Back 1/5/09

Traffic has been dreadful this week, and next week will be worse, so I am going on hiatus until the new year. But when we return, you can expect an explosion of old-style (pun intended) goodness from day one.

Thank you all for visiting throughout the year, and I hope Santa brings you all the joy you can possibly stand.

;-)

An Open Letter To The Ad Industry From Santa

Many thanks to iMediaConnection for running this piece earlier this week.

Santa LLP
P.O. Box 1
Barrow, Alaska 99723

From the Desk of : Kris Kringle, CEO and Founder

Dear Advertising Professionals,

As 2008 draws to a close, I have decided to break my silence and communicate with you – the people that use my brand, likeness, and trademarks without permission every year.

You people chap my kiester with your incessant trademark infringement on the Kringle brand.

Don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to. Don’t think I don’t notice, for example, that for 40+ years a certain electric razor company has been showing a faux Claus riding a razor like a sled through a winter wonderland. Noelco from Norelco? My lawyers are preparing the injunction request even as I type.



Plus, don’t think I haven’t seen that a certain office supply retailer created an application where people could make themselves elves – completely flouting the certification process and apprenticeship system.



And do not even get me started on this travesty of the “season of giving.”


Gillette Christmas Viral - Click here for the funniest movie of the week

Mrs. Claus has been furtively playing that clip all year long. Thanks ever so for THAT, P&G. How is a 500 year old man supposed to compete with them?

Frankly, it’s enough to take the Ho Ho Ho right out of me.

I SHOULD give you all lumps of coal for Christmas for exploiting my trademarks, but I am a forgiving sort of fella. And since you all seem so darned obsessed by me, I’ve decided instead to get a few things off my chest. Which, BTW, is toning up rather nicely since I took up the Pilates.

Anyway, here’s some sage advice from the guy who makes the cash registers ring so much in Q4. Listen and learn, people. Here’s my advice on how to make 2009 a better year than 2008.

For Client CFOs:

As someone who has moved countless sleigh loads of toys over the past 500 or so years, I know a thing or two about what moves off the shelves And what don’t.

Here’s rule number 1.

The rug rats and their parents like brands. And advertising is essential to making products into brands. That little 7 year old in Keokuk Iowa ain’t screaming for a Carby Dream House, or a Darby Dream House, she wants Barbie’s crib. And she wants it because of the hot website and online video ads and interactive game and virtual world your marketing folks need all that money for.

Release the dollars, Scrooge.

Even if the economy is down, you need to invest in advertising your brands. Just like Barbie won’t date some knockoff named Ben, those kids won’t want your company’s stuff if it doesn’t seem magical to them.

For Brand Managers

As the leader of a large multinational manufacturing concern, I know what it is like to deal with customers that don’t pay their bills on time. Every year it’s a nail biter to make sure that the cash comes in fast enough to pay MY suppliers.

You have NO idea what happens to people who don’t pay the red wagon cartel on time. Ask one of them for an extra week to pay and you’ll end up with tiny tread marks over 90% of your body.

Little known fact we try to keep hidden from kids: there used to be 10 tiny reindeer. Sprinter (may she rest in peace) was Comet and Vixen's foal, a lovely lass, all spirit and energy. Until we went 31 days late on paying an invoice.

Those RedWagCor people took little Sprinter for a one way ride on the li’l red wagon to H-E-double hockey sticks. A few days later, we found her lifeless body hooves-up in a bin of Webkinz.

Suffice it to say that we at Santa LLC know from drop dead dates.

It’s the same with your agencies. Like Santa LLC, agencies are dollar-in dollar-out sorts of concerns, and when you guys take 75, or 100, or 137 days and counting to pay your bills, it really compromises our ability to deliver the goods on time.

And I am tired of you clowns playing poor – companies with billions in sales can come up with a few hundred thousand to get current on the media bills.

I am a toymaker, not a banker. Similarly, your agencies trade in ideas, not mortgage backed derivatives.

Heck, if I am one day late on my delivery date, billions of parents call the 800 number and demand my head on an EZ-Bake brownie pan. But ask those same Moms and Dads for cash up-front and they look at you like you’re a choking hazard.

So Brand People, ensure your company pays on time. If you can’t afford to, then don’t order the work or the space.

For Media Planners

Sometimes you guys really remind me of Blitzen, given your obsession with shiny objects.

Get that reindeer in the air, and instead of sticking to the carefully planned delivery route, he tries flying at the first bright light he sees. Every year the rest of the team is pulling hard to get the sled to our first stop (Inuvik, Alaska if you’re curious) but ole Blitzen is yanking Santa’ hoopty toward the blinking lights of Broadway.

You guys sometimes behave in the same way. Somebody creates a new digital platform and you’re all “OMG OMG, this platform is BBFF (brand’s best friend forever.)” And you spend 80% of your time on it instead of doing the blocking and tackling that gets the whole job done.

Hey, I try to reason with Blitzen. I like bright lights as much as the next saint, but you gotta get the basic job done first, buddy. Then you can go see In The Heights on Broadway 25 times for all I care. It’s the same for you. Walk away from the light, if you know what’s good for you.

For Media Buyers

I didn’t know what to say to buyers until I got a letter from a buyer in Dallas. See, she thought she was sticking her wish list into the envelope, but she put in an RFP by mistake.

I learned a lot about you people from that RFP. And the most important lesson of all?

Holy Tannenbaum you people are cheap! Pretty soon you folks are going to want the networks and pubs to pay you to run the ads.

What part of “you get what you pay for” don’t you understand? I mean, really. Let me give you a toy analogy. Way back when parents understood quality, we used to make trucks out of steel. Good long-lasting American steel. Kids could jump up and down on them. Throw them in the air in pretend explosions. Leave them out for months in the rain. And they’d be none the worse for wear. Oh wait, lemme say that in your lingo. They “maintained their play value.”

But parents nowadays want 27 trucks for about 6 bucks. So I have to tell the munchkins in product design that they need to do what it takes to get the price down. And as a result, the toys are about as durable as plastic grocery bags.

