Consumers Gain Greater Control As Brands Get Fire

[Full Disclosure: Firebrand Is A Client Of Morpheus Media. The Views In This Post Do Not Represent Those Of Morpheus Media or Firebrand]


Are you sick of commercial breaks? Are you sick of brands force feeding irrelevant messages to you during your favorite programming?


Do you hate brands?


Many of you may answer yes to these questions. Many of you have spent most of your life without the ability to skip mass branded messages that have little to do with you. With the rise of time shifting devices, we are now free from the clutches of mass marketing, but who will subsidize our entertainment, and are brands really so bad?


What if you had the chance to control the way in which brands communicated with you? What if you were able to decide when, and on what platform a brand had permission to message you? Perhaps if these things were reality, the way in which you thought about brands would be different.


Enter Firebrand


Firebrand’s “commercials as content” approach to advertising is a new way for consumers and brands to engage in conversational marketing.  Some may not deem Firebrand conversational marketing, as people tend to liken blogs, wiki’s and other Web 2.0 platforms to the common notion of marketing as a conversation, but if you take a moment to think about it, Firebrand’s platform is indeed a way for brands and consumers collaborate.


Think about these aspects:



  • All messaging is opt-in


  • Consumers can create playlists of their favorite content, signifying likes and dislikes

    • They can also embed spots and send to friends to join the conversation



  • Consumers can inadvertently tell brands what their interests are by taking further action online. Consumers have the ability to dive as deeply into branded content as they want.

  • Firebrand features ‘Commercial Jockeys’ or CJs to contextualize commercials. By giving the consumer the ability to put commercials into content blocks, brands can gain feedback on the types of things consumers are interested in relative to their brand

  • Fireband is a multi channel platform and brands can get Feedback as to what content people are watching on which device



Here is a short video describing the platform in further detail.






For More Info Go To:


Firebrand Press Release


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OMMA DAY ONE: Discovering the Local Search Frontier

Local search is considered the Wild West of the online search world. Yet, interactive marketers are now realizing that they cannot continue to pour money into the same pay per click advertising model that works for general online search and see the same type of results. According to a recent Forrester report this is because local searchers have three needs: proximity, immediacy and brand loyalty. This is forcing local search engines to implement new services, including inventory control sites, pay-per-call and local reviews and online classifieds aggregators, to cater to these consumer needs. See where local search is heading.
Panelists:
John Federman, CEO, eStara
Lyn Chitow Oakes, Senior Vice President, Marketing, Jingle Networks
Brendan Benzing, Vice President, Mobile Search & Marketing, InfoSpace
Nancy Dunn, ClipSyndicate
Moderator: Greg Sterling, Senior Analyst & Program Director, Local Mobile Search, Opus Research




  • Local is the most important phenomenon on the Internet




  • Local Search 2nd most popular activity online




  • Brendan Benzing




    • manifest from yellow pages to internet yellow pages to mobile local search






  • Lyn Chitow




    • majority of mobile searchers using voice






  • Dunn




    • Aggregating local providers






  • Conversion rates on local tend to be reflective of the "ready to buy" consumer




  • Directional Media




    • consumer already has the need established




    • consumer is already on the pursuit






  • Campaign Integration across media




  • Invisibility on intent and tracking is often an issue




  • Voice is still the mass of mobile usage





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OMMA Day One: Wikipedia: The Perfect SEO Storm

The power of the people: do you know how to leverage it to fuel your organization’s SEO campaign? Anyone who has been searching on Google recently has surely noticed that Wikipedia is ranking well for a staggering number of search phrases: from competitive terms as diverse as Christianity to Hell’s Angels. Come to this session and learn the secrets behind Wikipedia’s unprecedented success and how you can apply similar SEO techniques to expand your keyword list and increase your rankings. The talk will include examples of ‘Wiki-like’ SEO techniques, both for the small Website owner as well as large, CMS powered Websites. Attention will be given to SEO techniques such as CMS modifications that can be made for content publishers and etailers, as well as ways to leverage your visitors so that they create the content and do the work for you. The seminar will also discuss how to balance marketing and conversion best practices with heavy internal linking.
 Panelists:
Don Steele, Director of Digital Marketing, Comedy Central
Tom Troja, VP of Marketing and Sales, Pajamas Media
Craig Hordlow, Chief Search Strategist, Red Bricks Media
Moderator: Josh Palau, Group Director, Search, Avenue A | Razorfish




