Thanks to ad:tech for publishing this first!
Do you go to a lot of conferences? Or do you only go to one, and spend a lot of time selecting the perfect event for your networking and personal development? Or do you fall somewhere in between? Or do you generally not get to go to conferences for reasons of cost or schedule, but wish you could get some insight into a killer session.
That paragraph is my long winded way of saying that whatever your interest in conferences, you should surf on over to Lanyrd, a site that provides great information and connection opportunities for hundreds of conferences around the world, with more added every day.
The site connects to your Twitter, and gives you a view of the particulars of the event, related links, a dashboard of speakers, related books, attendees, a conference calendar, and loads more. Users can link assets to the event like press coverage, videos, Slide Share decks, etc.
The community is based upon the idea that users, and of course event marketers, will contribute content, as with a Wiki. You list yourself and your relationship with an event (organizer, speaker, attendee) or you can simply track an event before you commit to attendance, and be updated with new information as it becomes available.
Users can also tag events with a view to helping people find relevant by topic, geography, or whatever makes sense.
In addition to in person events, the site offers the opportunity to list and learn about virtual conferences, which are becoming more and more common.
The value to event marketers is obvious, but it also helps facilitate the networking which is a vital draw to in person events. At an event as large as an ad:tech, for example, you might never know or see colleagues whoa re attending, and your experience might be enriched by spending time with them. Similarly, it enables you to make new connections with attendees that share interests, etc.
Explore the site by topic, by event name, or drill down into a particular attendee’s profile.
They’ve also taken out a lot of the friction that you may have experienced before Lanyrd was created. For example, you can export your conference schedule into Outlook and iCal, among others. You can even get little event badges for your personal site so you can let others know where you are going to be. An even deeper level of facilitating connections between people.
I think this is big stuff for the conference ecosystem. As a means of finding just the right event, following the discussion, and connecting with others, it is unique. All these are really important services in a very crowded industry category. And given that highly competitive business, it’s pretty easy to see how this tool will become a moneymaker by providing services to events, among others.
I’m not the only one who thinks so. They are getting money and advice from Y Combinator.
Friday, March 18, 2011
COD: Wishpond – Putting virtual in service of local bricks and mortar
The percentage of retail driven through ecommerce continues to grow, but it's still in single digits. That being said, there is no doubt that consumers are using the web to do research on products, especially for more considered purchases.
Wishpondis out to drive more sales to brick and mortar, using geolocation to help small and large retailers make consumers aware of what they have in stock and ready to take home today.
Imagine you are looking for a fairly high end Nikon. You've done your research online, but now you are ready to buy. You COULD make a purchase through Amazon or Fry's online, or you could fire up Wishpond and see if it is available anywhere nearby. Wishpond lets you search local retailers' inventory to see who might have the item and for how much. Let's say three retailers report having the item. You can then consider the trade offs of price, reputation, and distance to see if one of these retailers might be a better place to buy than an online store.
There are benefits for all of the players in the retailing ecosystem:
•For consumers, Wishpond gives an easy way to compare prices and the opportunity to get the good today. They can also "make a wish" meaning that they can offer to buy something at a certain price and see if any local retailer bites.
•For retailers, it provides the opportunity to spend ad dollars on people actually looking to buy, and a chance to level the playing field by communicating local availability of an item.
•For brands, the opportunity to communicate participating retailers gives another means of supporting your brick and mortar distribution system, and a way of growing sales. They could also advertise on the platform to impact buying decisions
•For publishers, the platform provides the opportunity to grow relevance to readers by making things like product recommendations more actionable. Not only can you recommend an item, you can now show consumers exactly where they might want to buy it. As such, it might also be a good advertiser lead gen tool.
This is an ads-supported platform. Retailers can join for free, or they can join and take advantage of the opportunity to do hyper local and highly targeted advertising to very likely buyers. They can even package up sales leads of people looking for an item.
We all know that the big retail winners over the past couple decades have been big box stores. But this platform levels the field, enabling even small retailers to capitalize on the technology and sales opportunities it surfaces. Though of course big box stores are also welcome to participate. And no doubt are and will.
One of the things that makes this a compelling platform is that Wishpond can plug into existing inventory management programs so the retailer doesn't need to manually input items and manage inventory levels. Instead, it's inventory speaks for itself.
There are other resources in this space, not least Milo and Google Blue Dot. But one of the ways that Wishpond stands out is that a business or pub can participate easily using an embeddable widget. These widgets can search inventory, show local locations, and even be embedded into distributed presences in social media. They also have an open API, which is helping them differentiate by shaping themselves as a platform rather than a retail search destination.
BTW, their blog is also an excellent resource if you just want to learn more about local and shopping and retailing in today's environment.
Wishpondis out to drive more sales to brick and mortar, using geolocation to help small and large retailers make consumers aware of what they have in stock and ready to take home today.
Imagine you are looking for a fairly high end Nikon. You've done your research online, but now you are ready to buy. You COULD make a purchase through Amazon or Fry's online, or you could fire up Wishpond and see if it is available anywhere nearby. Wishpond lets you search local retailers' inventory to see who might have the item and for how much. Let's say three retailers report having the item. You can then consider the trade offs of price, reputation, and distance to see if one of these retailers might be a better place to buy than an online store.
There are benefits for all of the players in the retailing ecosystem:
•For consumers, Wishpond gives an easy way to compare prices and the opportunity to get the good today. They can also "make a wish" meaning that they can offer to buy something at a certain price and see if any local retailer bites.
•For retailers, it provides the opportunity to spend ad dollars on people actually looking to buy, and a chance to level the playing field by communicating local availability of an item.
•For brands, the opportunity to communicate participating retailers gives another means of supporting your brick and mortar distribution system, and a way of growing sales. They could also advertise on the platform to impact buying decisions
•For publishers, the platform provides the opportunity to grow relevance to readers by making things like product recommendations more actionable. Not only can you recommend an item, you can now show consumers exactly where they might want to buy it. As such, it might also be a good advertiser lead gen tool.
This is an ads-supported platform. Retailers can join for free, or they can join and take advantage of the opportunity to do hyper local and highly targeted advertising to very likely buyers. They can even package up sales leads of people looking for an item.
We all know that the big retail winners over the past couple decades have been big box stores. But this platform levels the field, enabling even small retailers to capitalize on the technology and sales opportunities it surfaces. Though of course big box stores are also welcome to participate. And no doubt are and will.
One of the things that makes this a compelling platform is that Wishpond can plug into existing inventory management programs so the retailer doesn't need to manually input items and manage inventory levels. Instead, it's inventory speaks for itself.
There are other resources in this space, not least Milo and Google Blue Dot. But one of the ways that Wishpond stands out is that a business or pub can participate easily using an embeddable widget. These widgets can search inventory, show local locations, and even be embedded into distributed presences in social media. They also have an open API, which is helping them differentiate by shaping themselves as a platform rather than a retail search destination.
BTW, their blog is also an excellent resource if you just want to learn more about local and shopping and retailing in today's environment.