So when you demand CPMs under a buck, or insist on 20% bonus inventory, how do you think pubs are responding? Here, let me give you the answer. You’ll get your 11 cent CPMs -- of 468s running at the bottom of the page below the link to the privacy policy.

To the cheap goes the crap.

For Publications

Mrs. Kringle is a fine Mother. And one of the key ideas she tries to inculcate into our kids is the idea that if you…how shall I put this…put all your cookies out there for anyone to enjoy, then folks don’t value you like they should. Be selective in what you offer -- how often you put out the cookie plate and what you offer up -- and people will want your Snickerdoodles even more.

It’s the same with display ads. When you add inventory faster than your team can sell it, you’ll end up devaluing your brand because people can get it for less than it’s worth. You’ll have to sell some of those cookies to networks. And over time brands will wonder why they pay you $35 for something they can get for $8 down the street.

Oh, and keep thinking of ways to add value. If you are charging 8x or 10x or even 20x what a network charges, you need to be providing something special to justify the cost.

For Ad Networks

Every year on the 26th, I call an all-hands meeting up here at Santa HQ. And I tell everyone on the team to write down on a piece of paper why s/he is essential to the Santa team.

I have found the exercise helpful in reminding everyone from the Finance team to the Bratz dress makers that we all need to excel for the company to survive and grow -- for Santa LLC to stay ahead of the teams at the other holidays.

So here’s my advice to you. Find a comfy chair, get yourself a fresh baked gingerbread man and a virgin egg nog, and take a few minutes to write down why your network is essential to the industry. Why do marketers need you? What unique value do you add? What makes you special?

Your buyers – they may do business with you today, but what reasons are you giving to them to continue to work with you? And are those reasons communicated clearly to them? There are 300+ networks out there – you need to ensure you stand out in a good way.

People know what they are getting from me. We’ve worked for centuries to make the Kringle brand one of a kind. It’s time you worked on YOUR distinctiveness.

For Everyone

As you can probably tell from these bits of advice, I believe in tough love. But “jolly” is also part of my brand character.

Therefore, while I wish you all would stick more closely to Santa LLC brand guidelines when you represent me, I do understand that all your holiday messages and references keep me ahead of the pack as far as holiday branded character Q Scores go.

I thank you for that.

And hey, it’s the holiday season. There’s a lot to celebrate as we reflect on the year gone by and set our goals for 2009.

Next year can be even better. Just make sure you don’t stop believing in yourselves and your industry.

Or in me, come to that.

Happy Holz,

Kris

On My Christmas List

Viral Vid: Restaurant of Dares

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

McD's: Anything For Love...

Last Minute Christmas Gift

Well, the wonderful people at Wham-O have created a delightfully speed centered toy in the Snowball Blaster -- a device perfect for any modestly aggressive person -- and especially for one that throws like a milk maid.

For, you see, it shoots snowballs up to 80 feet(!) As I do the physics calculation, a snowball that can travel 80 feet would be about a 6.5 on the painful scale at 15 feet. Mwah ha ha. If said ball was an icy one. As they always should be.

This true REVOLUTION in snow projectile technology is no single shooter, neither. It automagically makes three snowballs at once, so you can wreak more havoc without stopping to reload. Versus your arm, the snowball blaster is like plutonium to uranium.

Watch the damn ad.



I demand that you buy one for the kids in your life. Retailers list here.

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

Viral Vid: WhiteBoard Pong

The Motrin Video That Started The Controversy!

LiveAuctioneers: A Different League of "Online" Auctions

Yes, this is a post about auctions that has (almost) nothing to do with eBay. Rather, it is about adding a digital layer to live auctions.

The company is called LiveAuctioneers and it offers two major sources of value:

1. Live online broadcasts of real auctions.
2. A database of what is being auctioned so people can find things they might want.

Here's how they describe their value:

LiveAuctioneers is the premier gateway linking bidders to traditional auction events broadcast in real-time via the Internet. The company’s exclusive technology and services suite connects auction houses and bidders worldwide through eBayLiveAuctions.com. LiveAuctioneers provides bidders with unprecedented levels of access to hundreds of auctions and remote saleroom floors the world over, while substantially expanding the potential bidding audience for auction houses. In doing so, LiveAuctioneers has ushered in the “clicks-and-mortar” era of auctioneering by creating a unique technological platform through which remote auction transactions can be made in a safe and secure manner.

LiveAuctioneers’ founders realized eBay’s 200-million-plus audience could deliver tremendous bidder participation to traditional auction houses worldwide. To that end, they established a partnership with eBay Live Auctions in late 2002 to help bring auction catalogs to the Internet for live online bidding. Since then, LiveAuctioneers has grown to become the second-most frequently visited auction-related Web site for fine art, antiques and collectibles, following only eBay. LiveAuctioneers now broadcasts dozens of auctions each week, encompassing millions of auction lots per year for more than 500 of the world’s finest auction houses. As auction houses have had to position themselves for online bidding to remain competitive, LiveAuctioneers has grown exponentially by providing industry-leading technology and service.

LiveAuctioneers is more than just a gateway between auction houses and bidders; it’s also the auction industry’s leading online database. Every day, the LiveAuctioneers database features thousands of items to be sold in upcoming auctions. But it also constitutes an archive of nearly 4 million auction results, illustrated by more than 28 million images. This massive data warehouse gives appraisers and researchers access to irrefutable, up to the minute auction results. It also enables decorators and interior designers to source fresh to the market items. It’s easy to use, and it’s also completely free to search. LiveAuctioneers is the most comprehensive, up-to-date resource available.

Now, for those who like video more than type, here's their Tech Crunch vid:



Since the system enables the making (and collecting)of bids, it is a boon to both the sellers, the auctioneers, and buyers who see must have items that they...must have.

It's a cool concept, and presumably their revenue model has great room for growth. Especially since EbayLiveAuctions is closing at the end of December.

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

Viral Vid: Pets.com Sock Puppet Begs For a Government Bailout

Digital Marketing Factoid Of The Day: Your Bank Bailout Dollars At Work In Direct Mail

From MediaPost Marketing Daily:

Banks are fighting bad news headlines with messages of their own in the form of direct marketing.