  • Don Steele




  • 145 wikipedia entries on South Park




  • Manbearpig on wikipedia




  • “Our Website cannot stand along, it is not a walled garden”




  • “How do we work with Wikipedia”




  • Using what is happening in Wikinews




  • Craig Hordlow




  • Wikipedia –98% of back links come from their own site




  • They tell the entire story form A-Z to capture broad match as well as exact match




  • CMS Validates Smart Linking




  • No follow tag




  • Tom Troja




  • Emotional Connections




  • Conversational Marketing




  • To get beyond the wiki, get people to trust you




  • Getting People to Market you




  • The sales funnel is dysfunctional




  • Cannot control reception




  • Consideration changes




  • Wiki is a story telling medium




  • Speak in a human voice





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OMMA DAY ONE: Morning Keynote

OMMA 2007 Morning


When did conferences start having trailers? We got to see some good (?) trailers from Valueclick and Revenue Science


OPENING REMARKS:The View from Here

Nick Nyhan, Founder, Dynamic Logic and OMMA New York Emcee


  • Email is about to make a comeback




  • Will end spend continue to grow in the US or will it come from other countries




  • Is mobile the bridge between the digital and physical world?




  • Will brand marketers have to give up some control?




  • Does search look good because of brand terms?




  • What is the entire cost of search (pre search etc.)




  • When will social networks reach saturation?




  • What will we not be talking about next year that we are talking about now?




KEYNOTE: Warp Speed: Online Media, Marketing and Advertising by the Numbers

SPEAKER: Geoff Ramsey, CEO, eMarketer

Online ad spending continues to grow at a double-digit pace. Video is causing a stir among large advertisers looking to brand online. Social media sites like MySpace and Facebook are not only grabbing headlines but, now, profits as well. And every week a new whiz-bang technology or online advertising format is introduced with all the fanfare. How can marketers and their ad agencies keep up with the constant torrent of information? Which trends are real and which hyped? Get perspective and an objective look at the key trends you will need to watch in this kick-off session with eMarketer CEO Geoff Ramsey. Hold onto your seats!


  • Fragmentation, chaos of mass media




  • Waste of money on traditional media




  • Accountability




  • 18% of consumers dislike all forms of advertising




  • Modern Marketing as Sisyphus




  • FOG—Fear of Google




  • GMOOT Syndrome—Get Me One of Those




  • “what is hype and what is reality”




  • -2.4% loss in newspaper spend




  • 2007—Internet Surpasses Radio




  • 28.6% growth in internet




  • Internet at 7.5% of all media




  • 65% of all HH with broadband




  • The basis of content on the web is shifting—TV/Intenet




  • Average video per month 3 hours




  • $775 million on video this year




  • How to monetize video?




  • Pre-rolls, overlays etc.




  • What Google did for search, they will also do for video




  • The future of search




  • Smarter




  • Mobile




  • Local




  • Richer (with video)




  • Mobile ad spending projected 3 Billion by 2010




  • Mobile integration of the utmost importance




  • 2.2% of online ad spend in social networks




  • 4 strategies for social networks




  • Look listen lounge and learn




  • Advertise




  • Invite consumers to embed your brand on their profile




  • Build your own




  • Offer tools to create a community of interest




  • Second Life—all negative and close minded, he said “get a real life”—very professional




  • Five challenges




  • Fragmentation




  • Clutter




  • Eroding trust




  • Consumer in control




  • Trend-itis




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AMEDIACIR.CLIP: Mobile Web Access Statistics

Some say that one day handsets will be the primary way that the web is accessed. While I do not fully subscribe to this notion, I do feel that mobile devices will make up a large percent of devices accessing the web.