COD: GlobalMojo is the browser that lets consumers and businesses give back
Thanks to ad:tech for publishing this first.
As someone who came of age during the “greed is good” Eighties, I find it heartening that companies and consumers now have far greater interest in doing good. Global Mojo is a philanthropic browser that gives consumers the opportunity to do good as they go about their daily business online.
The browser, which is built on the open source Mozilla platform, donates 50% of gross revenues to schools and non-profits selected by the community as worthy causes.
Here’s the Explaniflick…
The offering essentially works like an affiliate, generating revenue when the consumer searches, browses, or makes purchases online using GlobalMojo. Because it is based upon Mozilla, it offers all of the customization options available through Firefox. But with this caring benefit overlay it may well become the choice of people who want to make a difference in more things that they do in the course of their daily lives.
There are essentially four channels of shared revenue:
• GlobalMojo Travel gives users the opportunity to compare results across a range of sites that pay the service a bounty for bookings. Travel site partners include Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity, and more.
• GlobalMojo Shopping enables users to compare prices and products across more than 900 retailers that compensate the browser for purchases.
• Advertising and Search offer additional revenue channels.
The user selects the nonprofits s/he chooses to support, and can allocate the revenue they generate by assigning percentages to different organizations.
How much revenue are we talking about per user? Well, GlobalMojo estimates that each user will generate between $10-$30 for the charities of their choice. Not a fortune, but when combined with the donations for the behaviors of potentially millions of others, it’s easy to see that GlobalMojo can make a real difference in the world.
Of course, the beauty of the model for marketers and advertisers is that they can help do good by partnering with the company. Not only does it offer a new customer/revenue channel for online retailers – it also enables the company to do something good – and be seen doing something good by people who care deeply about such things. If you are a marketer looking for any of these benefits, visit this page to obtain more information.
As someone who came of age during the “greed is good” Eighties, I find it heartening that companies and consumers now have far greater interest in doing good. Global Mojo is a philanthropic browser that gives consumers the opportunity to do good as they go about their daily business online.
The browser, which is built on the open source Mozilla platform, donates 50% of gross revenues to schools and non-profits selected by the community as worthy causes.
Here’s the Explaniflick…
The offering essentially works like an affiliate, generating revenue when the consumer searches, browses, or makes purchases online using GlobalMojo. Because it is based upon Mozilla, it offers all of the customization options available through Firefox. But with this caring benefit overlay it may well become the choice of people who want to make a difference in more things that they do in the course of their daily lives.
There are essentially four channels of shared revenue:
• GlobalMojo Travel gives users the opportunity to compare results across a range of sites that pay the service a bounty for bookings. Travel site partners include Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity, and more.
• GlobalMojo Shopping enables users to compare prices and products across more than 900 retailers that compensate the browser for purchases.
• Advertising and Search offer additional revenue channels.
The user selects the nonprofits s/he chooses to support, and can allocate the revenue they generate by assigning percentages to different organizations.
How much revenue are we talking about per user? Well, GlobalMojo estimates that each user will generate between $10-$30 for the charities of their choice. Not a fortune, but when combined with the donations for the behaviors of potentially millions of others, it’s easy to see that GlobalMojo can make a real difference in the world.
Of course, the beauty of the model for marketers and advertisers is that they can help do good by partnering with the company. Not only does it offer a new customer/revenue channel for online retailers – it also enables the company to do something good – and be seen doing something good by people who care deeply about such things. If you are a marketer looking for any of these benefits, visit this page to obtain more information.
Friday, March 11, 2011
The ABCs of DMPs
Special thanks to iMediaConnection for publishing this first!
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS:
• DMPs deliver marketing performance benefits by helping companies learn from the totality of marketing information they collect and purchase
• Brands deserve to collect and keep all of the information they pay to buy, collect, and base action upon. DMPs bring this all together
• A DMP can take a general target, like women aged 18-34, and subdivide it into groupings that help you plan and execute marketing efforts more effectively
From the beginning digital marketing data have been both a potential boon and a missed opportunity for the vast majority of marketers. The ability to track and analyze virtually every aspect of marketing communications brings with it a very real challenge to do more than react to bits and pieces of that information.
In our changed world we have the ability to learn about our customers and prospects constantly. But this relentless flow of information -- from different channels and through different tools -- needs to be gathered, combined, and analyzed in a timely manner in order to capitalize on its value.
A new category of marketing services companies is emerging to help answer all these questions: data management platforms (DMPs). Oh, I just detected audible groaning. Another category of middlemen? Call Kawaja to update the slide (no need, I'm sure he's way ahead of you). I feel your pain, but I also believe that this set of marketing services and companies may really make a difference in our businesses.
In my view, two recent-ish news items reflect the growing importance. The first was the emergence of Red Aril, a start-up led by Jim Soss and Kira Makagon, two well known advertising/ technology veterans. Red Aril is a DMP with a platform created through over 150 man-years of development. The second key item is the recent purchase of DMP Demdex by Adobe. This will add dynamic online ad targeting capabilities to the Adobe Online Marketing Suite.
Both are signs of the likely growth potential in this arena.
The problem: Too many data buckets
The customer relationship management (CRM) team uses Prizm to analyze and segment your hand raisers. The media team buys a variety of third-party data sources to target ads through the exchanges. The market research group commissions important studies that parse and segment customers and provide valuable lifestyle and psychographic insight. And the web team uses Omniture and Quantcast to understand whose visiting and how their demographics and lifestyles impact pages visited, time spent, and purchases. And the social media folks gather learning from activity on Facebook pages and across other online venues.
Sound familiar?
Naturally, marketers have (or should have) some knowledge of all these efforts. But does the data come together? It really really should.
Mark Silva, founder and EVP, emerging platforms for Real Branding, put it this way:
"Think of it as a spectrum that runs from collecting data, to understanding behavior, to identifying and leveraging real insights that answer the question of why people do what they do. In my view, you need to triangulate at least three data sets in order to understand behavior: advertising performance, CRM metrics, and social analytics. Understanding behavior isn't insight per se, but it's a critical step in identifying genuine insights."
Without connecting the dots, too many questions remain either unanswered. Peter Platt, president of PSquared Digital, provided this example:
"Too often, digital efforts are looked at in a silo unto themselves and we miss the real impact that our advertising efforts are having. A great example of this just happened the other day. I was reviewing a law firm client's web analytics and we saw a huge spike in traffic from search last September. Turns out the hero in this effort wasn't our search marketing program but rather a heavy TV flight during that time period. In this example we had visibility into the overall marketing effort, but if we hadn't there might have been erroneous decisions made about how to allocate resources."
Peter's effort clearly helped his team find the underlying truth. But why isn't all our learning leveraged fully? Because, in addition to it being in different places, it's difficult to rationalize and standardize data sets, and then examine that massive data bank for real insights.
Enter the DMP.
