easily arrived there, and the sufficient population density allowed the virus to take hold.



Anyway. The Ars Technica piece is a great read. check it out!

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

Jam Legend: Massive Multiplayer

The Guitar Hero game -- well, is more like phenomenon.

But how do you take it to another level? Well, as we all know, social and massive multi-player are two of the most popular aspects of -- pretty much anything these days.

Jam Legend has a sort of triple combination of features that may be a category killer. The central object of the game is the same, but these three components add another dimension of play:

1. The range of music isn't preset or limited, it is essentially enormous. Artists can promote their songs through the Jam Legend site, while consumers get free access to them for game play.

2. Massive multi player competition adds a richer dimension to mastery of songs. You accumulate points by accurately performing new songs. You are scored based upon your accuracy compared to that of previous players.

3. Real time or turn based duels. You can invite someone to a play off, and compare skilz, or enter the showdown area and watch and play with a group.

Here's how they describe themselves on their site:

JamLegend enables features never before available in games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Enjoy a potentially unlimited song list through a new platform allowing artists to promote their music in an engaging way. JamLegend features massive online multiplayer for real-time showdowns between thousands of players, as well as turn based competition for dueling with a friend. Robust social features, leaderboards, real-time notifications, and social network integration round out the features list. Best of all, it's free.

Here's a promo vid:


JamLegend Trailer from JamLegend on Vimeo.

Guitar Hero is not my kind of thing, but Jam Legend is pretty darned appealing. The thing that always surprised me about the success of Guitar Hero is how it could possibly hold much staying power as an activity. As a party game, OK, but in single player???

With Jam Legend, the experience is constantly changing because of the breadth of music available and the multiplayer element.

The following screens give you a sense of some of the site:







And what a way to generate musical trial without actually giving away the store to listeners. Here the music is situational -- part of an activity. And in seconds you can buy the song you are playing, right on the site.

Someone else who really enjoys Guitar Hero or Rock band is a better judge of gameplay -- though I did find it fun. But as a music marketing tool, they don't get much better than this!

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

FriendBinder: Keeping Tabs With Your World



I am not the first person to point out the inherent complexity of keeping track of your connections across multiple social networks. Heck, I am not the million and first. But the need is there.

Imagine it's a Friday and you want to find something to do with your peeps. Where do you start? FaceBook? MySpace? Bebo? Any of a thousand of other sites?

Well, the people at FriendBinder want you to start with them. The premise behind this site is simple: aggregate the news from multiple social venues in a single place where you can peruse it en masse.

Here's their elevator pitch from Tech Crunch:



Additional tools essentially allow you to rank your friends or put them in circle and by doing so enable filters on FriendBinder to help you quickly focus on what you are interested in from what could very well be a veritable mountain of updates.

Currently in private beta, FriendBinder is just getting its start. It's not the only site that is working to help people make sense of the complexity of social media, but it is very clean and easy to use. Definitely worth a click to check it out, both as a personal service and as a potential future venue for highly targeted advertising efforts.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

DunderMifflin.com and DunderMifflinInfinity.com: Limitless Paper In a Paperless World



When a TV show works hard to truly impersonate reality, it's only natural that they would make an effort to break down the wall between entertainment and real life.

One of the reasons why NBC's The Office is so popular is that, while exaggerated, most people who have worked in an office can draw parallels between Dwights and Angelas on the screen and Dwights and Angelas in their own workplaces. It is essentially a live action Dilbert strip, and it rings true.

I am pleased to say that The Office has a vivid digtal life thanks to two sites, DunderMifflin.com and DunderMifflinInfinity.com.

Let's start with the brochureware site, DunderMifflin.com. Like all such sites, DunderMifflin.com is frighteningly boring and insular. take a look:



The copy is splendidly mediocre. It reminds me of that Friends episode where Kathleen Turner played Chandler's father, who was a female impersonator. A woman playing a man playing a woman. The copywriter who wrote DunderMifflin.com must be a good writer to write mediocre copy so well. If that makes any sense.

Browse around this site and see how viral is done. It's not at all over the top -- rather it is executed just as a second rate paper distributor would create a website.

Now let's move on to DunderMifflinInfinity.com,the Intranet for Dunder Mifflin. If you don't watch the show, Infinity was the brainchild of one of the main characters on the show. For this Office marketing site, Infinity serves as a rich and vibrant fan community where people can do the same sorts of things they might on a MySpace, but with a distinctly Officey flavor. The site also offers weekly tasks, like a contest to define the best company mission statement.