According to Mintel Comperemedia, the country's banks sent 42% more direct mail solicitations in the third quarter of the year than they did during the second quarter. Moreover, the 53 million offers sent during the third quarter of 2008 was nearly twice the number sent during the same period in 2007.

Much of the increase is from banks looking to assure customers that their money is safe, particularly as ownership of many banks and financial services companies is changing rapidly. "There's an increase in assurance going out to 'current' customers," Pamela McHugh, president of Comperemedia, tells Marketing Daily. "When we're looking at all the mergers and acquisitions taking place, there are new players, and the communication tends to be reassurance to old customers and reassurance to [newly acquired] ones."

Along those lines, the banks have switched their direct mail messaging from mortgages and loans to more savings-oriented products like CDs and deposit accounts, McHugh said. According to Mintel, banks sent more than 300 times more savings-related direct mail pieces to current customers in the third quarter of the year than the second. Direct mail solicitations for checking accounts were up 90% during the same period.

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

White Paper Wednesdays: Obama And Digital

An amazing deck about the digital aspects of the Obama campaign is available below. From Rahaf Harfoush.

Yes We Did: Strategic Insights from the campaign that redefined modern politics

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: organizations politics)

A Bigger Role For Minorities In Digital Advertising

AdWeek recently ran a piece on the low numbers of minorities at America's ad agencies that I want to point you to. It's a good and thought provoking read and one we need to take seriously.

Click here.

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

White Paper Wednesdays: Research As a Tool For Creating Brand Value

It's a Synovate hat trick this week at WPW on OLDMTA. This white paper is about the value of market research in creating brand value. Find it here (no reg required.)

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

White Paper Wednesdays: WOM

Another good white paper from Synovate Censydiam on WOM is available here. It's a bit long in the tooth, but still very valuable.

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

White Paper Wednesdays: Synovate On Creating Branding Meaning

An oddly titled but very valuable white paper about creating brand value is available from Synovate here. It is entitled, "Marketing Beyond the Monkey." It's a great title once you read the paper, rest assured.

Get it here (no reg required, though you should also apply for a copy of their free to research decision makers magazine "Change Agent." D0 that at Synovate's main site.)

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

Predictify: Make Predictions, Earn Reputation, Connect With The Like Interested

Are you good at predicting the future? If you are than you may find Predictify totally fun. And if you suck at predicting, you may find Predictify fun as well.

Because Predictify is VERY fun.

Think of a social site built around current events. Then ask members to make predictions about what will happen next. Then build a back end that tabulates individuals' accuracy and gives everyone a score. Then let members connect with one another based upon common interests. Built it all and you have a cool business.

Actually, you wouldn't because Predictify does all that very well, and has a humongous head start. So just join Predictify and have some fun instead, until you think of a new idea.

Here's their 1 minute pitch from Tech Crunch:



Here's a sample voting box, which is conveniently embeddable most anywhere on line. Oh, yes, virality:



The marketing and monetization angle on this is the opportunity to pose sponsored questions. That's a cool way to drive consumer involvement in a brand.

I predict a bright future for Predictify...

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

InChairTV: Enjoy The Dulcet Tones of Sonicare Ads While Getting a Crown

Personally, I like the idea of a diversion during a dental appointment. There is NOTHING creepier than the sound of the drill.

This is their Tech Crunch 1 minute pitch:



Here's their consumer pitch:

What is InChairTV? It is the best way to make your time in the dental chair much, much more pleasant.

Although there is no longer much actual pain experienced during dental procedures, it feels like bad things are happening; there are scary noises, alarming jolts, strange sensations and upsetting visuals. It’s pretty safe to say that almost everyone would prefer to be distracted from all the unpleasantness by watching a great TV show or movie.

Well, now you can. If you choose a dentist who offers InChairTV, you will have a choice of some of your favorite programs and films to watch on a simulated 42 or 60 inch screen. And if you become a regular dental care consumer (as you should!) every time you return you will find new, engaging programming waiting for you.

You will immediately find that this is a whole new dental experience – one with less stress and more relaxation than before.

For dentists, they get an additional selling point, and happier, less nervous patients.

In terms of advertising, they are currently focused exclusively on oral care, which from a practical standpoint seems wise. Not sure totally unrelated categories will want a piece of this aspect of consumers' lives.

Anyway, it is certainly a moment of little media clutter, and getting people to make proactive descions about oral care as they expeirence the consequences of eschewing those decisions in the past is positively INSPIRED.

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

Santa Is A Mac, Not A PC

Digital Marketing Factoid Of The Day: Interest In Social Media Among Leading CMOs

From MediaPost Marketing Daily:

More than one-quarter (27%) of consumer and B-to-B chief marketing executives surveyed online in late October by GfK Roper Public Relations and Media for marketing services firm Epsilon identified social networking and word-of-mouth as the tools they would most like to introduce to their marketing mix to compensate for anticipated budget cuts--ahead of all other traditional or digital marketing channels.

However, more than half (55%) of the 180 responding chief marketers--representing brands with revenues ranging from $250 million to more than $10 billion--indicated low current interest in actually incorporating the networking sites into their plans.

One-third said they're "not interested at all" in getting Facebook and MySpace into their plans, and 22% said they're "not too interested," while 35% are very or somewhat interested.

Other, more "traditional" social media scored far higher on the very/somewhat interested in integrating question. More than half (52%) ranked both Internet forums and Webinars in this category, followed by Webcasts and podcasts (47%), email (also 47%) and blogs (37%).

Just 10% reported that they are already using Facebook and MySpace in their marketing plans.

Kluster: A Very Practical Application of Management Science You Could Be Making Better Decisions With

I am perhaps one of six people in advertising who use management science frequently as a decision aid when faced with complex and intricate problems. The tool I use is an Excel spreadsheet that lists the tasks in the left hand column and the columns are each occupied by a criterion on which the decision would be made. Each column is rated in importance on a 3 point scale, and each task is evaluated on a three point scale. By taking a weighted average you get a recommended answer that is less filled with the biases of vividness and personal preference.

Look, I just put you to sleep. Remember this post the next time you have insomnia.

