Friday, December 12, 2008
Vuclip Consistently Gets It Right
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
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.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
SearchMe and Visual Hunting
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.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
White Paper Wednesdays: Experiential Marketing
Very Cool Chart on the RockYouAds Site
Now six of the top ten sites have social media components. Now whether that’s chicken or egg is immaterial. Suffice it to say, to be biug it is FAR EASIER to be social than not to be.
Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to write.
White Paper Wednesdays: CRM 2.0
White Paper Wednesdays: Social Media and WOM Wisdom From Popular Media
Every brand loves the idea of social media, but few understand the best way of taking their brand into it. Ditto developing and implementing WOM campaigns. Popular Media offers a platform that makes it easy to plan, implement, field, measure, and optimize WOM efforts.
Here’s how they describe themselves:
PopularMedia is opening a new, untapped channel for marketing and brand engagement. We have developed a suite of products designed to help companies publish, measure, and optimize online word-of-mouth programs; identify and target influential consumers and social networks; and facilitate consumer-to-consumer conversations through email, blogs, and social networking sites.
Whether businesses are looking to understand the social connectivity of their database, create sustainable, profitable, private label word-of-mouth programs or drive instant social interactivity to any part of their site, PopularMedia products can help them optimize web-based social media marketing programs for the social media channel.
They also offer two fine fine fine white papers (reg required) on social media and WOM best practices that you should download if you have any significant interest in the space. These lads and lasses know what they are doing, and so will you after you read these docs. Get them here.
Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to write.
PhoneTopp: Mobile Collaboration Made Simpler
Collaboration is a very hot business area. In fact, many are reporting that they expect desktop and mobile collaboration offerings will be as common as email in the years ahead. Check out these stats, taken from the Phonetopp web page:
Gartner estimates the web/audio collaboration market to be $5 billion today. In 2010, Gartner estimates web conferencing will be available to 75 percent of corporate users as standard facility alongside email, presence and calendaring.
The soft economy is going to drive even more interest in remote collaboration services, and Phonetopp is a company that works to seamlessly extend these services to smart phones.
One of the things that makes their service so interesting is their focus on making it so easy to use mobile videoconferencing. They've made a special effort to let people participate without going to web pages or other unnecessary steps.
Here's how they describe the value they bring to enterprises:
PhoneTopp will enable productivity improvements for the enterprise by delivering the essential collaboration services required to immediately connect people and information seamlessly from their smartphone. When commercially launched, PhoneTopp will first allow users to host or participate in a web meeting directly from their smartphone, through a simple click‐to‐collaborate approach that includes the ability to:
- Accept an invitation via text message to join a web conference
- Answer a phone call that launches an application to participate in the meeting, with no phone numbers or passwords to remember
- Navigate and zoom natively with integrated tools, including a PhoneTop
- Developed “mobile rewind” capability that allows users to independently go back within the presentation if they missed a slide
If there is validity in the Gartner data, and there usually is, its easy to see how this company will be able to grow and prosper now and in the future.
Phonetopp is soliciting emails for beta invites -- you probably wanna head over there and put yourself in the queue.
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
Palringo: Making IM Work Better On Cellys
OK, people have been IMing from phones for some time. But really only text. And as those of us who use IM know, there are so many other ways that IM has transformed the way we share online.
A UK company called Palringo is out to make IM work a lot harder online by adding dimension to the offering for mobile devices.
Here, let them tell you what they do:
What is Palringo?
Palringo is the first Rich Messaging Service - bringing together for the first time the ability to easily exchange text, voice and picture messages with friends, family and colleagues across all popular instant messaging services, whether sitting at a computer or on the move using a mobile phone or PDA.
What does all this do? Well, it makes messaging a lot more productive for a start. There are many instances in which pictures of video or other forms of content would aid to the richness of understanding as we broach topics via IM. Being able to send and deliver these to mobile eliminates the need to get to a PC to get your work --- or play -- done.
Palringo also lets you exchange voice messages -- to one or to many. This has benefits for phone to PC as well as phone to phone interactions.
Palringo supports the following messenger services
Palringo
AIM
Yahoo
MSN/Live
ICQ
Jabber
Gadu Gadu
Additionally, you can use Palringo to create and participate in Palringo groups -- a sort of one to many/many to one form of communication.
And the price is right too! Free to personal (versus enterprise) users.
Check it out on their website, or through your celly!