So, why join a narrow community like this? Well, because The Office is the Office, perhaps the best slice of TV available today. Who wouldn't want to talk to others who know the magic of Schrute Bucks?

This is a passionate community. Check out some of these UGC videos in support of new "branches of Dunder Mifflin:











Now that's community!

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

Personal Life Media: One Dishy Mix of Lifestyle Content



If you have spent at least 4 seconds in digital marketing, you've heard of Susan Bratton, digiguru and creator of the Dishy Mix podcast that explores the professional and personal lives of digital industry leaders.

4 seconds in business has likely also made you familiar with Tim Bratton, a serial entrepreneur and the other half of the Bratton marriage.


Susan Bratton, Personal Life Media CEO


Tim Bratton, Personal Life Media COO

And their latest project, Personal Life Media, is a compelling new site designed to collect, distribute, and present the best lifestyle content in a single inviting portal.

At its core are a series of lifestyle channels, filled with podcasts, broadcast content, blogs, and other forms of content selected for their quality and engagement value. Here's the channel list:

Arts
Business
Education
Health
Music
Religion and Spirituality
Science and Medicine
Society and Culture
Technology
Visual Arts
Sexuality
Fitness and Nutrition


Additionally, the Personal Life Media site also offers a blog network with leading properties personal improvement. They list their blog selection criteria as the following:

Blogs on this network share common philosophies:

Our bloggers are professionals and authorities in their area of expertise
Our bloggers never write about products or services for money, they write out of passion and interest
Our bloggers focus on truth, authenticity and pushing the edge of what’s known and they share that knowledge
Our content is not dumbed-down for main stream media consumption
If we make a mistake, we correct it
Our blogs are good companions to our audio programming. If you like the show, try the blog and vice versa.

While most blog networks are tech, politics or gossip-based, we are focused on transformative content for your personal life – a refreshing change!


Visit for personal improvement, but also check out the marketing opportunities they offer. In addition to IAB banners on blogs and other web pages, you can also sponsor podcast and insert audio ads. You can buy it all CPM or CPC.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

Route You: Turning Point to Point Directions Into a Journey



Now here's an idea I would never have thought of in a million years, but which I immediately took a shine to.

Route You is a service that helps people NOT behind the wheel get from place to place on paths that meet their goals, interests, and criteria. So, say you are in SF, and want to get from California and Market to Coit Tower. If you go via a route defined by Mapquest or similar, it'll take you on a path that works for a car, but not for a pedestrian. Or a bicyclist. And it'll take you on a path without regard for aesthetics or your interests. Driving sites emphasize bigger roads and fewer traffic lights, not the safest or most agreeable pedestrian route.

Route You asks your mode of transportation and then your interests. Then it defines a recommended path and lets you experience it in advance. When you're satisfied, you can print a copy or put it on your GPS phone or PDA.

Here's some copy on their site:

RouteYou.com website and RouteYou web-components

The RouteYou.com website offers the end-users a selection of routes and a set of tools such as the RouteViewer to explore the routes in an interactive way. The user can print routes or download routes in a digital (navigation) format.









The user can also create routes using the RoutePlanner, and share the route via groups.

The RouteYou.com website offers a platform for the user of out-door routes, for content providers, application builders, organisations, advertisers,...


And here's their elevator pitch from the Crunch:



SO, guess what? This is a Euro concept. While there are a small number of pedestrian friendly cities in the US, it's not gonna be much value in a Houston or a Phoenix. But that's OK. This is a European company. I'd say that this is a concept with legs, but it's too poor a pun. Instead I will say that I bet tourist bureaus and local advertisers will be on this like bees on honey.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

Palinizer: What's Your Palin Baby Name?



It's well known tha the Palins select rather unique names for their young ones. Step on over to the Poli tsk Tsk Tsk blog and find out what you would have been caled if you had been a Palin.

Here's my result:

James David , if you were born to Sarah Palin, your name would be:

Rankle Hiway Palin

Monday, October 6, 2008

LVIMA Mobile Madness: Shawn Never Quits!

As you know I love the LVIMA group, the Las Vegas Interactive Marketing Association. Chairman Shawn Rorick is always making things happen there. And today is the day for their widely anticipated Mobile Madness event. Here's the promo video.



Here's the tasty sell copy:

Mobile Marketing has become the biggest buzz phrase since "social media". Merely the mention of it at any given marketing meeting causes everyone's ears to perk up as most are still looking for the perfect strategy that compliments their business. Asia is years ahead of us in their usage of mobile technologies, but given the network pricing wars and the exponential speed of technological adaptation, it will only be a few "bars" before cell phones are the equivalent of laptop computers.