In the US we are still a bit behind. In the next few years we will begin to see a major shift towards accessing the the web via a mobile device.
clipped from www.alleyinsider.com
  • Mobile is the web access device of future. In most of developed world, it already is. In Japan, 90% access web on mobile.
    Phillippines, no computers, all phones. India is the same.
  • In Japan and other places, use the camera on phone as a navigation device.  See something, point phone at it and get the web.
  • In Japan, 65% of phones have the software.  In US 70% have cameras (but no software)...
  • In France, one article with bar code sent 30% of traffic to a wap site
    via the code.  This is moving globally.  Every handset will have the software.
  • In japan, 84% of usage was in magazines.  Read an ad…want to know
    where the product is selling..scan code, combine with GPS, can send you to places.
    •  blog it

    Spotlight: Associated Content

    I recently had the pleasure of hearing Andrew Boer of Associated Content speak the Advertising Club Meetup in NYC. He joined the conversation here at A Media Circ.us, and because of this, I am going to give his company a plug and post some content.


    I would love to hear you comments about this company, and remember, you don't have to be nice. I get the impression that Andrew is looking for constructive feedback. Back patting is really not a big help.


    Here is Andrew's presentation (it was quite witty)



    >

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    AMEDIACIR.CLIP: Searching The Mobile Space

    The one time keepers of the precious "deck", or walled gardens of the mobile space may no longer have the upper hand in negotiations on how they choose to monetize mobile content. According to analysts, search will play a major role in how mobile media will be monetized, and the carriers cannot go it alone.


    This article also underscores the importance of Google's potential bid on the 700Mhz "beach front property".


    Keep an eye on this space!
















    clipped from publications.mediapost.com







    Analysts say that search is shaping up to be a key source of mobile advertising revenue, and for carriers to get a piece of the pie, they need to partner with branded, third-party developers like Microsoft.









    blog it


    AMEDIACIR.CLIP: iPhone Goes Wide, Nokia Goes Long

    Have you ever seen a business man with a Blackberry and a cell phone. I sure have, in fact, I know many of them.

    Why is this?

    Blackberry went after, and conquered a very specific market, while the iPhone is attempting to go after everyone.
    I love my iPhone for most things. The one thing I do not love is the email. Perhaps it is me (please give me feedback if you have some insite) but the email is SO slow on my iPhone.

    I digress.

    Nokia has announced a strategy to specifically go after the business person. This seems to be part of a larger strategy to garner more market share in the mobile services space. This play will support the current stronghold they currently have on the hardware space and position them for the future, where mobile services will play an increasing role.















    clipped from www.nokia.com





    London, UK - Nokia today bolstered its Nokia Eseries portfolio of business devices with the introduction of the new Nokia E51 device.� The slim and elegant Nokia E51 adds greater simplicity, faster access and tighter integration to key applications, while maintaining the smartphone capabilities and stylish design that customers have come to expect in a Nokia Eseries device. An all-round device, Nokia E51 is ideal for business professionals who require reliable, real-time access to business and people, need to manage time effectively and value a single device that is easy to set up, maintain and use. Nokia E51 users with Nokia mobility solutions can experience mobile telephony, mobile email and messaging, office phone functionality, and cost savings - with the convenience of one phone number, one voice mailbox, one dial plan - in a single device.








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    A MEDIACIR.CLIP: Is Google An Ad Agency?

    Have a look at this clip...let me know your thoughts on whether or not you feel that Google is in fact becoming an ad agency.















    clipped from publications.mediapost.com







    Cozying up to the advertiser community, Google late last year opened striking new offices in downtown New York City. The intention was to combine Madison Avenue with Silicon Valley to forge a vast marketing platform, Tim Armstrong, Google's vice president for ad sales, said at the time. New York is key to Google's future, Armstrong said, because "Google has become a large advertising company."









    blog it


    Google, Google, Google, Help! Marketers Have Hijacked Adweek!