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Mevio And Entertainment Convergence
Here’s how they describe themselves:
MEVIO hosts networks of personality-driven episodic entertainment to best engage our customers-comprised of viewers, producers, advertisers and partners. MEVIO is one of the fastest growing entertainment sites on the web.
MEVIO has over forty shows in production, ranging from technology to comedy and general entertainment. We currently have an audience of over six million monthly unique visitors and are ranked by comScore as a top twenty site for both general entertainment and music. Our top networks include technology, music, women's and men's content.
One of the big differences about their offering is that they appear to be creating a microcosm of human interests by creating an array of channels focused on different targets and interests. Their channel lineup includes:
• Fashionista
• Laugh You’re a** Off
• Hot Shows
• Gaming and Gear
• Going Green
• Exotic Travel
• Hot Gadgets
• Women of You Tube
• I speak Cutes. Rly.
• Smaching Videos
• Mevio Mix
• Classic Horro
• Animations and Cartoons
• Mevio Today
• Mevio Tech
• Mevio Women
• Mevio Music
• SXtreme Sports
• Entertainment
• Girl Talk
• Mevio Preview
As you can see, this is not just a cars and babes site at all.
Mevio also blurs the lines between platforms. In addition to their PC Internet presence, Mevio content is also offered through Tivo on TV sets.
Theirs is an ad supported model, offering banners, video, sponsored content, and, it appears, sponsored channels. The quality of their content may attract advertisers uncomfy with the UGC free for alls of other sites, as well as their ability to reach many different demographics and interest areas. Here’s an example of a Cover Girl vid on their site:
Check them out!
Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to write.
Digital Marketing Factoid Of The Day: Online Spending Projections
Online ad spending will climb by 8.9 percent next year, from $23.6 billion to $25.7 billion. Back in August, just prior to Wall Street’s meltdown, eMarketer predicted that spending would surge by 14 percent in 2009. But the economy is now taking its toll on all segments of media.
The good news is that spending growth should gradually improve over the next several years according to the firm--+10.9 percent in 2010 and +13.5 percent in 2013—but those growth figures are also lower than eMarketer recently forecast, as the ad recovery is now expected to take longer than originally believed.
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
iMedia Summit Monday Recap
I am not a gloom and doom person and frankly am weary of conventional wisdom overshoot in our industry. I mean, if growth rates fall below 50% per quarter people get all jittery. It’s gonna be alright, people. Take it from someone who’s been in advertising through three recessions and the dot bomb. And 37 rounds of layoffs in his life. Really! It’ll be OK, guys and gals!
As reassurance, I wanted to combat some of the black veils and eulogies being put forth of late to provide a list of nine things that made me more optimistic about the industry. All coming out of today’s iMedia Summit sessions, in the order they occurred at the show:
9. 24-7 Real Media gave a thought provoking presentation on how technology continues to drive a revolution in the ability of digital media to meet the precise needs of brands. Their perspective on what is happening in the ad network space was interesting and gave me pause. What’s more, their message and tone was realistically optimistic – that there will be fallout from the downturn but that there is no reason why the smart leaders of our industry cannot continue to grow and prosper – and grow stronger BECAUSE of the scarcity of resources and the weaning of weaker concepts and opportunities. 24-7 is a frequent sponsor of iMedia, so special props for that as well.
8. NBCU always has great things to say and says them in a clear and powerful way. Some of their new offerings – including customized audiences across the various NBC properties – offer interesting new opps for advertisers to seriously consider. Also, they have a new roadblock offering that offers an alternative to portal front page takeovers. Having more roadblocking and massive reach opps like these, across leading web properties, bodes well for the future of our medium because it helps us deliver greater value and present credible alternatives to clients.
7. Today’s keynote from Don Epperson, CEO of Havas Digital, offered a compelling vision for the future of agencies as – in a very real sense – data driven brand networks. For years agencies have been talking about creating data warehouses for brands – Havas’s vision is to layer on an auction based ad valuation model for its clients that places the focus on the consumer reached rather than the gif blinked. A focus on individual consumers has always been a cornerstone of digital, so this massive initiative offers a vision for the future you should definitely check out. You can agree or disagree with their approach, but you cannot doubt how strategically driven his message really is.
6. One Minute MatchUps: Some attendees groan about this part of the program, but I love it. The idea of one minute matchups is to give agencies and pubs/nets the opportunity to meet about 60 people in a single hour – to talk about what they are doing and get a Reader’s Digest version of what’s on offer. I absolutely love hearing a good salesperson do their pitch, even more so when they can effectively distill a massive offering of content, creative options and targeting technologies into an 18 second sentence. At the end of the show I am going to send out special shouts to the people I thought were rocking sellers, but overall I was impressed by the messages this year – both in their succinctness and in the attempt by many to make a 1 minute pitch a consultative sell. Dat takes mad skilz.