Anyway, an application called Kluster automates the processes of such a model, and adds an additional layer of allowing you to include multiple raters in the process. The result is an easy to collect and manage multiple rater model. Check out their video for an eminently clearer explanation:


Private Kluster Tour! from on Vimeo.

What we have here, folks, is an actually usable and manageable collaboration tool. It is also extremely actionable, which is the fulfillment of a need that many people I know working with collab tools are facing.

By being able to rate raters and to decide on which criteria they should have a voice, we also offer a weighting apparatus that will help teams an organizations make far better decisions.

Pricing is pretty reasonable. More than my spreadsheet but then the offering has a lot more value than my spreadsheet as well:



A very practical add on to the tool is their ancillary offering namethis, which provides an easy way to make a group influenced product name decision.

This is good stuff people, and they are offering a risk free trial so you can see the value it could provide your org.

Take them up on it.

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

PhoneTag: Never Listen To Voicemail Again!

Oh, I love this one, people. Phonetag converts your voicemails into text so you can read them and respond appropriately without listening to interminable messages. Here's how they describe themselves:

PhoneTag offers a simpler way to handle voicemail.

PhoneTag automatically converts your voicemail into text and delivers it directly to your mobile phone, Blackberry, Goodlink enabled phone and/or your email account; so you can read your voicemail.

Save time and money by instantly seeing who called you and reading what they said; whether you are sitting in a business meeting or traveling on the road. Your voicemail functionality does not change; it can still be listened to and stored for later use.

PhoneTag works with all Major U.S. carriers and networks including:

AT&T
Alltel
Cincinnati Bell
Sprint
Skype
T-Mobile
Verizon
Virgin

Pricing works similarly to how cell phone prices used to. A good value all you can eat plan and per use plans that could easily add up to hundreds, so choose carefully.



It's very easy to see the value of this concept so i won't labor the point. It's a great idea, and I understand that the voice recognition is quite good. Quite good.

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

iMedia Video: How Agencies F Up

The title of this post explains it all. A great edit of content from the September
2008 iMedia Brand Summit in San Diego.

Lebanese Broadcasting Corp: How To Beat Your Wife

ZunaVision: Right Concept, But Is It The Right Set of Videos???

There's a fascinating new ad concept called Zunavision that enables the producers of UGC videos to insert ads into their content and, it is thought, earn money. Zunavision is a project of Stanford, and a cool project it IS.

First, let's let them tell their story. Here's a compelling video on the concept:



Here's a set of examples:









This is clearly cool stuff, though I think the real value is for professional rather than UGC content. Since relatively few advertisers are willing to advertise in UGC video in formats that are separate from the unvetted content, it is unlikely (at least in my view) that they will be paying to actually be embedded in the content.

But don't think that I don't love the concept. I really do. This is cooler than cool. Just not for UGC.

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

ViewScore: Get Aggregated Ratings On The Products You Want to Buy

When making a considered purchase more and more people now rely on online reviews and recommendations before they decide what to get. Of course, one of the realities of doing this is that we are influenced only by the ones we see and find.

ViewScore is a service that helps improve the quality of information we consider by aggregating millions of online reviews by product to generate an aggregate score.



When you have decided what you want, the site provides information like a shopping comparison site, offering you the best pricing.

Here's how they describe their own offering:

ViewScore provides online shoppers with a comprehensive shopping decision-making tool. ViewScore's product search-engine provides shoppers with aggregated product reviews and simple and easy-to-follow product recommendations, aiming at helping potential shoppers answer the essential question of "what to buy".

We founded ViewScore because we wanted a solution that would help us make product purchase decisions without reading tens of product reviews for each product being considered. ViewScore provides .product recommendations in the same manner a highly knowledgeable friend might. Once we identified this market need, we set out to develop a solution that could compare two or more products on a level playing field so that the prospective customer could make an educated purchase decision. We have launched ViewScore because we have achieved our goal of creating an easy-to-use yet comprehensive product comparison engine which provides advice to any individual user.

ViewScore searches the web and finds reviews from thousands of leading sources including CNET, Tom's Hardware Guide, PC World, PC Magazine, and more..
These product reviews are processed through the company proprietary artificial intelligence and natural language processing technology. ViewScore's technology assigns a numerical product review score between 1-100 for each review, and then provides the user with an aggregated product review score based on all of the reviews for each product.

Users can then drill down further and dive into individual product reviews to learn more about each product and the reviewer's opinion and refine their product search to focus on specific product attributes. ViewScore.com also enables the user to click and find "where to buy" from one of ViewScore.s merchant partners, or go
directly to a merchant site to purchase the product of their choice.

There's even a pricing filter that lets you set a max price so that, for example, you won';t get screen filled with $9,000 pro cameras when what you want is a point and shoot pocket sized.

Presumably there's is a rev share model, and online retailers might do well to get a deal going with them.

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

Taboola: Helping Viewers Discover More Relevant Videos

I love things that make the morass of the web easier to use. And Taboola, a privately held Israeli company, is doing just that in the online video space.

The world of video is getting so chock full that it is getting even harder to find what you want, whether for entertainment, information, or whatever. Taboola's mathematical analysis model picks apart what you watch and then offers suggestions on other videos your are likely to enjoy as well.

Here's how they explain their model on their website:

Taboola’s mission is to arrange the world’s collections of online videos and transform the video discovery experience into a simple and enjoyable one.

Taboola is the provider of the world's first Personalized Video Discovery Platform for publishers, marketers and users. When you visit one of Taboola’s powered-by publishers, you will be able to enjoy a free and easy to use video recommendation solution to discover videos you like.

The company’s breakthrough technology seamlessly analyzes professional and user-generated video content, and anonymously studies the viewing patterns and behavior of viewers. Taboola is then able to predict the best subsequent videos for the viewer to watch on the publisher’s website.

Publishers can add Taboola’s video recommendation solution to their site very easily and simplify the way their viewers discover relevant videos. Taboola’s recommendation solution enhances user experience, increases time spent on site, boosts loyalty and drives profitability. Publishers will also benefit from Taboola Analytics, a free reporting console that provides analysis of their video traffic, users’ insights, viewing patterns and more.