The value of data aggregation
Duh. If you have a tool that can handle it, more relevant data is better. And quite frankly, if we are spending time and money aggregating irrelevant data, well then... I'll let Tamara Bousquet, SVP-media director of MEA Digital, say it for me:
"My sole focus is to stay ahead of this ever-changing landscape and deliver actionable results for our clients; squeeze every cent of value out of our client's budget. We find a key challenge for most clients is accurate attribution for different marketing tactics and sales analytics. My team's analytic approach and deep knowledge of the rich first party information and resources help us understand exactly how all tactics, online and offline, impact our clients business and how to best deliver a positive result."
Tamara is not alone in leading her team to do this. But the arrival of tools that can do this on a more granular and comprehensive basis can make the process easier, and potentially more effective.
How DMPs work
So what are these things, anyway? In their current incarnations, DMPs deliver marketing performance benefits by helping companies learn from the totality of marketing information they collect and purchase. They represent the antithesis of data silos.
At its core, a great DMP needs to do four things:
•Aggregate data sources: DMPs are designed to take disparate data sets and combine them into a single, actionable data set. We all know that different tools and platforms gather and collect info in different ways. A DSP partner will set up your instance to take into account the sources and differences of your data sets so that information comes together constantly and consistently, with few errors.
•It is essential to know if the platform you select is capable of parsing the information you already have and shows evidence it is planning (or already work with) many more data set flavors. Because one thing we all know is that what we use today may not be what we are using tomorrow. I'm not talking about all of your company's data (that's IBM's job, or Oracle's). Rather, DMPs focus on marketing relevant information.
•Give you information ownership: Brands deserve to collect and keep all of the information they pay to buy, collect, and base action upon. DMPs bring it all together so that more insights are possible from the combined totality of information.
•Analyze and model: Once the data come together, DMPs offer the means to derive critical information from the data, and work to segment your audience into groups that may warrant tailored marketing efforts. On a blockhead-simple level, a DMP can take a general target, like women aged 18-34, and subdivide it into groupings that help you plan and execute marketing efforts more effectively. This could be based on important demographic criteria, more esoteric psychographic/sociographic ways, or ways you haven't even considered yet. It may also identify heretofore overlooked populations that may be prime opportunities.
•Drive action: The DMP helps to refine and sharpen ad targeting approaches and purchase media more precisely. For example, a DMP could empower better purchase decisions on the ad exchanges, and continue to collect and refine the learning for greater future precision. This is the "immediate value" DMPs can provide.
Jim Soss, CEO of Red Aril, describes the value proposition of his DMP thusly:
"Red Aril's DMP was designed explicitly for real-time channels, the ability to leverage all data, and the integration with a broader marketing database strategy. Our clients see the proof every day -- data drives relevancy, relevancy drives results."
A key part of the aggregation service is a standardization of taxonomy. Indeed, it is a critical part of successfully merging data. Scalability is also a critical consideration. A large brand could be experiencing and recording billions of interactions a month across its marketing efforts. The DMP can only be successful if it is able to store, process, and act upon what could easily become an avalanche of data points.
DSP, DMP, LMNOP
Some of you are thinking that other types of marketing service providers offer some of these benefits.
You're right. They do.
DSPs, for example, are collecting information in real time and using it to dynamically optimize campaigns and programs and enable users to integrate first-party data in real time. Some DSPs are encouraging users to run all their buys through their platforms to provide a more comprehensive audience view.
For example, MediaMath (disclosure, a CSF client) has put a major focus on providing many of the services that are traditionally the turf of DMPs. Their approach is to empower all buying with first and third party data, not just inventory bought on the exchanges. The principle of empowerment through data naturally has big benefits for pub direct. And most brands do not live by exchanges alone. I think it's natural to expect that all the brands we associate with the DSP sector to move in this direction over time.
The most technologically sophisticated ad networks also work with first-party data, when you choose to provide it. For any business that uses data to define and refine what it is buying or working for you, the race is on to do more with more. As we all know, convergence is the middle name of our industry.
DMP is about driving action from the totality of your marketing-relevant consumer information. You know better than I do whether you are already doing that using a solution that describes itself by whatever name. If not, then the value of the DMP may be significant for you.
In my view, the ideal company for a DMP has data-intensive marketing practices and tactics, and is sophisticated enough that it is focused on incremental marketing improvement. What I mean by that last bit is that a DMP is great for a company that knows it's doing a lot of things right, and is now looking to drive improvements on their good general direction.
But back to initials. My suggestion is, don't get caught up in the monikers. Rather, consider whether you think bringing all the data together is likely to provide enough of a business benefit to justify the time and money required to do so. Do you have a strong CRM database? Are you really collecting great information on the site? Are you dealing with multiple media vendors collecting and purchasing data on your behalf separately? If the answer is yes, a DMP may well make sense for you.
Who will adopt these first? DR brands probably come to mind, because the initial focus for actionability will be in ad targeting. But it would be a big mistake for so called brand marketers to discount the value of more complete view of the consumer.
And consider this: data aggregation and modeling is not the same is genuine consumer insight. Says Mark Silva,
"In our business, first customers often have disproportionate influence on how the category plays out. DMPs need to be aware that while their first customers may be DR marketers looking for the magic data bullets that drive incremental sales improvement, behavioral information is not insight. Ultimately their success in the market will be significantly determined by the extent to which they offer the tools and opportunities for brand marketers and agencies to discover genuine behavioral insights. They're good at getting to the 'what' -- but they need to also empower us to get to the 'why'."
I like that as a concluding thought. It makes sense to get that data together and empower your marketing with it. But don't leave it at that. It's not their job to do our thinking for us. We need data to find the answer, and the most effective marketing is going to come from both actionable data and a heckuvalot of noggin' scratchin' to discover the seeds of overall brand relevance.
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS:
• DMPs deliver marketing performance benefits by helping companies learn from the totality of marketing information they collect and purchase
• Brands deserve to collect and keep all of the information they pay to buy, collect, and base action upon. DMPs bring this all together
• A DMP can take a general target, like women aged 18-34, and subdivide it into groupings that help you plan and execute marketing efforts more effectively
From the beginning digital marketing data have been both a potential boon and a missed opportunity for the vast majority of marketers. The ability to track and analyze virtually every aspect of marketing communications brings with it a very real challenge to do more than react to bits and pieces of that information.
In our changed world we have the ability to learn about our customers and prospects constantly. But this relentless flow of information -- from different channels and through different tools -- needs to be gathered, combined, and analyzed in a timely manner in order to capitalize on its value.
A new category of marketing services companies is emerging to help answer all these questions: data management platforms (DMPs). Oh, I just detected audible groaning. Another category of middlemen? Call Kawaja to update the slide (no need, I'm sure he's way ahead of you). I feel your pain, but I also believe that this set of marketing services and companies may really make a difference in our businesses.
In my view, two recent-ish news items reflect the growing importance. The first was the emergence of Red Aril, a start-up led by Jim Soss and Kira Makagon, two well known advertising/ technology veterans. Red Aril is a DMP with a platform created through over 150 man-years of development. The second key item is the recent purchase of DMP Demdex by Adobe. This will add dynamic online ad targeting capabilities to the Adobe Online Marketing Suite.