    As I lie in bed last night preparing for golden slumbers, with eyes heavy from an onerous day of interactive strategy, a sense of terror and chaos washed over me.



    “Adweek has been hijacked by a bunch of mysterious old marketers!”  I thought to myself.



    Somehow, this group of rogue marketers longing for martini lunches had forged a report under McKinsey & Company’s name, stating that dollars were not moving towards the online space due to lack of accountability!~


    They brilliantly titled the report, “Why Clients Withhold Ad Spending Online”.


    They made egregious claims such as:


    Of 410 marketing executives in five sectors 52% said “insufficient metrics to measure impact” was the primary reason that they were not spending more online.


    I thought to myself, “this must be a dream, Super Google will save us!”


    Alas, this was not dream, but was it the truth? Could it be that marketers are shying away from the most accountable channel since the begging of time due to…accountability?


    Stay Tuned For The Next Episode Of, “Marketers Have Hijacked Adweek”



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    Advertising Club Meetup: Roundup September 17, 2007

    I attended my very first (I believe it was actually only second one) Advertising Club Meetup last night. The event was sponsored by Yahoo (it was held at their offices, thanks Yahoo) and Mimeo and was hosted by Jeff Grill, VP of Mimeo.


    The event even got coverage in Mediapost, how cool! Meetup.com has hit the mainstream.


    Overall I am glad that I went. I learned a bunch of things and networked with a few great folks.


    I am however going to make a few criticisms before I get into the play by play.



    • If you are going to give a Meetup a title, try and stick to the title.



      • The title of this Meetup was “Brand Content”. In my opinion only 3 of the 5 speakers were relevant to this topic. I am not complaining, one of the speakers who were not relevant was great, but it is always important to set expectations.



    • Pay Per Post (disclaimer: this is a personal note emotion) I am really not a fan of what Pay Per Post (for the sole reason that there are advertisers can say, “Say nice things about me, or say nothing at all) is doing and try to avoid getting their sales pitch at all costs. Furthermore, they are not new, and presented nothing new. I have seen it so many times before and could have done without it last night.


    Here are the speakers and a few bullets for each (in order of appearance)


    Andrew Boer, Vice President Of Business Development—Associated Content


    This is the second time that I head Andrew speak (the first was at the Tech Meetup). I have to say he was very entertaining this go around. He began with a history of advertising and it went something like this:



    • Era of Proximity

    • Era Of Publishing

    • Era Of Distribution

    • Era of Declared Interest


    (Andrew, if you make your deck embeddable, or just send it to me, I will post it)


    If you would like to know more about any of these era’s, leave me comment, or better still, shoot Andrew an email (as a Biz Dev guy, I am sure he will not mind).


    He then spoke about AC’s model entitled, “The People’s Media Company”.


    I don’t have the time to go into the full model, but one thing I do ask of all the A Mediacirc.Us readers out there; when you do your research, tell me if this model reminds you of any other model.


    Pay Per Post—Rob Leland


    Every blogger in the worlds know what this is, so I will not spare you the details. The only thing I will ask (once again) is, how is this not payola?


    MindComet


    Next Up was a really interesting interactive agency called MindComet. Being the poor journalist that I am (if you can even call me a journalist) I did not get the gentleman’s name who spoke last night and he does not appear to be on the site.


    LESSON: When a member of your team does ANYTHING in public, by some keywords surrounding their name, relevant phrases and the event they spoke at. Harness the power of the search halo effect.


    He spoke about an interactive Texas Hold Em game that was produced for Copenhagen, in which user could get virtual currency (kids, pay attention to this space, for real!)for entering personal information, as well as codes that were seen in traditional media. I really love this last idea, as I love anything that can bridge the gap between traditional and interactive media.