As a business, Taboola generates revenue by providing marketers with a cost- effective and measurable opportunity to deliver contextual and behaviorally targeted sponsored messages alongside online video content. You will be introduced with ads that you may find relevant and interesting as part of the video recommendation list. We believe you should be able to distinguish between the ads and the rest of the recommendations, and therefore we mark the recommended ads as sponsored and invite you to interact with them whenever you choose.

Here's a delightfully peculiar video on Taboola that explains the entire system from the perspective of people, sites, and advertisers:



The solution comes under two trademarks:

1. ViDiscovery, which is the video recommendation engine. The recommendations come in the form of a Flash overlay left to right ticker of thumbnails, as in the example below:



There goal is not to create a video destination (and thank God for that -- we got enough of those already) but rather to improve the video experience on publisher sites.

2. DiscoverAd, which finds contextually and behaviorally appropriate ads so that sites can monetize their inventory and consumers get more relevant ads with their video content.I don't really buy into the idea that consumers prefer targeted ads, but if they make it possible to support mroe content and deeper exploration, let the tracking begin!

The service also offers a comprehensive console management tool and reporting.optimization tools.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating of course, and Taboola is offering the following statistics to demonstrate the power of its solution:

- 30-42% increase in the percent of viewers who watched an entire video
- 25-35% increase in the number of video views
- 15% increase in distinct videos viewed (video inventory reinvigoration)

More people than just me are clearly impressed by what they are up to, as they just closed $US 4.5 Million in VC, led by Evergreen. So that's excellent news, especially in these challenging times.

Check them out, especially if you are a pub or an advertiser!

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

Google Earth's Ancient Rome 3D

Digital Marketing Factoid Of The Day: Newspaper Ad Spend

The figures for this year are pretty grim...



From the Newspaper Associaiton of America

It's Official: We LIKE Car Dealers

New data from JD Powers suggests that while Detroit may be on the brink of collapse, and while House GOP leaders portray autoworkers as bogeymen while giving senior execs make $20 Mil or so even when sales drop like a stone a pass, that consumers buying cars like the buying experience.

Yes you read that correctly. Here's an excerpt from coverage on MediaPost:

Most of the auto business is heading south, but J.D. Power and Associates says at least one element of the business is going in the other direction. According to the firm's 22nd annual Sales Satisfaction Index (SSI), consumers' happiness with the new vehicle retail process--once about as much fun as getting a tooth pulled -- is continuing the upward trajectory it started in 2005.

The firm surveyed 35,805 new-vehicle buyers who purchased or leased in May this year. The analysis parses customer purchase experience based on: the dealership facility, the sales staff, vehicle price, paperwork and finance process, and delivery.

Overall satisfaction across the industry--which J.D. Power measures on a 1,000-point scale--is up, from 842 points in 2005 to 857 points this year. The firm says more than 90% of brands examined in the study improved their overall satisfaction score this year versus last, mostly from physical improvements and better delivery processes.

With the improvements, however, there is a lag in dealing with consumers who arrive at showrooms after they have done their research online, per Tom Gauer, senior director of automotive retail research at J.D. Power and Associates. He says those younger, more affluent, and better-educated consumers who do a lot of Web research and pricing first are less satisfied overall with the experience than people who don't shop online. The latter group also constitutes a shrinking portion of new-vehicle shoppers.

So the uninformed prefer the process versus the informed, but even so the figures suggest that the stereotype of a guy in a plaid jacket and an incongruous pair of plaid pants with a white on white shirt and shortie tie is incorrect.

One thing we WILL be seeing next year is a significant increase in the percent of overall auto spending from dealers and dealer associations. Well, at least the people we like will be doing the spending, anyway.

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

Stewie, Underdog, and Charlie: Coke Ad Still Marvelous

It's running in theaters now. Magnificent.

MakeFive: Social Networking Through Lists, Shared Interests And Opinion

Tell the truth: when was the last time you spent more than 90 seconds on MySpace. More of you make purposeful use of FaceBook, but the idea that social networking is fun for a time but loses steam is still valid for many people.

Enough with the poking and vampires. It's time to exchange views in a fun and engaging way. At least that is the premise of MakeFive, a site that is driving discussion and relationships by asking people to share views with top five lists.

Lists, you say? What's the fun in that? Plenty. In my decidedly nonscholarly way, I trace the rebirth of lists to Letterman, whose top ten lists are frequently viraled by tens of thousands on the morning after.

But the premise of MakeFive makes that idea democratic. As a member you can make top five lists about anything -- and the more interesting and provocative the better.

Here's their concept video from Tech Crunch.



Essentially, you create a concept and put in your faves. Then others visit it and make their own choices. The wheat (or chaff) rises democratically to the top.

Here's the current vote at the time of this writing for the votes on the most evil people in the world:



And here's the list for Biggest Douchebags in Sports:



The site takes advertising and offers some interesting ways to customize and target messages. From their site:

How ads work on MakeFive
MakeFive allows you to reach people who want to hear about your offering, by customizing your ad placement to specific interest categories. The site's clean design associates your organization as a premium brand, while avoiding any distracting clutter for the user. MakeFive is an addictive site, which attracts repeat visits due to the compelling nature of its user-generated content.

Types of service
MakeFive gives advertisers the opportunity to integrate custom campaigns that reach specific users, and the option of using existing Google Advertising Programs. We also assist advertisers in making special offers available to users. In the future, we will offer customized analytics data and rank assistance.

It's quite fun and energizing. And the targeting options are definitely interesting and intriguing. Check it out today!

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

Green Semantic Search: Truevert

The world of semantic search is getting more crowded, and a new entry, Truevert, is taking the concept in a powerful and interesting new direction. Their first offering, Truevert, is a search offering focused exclusively on green issues, and combines semantics with the idea of a baseline interest. It says that rather than finding s search result for an average person without the help of knowing their interest areas leads to results that are irrelevant to many people.

Here's how they describe themselves.

Product overview

The goal of Truevert is to provide users with information that is focused on their interest. Truevert provides a scalable, accurate, and powerful search technology that learns the meaning of language the same way people do - by it's context.