Both are signs of the likely growth potential in this arena.
The problem: Too many data buckets
The customer relationship management (CRM) team uses Prizm to analyze and segment your hand raisers. The media team buys a variety of third-party data sources to target ads through the exchanges. The market research group commissions important studies that parse and segment customers and provide valuable lifestyle and psychographic insight. And the web team uses Omniture and Quantcast to understand whose visiting and how their demographics and lifestyles impact pages visited, time spent, and purchases. And the social media folks gather learning from activity on Facebook pages and across other online venues.
Sound familiar?
Naturally, marketers have (or should have) some knowledge of all these efforts. But does the data come together? It really really should.
Mark Silva, founder and EVP, emerging platforms for Real Branding, put it this way:
"Think of it as a spectrum that runs from collecting data, to understanding behavior, to identifying and leveraging real insights that answer the question of why people do what they do. In my view, you need to triangulate at least three data sets in order to understand behavior: advertising performance, CRM metrics, and social analytics. Understanding behavior isn't insight per se, but it's a critical step in identifying genuine insights."
Without connecting the dots, too many questions remain either unanswered. Peter Platt, president of PSquared Digital, provided this example:
"Too often, digital efforts are looked at in a silo unto themselves and we miss the real impact that our advertising efforts are having. A great example of this just happened the other day. I was reviewing a law firm client's web analytics and we saw a huge spike in traffic from search last September. Turns out the hero in this effort wasn't our search marketing program but rather a heavy TV flight during that time period. In this example we had visibility into the overall marketing effort, but if we hadn't there might have been erroneous decisions made about how to allocate resources."
Peter's effort clearly helped his team find the underlying truth. But why isn't all our learning leveraged fully? Because, in addition to it being in different places, it's difficult to rationalize and standardize data sets, and then examine that massive data bank for real insights.
Enter the DMP.
The value of data aggregation
Duh. If you have a tool that can handle it, more relevant data is better. And quite frankly, if we are spending time and money aggregating irrelevant data, well then... I'll let Tamara Bousquet, SVP-media director of MEA Digital, say it for me:
"My sole focus is to stay ahead of this ever-changing landscape and deliver actionable results for our clients; squeeze every cent of value out of our client's budget. We find a key challenge for most clients is accurate attribution for different marketing tactics and sales analytics. My team's analytic approach and deep knowledge of the rich first party information and resources help us understand exactly how all tactics, online and offline, impact our clients business and how to best deliver a positive result."
Tamara is not alone in leading her team to do this. But the arrival of tools that can do this on a more granular and comprehensive basis can make the process easier, and potentially more effective.
How DMPs work
So what are these things, anyway? In their current incarnations, DMPs deliver marketing performance benefits by helping companies learn from the totality of marketing information they collect and purchase. They represent the antithesis of data silos.
At its core, a great DMP needs to do four things:
•Aggregate data sources: DMPs are designed to take disparate data sets and combine them into a single, actionable data set. We all know that different tools and platforms gather and collect info in different ways. A DSP partner will set up your instance to take into account the sources and differences of your data sets so that information comes together constantly and consistently, with few errors.
•It is essential to know if the platform you select is capable of parsing the information you already have and shows evidence it is planning (or already work with) many more data set flavors. Because one thing we all know is that what we use today may not be what we are using tomorrow. I'm not talking about all of your company's data (that's IBM's job, or Oracle's). Rather, DMPs focus on marketing relevant information.
•Give you information ownership: Brands deserve to collect and keep all of the information they pay to buy, collect, and base action upon. DMPs bring it all together so that more insights are possible from the combined totality of information.
•Analyze and model: Once the data come together, DMPs offer the means to derive critical information from the data, and work to segment your audience into groups that may warrant tailored marketing efforts. On a blockhead-simple level, a DMP can take a general target, like women aged 18-34, and subdivide it into groupings that help you plan and execute marketing efforts more effectively. This could be based on important demographic criteria, more esoteric psychographic/sociographic ways, or ways you haven't even considered yet. It may also identify heretofore overlooked populations that may be prime opportunities.
•Drive action: The DMP helps to refine and sharpen ad targeting approaches and purchase media more precisely. For example, a DMP could empower better purchase decisions on the ad exchanges, and continue to collect and refine the learning for greater future precision. This is the "immediate value" DMPs can provide.
Jim Soss, CEO of Red Aril, describes the value proposition of his DMP thusly:
"Red Aril's DMP was designed explicitly for real-time channels, the ability to leverage all data, and the integration with a broader marketing database strategy. Our clients see the proof every day -- data drives relevancy, relevancy drives results."
A key part of the aggregation service is a standardization of taxonomy. Indeed, it is a critical part of successfully merging data. Scalability is also a critical consideration. A large brand could be experiencing and recording billions of interactions a month across its marketing efforts. The DMP can only be successful if it is able to store, process, and act upon what could easily become an avalanche of data points.
DSP, DMP, LMNOP
Some of you are thinking that other types of marketing service providers offer some of these benefits.
You're right. They do.
DSPs, for example, are collecting information in real time and using it to dynamically optimize campaigns and programs and enable users to integrate first-party data in real time. Some DSPs are encouraging users to run all their buys through their platforms to provide a more comprehensive audience view.
For example, MediaMath (disclosure, a CSF client) has put a major focus on providing many of the services that are traditionally the turf of DMPs. Their approach is to empower all buying with first and third party data, not just inventory bought on the exchanges. The principle of empowerment through data naturally has big benefits for pub direct. And most brands do not live by exchanges alone. I think it's natural to expect that all the brands we associate with the DSP sector to move in this direction over time.
The most technologically sophisticated ad networks also work with first-party data, when you choose to provide it. For any business that uses data to define and refine what it is buying or working for you, the race is on to do more with more. As we all know, convergence is the middle name of our industry.
DMP is about driving action from the totality of your marketing-relevant consumer information. You know better than I do whether you are already doing that using a solution that describes itself by whatever name. If not, then the value of the DMP may be significant for you.
In my view, the ideal company for a DMP has data-intensive marketing practices and tactics, and is sophisticated enough that it is focused on incremental marketing improvement. What I mean by that last bit is that a DMP is great for a company that knows it's doing a lot of things right, and is now looking to drive improvements on their good general direction.
But back to initials. My suggestion is, don't get caught up in the monikers. Rather, consider whether you think bringing all the data together is likely to provide enough of a business benefit to justify the time and money required to do so. Do you have a strong CRM database? Are you really collecting great information on the site? Are you dealing with multiple media vendors collecting and purchasing data on your behalf separately? If the answer is yes, a DMP may well make sense for you.
Who will adopt these first? DR brands probably come to mind, because the initial focus for actionability will be in ad targeting. But it would be a big mistake for so called brand marketers to discount the value of more complete view of the consumer.