But how do we prepare for this approaching new world? What steps can we take for our business now that will secure our marketing presence for the future? Plus, how do we track conversions to satisfy the DR demands placed on us?

Fear not, the answers await you at "Mobile Madness"! We have a fantastic speaker lineup which will make this a VERY interesting evening full of inspiration and information that may just change the way you budget for next year!

You will learn:

Effective strategies for mobile acquisition

How Proximity Marketing and BlueCasting works

What to look for in a platform service provider

How to advertise effectively within mobile networks

How mobile marketing can fit your marketing mix

WAP sites
... and much Much more!

Join us for this special event with the standard array of cocktails and appetizers to make it complete. With an exciting venue and the hottest topic of 2008, how can you go wrong?

NOTE: Contrary to our standard dates, this is a Monday event on October 6th. The KA theater is located inside MGM Grand. With most of us in the middle of our 2009 budgeting, chances are this evening out is just what the doctor ordered!

The speakers are quite intriguing as well:

David Wachs, Founder and President, CellIt
Eric Eller, SVP, Millenial Marketing
Michel Perhaes, Assistant VP of Advertising, MGM Grand
Tony Ashfari, Founder and CEO of BlueLink


Get yer arse there if you are in the land of Blackjack on Monday! Head over to LVIMA.com for maps and details. And tell Shawn I sent ya!

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

First 30 Days: Change is Good, For People, And For Business



What holds us back from achieving more? Of getting the lives we want? OK, OK, before I go all Oprah on you...before I put a big meaty arm around you as you bare your soul, lemme get back to First 30 Days, a website about empowering people to make changes in their lives, and then helping them take their first steps.

I had the good fortune of meeting First 30 Days Founder and CEO Ariane de Bonvoisin, and was impressed by her spirit, and her vision.


Ariane De Bonvoisin, Founder and CEO

And what changes, pray tell, can First 30 Days help you make? Well, the list is pretty darned substantial.

• Adopting a Child
• Adopting a Pet
• Being a New Dad
• Being a New Mom
• Being Happier
• Being Pregnant
• Breaking Up
• Buying a Home
• Buying a New Car
• Changing Your Look
• Creating a Green Home
• Dating Online
• Dealing With Depression
• Finding Romance
• Finding Your Dream Job
• Frugal Living
• Getting Divorced
• Getting in Shape
• Getting Organized
• Going Green
• Graduating College
• Grieving
• Having More Money
• Improving Relationships
• Improving Your Sex Life
• Living Healthier
• Living More Spiritually
• Losing Weight
• Losing Your Job
• Making Change Easier
• Managing Breast Cancer
• Managing Diabetes
• Managing Heart Disease
• Managing High Blood Pressure
• Managing Prostate Cancer
• Mastering the iPod
• Meditating
• Moving to a New City
• Planning a Wedding
• Planning for Retirement
• Proposing
• Pursuing Your Dreams
• Quitting Smoking
• Reducing Debt
• Remodeling Your Kitchen
• Saving for College
• Selling a Home
• Smart Investing
• Starting a New Business
• Starting a New Job
• Starting College
• Stepparenting
• Surviving a Natural Disaster
• Switching to a Mac
• Understanding HDTV
• Using Facebook
• Windows Vista
• Working After Baby
• Your Empty Nest
• Your Health Diagnosis


There, then, I am sure there's something in there that would help you Remember Your Spirit - oh, wait, sorry, channeling Ms. Winfrey again. I am sure there's something in the list that would be appealing to you.

In short, there's is a mission they can feel very good about. Here's how they describe themselves in their About Us:

Our mission is to inspire you to find the positive in any change — the ones you've always dreamed of making and the ones life has given you. We want to be the first place you think of in times of change, a place full of optimism and a place where you feel informed and inspired.

And so...how does First 30 Days help you make changes?

Sign up for a 30 day tips email program
Meet and talk to others and share advice, inspiration and stories.
Read expert interviews
Blog, or read blogs
Listen to the weekly about change podcast
Get recommendations for books, vids, websites that can provide additional advice


Sounds nice 'n sticky to me.

Of course, the beauty of the model is that they can do well by doing good. There are hundreds of product and service categories that grow when people make changes in their lives. So many companies are constantly scanning the web for audiences that are either making changes or are about to. Just look over that list above again and you will immediately see the possibilities.

Like any content property, the traffic is a little volatile in the first months. First 30 Days has gotten some choice TV, online media, and blog coverage. According to Quantcast, it appears as if they have about 200,000 regular users. As we near the holidays and then the magical day -- January 1, 2009 when we all try to make some sort of change or indeed bundle of changes -- I expect we'll see some significant growth.