    Finally found the name: Bruce Neslaw


    Gad Romann, CEO The Romann Group




    • Jeff Grill said he coined the phrase “branded content”




    • One would think it this was the case I could find some info on it online, nontheless this guy was really cool!




    • “New Technologies Obscure Brands”




    • “We need to maintain the Church of The Brand”




    • Spoke about brand narratives and the combination of consumer narratives and brand narratives




    • Love this! The only person who touched on collaboration and co creation




    • We need to “reinvent the narrative”




    • SEARCH ENGINE NARRATIVE




    • He told of a project that he is working on and mentioned the phrase “search engine narrative”. I have never heard this before, but I love it!




    • I wish I could define it for you, but I need further clarification. Gad, if you are out there, write my readers a post on this :)




    Finally Gad spoke about media neutral communities and that brands need to be everywhere, right on sir!


    Judy Shapiro, CEO Emergent Marketing


    Judy, although not relevant to the subject of the meetup (I suspect it was not her fault) was really cool. She spoke about SEO and PR and her notion of “Search Engine Volume” and building content campaigns in order to drive mass traffic.


    I agreed with much of what she said and always love hearing PR people talk SEO.


    Herb Yost, National Account Executive, Direct Group


    He spoke about a product called Read Smart. I suggest looking it up, I don’t even know how to begin to explain this :)


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    How Google Conquered the Mobile Content Market Overnight

    Okay, so I was trying to be provocative with the title of this post.


    I certainly don’t believe Google has conquered the Mobile content market, but I do agree with Russell Beattie’s notion that Google is playing catch-up, while companies like AdMob have the lead in the mobile content space.



    Why the sudden need to expand mobile reach?



    It seems Google has placed a great deal of emphasis on Adwords mobile for some time, and has not done a good job of helping publishers convert their online experiences to acceptable mobile experiences , this is exactly what Admob did to take the space by storm.


    How this effects SEM’s


    If you are a search marketer, you were probably alerted to the fact Google will be offering free mobile Adwords until November 18th. This move was positioned to marketers as a great way to expand the reach of a current AdWords campaign.


    What Google did not highlight was the fact that, if you don’t have a WAP site, the user experience provided will inevitably be unsatisfactory, and you will most likely waste ad dollars by driving consumers to pages that are virtually useless on a mobile device.


    Google has provided best practices for creating a mobile web page. They also provided a way to preview what your page will look like on a handheld device. Still, Google did not do an adequate job of underscoring the importance of a few factors:




    • Ad Placement Visibility and Reporting



      • As a search marketer, efficiency is of the utmost importance. At my agency we look where our ads are running on the Google Content Network and do our best to limit exposure to the Google Content Network when it is not working to our advantage.



        • I want the same transparency with Mobile ads. Adwords support center say the following:



          • “The performance data for your text ads running on Google Mobile Search pages will be posted on a page that reads "Performance Data: Search Ads on Google Mobile Search." Please remember, your ads will only be shown if their landing pages can be adapted to fit on a mobile screen. These statistics will be incorporated into your overall account statistics starting November 19th.”





      • I have two issue with this:



        • The language is very vague. Post November 19th, will I not be able to see Mobile Search Reports broken out from other placements?

        • Google makes reference to landing pages that can be adapted. Google is already transcoding web pages for use on mobile devices. These trasncoded pages do not guarantee a good user experience; it just means that they are appropriating the page so it can be viewed on a mobile phone.



          • With this transcoding your page may already fit into Google’s mobile requirements (making your page fit for Google Mobile ads) and you may not even know it.







    • Why Has Google Chosen To Go with Opt Out?





    I applaud Google’s attempt to spur growth and innovation in the Mobile space. I just wish they were more forthcoming with how exactly this will play out.