This version of Truevert is focused on green, environmental awareness. All searches are done from the point of view of environmental and social concern. The results are obtained from YAHOO BOSS. They are then organized and clustered by Truevert. If you search for the word "carbon" for example, it knows that you want information about carbon's impact on climate change, not its physical chemistry. What's most surprising, is that the Truevert search engine learned all this in less than one hour on a single server with no ontology, taxonomy, or thesaurus.

For a video intro, see their elevator pitch from Tech Crunch:



Truevert also offers green news and opinion selected for relevance.

I don't know what goes on under the hood of semantic search but this concept makes a lot of horse sense, at least in my eyes. Give it a whirl, it works rather well. I am sure this is just of the first of the semantic vertical search products emanating from here. If your reaction is as positive as mine, they are in for a great future.

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

Discover Multivariate Ad Testing With SnapAds

We all know that ad testing can make a big difference in engagement and response rates -- but in the past it has been an arse chapper -- so much creative was necessary at such a high cost that most clients and agencies sort of skate around the elephant in the living room out of expediency.

SnapAds is out to change this set of circumstances with a system that automates much of the development of dozens or even hundreds of versions of creative so that the critical task of optimization can truly take place, and in a manner that can make a huge difference for the brand.

Essentially you upload a bunch of gif, jpg or animations and the SnapAds system creates every conceivable combination of text, graphics, offers, and buttons. Once you are satisfied with your test set, you field the campaign and the SnapAds system goes through the laborious (or used to be laborious) process of in market testing of all of these options, rapidly improving your results until the system has identified the optimal set of ads to drive the action you desire. If different ads work in different creative types, that is also revealed in the process.

Here's the way they describe themselves:

Display Ad Optimization
Getting display advertising to perform can be hard. Standard banners offer an untargeted, "one size fits all" message. How can you increase the relevancy and performance of your campaigns without any additional work?

SnapAds is an easy-to-use service that increases the performance of display advertising by optimizing the content of an ad on-the-fly. By continuously testing alternative designs, SnapAds increases engagement, click-throughs, and conversions.

Automatic Improvement
SnapAds automatically optimizes your campaign without any manual help. Set it up and watch it work in real-time.

Analyze Results
SnapAds doesn't just produce great results, it lets you see them in our reporting interface so you can learn what is working best in your campaigns.

Genetic Optimization
SnapAds goes beyond multivariate testing by using a genetic algorithm to optimize a large amount of permutations quickly and efficiently.

Ready in a Snap
SnapAds takes in files produced by Adobe Photoshop or Flash, so your creative team can use the tools they know best.

It's a very cool concept worthy of your time and attention.

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

Design Blox and Adroit: Powerful Solution For Versioning, Testing and Optimization

I just told you about SnapAds -- now let me tell you about DesignBlox, a Boston based company that offers a solution to help keep agencies focused on concepts and ideas, while automating the process of developing and executing hundreds of different ads within a campaign.

This platform also lets you do optimization, but a key part of their positioning is that their Adroit product lets you microtarget creative to specific opportunities -- be they targets, contexts, or behaviors.

The other great thing about this offering is that Judy Gern is CEO of this company. I had the good fortune of working with Judy several years ago, and was really struck by how she gets to the nut of a problem and proactively defines a solution. And she is clever and funny as all get out, excellent qualities in a technology partner. ;-)

The DesignBlox platform focuses on Flash ads and provides an ASP platform to instantly and dynamically alter those files for the versioning you need.

Here's how they describe their flagship product:

Adroit, powered by DesignBlox, is an ASP-based platform that allows advertisers to instantaneously alter components of Flash display ads in real time without having to redesign, rebuild or re-traffic an existing ad, allowing a single ad template to become unlimited versions of itself.

The platform can sequence messages based on any number of key behavioral variables that are defined by the user, and Adroit enabled ads can be populated via external databases or RSS feeds.

Can be used with any Flash display ad (including expandable and floating ad units)
Works with any ad server, publisher or network
Tracks unique users across multiple serving environments.

How Adroit Works

The power of Adroit begins with intelligent display ad templates, which are trafficked just like any other Flash ad. Our proprietary action scripting connects the templates to our web-based creative management system, enabling users to change ads manually in real time, dynamically compile ads based on behavior and business rules, and construct automated tests.

Adroit technology also includes A/B and multivariate testing capabilities that help to determine the effectiveness of individual ad components; including messaging and banner images.

As is clearly the vision behind this effort, Judy and her team know that as budgets have become larger online, the need for a more efficient way to version creative is BOTH acute and chronic. The DesignBlox solution is tailor made to address this key opportunity in an easy and cost effective way.

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

The King Believes In The Power of D'oh!

Burger King is beginning another promotion featuring The Simpson's brand and its characters, and I thought it appropriate to remind us all that rules are made to be broken. What I mean by that is that companies like BK usually focus on the super hype of a movie release to leverage for their all important kids meal business.

Instead, this go round there is no major initiative for the Simpsons -- no movie release, heck to my knowledge not even a DVD. But the power of the Simpsons brand is so massive that it's ongoing brand power is enough to drive all the pull BK needs, or so they hope.

I think they are right. And so apparently does Adweek:

BK's relationship with the yellow, animated family from Springfield goes back 16 years -- during which it has run 10 co-branded programs. "There's enough of a halo effect, and the property has such widespread appeal that it's not really necessary to have a movie or DVD release," said Cindy Syracuse, BK's senior director, cultural marketing.

BK, which launched the hugely popular Simpsonize Me online program around The Simpsons Movie in '07, will be the first partner to get its hands on the famous couch gag that leads every Simpsons show. The fast feeder's ad agency, Campbell Mithun, Minneapolis, has created a live-action TV spot that plays off the opening sequence of the series with the family clowning around on the living room sofa. Collectible premiums in Kids Meals will follow that theme, snapping together to make a wacky tableau under the tagline, "Hang out with the Simpsons." The Pitch Agency, Los Angeles, helped create the program.

With the show's consistent track record, consumer products sales that now top $6 billion, popular Simpsons theme-park attractions in Hollywood and Orlando, and a movie that raked in $527 million worldwide, Fox can afford to cherry pick its Simpsons partners. "We look for the highest level blue-chip brands and partnerships with a major scope," said Howard Nelson, vp of worldwide promotion at Fox Licensing and Merchandising. "You won't see us doing small brand partnerships for this property."