Check it out -- as a marketing venue and as a place to get the kickstart you need to make the change you want in your life.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

New Sony Touch Screen PRS-700 EReader: Kindle with Keyless Entry!

I like my Kindle. A lot. But the keyboard is nothing short of horrid. It is reminiscent of Commodore 64. I'd imagine that the upcoming Kindle 2.0 will offer a major improvement.

But Sony's upping its game with its new eReader, now on sale in parts of Europe, and a-comin' to the US ASAP.

Sony readers didn't set the world on fire, but did OK. And one of the problems they see, according to this article on Ars Technica, was that people don't like the IDEA of ereaders very much, but tend to like them when they get hands on experience. Ars Technica reports:

To overcome this, Sony's trained 1,000 people that will be set loose in some of the 3,000 retail outlets that carry the Reader in an effort to expose more of the public to it. The company is also launching a program that will see it donate Readers and eBooks to schools.

...

The key feature is its touch-sensitive screen, which allows users to manipulate the device with either the included stylus or a finger. Reader users can now directly select text, type on an onscreen keyboard, and page through content with gestures, swiping pages to turn them or shuffling rapidly through a book with a swipe-and-hold gesture. The E Ink screen seemed more responsive than the Kindle's, which makes the responses to gestures seem fairly direct. The onscreen typing, however, still feels a bit sluggish.


John Timmer of Ars Technica later stated:

In my brief hands-on time with it, the Reader's hardware seemed superior to the Kindle in nearly every way, but it still lacks some of the Kindle's killer features: brand recognition, a huge content library, and always-on wireless. Haber made it clear that all of these are in the works. Sony plans to have 100,000 titles available by the holidays (although that's still just about half the Kindle's content) and its trained sales teams should be in the stores by then. Wireless will come, too, but Haber said, "it needs to be on an open foundation" before Sony will release it.

I think the crux of the challenge for Sony is in their brand versus Amazon. Sony=electronics, Amazon=books. And a prospective ebook buyer wants assurance that a reader will offer a good bookish experience.

But that doesn't mean I won't be looking it over...

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

SpinSpotter: Referree The Next Cable News Food Fight

Gosh, I usually induce these posts. Make a case and then show the start-up solution. But today I am going to let three vids do the induction:







News flash. None of that is reporting. It's opinion, often supported by lies and half truths. Now, here is reporting:



We can't bring back Murrow and Huntley and Stahl and Cronkite, but perhaps we can all work together to make reporters accountable for the content of their stories -- make them more careful about the half truths they accept as fact, the focus on the CW, and and and.

And that, my friends, is what SpinSpotter is about. Here's how they introduce themselves to web site visitors:

Welcome to SpinSpotter

All the news that's fit to de-spin.

Spin doesn't belong in the news. It's like putting motor oil in the mojito. We have tremendous respect for journalists, but who would argue that the media circus isn't out of control? A full 66% of Americans think the press is one-sided. Now there's a website and software tool that exposes news spin and bias, misuse of sources, and suspect factual support. At SpinSpotter, you'll experience the news in a profound new way. Yes, the truth is back in town.


They also have a nice introductory video that effectively makes their case.



As an info junkie, I am pleased as punch that this is occurring. I was at a dinner party recently, and we were lamenting the silicon-boob-for-grey-matter trade that the mainstream media have made. One of my best friends, he a Republican, is just as aware of lefty spin as I am of right wing claptrap.

We wondered what it would take to create a media company that REPORTED. That sent someone to Darfur instead of having two morons from Washington propaganda tanks throw metaphorical mashed potatoes across the desk from each other. We calculated the price at about a billion to create the sort of media company we dream about.

And then I saw Spin Spotter, and realized that with this idea the need for a new media company is no longer there. Small d democratic accountability can make the companies we have actually do their jobs.

And for that I thank the team that has made it. Get your butt over there to check it out. And, how about contributing to the community. Choose your flava of spin to debunk, blue or red.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

Is Lehman Brothers Collapse Homoerotic?



Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

Ads of the World: Messages From The World's Sponsors

You simply have to check out AdsoftheWorld.com if you have an iota's worth of interest in ads. Have to. There are positively magnificent examples of mostly nondigital ads from dozens of countries and regions. On a planet of 6 Billion, it's perhaps not surprising that there are astounding examples of creativity there. But it'll rekindle your love for the biz in a major way. Here are a couple of examples:





Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.