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    Related links


    http://searchengineland.com/070911-162219.php


    http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2007/09/15/googles-mobile-advertising-launch-disappointing/


    Initial Launch Of Google Adwords Mobile


    http://www.clickz.com/3623347


    Russell Beattie Commentary


    http://www.russellbeattie.com/blog/mobile-ads-vs-adapted-ads-googles-mobile-end-run


    Google Official Rules http://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=72226#0.1.1_FAQ2


    Test Your Mobile Phone


    http://google.com/gwt/n


    What is Mobile Web Search


    http://www.google.com/support/mobile/bin/answer.py?answer=37425


    Google Talks About Surge in Mobile


    http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070822/wr_nm/google_mobile_dc


    http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20070916/tc_pcworld/137093


    http://www.localmobilesearch.net/?p=112



    You Simply Cannot Control A Good Band

    Okay, you guessed it, we are not talking about Rock N Roll here...



    I have been following the FCC 700Mhz auction very closely lately, as I feel that we are on the brink of a monumental shift in the way people think about hardware versus software, and the roles that each play in modern media consumption.


    Yes, this blog is supposed to be about media and how it relates to advertising/marketing, but bear with me. I will talk a lot about this in the coming weeks, and trust me, this is all very relevant!



    …and in this corner, weighing in at a market cap of 163.8 billion dollars, GOOGLE!



    Let’s face it; no corporation’s main interest is to promote competition (especially when they are one of the competitors).


    What sense would that make?


    Still Google’s lobbyist’s in Washington fought (and won) to make sure the 700MHz spectrum that is to be auctioned in 2008 did not become a walled garden. Google did so under the guise of “open access”.


    Don’t get me wrong, I am not accusing Google of being disingenuous, however, Google is quite aware that they have superior software to the cable companies and the telco’s, and need to make sure they are not locked out of this network.


    Here are the four things Google fought to protect:




    • Open applications: consumers should be able to download and utilize any software applications, content, or services they desire;




    • Open devices: consumers should be able to utilize their handheld communications device with whatever wireless network they prefer;




    • Open services: third parties (resellers) should be able to acquire wireless services from a 700 MHz licensee on a wholesale basis, based on reasonably nondiscriminatory commercial terms; and




    • Open networks: third parties (like Internet service providers) should be able to interconnect at any technically feasible point in a 700 MHz licensee's wireless network.




    As Google expands its software offerings, and continues to redefine modern advertising, it is essential that they continue to grow the network on which their services can be leveraged and advertising can be contextually placed next to those services.


    Google claims that winning this bout was a win for the consumer, and I would tend to agree however, no one can deny that Google too is a big winner in this matter.



    …and in this corner, weighing in at a market cap of 123.6 billion dollars, VERIZON!



    As Google defends the consumers, Verizon is seeking to defend the Constitution (shouldn’t they one serve the other?).


    Verizon wireless is challenging the FCC for its open access ruling back in July 2007.


    Verizon is on the record as saying that the auction,


    “violates the U.S. Constitution, violates the Administrative Procedures Act... and is arbitrary, capricious, unsupported by the substantial evidence and otherwise contrary to law”


    While I disagree with this sentiment, Verizon’s sentiment is certainly understandable. After all, why would a company that makes money by charging access fees spend upwards of 10 billion dollars, only to share the purchase.



    What Does All This Mean?


    I would love to hear your opinion.


    Many obvious things are changing in the media industry. From You Tube to Facebook to Tivo to XM, our mediated lives are different than ever before. The aforementioned are however a mere manifestation of fundamental shifts in the way we think about media, who owns the media, and if it is even possible for a corporation to control a portion of the media in the 21st century.


    The fact is, the age of media control is ending, but the opportunity for media companies is greater than it has ever been, they just need to be a little creative.