5. Microsoft Advertising’s al fresco cocktail hour offered another great opp for networking. And it makes me happy to be around so many people who are optimistic about the future of the business. I always appreciate companies that sponsor events like this because they are really the engine to collaboration in the industry.
4. Weatherbug’s beach themed dinner offered opps to meet and talk with more (optimistic) people, and to hear a really good band play a plethora of songs I actually knew the words to. Those in the industry should take (positive) note that the fact that the third song they performed was Brick House indicates that this is no longer just an industry of wide eyed 23 year olds. Welcome to wrinkles, iMedia. Just think of them as nooks and crannies to hold the wisdom.
When I know all the songs, you know you’re getting old, people. But remember the motto of my personal blog, “Old is the new black.”
3. The Hoover’s after hours reception was (I am told, 9:30PM is my bedtime) a rocking good time. Hoovers has really increased their prominence in the planning and buying arena with sponsorships of iMedia and other events. It’s not right for every brand but there’s nothing like Hoovers for the brands it clicks with.
2. I got to talk with about a dozen people starting new companies, which I think is a great sign that our future is bright. Over the next several months I’ll be doing little Q&As with some of these people and running them here at iMedia Connection.
1. Infectious optimism really made me feel great all day. And made me, for a time, forget about missing my little pup, Sleepy, who is, even as you read this, stamping his foot and wearing a little disgusted grimace. See, he’s at doggie day care back in O-Town wondering when I am going to come home and throw his ball.
Soon, Sleepers, Soon!
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
Let’s Talk Meebo: Because Some People Just Don’t Get It
Hold the phone a minute and I will explain it. Meebo is a platform that lets people on different IM offerings communicate with eachother. It also offers private chatrooms that can be accessed on the site or integrated into other sites. There were other similar services in the past, but I believe Meebo was the first to offer this without download.
So, as I read that paragraph, again, I see utility rather than cause célèbre that people would gladly lay down their lives for. And yet that is exactly what Meebo is. People who use this service adore it, and evangelize for it left and right. I cannot tell you how many times my eyes have glazed over at industry parties when people out of the blue start talking about this and how it has CHANGED THEIR LIVES!
To be sure, the site has rock em sock em stats:
About Meebo and its Users
• 3+ million logins per day
• 2.5 hours per average session at meebo.com
• 60 buddies average per user
• Median age of 21
• 30 million unique monthly users across Meebo properties
• Conversation-driven environment is perfect for viral campaigns
• Moderation features and profanity filters across all properties make Meebo the safest place for IM on the Web
I want to emphasize that this post is definitely a fan letter for Meebo. These people clearly have a knack for creating brand energy and evangelism that we would all do well to copy.
Dearhearts, they also offer a host of advertising opportunities so that you and your brand can capitalize on both the user passion and the large amounts of time they spend on the site/using the services. Many of their ad opps can be shared experiences across users, That’s pretty cool in itself.
Even someone like me, that doesn’t entirely get the tingly sensation when I hear this brand name, recognizes marketing power when I see it. And Meebo appears to be a synonym for both the words "marketing power" and "love".
Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to write.
Mahalo: The Sound Of Gracious Assistance
The first time I looked at Mahalo, I liked it but did not find it compelling enough to change my search spot of choice. As time has gone on, however, I keep coming back to the site when I am looking for a launchpad for searches on a particular B2C topic, because the Mahalo editors are very good at identifying both great links and key places to explore. It’s that second bit that I like the most – the opportunity to root around in related topics while still getting all the basic info on my search term in a single page.
I still don’t do a majority of my searches on Mahalo, in part because I generally look for rather esoteric stuff, and the Mahalo model is really more focused on a set of 10-25,000 frequently searched terms. Also, I am used to asking for things in certain ways on my regular search tool (Yahoo). All that said, I do use Mahalo increasingly because it is so darned well organized and entertaining as a means of learning more about a topic!
Take, for example, a Mahalo search on Thanksgiving. Type it into Google or even my beloved Yahoo and you get 19 bajillion links to (let's face it) mostly irrelevant content. Type it into Mahalo and you find a definition, fast facts, a collection of recent news articles on the topic, history, recipes, traditions lists, a collection of related Mahalo pages, and a host of other interesting and entangling links.