Homer, Marge, Lisa, Santa's Little Helper, Mr. Burns, Smithers, Moe, Apu, Mandula, Side Show Bob, Krusty, and of course Bart can apparently do all that needs to be done, even as they creep toward yet another year -- their 21st I think. How amazing is that. And as much as I hate to endorse the efforts of Fox given their politics, their management of this franchise is clearly genius.

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

Chicken Head Tracking

Digital Marketing Factoid Of The Day: iPhone Apps By Category

From 148Apps.com

Vuclip Consistently Gets It Right

When people ask me how to offer a broad appeal mobile service, I suggest that they check out Vuclip.

Sure, millions of people use it, so I am not alerting them to some newfangled magic bean app or something. But Vuclips really GET IT -- understand what's necessary to create an enduring leadership brand/business in the mobile space.

If you live even farther under a rock than I do, let me let Vuclip tell you a little bit about themselves:

Vuclip is the most widely-used mobile video search site in the world. We are the only true mobile video search and delivery solution that allows you to access any video on the Internet and watch it on any video-enabled phone. Go ahead and search for an Internet video that you'd like to watch on your mobile phone. Vuclip will find that video, transcode and optimize it "on the fly", and then deliver it to your mobile phone in real-time. Pretty cool, and there's no need to download any application to get it to work. Our service is free, although standard carrier data charges apply.

Vuclip users can also take advantage of numerous personalized services, like creating "Cliplists", receiving alerts about new videos and sharing their favorite videos with friends. With Vuclip's unique and proprietary real-time streaming and personalization technology, you are sure to have a rich and hassle-free mobile video experience:

- Millions of videos delivered to mobile phones every month
- Users in more than 130 countries
- Over 2,000 mobile devices supported

Vuclip also enables online publishers and content owners to mobilize their video content through its Vuclip Video API Program. Vuclip delivers high-quality mobile video streaming with a rich multimedia experience across all wireless networks and handsets. Through a simple API level integration, publishers can quickly and easily bring their video content to consumers on the go. The Vuclip Video API Program provides a variety of different integration options, from something simple like a "Send to Phone" feature widget, to a fully functional white labeled video search and delivery platform, powered by Vuclip.

I'm not going to get into the features and all that because you probably already use Vuclip, as I do.

But let's pause for a moment to think about all the things they do right:

- Massive catalog of virtually every video online
- Delivery system that makes vids viewable on a phone regardless of where they are sitting or what platform they are displayed on
- Massive 2000 handset range
- Global globalness
- Happy viewers
- Opportunity to monetize through ads, pre-roll, whatever

For those in mobile trying to figure out how to crack the nut of having a strong BUSINESS in the space, look no further than Milpitas-CA-based Viclip for a model.

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

Skout.com: Location Based Friending

The most shocking thing that I found about Skout.com, a location based mobile friending tool that lets you meet people that share your interests in your area, is that people are actually making friends on it. When I first read the concept, I expected a service packed with hookers and sexual compulsives, looking for horizontal friends.

Oh, I am not saying there are no dirty birdies on the site, but I was struck by how many people were making friends -- actually vertical friends -- on the service.



That's nice to see. Lord knows there are enough places for hookups online, so I was glad to see that this concept is really more mainstream than what I feared.

You'll find a couple of videos on how it works here (they are not embeddable, those silly geese) but basically you use one of the methods to identify your location via your phone. from there you can explore the other members online, contact and find your friends, or simply identify where you are and what you are doing. In all cases, it is possible to have really friendly interactions by text or even in person if you are comfy with that.



The service allows you to control who knows your location -- no one, your friends, or the universe.

Another interesting aspect is that you can log in using your identity from a preexisting social network profile. So no need for ANOTHER log in and all that. Additionally, you can put a widget for Skout on your FaceBook profile and get things going two ways in that manner.

Here's how they define the topline value of the service:

SKOUT is the social tool that connects you to others who are looking for friendship right now! Notify your new friends by posting mobile pictures, video, or chat. Do it on the go!

Find tens of thousands of people looking to meet up and connect with you. Many only blocks away.

Engage others in conversations at your computer or on-demand with your mobile. Get started chatting seconds after joining.

Notify your new friends by sending them pictures and videos captured by your mobile phone while on the go. Share your moments!

It's a nice innovation - definitely one worth your poking around in. Not sure how they are going to make money, but the potential for advertising and other streams by dint of the location based nature of the service are strong.

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

Sugar’s Shop Sense Debuts

You may have seen that earlier this month Sugar debuted what is essentially an affiliate marketing program that lets individual bloggers generate revenue by referring readers to commerce sites. The ERROR_1">ShopSense program works on any major blogger platform, but is especially suited to their OnSugar blogger offering. R>
By featuring links, content, widgets, and text on their pages, individual ">bloggers can generate revenue when their readers buy.

The ShopSense site section offers more details, but Sugar is essentially incenting users to do more than just slap a widget on a page. Users are given access to visual assets so they can make posts about specific assets, talk about sales prices, and otherwise feature items.



I like the idea of a program like this – somehow this seems less like PPP than some other offerings given that this is fashion and bloggers are likely to have a strong interest in featuring fashion and beauty content anyway. By participating in the program, they simply make it easier for their readers to get this look. And the Sugar store has such a broad range of items that bloggers will be able to find content especially suited to their pages.

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

Digital Marketing Factoid Of The Day: iPhone Submissions By Month

From 148Apps.com.

SearchMe and Visual Hunting

I cover a lot of next gen search stuff here, and virtually every time I do I get emails saying that there is a similar solution founded 12 minutes before the provider I highlight with similar attributes.

So let’s start by saying that search offerings are OF COURSE similar, but that the successful ones are going to add a simple and intuitive layer on top of basic search functionality – one that has telegraphic uiser appeal.