And consider this: data aggregation and modeling is not the same is genuine consumer insight. Says Mark Silva,
"In our business, first customers often have disproportionate influence on how the category plays out. DMPs need to be aware that while their first customers may be DR marketers looking for the magic data bullets that drive incremental sales improvement, behavioral information is not insight. Ultimately their success in the market will be significantly determined by the extent to which they offer the tools and opportunities for brand marketers and agencies to discover genuine behavioral insights. They're good at getting to the 'what' -- but they need to also empower us to get to the 'why'."
I like that as a concluding thought. It makes sense to get that data together and empower your marketing with it. But don't leave it at that. It's not their job to do our thinking for us. We need data to find the answer, and the most effective marketing is going to come from both actionable data and a heckuvalot of noggin' scratchin' to discover the seeds of overall brand relevance.
Start-Up Watch COD: KarmaKorn lets you challenge others to do good
Special thanks to ad:tech for publishing this first.
Cause marketing has become increasingly popular for brands – to give just one example, Pepsi is basing a huge portion of their marketing on it. When a brand as big as the big P makes a decision like that, it’s apparent that both consumers and marketers value it as a marketing strategy.
KarmaKorn is an early stage start-up that is helping consumers – and brands challenge their connections to take action on important causes. The goal of this self-funded start-up is to make social media and networks more than just places for wasting time and gaming. Rather, they want people to challenge and be challenged to take positive steps that improve society and address persistent problems.
It works like this. You connect to the FB app, and read or post challenges that encourage some form of positive action. It might be something fairly simple, like pledging not to consume any plastic retail bags for a week. Or it might be taking action in your community, or uploading a video, or signing a petition.
There’s an important virtual currency layer to all this. Each positive action by a consumer earns Korn kernels – the number of kernels earned relates to the complexity and commitment required to complete the challenge. You use the Korn to challenge others to take action and earn their own kernels. Their goal is to create a virtual economy for good. Having more Korn also becomes a badge of honor, if you will, which gives people emotional reward for their positive actions.
Here’s the overview flick:
KarmaKorn uses FB to take the challenges – and the concept itself – viral. What I like about that is that most people would like to do more for others, but find it difficult to keep the goal top of mind what with so many other life priorities.
From a brand perspective, participation in cause marketing in social media adds an important noticing value and virality to the program. The Chicago-based KarmaKorn team is open to working with brands that have a genuine interest in doing well by doing good.
I could see a brand making a platform like this the center of cause marketing. Or simply using KarmaKorn as a means of magnifying the impact of their cause marketing efforts in earned media. Whichever way you slice it, now is the time to ensure that your cause marketing is as social as can be.
Cause marketing has become increasingly popular for brands – to give just one example, Pepsi is basing a huge portion of their marketing on it. When a brand as big as the big P makes a decision like that, it’s apparent that both consumers and marketers value it as a marketing strategy.
KarmaKorn is an early stage start-up that is helping consumers – and brands challenge their connections to take action on important causes. The goal of this self-funded start-up is to make social media and networks more than just places for wasting time and gaming. Rather, they want people to challenge and be challenged to take positive steps that improve society and address persistent problems.
It works like this. You connect to the FB app, and read or post challenges that encourage some form of positive action. It might be something fairly simple, like pledging not to consume any plastic retail bags for a week. Or it might be taking action in your community, or uploading a video, or signing a petition.
There’s an important virtual currency layer to all this. Each positive action by a consumer earns Korn kernels – the number of kernels earned relates to the complexity and commitment required to complete the challenge. You use the Korn to challenge others to take action and earn their own kernels. Their goal is to create a virtual economy for good. Having more Korn also becomes a badge of honor, if you will, which gives people emotional reward for their positive actions.
Here’s the overview flick:
KarmaKorn uses FB to take the challenges – and the concept itself – viral. What I like about that is that most people would like to do more for others, but find it difficult to keep the goal top of mind what with so many other life priorities.
From a brand perspective, participation in cause marketing in social media adds an important noticing value and virality to the program. The Chicago-based KarmaKorn team is open to working with brands that have a genuine interest in doing well by doing good.
I could see a brand making a platform like this the center of cause marketing. Or simply using KarmaKorn as a means of magnifying the impact of their cause marketing efforts in earned media. Whichever way you slice it, now is the time to ensure that your cause marketing is as social as can be.
Start-Up Watch COD: eXaudios let’s you “see” how customers are feeling, over the phone
Thanks to the ad:tech blog for publishing this first.
Few would dispute that an in-person meeting is a better way to gauge the interest and emotions of a prospect or customer than a phone call. But we can’t be everywhere. Hence the rise of call centers – whether in the US or in any of dozens of outsource countries around the globe.
Certainly, innovations like the "call me back button" on Amazon and other sites serve to reduce the frustration of consumers that are calling to buy or complain.
But when the call does connect, I would imagine it’s rather difficult to know what you’ve got on the other end. Is the prospect phone genuinely interested, or just fishing for info? Is the consumer so angry that you need to do something extra to assuage them, or are they simply looking for some sort of simple resolution? These are just two of the ways that eXaudio’s MagInfy product offering can help boost customer satisfaction and close rates.
What this fascinating offering does, is “read” the emotional state of the caller based upon the sound of their voice. The company says that the technology can detect genuine interest and emotional state, thereby helping improve speed to sale, lead triage, and gauge service levels necessary to provide satisfaction and reduce churn. They can also – in just 20 or so seconds, determine whether a caller is an early adopter or a laggard, which could have enormous implications on both the style of sell and whether the rep should spend much time speaking with them.
Naturally, if you’ve been selling for a couple decades, a lot of this is something your ears have been trained to do. It's part of your "instinct." But how much more effective would you have been – and how much richer might you be, if you had had such an emotional reading tool at the onset of your sales or service career? And how much better do you think someone who's never done customer service before -- or who has spent their entire life in another culture -- might perform?
The MagInfy offering also helps gauge the effectiveness and emotional state of representatives, helping to proactively drive management actions to improve their performance. The platform also provides feedback on the manner in which the rep handles caller issues, helping them do their job better.
The caller need not be speaking to a live rep; rather, their emotional state can be captured in the IVR conversations that are occurring before the live rep is connected. Here’s a video that COMES FROM THE Demo show, with an actual demo that is really earth shattering. It’s a little long but hang in there for the demo. Beyond cool.
The company is also planning to use the technology in the security and HR arenas.
eXaudios is based in Israel – another example of how that tiny country is playing such a disproportionately large role in the transformation of communications and society through digital and other forms of technology. There services are available in the US.
Customer service has always been important -- now it has become absolutely crucial. Ask Sprint. Making a call center more effective is more than good business sense. If this platform does all it says it can...
Few would dispute that an in-person meeting is a better way to gauge the interest and emotions of a prospect or customer than a phone call. But we can’t be everywhere. Hence the rise of call centers – whether in the US or in any of dozens of outsource countries around the globe.
Certainly, innovations like the "call me back button" on Amazon and other sites serve to reduce the frustration of consumers that are calling to buy or complain.