Then I got to thinking about who their real close in competitors are, and I didn’t come up with Yahoo or Google but rather About.com. Though About offers greater breadth in terms of searchable topics, and Mahalo offers far greater depth and better organization.
Anyhow. If you haven’t looked at Mahalo, or at least not lately, I suggest you give it the once over today. No ad opps yet, but I ‘spect they’re a coming!
Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to write.
What's Up at Mofuse
A while back I did a post on Mofuse, the company that offers the opportunity for bloggers and others to create mobile version of their web presences in about 4 seconds. They are a C:SF client and the offering is wonderfully simple and effective.
Since that post, Mofuse has made its Pro level service, which used to have a monthly subscription fee, absolutely free. Among other things, pro service lets you monetize your mobile site via rev share with Mofuse.
Here's what Mashable had to say about that and the whys for the decision:
Earlier today, I received an email from PayPal, indicating that my MoFuse Professional account – which I use for powering a mobile version of my web site under my own domain – had been cancelled. Confused, I emailed David Berube, Chief Architect of MoFuse, who gave me the good news: MoFuse has decided to make its service free for everyone.
By eliminating professional accounts, MoFuse is looking to make their offering more attractive to publishers and also make a more aggressive play at the mobile advertising market. “We’ve been working on a targeted self-service mobile advertising network which you will see at the very earliest in Q4 of this year. This is a much better way for not only MoFuse to generate revenue, but for bloggers and advertisers as well,” says Berube.
The debut of free Pro service is one of the reasons why over 15,000 blogs and other sites have chosen Mofuse and currently offer .mobi sites through them.
So let's do the math. Easy, take about 4 seconds, free, offers an automatic ad rev share. And you don't have a Mofuse site for your blog because...
See a Mofuse site by clicking on the Mobile Friendly chicklet in the side bar at the top of this blog. Purty, hunh???
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
Instinctiv: It's All About How You're Feeling Right At This Very Moment
Enter Instinctiv, a service that recognizes that people have different moods and life occasions that require very different sets of tunes to go with them. Instead of simply serving up a potpourri of songs you like, the service analyzes the songs you skip to eliminate genres from your playlist and package up a fine collection of appropriate songs.
Here's how they describe themselves:
Instinctiv for Music. Skip Less. Play More.
The Instinctiv Music Shuffle is a revolutionary new "smart shuffle" technology that uses skip behavior to quickly determine what songs fit the consumer's current mood. With a simple one button interface users have found the Instinctiv Music Shuffle to be an essential part of their listening experience, decreasing the number of skips by 20 fold.
Available on: All browsers, operating systems, and mobile OSs
Instinctiv Radio creates the most advanced personalized radio platform, that is easy to use both for the operator and the consumer. Listeners can direct the genre by skipping the songs they aren't interested in. Within 2-3 skips most consumers can begin enjoying an uninterrupted stream of consistent music. Moreover, Instinctiv Radio doesn't need any "human experts" behind the wheel to drive music the experience -- everything is controlled through the automated machine learning technology.
Available on: All browsers, operating systems, and mobile OSs.
And here's their YouTube commercial:
An additional aspect of the service is the store, where you can buy songs and other content reflective of your current mood. It's a great addition.
Their plans appear to be much broader than just music, so it'll be interesting to see how this all plays out for video.
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
With Mob4Hire, The World Is Your Mobile Test Lab
A couple weeks ago, I did a rant post that griped about how people are releasing software and applications that are horribly buggy -- and doing so without a care in the world because they slapped "beta" on the logo.
Believe me that I get it that test labs can be hard and expensive to set up, and in the mobile space in particular, the problem is particularly acute because there are so many handsets with different capabilities and operating processes.
Which is why I am happy to tell you about Mob4Hire, a company that applies the principle of crowd sourcing to the problem. The service connects would be testers from around the world with companies that need their platforms and applications tested. As a developer, you select the platforms you want to test on, and a price per tester, and get connected with people with those handsets willing to do the testing.
There are already several dozen opportunities posted on the site, so there business seems to be growing rapidly. In addition to the ability to source testers more or less immediately, the global reach of the offering lets you test in networks all around the planet.
This is such a sharp solution for a very real need.
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
Monday, December 8, 2008
iMedia Summit: BrightRoll
My favorite thing about the BrightRoll people (disclosure: they are a Catalyst:SF client) is that they are direct, honest, and genuinely driven to find solutions that will help brands make more of online video. They addressed key questions that planners and buyers face every day -- the sort of questions for which the answers can drive more strategic and effective brand solutions using online video.