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    Conversational Marketing: If You Can’t Beat ‘Em Join ‘Em (and Measure ‘Em)

    The notion of conversation marketing feels commonplace amongst many of my peers still, when reading newswires and industry trades, major media bodies talk about this concept as if they had thought of it the night before.



    image taken from http://www.concurringopinions.com


    comScore Gets Conversational


    Despite my skepticism, it is always great to see the media/marketing/advertising industries move in a direction where such conversations are deemed legitimate, a direction that provides motivation for media research firms to help figure out how best marketers and media professionals can work within the conversation. comScore has announced that it will providing enhanced measurement tools that aim to help measure the blogosphere from a quantitative and qualitative perspective. The comScore Conversational Media Report grew out of a partnership with John Battele’s, Federated Media and was announced following Federated Media’s, Conversational Marketing Summit.



    Ogilvy and Technorati Ride The Cluetrain


    In related news, Ogilvy &Mather Worldwide and Technorati announced the release of a white paper entitled:


    “The Manifesto on Monday Morning: How to Put the Wisdom of Cluetrain into Action When You Get to Your Office.”


    This paper is a follow up to the landmark work, Cluetrain Manifesto: The End Of Business As Usual.


    (more from ZDNET)


    I had the great pleasure of hearing Peter Hirshberg of Technorati (one of the players behind the white paper) speak the other night at an event thrown by The Glasshouse at the SohoHouse in NYC. I am not sure he said anything I did not already know, but everything he said was graced with his wit and insight and shed new light on familiar concepts.


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    AT&T Gets Orange

    What do the phrases “digital world”, “digital identity” and the color orange have in common?


    For starters, they are all part of AT&T’s new marketing initiative, and what seems to be a shift in their brand positioning at large.


    There are a number of things that I feel AT&T is doing right, but before I get to that, let’s talk about what the one thing they have gotten wrong.


    Here are a few quotes from Cathy Coughlin, AT&T senior executive vice president and global marketing officer.



    “The AT&T brand is one of our most important assets,”


    “The new campaigns highlight AT&T's leadership in wireless and our


    extensive portfolio of communications services that keep our customers


    connected.”



    Obviously Coughlin has not actually used AT&T wireless’s EDGE network lately, and is not aware what people really think of the brand…


    Okay, so that was a bit harsh, sue me :) !


    What I am really getting at is the fact that AT&T neglected the power of the wildly popular young and hip brand, Cingular, in favor of the stodgy old bell, AT&T. They are now attempting to siphon elements of the brand people loved, into the brand their parents may or may not have loved.


    Am I missing something here? If the goal is to go young, hip and fresh, why did they not go with the brand that already captured that market?


    That is old news, on to the present…



    Friend and fellow metaverse connoisseur, Jerry Paffendorf recently left The Electric Sheep Company in an attempt to turn the World Wide Web into a World Wide World. While I don’t really know exactly what he is talking about (I am sure whatever it is he is working on it really cool) I feel as though AT&T is after a similar goal (at least in essence. I am sure what Jerry is doing will manifest in a wildly different manner than what AT&T would ever do). 


    Catchy Slogans Are All a Brand Ever Needs



    “Your Seamless World”


    This is the new war chant that AT&T is going to rally behind and I have to admit,


    I LOVE IT!


    It remains to be seen whether or not they live up to this promise, however this is where the world has already begun to head (ubiquitous computing) and I applaud AT&T for recognizing this movement.


    AT&T is also plotting some interactive plays that will align them with current web trends such as the web as platform and the ever popular web as social network.


    Finally, and most important, AT&T has hired one of my favorite directors, Wes Anderson to create their new TV spots (okay, maybe this is not the MOST important).


    This should be fun to watch unfold!


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    Web As Platform Includes Mobile

    Have a look at the recent article in Businessweek about the gPhone. The importance of this has little to do with any type of physical device, and everything to do with Google extending it's "web as platform" to devices beyond the PC.
    clipped from www.businessweek.com

    Google Platform?


    So what's really lurking behind those trees? A source familiar with the situation tells BusinessWeek.com that Google may be preparing a new mobile platform, a would-be rival to the Nokia-dominated (NOK) Symbian OS, Microsoft's (MSFT) Windows Mobile, mobile Linux, Palm (PALM), and other operating systems.