SearchMe certainly meets those criteria. It is based upon the simple premise that seeing a thumbnail of the pages in the results will help users more quickly and easily find the content they want. Here’s a screen:



It’s that freakin’ simple. Here’s how they describe themselves:

Searchme lets you see what you’re searching for. As you start typing, categories appear that relate to your query. Choose a category, and you’ll see pictures of web pages that answer your search. You can review these pages quickly to find just the information you’re looking for, before you click through.

Hey, I like shiny bells and whistles as much as the next person, but sometimes simple is best. Regular people have no interest in spending an hour learning how to use a new search tool. With SearchMe, the learning curve is a straight line.

As you can see, rolling over a result makes a small version of the page appear in the top of the results page, in a sort of iPod like interface. It is enormously helpful. Want to snag a picture? Then go to a page where the thumbnail shows pictures. Etc.

With all the search start ups out there, the battle for supremacy is going to be mighty tough – and indeed supremacy may not be an appropriate goal for the future goven that other areas of the web have totally fragmented. Who’s to say search won’t go that way at all. But however the market evolves, SearchMe has one big advantage going for it: useful simplicity.

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

Rummble: Find Good Folks And Good Places Nearby!

Location based mobile services are going to be an enormous boon to the growth of mobile in the US and abroad. And a UK service called Rummble is being widely lauded as a great platform in this space.

In a nutshell, Rummble uses GPS and a bunch of social media functionality to make it easy to find people and places that you would like:

Here's how they describe what they do:

Rummble is a location based social search and discovery tool, enabling users find recommended content for a location more easily, without a traditional keyword search. Instead, Rummble’s algorithm provides personalised results based upon a trust profile it builds for you and the content in your social network.

We’ve chosen to build our first service around location based content:

- Discover content for any location (e.g. cool bars, local knowledge and the secret hangouts)
- Give friends automatic warning when you will be in their area
- Share location based content - reviews, photos, videos and blogs
- Explore with Rummble on your mobile or on the web
- Meet new people nearby
- Publish your Rummbles and your location to Facebook and other social software
- It works anywhere - you can use it at home or on the move via your mobile.

Rummble works globally and has been in closed Beta since September 2007. In April 2008 the Rummble service went into limited open Beta.

Your Rummble reviews and status updates don't just stay on phones, or indeed within Rummble. In fact, the service is connected to many of the big social nets, including FaceBook, Bebo, Flickr, Twitter, Google Gears, and Fire Eagle. So you can send your info directly to profiles in less time than it takes to say "Buckingham Palace."



As I said at the beginning, many of the loudest and best opinions online have heralded Rummble as a marvelous example of what place based mobile services should be. A friend of mine in the UK is almost ready to jump in front of a bus for the sake of the service 0- that's how strong user love quickly becomes. Now that they are in limited public beta, I would expect that their presence in the US will get big rather rapidly.

The ad opps in place based are enormous -- both for national retailers, service providers, and even local businesses looking for ways to attract new and lapsed users to their doors. That makes the potential revenue and profitability for services like Rummble very promising, indeed.

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

PixelPipe: Upload Content Once, Get It Practically Everywhere!

We all have distributed social presences online -- photo sites, video sites, social nets, blogs, vlogs, etc., and it can be rather cumbersome to upload content to relevant locations. What do you do when you want to add a new photo to Flickr, MySpace, Bebo, FaceBook, and Blogger?

Well, most of us visit the relevant sites and manually upload to each.

That is, until we get started with Pixelpipe.

Here's how CrunchBase describes what they do:

A service that allows users to publish media once through the Pixelpipe gateway and have it published out to over 45 online destinations. Choices of media include photos, video and audio files. Destinations include most of the popular social networks, micro-blogs, photo/video sites, blogs from around the globe as well as online storage as well as a few generic interfaces like Atom, FTP and email to allow the user to publish to their personal destinations.

It works on PCs, natch, but also iPhones, Android, and some other smart phones.

It can deliver content to a huge range of social media and other sites -- let me say that again, a HUGE range. And more are being added constantly.

Here's a video about the iPhone app. but the service works the same on other phones as well.



Pixelpipe is a great app whose time has definitely come. Download it today and get started!

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

iVisit: So Many Ways To Communic8

We've come a long way from the days I remember where calling across the country was definitely a special occasion thing. Now we call anyone anywhere pretty routinely, whether in a personal or a B2B context.

iVisit hopes to help all of us take the connectivity of the phone still further. With a broad array of valuable service for just $4.95 per month per user, they may just do it. Check out all the things you can do using your 3G phone and the iVisit service:

- Online video chat with up to 8 users
- Push-to-talk across carriers
- Text messaging
- Record and Share Audio, Photo, and Video Messages
- Track mobile users with GPS Location Based Services
- Desktop-to-mobile, mobile-to-mobile, and desktop-to-desktop connectivity

Here's how they toot their own horn:

iVisit combines audio-video conferencing, instant messaging, presentation and desktop sharing into one powerful unified communication solution. It works on desktop computers and mobile devices, enabling cross carrier and cross platform connectivity.

Our breakthrough peer-to-peer (P2P) networking technology dramatically reduces the cost of unified communications and online meetings. With FREE one-to-one conferencing and multiparty for $4.95 per month (per user), iVisit is affordable to deploy across your entire organization. Invited participants attend meetings free!

iVisit is not just a solution that replaces travel, training, and other occasional events. We are enabling organizations and individuals to make unified communications and collaboration as widespread and frequently used as email.

Our pioneering efforts have enabled audio/video conferencing and Location Based Services (LBS) between 3G mobile phones and desktop computers. Managers can remotely assist, track, and interact with their mobile workforce to see what they see in the field. You can also host or attend online meetings from anywhere using your mobile phone.

It is a 3G oriented service, but the penetration of 3G phones is rising so rapidly that this gives them loads of room to grow.

The company also offers a business services plan that includes all of the personal offering's features plus:

- Host and attend live meetings
- Manage a remote workforce
- Real-time collaboration with presentation, application, and desktop sharing
- Secure server solutions manageable without an IT department

I particularly like the idea of videoconferencing through phones -- a nice offering for a distributed team.

Now, not all of these features are new, by any stroke. But iVisit is far less expensive than many of the alternatives -- something that will prove a big selling point in a down economy.

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