The company also introduced two new products that I think have real potential to be game changers: a "channel" consisting entirely of broadcast websites that encompass the super premium video assets available online, and BrightRoll Reach, a solution designed to meet the needs of value oriented advertisers looking for TV sized reach online.
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
iMedia Summit: BrightRoll
My favorite thing about the BrightRoll people (disclosure: they are a Catalyst:SF client) is that they are direct, honest, and genuinely driven to find solutions that will help brands make more of online video. They addressed key questions that planners and buyers face every day -- the sort of questions for which the answers can drive more strategic and effective brand solutions using online video.
The company also introduced two new products that I think have real potential to be game changers: a "channel" consisting entirely of broadcast websites that encompass the super premium video assets available online, and BrightRoll Reach, a solution designed to meet the needs of value oriented advertisers looking for TV sized reach online.
iMedia Summit: DoubleClick
The keystone of their preso was a piece of research outlining what works in ad units. The study, which is available for free on their site, without registration, offers up data from a plethora DoubleClick clients pointing out how ad size, video, and other creative elements impact click and engagement rates.
Check out their study!
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
iMedia Summit: Casale Media
A Casale presentation focuses on real tangible ideas and programs – no vapor from these fellas ever. It’s that strong solutions orientation that makes such a refreshing change from so many media presentations today.
Their brand for me is about being a strong, upfront, dotted is and crossed ts network, with the necessary technologies but also the recognition that the devil is in the details. Or would be if they weren’t so meticuolous. It’s great to hear from a company that unabashedly is exactly what it is, especially when the is is a very good thing.
Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to write.
iMedia Summit: Susan Bratton
The program was absolutely in the spirit of her exciting new podcast centric initiative, Personal Life Media. In case you mised my earlier post about Personal Life Media, well, shame on you. But the site is a really innovative and intriguing web destination for life enrishmnet.My understanding is that they are also connecting with and closing ad buys, so that's encouraging to hear.
What most struck me about her program was how she wove a positive, proactive, solutions oriented life seminar in just 45 or so minutes. The amount of prep SUsan had to do to create this powerful and truly unqiue program was tremendous, and I want to extend my personal thanks for all of her efforts.
I came away from that program with a new appreciation for not only how my own days (read:life) have areas for improvement, coupled with the beginnings of a toolset to do it.
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
iMedia Summit: Gordon Paddison
Gordon was interviewed by Catalyst:SF’s own Cory Treffiletti. Gordon tells it like it is, and you gotta appreciate him for that. But I was most struck by how constructive were his suggestions, and how he paired his trademark honesty with direct suggestions about ways to address the issues facing all of us in our client relationships.
A key focus of his message, at least in my view, was related to systemic issues that need to be overcome to improve relationships between agencies and brands. On his hit list were agencies that can’t or won’t hold onto their people who thereby add to the cost and complexity of working with that agency because of the need to constantly train new people. Another was the “bait and switch” phenom of pitching with the A team and serving with the B.
Thank you for your insights, Gordon.
Thanks for reading and don’t forget to write.
iMedia Summit: Gordon Paddison
Gordon was interviewed by Catalyst:SF’s own Cory Treffiletti. Gordon tells it like it is, and you gotta appreciate him for that. But I was most struck by how constructive were his suggestions, and how he paired his trademark honesty with direct suggestions about ways to address the issues facing all of us in our client relationships.
A key focus of his message, at least in mw, was related to systemic issues that need to be overcome to improve relationships between agencies and brands. On his hit list were agencies that can’t or won’t hold onto their people who thereby add to the cost and complexity of working with that agency because of the need to constantly train new people. Another was the “bairt and switch” phenom of pitching ith the A team and serving with the B.
Thank you for your insights, Gordon.
Thanks for reading and don’t forget to write.
iMedia Summitabulous! Agency Day Highlights!
For those who couldn’t come to agency day this year, I thought I would provide a synopsis of some of the play by play of what was by all accounts a great day and a wonderful beginning to the Agency Summit. So here are my nine key highlights, in the order that they came throughout the day.
9. People Came Together. The core activity of agency day was AgencyRX, the launch of a year-long project to remake the agency model by defining real actionable solutions for issues and opportunities to enrich the value that agencies provide clients. There were five key areas of focus:
- Agency Value: How can we materially enhance the value that clients realize from their agency relationships?