    The new operating system, which may be named gPhone, was developed in part with know-how Google acquired with a startup named Android in 2005. The platform is designed to enable lower-priced "smartphones" featuring more robust Web browsing and multimedia applications. Most importantly for Google, it will work hand in glove with the company's mobile search engine and other Google applications that are already popular on personal computers. And it would allow Google to bring new applications to the wireless market faster. Google declined to confirm or deny this information.

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    Everyone Mobilize!

    For advertisers, marketers, tech innovators and media professionals, mobile is all the rage. While there have been periods of excitement surrounding mobile in the past, the present mania seems to be greater than ever!


    Why the sudden resurgence of interest in the mobile space?




    • Is it the iPhone?


      • The iPhone is not about accessing the mobile web, it is about accessing the web from anywhere

        • The iPhone represents a shift towards accessing the web via palmtop device in an environment that is designed to do just that.






    • Is it the impending widespread of 3G networks?

      • This remains to be seen




    • Is it what initially spurred the growth of the PC based web?

      • Ease of content creation and accessibility




    I would say that all of the above are true; however the third bullet is the most compelling and the most obvious to me.


    Here is what Tim Berners-Lee has to say about the WC3 and the mobile web:



    “The Mobile Web Initiative's goal is to make browsing the Web from mobile devices a reality”, explains Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director and inventor of the Web. “W3C and mobile industry leaders are working together to improve Web content production and access for mobile users and the greater Web.”


    Here are some factors accelerating the use of mobile devices to access the World Wide Web (notice the distinction I have made here. It is about accessing the same web we access via PC. It is not a separate, mobile web)





    What do you attribute the new mobile mania to?


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    Can A Brand Say, "I Love You"?

    In an age where the aphorism, “the consumer is king” seems to reign supreme, most brands still do nothing more than pay lip service to this exemplar of modern consumerism.


    While brands attempt adopt this modern protocol in which the consumer reigns supreme, other brands seem to be retaining the right to the throne.


    Let’s face it, the consumer was not, is not and never will be king. The true king of modern consumerism is collaboration. This fact does not however dismiss a brand from the base rules of good taste.


    By now you are all probably sick of the iPhone price cut extravaganza. I will spare you from further conjecture about Apple’s unrelenting arrogance. The reason for this post is to talk about love.


    In my opinion, Steve Job’s Open Letter did not do an adequate job of showing love for the legions of people that treat Apple like a religion (it is almost an insult to our intelligence when he says, “After reading every one of these emails, I have some observations and conclusions”. Okay Steve, I buy that…).


    Now, American Express has the chance to step up to the plate and show us how a brand can show love to its consumers. Will American Express make its consumers feel the type of protection that they promise under their buyer protection program?


    So far I have heard mixed reviews.


    What boggles my mind is the fact that brands spend millions of dollars on advertising, and if American Express were to step up to the plate and be the bigger brand, it would cost them less, and return more (in terms of brand loyalty) than much of their advertising efforts.


    We will soon see who loves us the most!


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    Facebook: Open To The Public

    How can I not blog about this?


    There is little that I am compelled to say that Danny Sullivan has not already said about this, but at the very least I wanted to throw up a post with a link to his post, as this is a really important move by Facebook.


    Amidst, a see of people referring to Facebook as a walled Garden, or AOL 2.0, the move to open up public profiles seems to contest these accusations. 


    But what does it all mean? To start, a lot of the new, people search engines, are going to be in trouble, but to be honest, that is of little interest to me. I am much more concerned with the implications this will have on SEO, as well as matters pertaining to digital identity and the move towards creating a single, public digital identity online; one which has the ability to aggregate information from all social networks (eliminating the need to recreate yourself and regain creditability across various engines).


    That is all I have to say for now. I am going to keep digging through articles, formulate my thoughts and get back to you :)



    ...at least they give you the choice and make it easy to find how to opt out of being public.


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