But when the call does connect, I would imagine it’s rather difficult to know what you’ve got on the other end. Is the prospect phone genuinely interested, or just fishing for info? Is the consumer so angry that you need to do something extra to assuage them, or are they simply looking for some sort of simple resolution? These are just two of the ways that eXaudio’s MagInfy product offering can help boost customer satisfaction and close rates.
What this fascinating offering does, is “read” the emotional state of the caller based upon the sound of their voice. The company says that the technology can detect genuine interest and emotional state, thereby helping improve speed to sale, lead triage, and gauge service levels necessary to provide satisfaction and reduce churn. They can also – in just 20 or so seconds, determine whether a caller is an early adopter or a laggard, which could have enormous implications on both the style of sell and whether the rep should spend much time speaking with them.
Naturally, if you’ve been selling for a couple decades, a lot of this is something your ears have been trained to do. It's part of your "instinct." But how much more effective would you have been – and how much richer might you be, if you had had such an emotional reading tool at the onset of your sales or service career? And how much better do you think someone who's never done customer service before -- or who has spent their entire life in another culture -- might perform?
The MagInfy offering also helps gauge the effectiveness and emotional state of representatives, helping to proactively drive management actions to improve their performance. The platform also provides feedback on the manner in which the rep handles caller issues, helping them do their job better.
The caller need not be speaking to a live rep; rather, their emotional state can be captured in the IVR conversations that are occurring before the live rep is connected. Here’s a video that COMES FROM THE Demo show, with an actual demo that is really earth shattering. It’s a little long but hang in there for the demo. Beyond cool.
The company is also planning to use the technology in the security and HR arenas.
eXaudios is based in Israel – another example of how that tiny country is playing such a disproportionately large role in the transformation of communications and society through digital and other forms of technology. There services are available in the US.
Customer service has always been important -- now it has become absolutely crucial. Ask Sprint. Making a call center more effective is more than good business sense. If this platform does all it says it can...
Start-Up Watch COD: StuffBuff and the decline of the buying destination
Thanks to ad:tech for publishing this first.
One of the tenets of 2.0 is a rethink of the manner by which information and functionality is organized. In Web 1.0, we simply added an interactive layer to an old model – destination sites and online stores. But one of the reasons why social has so radically altered online is that it enables content to be brought to the user.
A start-up called StuffBuff believes it has the solution to 2.0ing online retail. Why should consumers go to the store, when the store can go to them?
Their latest offering, Stuff It, enables content publishers to integrate immediate buying experiences into their technology, and allows brands to sell more stuff by enabling a purchase when the consumer is most likely to be receptive to the offer.
Imagine you are a gamer reading a string of reviews about a new title. You could surf over to eBay or Ubisoft or wherever to make your purchase. But here’s the rub – you might not go over there right this minute, which makes it less likely that you will actually make the purchase. Also, if it isn’t really any more work for a company to sell you the game right there juxtaposed next to the game, why shouldn’t the consumer have that option?
With Stuff It it’s just a three click process to begin checkout.
One click to spawn the buy it pop up.
One click to view your cart.
One click to plunk down your card and get the good.
For a brand it’s a way to drive some incremental sales with more of an “impulse” model, or at least one that avoids the drop off to purchase. And for a pub it means that they can drive incremental revenue through a rev share with Stuff Buff.
The gimme of all this is bloggers who are trying to drive revenue from their pages. But one can also see how this would be an interesting way for a bona fide pub to monetize content. If you are Time Magazine, for example, and publish a ten great Christmas gifts article, why not also participate in the sales of those goods and better monetize content? The pub gets half of Stuff It's fees, much like an affiliate program. The process of “wiring” your site for Stuff It is to simply add two lines of code.
If you accept that digital is more than just another way to deliver pages or virtual stores and aisles, it’s natural for businesses to explore ways to break down barriers between brands and consumers. Why not the “walls” of an estore?
One of the tenets of 2.0 is a rethink of the manner by which information and functionality is organized. In Web 1.0, we simply added an interactive layer to an old model – destination sites and online stores. But one of the reasons why social has so radically altered online is that it enables content to be brought to the user.
A start-up called StuffBuff believes it has the solution to 2.0ing online retail. Why should consumers go to the store, when the store can go to them?
Their latest offering, Stuff It, enables content publishers to integrate immediate buying experiences into their technology, and allows brands to sell more stuff by enabling a purchase when the consumer is most likely to be receptive to the offer.
Imagine you are a gamer reading a string of reviews about a new title. You could surf over to eBay or Ubisoft or wherever to make your purchase. But here’s the rub – you might not go over there right this minute, which makes it less likely that you will actually make the purchase. Also, if it isn’t really any more work for a company to sell you the game right there juxtaposed next to the game, why shouldn’t the consumer have that option?
With Stuff It it’s just a three click process to begin checkout.
One click to spawn the buy it pop up.
One click to view your cart.
One click to plunk down your card and get the good.
For a brand it’s a way to drive some incremental sales with more of an “impulse” model, or at least one that avoids the drop off to purchase. And for a pub it means that they can drive incremental revenue through a rev share with Stuff Buff.
The gimme of all this is bloggers who are trying to drive revenue from their pages. But one can also see how this would be an interesting way for a bona fide pub to monetize content. If you are Time Magazine, for example, and publish a ten great Christmas gifts article, why not also participate in the sales of those goods and better monetize content? The pub gets half of Stuff It's fees, much like an affiliate program. The process of “wiring” your site for Stuff It is to simply add two lines of code.
If you accept that digital is more than just another way to deliver pages or virtual stores and aisles, it’s natural for businesses to explore ways to break down barriers between brands and consumers. Why not the “walls” of an estore?
Start-Up Watch COD: Apture makes pubs sticky as fly paper
Thanks to ad:tech for publishing this first.
While most of the posts on this blog will be from the perspective of a marketer, occasionally I want to showcase some fascinating developments in pub-side solutions. I love content sites, both as a user and as someone who wants to reward content providers with revenue sufficient to keep them...contenting. As it were. Today is one of those days when I want to focus on the pub-side.
Trying to keep a viewer around is a challenge for many publishers. There appear to be about 10,000 places MINIMUM to find content on any topic. Relatively quickly you'll find users wanting different types of information on any topic. Photos, historical perspective. Where to buy. If we all wanted the same things, you could simply include them in the content. But we don't.
And so even great content can lose eyeballs relatively quickly.
Apture is out to change that dynamic. It makes it possible for consumers to see more and publishers to show more while staying on the same page. There are two ways to access Apture's semantic search and content display capabilities:
The Apture toolbar gives users the opportunity to get their fix of whatever related content they might want without leaving the content they are reading. Whether or not a site participates in Apture, the toolbar can provide related links of information. Apture gathers additional information through open APIs from leading content sources like Wikipedia, as well as Google search results.
Here's a little video demo of Apture Toolbar in action. As you can see, it links the reader with multiple types of content related to a topic, from Wikipedia links to videos, photos, maps, etc.
For publishers, Apture gives consumers the opportunity to highlight any text on their pages and instantly get Apture-style search results. When they arrive on your pages, a little flag appears telling them that they can highlight and go deep.