- Reporting Revolution: How can we improve the reporting process that we can focus more time on strategic insights and optimization and less on the mechanics of producing reports?
- Collaboration: How can we make different discipline areas come together to make truly remarkable marketing programs, and how can we foster real, accountable collaboration between agencies that serve a client?
- Emerging Media: How can we improve how emerging media opportunities are evaluated, tested and implemented on our businesses?
- Training for Excellence: How can we develop cross agency solutions to improve expertise in our people?
Each area was addressed by a core team that outlined the key issues, an action plan, and a timeline to make our ideas come to fruition. Thanks in particular to those attendees who were asked to lead and facilitate each group!
At the end of the main session Dave Smith updated the group on the activities of The Aspen Group and launched the voting for the "Aspies" Awards.
What I was most struck by was how enthusiastic was every attendee in finding the solutions our business so needs to achieve its potential -- to be the business we want it to be! It really was a continuation of the spirit begun many years ago by The Aspen Group, and a demonstration that people are just as committed now to working together as they were when the tradition of an agency day began!
I am particularly grateful to iMedia itself for making this agency day possible.
8. AOL Platform A gave a comprehensive presentation on the many opportunities and developments as this company makes strides in providing that “Everything you want, in one place” solution that truly defines the vision behind the company. My key takeaway from the presentation is the strength of their many online site brands – they really do offer leadership presences in many of the key verticals that consumers are interested in today. As they constantly add new properties to their quiver of assets, they also offer the cutting edge targeting and other technologies that can make a difference – and indeed are making a difference – for so many brands today. Also, lemme give you a reminder that AOL Platform A is one of the biggest sponsors of iMedia event after event, year after year. So special props for that, folks!
7. Gordon Paddison gave a lively on stage interview about the issues and opportunities facing clients and agencies. Gordon was interviewed by Catalyst:SF’s own Cory Treffiletti. Gordon tells it like it is, and you gotta appreciate him for that. But I was most struck by how constructive were his suggestions, and how he paired his trademark honesty with direct suggestions about ways to address the issues facing all of us in our client relationships.
6. Susan Bratton led a program designed to help people identify how they can achieve work life balance and help the people on their teams achieve balance in THEIR lives. The program was absolutely in the spirit of her exciting new podcast centric initiative, Personal Life Media. What most struck me about her program was how she wove a positive, proactive, solutions oriented life seminar in just 45 or so minutes. I came away from that program with a new appreciation for not only how my own days (read:life) have areas for improvement, coupled with the beginnings of a toolset to do it.
5. Casale Media presented their developments in the area of brand safety online. I confess that I always look forward to Casale presentations because the spirit of these presentations is so consistent and specific. A Casale presentation focuses on real tangible ideas and programs – no vapor from these fellas ever. It’s that strong solutions orientation that makes such a refreshing change from so many media presentations today.
4. DoubleClick offered an insightful presentation of their new initiatives and programs that will have profound impacts on what we can do and how we can account for it online. I always enjoy DoubleClick presentations because perhaps no company is more at the vortex of digital today, owing to their critical role in serving, reporting, and unearthing findings that drive real agency insights.
3. BrightRoll presented a really engaging and entertaining program around real, actionable solutions to taking online video to another level. My favorite thing about the BrightRoll people (disclosure: they are a Catalyst:SF client) is that they are direct, honest, and genuinely driven to find solutions that will help brands make more of online video. They addressed key questions that planners and buyers face every day -- the sort of questions for which the answers can drive more strategic and effective brand solutions using online video. The company also introduced two new products that I think have real potential to be game changers: BrightRoll Broadcast, a "channel" consisting entirely of broadcast websites that encompass the super premium video assets available online, and BrightRoll Reach, a solution designed to meet the needs of value oriented advertisers looking for TV sized reach online.
2. Sportgenic threw a wonderful games oriented reception in the spirit of both their sports heritage and engagement. One thing you NEVER get from this team (disclosure: they are a Catalyst:SF client) is a cookie cutter approach. Because they operate within the sports marketing arena, and because of who they are, you can always expect something different and involving from them.
1. Specific Media threw a great after hours reception that helped further build the connections and spirit of the agency leaders assembled here. Collaboration has been a watchword at Specific for some time, so their choice of this sponsorship seems particularly fitting. Their people are always a heckuva lot of fun as well.
I’d like to close this post by reiterating my personal thanks to the sponsors of iMedia Summits, because their dollars and commitment to the agency sector make all of this teamwork, learning, and energizing possible.
Hey, no one needs a reminder of how time these days are a bit tough – and I am so very grateful that the people who lead these forward thinking companies cough up the bucks to get us all together. It’s good business for you, I get that part, but it’s also a demonstration of commitment to others – indeed to relationships – that I am sure every attendee of this conference appreciates as much as I do.
So thanks ladies and gents!
Gentle reader, please excuse my run-on sentences in this post. It's kinda late as I type this.
Elf Yourself 2: Sometimes the Sequel Is Better Than The Original
This year you get to customize five elves, and choose their dance. Your elves then boogie down,and proceed to dance in much funnier ways than in the original, not that last year's dancing was anything but a laugh and a half.
Here's the disco dance featuring my Sleepy Sleepington:
Naturally I could have customized all the elves, but since Sleepy has no equal I demured. Anyway, get on over to the site and start making your vids. You can also order schwag featuring your custom elves. What fun!
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
iMedia Summit: AOL Platform A
AOL Platform A gave a comprehensive presentation on the many opportunities and developments as this company makes strides in providing that “Everything you want, in one place” solution that truly defines the vision behind the company. My key takeaway from the presentation is the strength of their many online site brands – they really do offer leadership presences in many of the key verticals that consumers are interested in today.
As they constantly add new properties to their quiver of assets, they also offer the cutting edge targeting and other technologies that can make a difference – and indeed are making a difference – for so many brands today. Also, lemme give you a reminder that AOL Platform A is one of the biggest sponsors of iMedia, event after event, year after year. So special props for that, folks!
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
iMedia Summit: Agency Day’s Agency RX
- Agency Value: How can we materially enhance the value that clients realize from their agency relationships?
- Reporting Revolution: How can we improve the reporting process that we can focus more time on strategic insights and optimization and less on the mechanics of producing reports?
- Collaboration: How can we make different discipline areas come together to make truly remarkable marketing programs, and how can we foster real, accountable collaboration between agencies that serve a client?
- Emerging Media: How can we improve how emerging media opportunities are evaluated, tested and implemented on our businesses?
- Training for Excellence: How can we develop cross agency solutions to improve expertise in our people?
Each area was addressed by a core team that outlined the key issues, an action plan, and a timeline to make our ideas come to fruition. Thanks in particular to those attendees who were asked to lead and facilitate each group!
At the end of the main session Dave Smith updated the group on the activities of The Aspen Group and launched the voting for the "Aspies" Awards.
What I was most struck by was how enthusiastic was every attendee in finding the solutions our business so needs to achieve its potential -- to be the business we want it to be! It really was a continuation of the spirit begun many years ago by The Aspen Group, and a demonstration that people are just as committed now to working together as they were when the tradition of an agency day began!
You’ll be reading more about Agency RX both here and on iMediaConnection.
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
Digital Marketing Factoid Of The Day: US TV Usage Trend
TV viewing is at an all-time high. According to Nielsen's second A2/M2 Three Screens Report the average U.S. home had the TV set turned on 8 hours and 18 minutes per day, a record high since Nielsen began measuring TV in the 1950s.
As of third quarter, the average person in the U.S. watched 142 hours of TV in one month, a 4.1 percent increase over the same period last year. Time-shifted viewing was also up to six hours and 32 minutes, a 52.5 percent increase.
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
Curtain Call for UPS Regifter!!!
I love a good viral minisite, and UPS has one in their UPSRegifter.com, a web presence built around the second oldest tradition of the holiday season -- giving away crap you don't want to people you care about, but not very much.
Here's the intro video:
And then there is a gallery of regiftables, along with the essential regift a friend system.
Holidays are a great time for this sort of viral, and I think UPS really hit it right by taking the regifting idea to its logical online splendiferousness.
Oh, and also nice visual cues tying it to the whhiteboard campaign. Nice to know that the brand cops at UPS are on the scene. Often, stuff like that gets forgotten in viral. Even the narrator CD guy is featured, using a Flowbee!
Bravo, UPS. I'll be sending you a fruit cake as a prize for this great effort. Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
‘Sup Over At Linked In?
Quantcast reports 5.5 million monthly uniques for Linked In. The company has not made other Quantcast data public, as is their right.
The Linked In model was never designed to make it the biggest soc net around; rather it was to be focused on a highly desirable professional audience – one with which the company could garner strong CPMs.
It was a pretty staid environment for a while, but more recently they’ve begun to offer groups, a sort of B2B Yahoo answers, and even the opportunity to do research studies against specific job titles and categories. Of that last opp I can attest to how difficult it can be to find sufficient samples of highly specialized job functions – so this giant database will prove very helpful to me in the not too distant future.