When they do their highlight, the Apture window appears and provides a list of related links from YOUR site PLUS open API content from a base set of sites PLUS Google search results for sites farther afield. There are no multimedia restrictions -- the consumer can view other text, slide shows, even video in user initiated windows that appear in front of your content. Here's another video -- this one shows the publisher benefits:
According to Apture's research, their platform can grow time on a page by 2-3X, and pages consumed by 1.5-2X. Absolutely nothing to sneeze at in the battle for more page and ad views. The cost to the consumer is free, and there are two ways pubs can pay. They can use a basic free service that includes ads sold by Apture, or pay for an ad-free experience.
There are a couple of differences versus the contextual ad solutions like Kontera and Vibrant. With those models, the ad platform identifies the specific words that can be explored, and then shares revenue with the site for ad actions. This might have effects on time spent with content, but that's not it's primary goal. With this model, the choice of terms is up to the user, and the experience stays on (or over) the page rather than through a redirect.
There is a lot of innovation going on in the content space. Ensuring that producers of quality content can make more money -- and thereby produce even MORE quality content - should be everyone's goal.
While most of the posts on this blog will be from the perspective of a marketer, occasionally I want to showcase some fascinating developments in pub-side solutions. I love content sites, both as a user and as someone who wants to reward content providers with revenue sufficient to keep them...contenting. As it were. Today is one of those days when I want to focus on the pub-side.
Trying to keep a viewer around is a challenge for many publishers. There appear to be about 10,000 places MINIMUM to find content on any topic. Relatively quickly you'll find users wanting different types of information on any topic. Photos, historical perspective. Where to buy. If we all wanted the same things, you could simply include them in the content. But we don't.
And so even great content can lose eyeballs relatively quickly.
Apture is out to change that dynamic. It makes it possible for consumers to see more and publishers to show more while staying on the same page. There are two ways to access Apture's semantic search and content display capabilities:
The Apture toolbar gives users the opportunity to get their fix of whatever related content they might want without leaving the content they are reading. Whether or not a site participates in Apture, the toolbar can provide related links of information. Apture gathers additional information through open APIs from leading content sources like Wikipedia, as well as Google search results.
Here's a little video demo of Apture Toolbar in action. As you can see, it links the reader with multiple types of content related to a topic, from Wikipedia links to videos, photos, maps, etc.
For publishers, Apture gives consumers the opportunity to highlight any text on their pages and instantly get Apture-style search results. When they arrive on your pages, a little flag appears telling them that they can highlight and go deep.
When they do their highlight, the Apture window appears and provides a list of related links from YOUR site PLUS open API content from a base set of sites PLUS Google search results for sites farther afield. There are no multimedia restrictions -- the consumer can view other text, slide shows, even video in user initiated windows that appear in front of your content. Here's another video -- this one shows the publisher benefits:
According to Apture's research, their platform can grow time on a page by 2-3X, and pages consumed by 1.5-2X. Absolutely nothing to sneeze at in the battle for more page and ad views. The cost to the consumer is free, and there are two ways pubs can pay. They can use a basic free service that includes ads sold by Apture, or pay for an ad-free experience.
There are a couple of differences versus the contextual ad solutions like Kontera and Vibrant. With those models, the ad platform identifies the specific words that can be explored, and then shares revenue with the site for ad actions. This might have effects on time spent with content, but that's not it's primary goal. With this model, the choice of terms is up to the user, and the experience stays on (or over) the page rather than through a redirect.
There is a lot of innovation going on in the content space. Ensuring that producers of quality content can make more money -- and thereby produce even MORE quality content - should be everyone's goal.
Start-Up Watch COD: GlobalMojo is the browser that lets consumers and businesses give back
Special thanks to ad:tech for publishing this first.
As someone who came of age during the “greed is good” Eighties, I find it heartening that companies and consumers now have far greater interest in doing good. Global Mojo is a philanthropic browser that gives consumers the opportunity to do good as they go about their daily business online.
The browser, which is built on the open source Mozilla platform, donates 50% of gross revenues to schools and non-profits selected by the community as worthy causes.
Here’s the Explaniflick…
The offering essentially works like an affiliate, generating revenue when the consumer searches, browses, or makes purchases online using GlobalMojo. Because it is based upon Mozilla, it offers all of the customization options available through Firefox. But with this caring benefit overlay it may well become the choice of people who want to make a difference in more things that they do in the course of their daily lives.
There are essentially four channels of shared revenue:
• GlobalMojo Travel gives users the opportunity to compare results across a range of sites that pay the service a bounty for bookings. Travel site partners include Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity, and more.
• GlobalMojo Shopping enables users to compare prices and products across more than 900 retailers that compensate the browser for purchases.
• Advertising and Search offer additional revenue channels.
The user selects the nonprofits s/he chooses to support, and can allocate the revenue they generate by assigning percentages to different organizations.
How much revenue are we talking about per user? Well, GlobalMojo estimates that each user will generate between $10-$30 for the charities of their choice. Not a fortune, but when combined with the donations for the behaviors of potentially millions of others, it’s easy to see that GlobalMojo can make a real difference in the world.
Of course, the beauty of the model for marketers and advertisers is that they can help do good by partnering with the company. Not only does it offer a new customer/revenue channel for online retailers – it also enables the company to do something good – and be seen doing something good by people who care deeply about such things. If you are a marketer looking for any of these benefits, visit this page to obtain more information.
As someone who came of age during the “greed is good” Eighties, I find it heartening that companies and consumers now have far greater interest in doing good. Global Mojo is a philanthropic browser that gives consumers the opportunity to do good as they go about their daily business online.
The browser, which is built on the open source Mozilla platform, donates 50% of gross revenues to schools and non-profits selected by the community as worthy causes.
Here’s the Explaniflick…
The offering essentially works like an affiliate, generating revenue when the consumer searches, browses, or makes purchases online using GlobalMojo. Because it is based upon Mozilla, it offers all of the customization options available through Firefox. But with this caring benefit overlay it may well become the choice of people who want to make a difference in more things that they do in the course of their daily lives.
There are essentially four channels of shared revenue:
• GlobalMojo Travel gives users the opportunity to compare results across a range of sites that pay the service a bounty for bookings. Travel site partners include Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity, and more.
• GlobalMojo Shopping enables users to compare prices and products across more than 900 retailers that compensate the browser for purchases.
• Advertising and Search offer additional revenue channels.
The user selects the nonprofits s/he chooses to support, and can allocate the revenue they generate by assigning percentages to different organizations.
How much revenue are we talking about per user? Well, GlobalMojo estimates that each user will generate between $10-$30 for the charities of their choice. Not a fortune, but when combined with the donations for the behaviors of potentially millions of others, it’s easy to see that GlobalMojo can make a real difference in the world.
Of course, the beauty of the model for marketers and advertisers is that they can help do good by partnering with the company. Not only does it offer a new customer/revenue channel for online retailers – it also enables the company to do something good – and be seen doing something good by people who care deeply about such things. If you are a marketer looking for any of these benefits, visit this page to obtain more information.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
COD: Vook – The platform that changes everything in book publishing
Thanks to ad:tech for publishing this first.