One of the really positive things, in my opinion, has been Linked In’s expansion to having a strong beachhead in many job functions and industries, versus the usual online suspects of IT, DBA, and the like. This not only enriches the community; it also helps make them immune to temporary business fluctuations that may adversely affect certain advertising sectors.
Linked In has also become very active on the modular content/widget front, offering units that detail user profiles, contacts to companies described on a page, job listings, and the like. Their 1 month traffic figures show a strong uptick – no doubt due both to these innovations and the soft job market.
Yes yes, yes, there are lots of people using FaceBook for professional networking. But Linked In does offer one critical advantage over FBs: it is 100% zombie and vampire free.
So lots going on over there, as there needs to be to compete with FB and others. But it is nice to see them energized and innovating after a couple of quiet years.
Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to write.
Billing Revolution: Credit Card Buying By Phone
An interesting company I’ve been hearing more about is Billing Revolution, which has an offering that changes this dynamic considerably. Their focus is on delivering secure pages to your phone that collect name and credit card info just as would a web page viewed on PC. Here’s how they describe themselves:
What we do
Billing Revolution provides credit card payment technology and services to the mobile industry. Are you looking to sell products and services through the mobile channel? Our turnkey solution is just the ticket and it’s as easy as 1, 2, 3.
Whether you’re a mobile game publisher, online retailer, small business owner, national retailer, media company, advertising agency, publisher or an individual looking to sell your creations, we’ve got it covered.
So what’s so revolutionary? Ever tried to make a web based purchase from a phone? Ouch! Till we came along it required a user experience first aid kit. “Text the 12 digit code to the 5 digit short code, sign up online, click to call, run home and open up your email..” or “take a picture of the billboard and we’ll get back to you.”. Or, how about this one; you have your shopping cart full with 10 products, you click “check out” and up comes that familiar link: “click here to call now.” Okay, so maybe you’re not ready to buy a diamond ring from your phone… Can you buy a movie ticket? Yes!
Billing Revolutions technology solves the major challenges that have held mobile commerce back...
Secure Purchase Page
Mr Phone doesn’t like secure pages and we’ve solved this issue through our proprietary technology
Single Click Checkout:
Ama-who? That’s right; we’re pioneering the mobile single click check out. Jump on board cause the train is leaving the station folks. But seriously, no sign up, no pin, no user name, no chatting with the nice folks at the call center. When you make your first purchase, we “tag” your phone and we recognize you when you come back to buy your favorite product. It’s that easy. We’ve not only invented mobile commerce, we’ve enhanced it with “single click” ease!
No Online Sign Up required!
We understand the mobile channel and we’ll never tell you to go back to your desktop computer-we get it and the only thing we have to fear is: is “text to buy”. How about text to punt?
Their model works both for virtual goods and physical goods – there’s an easy tool to create merchandising pages, and an API to integrate commerce and fulfillment through your regular website.
I haven’t seen their solution in action but based upon the web site they are definitely addressing the key bottlenecks of the mobile buying challenge. Another really important aspect of this solution is that the transaction cost is low – just 50 cents a purchase with no minimum. That’s valuable because the credit card company is already getting their percentage cut – adding another big cut on top of that would destroy the business model. Happily, they are going for volume over ring. Pun intended.
Great concept – definitely one whose time has come. If you sell stuff online, they are definitely worth a look as a way of anticipating and capitalizing on the mobile commerce “revolution.”
Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to write.
Kontera’sNew Deals With Scribefire and Pubmatic: More Ad Options, No Added Complexity
As they battle with Vibrant to sign the best sites and the biggest advertisers, Kontera’s latest deal points to an effort to mitigate complexity for publishers while offering additional ad opportunities for pubs and advertisers alike.
Specifically, Kontera announced new partnerships with ad optimization engine Pubmatic and blog ad network ScribeFire. Under these deal,the partners can offer Kontera’s many text based and rich media in-text solutions to their existing customer bases. More ad opps and revenue with no additional complexity.
In a world of ridiculous complexity, it’s nice to see companies making a conscious effort to expand their business without adding to that environmental rat's nest.
Kontera already has an in text ad solution for individual bloggers but this effort to bundle with an existing ad network is a great way to rapidly boost impressions and share in the all out war with Vibrant. By making it easy to sign up lots of smallish wb presences without individual outreach, they also dramatically simplify their own BD needs.
Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to write.