One of my wonkier interests is book marketing – a field with its own rules, realities, and best practices. I’ve heard that ultimately the industry is built on only a couple million consumers. OK, cookbooks can get beyond that core set, also romance which has something like 30 million core readers, ditto catchily titled books “written” by semiliterate pro wrestlers and UFC stars. But for most of the segments, there’s this fairly tiny set of power readers that hold the walls of the biz up. Similar to how hard core gamers can make or break a title in that business. (I am guessing hard core readers and gamers are decidedly dissimilar in demos and psychographics.)
So I have been interested to see how the world reacts to Vook, a platform that combines book-style narrative text with photos, video, and social media integration. Here’s the movie:
View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com
Of course, every industry is anxious to see how digital can enrich its business – publishing is no exception. Since its launch Vook has garnered a strong list of authors and titles including Seth Godin, Deepak Chopra, Anne Rice, Gary Vaynerchuk, Slash of Guns N' Roses and Karen Armstrong. Additionally, a number of the largest and more significant publishing houses in the US. including Simon and Schuster, Penguin Group, Harvard Business Press, Harper Collins and Hachette Filipacchi, are releasing broad appeal titles to Vook. There isn't a huge number of titles yet, but it’s growing steadily, and the pace is accelerating as more people try out the platform.
Vooks are available on the vook.com site, in the Amazon store for Kindle and in the app store for iPhone and iPad. Since all hype looks most over the top in the Romance genre, I give you the trailer for Promises, by Jude Deveraux. It’ll give you a sense of how the Vook format enlivens content and can enrich a story.
View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com
Obviously, only a small number of people who read these posts are in the book trade. But Vook is significant on a pan-digital industry level for a couple of reasons.
First, it demonstrates how digital can transform mature categories and add interactivity and exchange to seemingly staid, traditional businesses.
Second, the Vook format seems an interesting potential platform for marketing messages at some point in the future. Would consumers interact with multimedia brand experiences if they enriched book content? Absolutely, I think. Imagine a “cozy” mystery series, with video and enactments in a Starbucks, or a way to send virtual cups of coffee to friends.
Third is about audience extension, and how digital may be able to broaden the appeal of a category. Anyone who has been to my house knows that I am part of that small population segment that drives publishing. I have perhaps 4,000 books in my house, on shelves that climb 14 feet into the air and pretty much cover every wall surface in my tiny unit.
I can certainly see myself enjoying a Vook, particularly in certain emotional genres. For example, the ability to see The Last Supper while reading Da Vinci Code, or having a vid move in and out and make clearer the hidden symbols, yadda yadda. And WHAT A WAY to promote movies based upon books!
But the question really is, will the Vook open up new population segments to more frequent reading? Or even any reading at all?
I bet that Vooks can increase the number of titles read by light and medium category buyers, but that the non reader will remain so, despite the advent of the Vook. Perhaps more importantly, Vook and Vook trailers will offer the opportunity to better communicate a story than can cover or spine art, and that’s good news as well.
The social angle is fascinating. Reading is of course nearly always a solitary act, but the incredible growth in the number of book clubs demonstrates that readers want to be able to share their experiences. Vook integrates social right into the platform, which offers the added benefit of driving awareness and personal endorsements for titles. Marketers may also find the cohesive demos of certain book genres irresistible as well.
Whatever you think of the concept, Vook is definitely worth watching. Will it succeed? Will it be a niche? Only time will tell. In the meantime, it’s time for me to get back to watching The Raven.
One of my wonkier interests is book marketing – a field with its own rules, realities, and best practices. I’ve heard that ultimately the industry is built on only a couple million consumers. OK, cookbooks can get beyond that core set, also romance which has something like 30 million core readers, ditto catchily titled books “written” by semiliterate pro wrestlers and UFC stars. But for most of the segments, there’s this fairly tiny set of power readers that hold the walls of the biz up. Similar to how hard core gamers can make or break a title in that business. (I am guessing hard core readers and gamers are decidedly dissimilar in demos and psychographics.)
So I have been interested to see how the world reacts to Vook, a platform that combines book-style narrative text with photos, video, and social media integration. Here’s the movie:
View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com
Of course, every industry is anxious to see how digital can enrich its business – publishing is no exception. Since its launch Vook has garnered a strong list of authors and titles including Seth Godin, Deepak Chopra, Anne Rice, Gary Vaynerchuk, Slash of Guns N' Roses and Karen Armstrong. Additionally, a number of the largest and more significant publishing houses in the US. including Simon and Schuster, Penguin Group, Harvard Business Press, Harper Collins and Hachette Filipacchi, are releasing broad appeal titles to Vook. There isn't a huge number of titles yet, but it’s growing steadily, and the pace is accelerating as more people try out the platform.
Vooks are available on the vook.com site, in the Amazon store for Kindle and in the app store for iPhone and iPad. Since all hype looks most over the top in the Romance genre, I give you the trailer for Promises, by Jude Deveraux. It’ll give you a sense of how the Vook format enlivens content and can enrich a story.
View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com
Obviously, only a small number of people who read these posts are in the book trade. But Vook is significant on a pan-digital industry level for a couple of reasons.
First, it demonstrates how digital can transform mature categories and add interactivity and exchange to seemingly staid, traditional businesses.
Second, the Vook format seems an interesting potential platform for marketing messages at some point in the future. Would consumers interact with multimedia brand experiences if they enriched book content? Absolutely, I think. Imagine a “cozy” mystery series, with video and enactments in a Starbucks, or a way to send virtual cups of coffee to friends.
Third is about audience extension, and how digital may be able to broaden the appeal of a category. Anyone who has been to my house knows that I am part of that small population segment that drives publishing. I have perhaps 4,000 books in my house, on shelves that climb 14 feet into the air and pretty much cover every wall surface in my tiny unit.
I can certainly see myself enjoying a Vook, particularly in certain emotional genres. For example, the ability to see The Last Supper while reading Da Vinci Code, or having a vid move in and out and make clearer the hidden symbols, yadda yadda. And WHAT A WAY to promote movies based upon books!
But the question really is, will the Vook open up new population segments to more frequent reading? Or even any reading at all?
I bet that Vooks can increase the number of titles read by light and medium category buyers, but that the non reader will remain so, despite the advent of the Vook. Perhaps more importantly, Vook and Vook trailers will offer the opportunity to better communicate a story than can cover or spine art, and that’s good news as well.
The social angle is fascinating. Reading is of course nearly always a solitary act, but the incredible growth in the number of book clubs demonstrates that readers want to be able to share their experiences. Vook integrates social right into the platform, which offers the added benefit of driving awareness and personal endorsements for titles. Marketers may also find the cohesive demos of certain book genres irresistible as well.
Whatever you think of the concept, Vook is definitely worth watching. Will it succeed? Will it be a niche? Only time will tell. In the meantime, it’s time for me to get back to watching The Raven.
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