Is this the end of Second Life?
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Social Networking 2.M (part 2)
Back in March I spoke about what I thought was one of the inherent value propositions of the mobile space (other than talking and navigation). I think a lot of mobile marketing companies are either fooling themselves, confused or way to far ahead of the game when they think that mobile video and banner advertising is anywhere near the potential of reaching critical mass, making it a scalable advertising channel.
Where I do see tremendous opportunity in the Mobile space is in the area of social networking. Back in March I spoke about Mobileplay and this morning I read a press release by another interesting venture, this time by Trilibis Mobile, who seems to be focusing a great deal of attention on mobile communities...
<<GEEK BREAK>>
Production is the new consumption. As mobile consumers, most of what we do is produce. We produce conversation first and foremost, but more interestingly, we are starting to produce networks of knowledge and intelligent communities. There is little time for spectatorship in the mobile space as mobile is a medium for the "on the go" consumer. So why do so many focus on pushing longer form, or more traditional style content to a medium that leaves so little for consumption. Mobile is a bite sized, active medium. MARKETERS, BE BITE SIZED AND PACKAGED TO GO!!!
<<GEEK BRIEF...FIN>>
As I was saying, Trilibis Mobile just announced the release of Version 4.0 of Peepsnation, the old site is here.Sure, there are a lot of similarities to Dodgeball (I will leave it up to the folks over at Trilibis to further educate me :) ) but there are a few things that I found interesting in their press release today.
Here are some of the features of 4.0
Peepsnation 4.0 features include:
- Intuitive and rich user interface
- Picture upload and profile management
- Rate, rank, tag and message functionality
- Profile search with gender, location, age, and keyword filters
- Showcase of popular users
While Mobile/ Mobile Marketing and advertising will go many places in the future, this is where it is at now. The one hold up for me is that, no one in my network are in any of these places. In fact, I find Facebook mobile to a great job of connecting me on the go. We will see how these other networks compete (or if they get bought)
Tags: mobile social, social netowrking, mobileplay, trilibis mobile, peepsnation, intelligent communities, dodgeball, facebook, mobile, network social users
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Mediapost Behvioral Marketing Forum-- Bringing Re-Targeting to Scale
Re-targeting is one of the most effective ways to get a second at bat with consumers. But getting enough of those consumers and finding most efficient way to retarget them is the hard part. This panel will speak out of case studies and planning strategies, about how to bring a strategy to a scale that delivers worthwhile ROI and how not to over-spend on re-targeting as well.
David Berkowitz, Director of Emerging Media, 360i
Joshua Koran, Senior Director of Targeting and Optimization, ValueClick Media
Brad Powers, Founder and CEO, Active Response
Andrea Palmer, Manager of Interactive Services, Siquis, Ltd.
Moderator: Greg Smith, CEO, EchoTarget
- One panelist references a 15% increase in retargeting in the travel sector
- Creative makes a big difference in winback
- How do you scale?
- The number one issue why many marketers are not buying more
- Very effective for loyalty programs
- Targeting later in the cycle is sometimes very effective if the window is not as narrow
- The question was asked if retargeting was used for acquisition, isn't that fairly obvious?
- Is this just a fad? Will it grow substantially?
Tags: David Berkowitz, 360i, Joshua Koran, ValueClick Media, Brad Powers, Active Response, Andrea Palmer, Siquis, Ltd., Greg Smith, EchoTarget, Re-Targeting, BT, Agencies, Mediapost, OMMA, Behavioral Targeting, CPM
Must See PC-- Event Marketing Online
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Mediapost Behavioral Marketingl Forum-- Behavioral in the Media Plan
All the surveys show great interest among agencies and buyers for more precise targeting and BT in particular. But is BT making inroads with media planners?
Carrie Frolich, Digital Practice Lead, Mediaedge:cia
Michael Winter, Media Director, Agency.com
Mark Egan, VP, Group Account Director, MediaContacts
Joseph Weaver, Associate Director, Interactive, Media Storm
Moderator: Anna Papadopoulos, Interactive Media Director, Euro RSCG
- At first BT was more like a nuclear collider
- What is behavioral targeting really?
- Targeting after any online action
- Many flavors of behavioral targeting
- Are their advertiser types better suited for BT?
- Tends to be a DR focused channel
- Frolich- “It works best for patient advertisers”
- Custom creative is essential, you must have a control group to compare how well it did
- Who are the top three partners?
- (I don’t think anyone wants to answer this one)
- What are the key obstacles in adopting behavioral?
- Getting creative and account teams to think more about behavioral strategy
- Client adoption
- What are the metrics for success?
- DR metrics
- Attitudinal Studies
- Levels of engagement
Tags: Anna Papadopoulos, Euro RSCG, Media Storm, Joseph Weaver, Mark Egan, MediaContacts, Agency.com, Michael Winter, Mediaedge:cia, Matt Straznitskas, Media Planning, Agencies, Mediapost, OMMA, Behavioral Targeting, Carrie Frolich
Mediapost Behavioral Marketing Forum-- Behavioral in the Media Plan
All the surveys show great interest among agencies and buyers for more precise targeting and BT in particular. But is BT making inroads with media planners?
Carrie Frolich, Digital Practice Lead, Mediaedge:cia
Michael Winter, Media Director, Agency.com
Mark Egan, VP, Group Account Director, MediaContacts
Joseph Weaver, Associate Director, Interactive, Media Storm
Moderator: Anna Papadopoulos, Interactive Media Director, Euro RSCG
- At first BT was more like a nuclear collider
- What is behavioral targeting really?
- Targeting after any online action
- Many flavors of behavioral targeting
- Are their advertiser types better suited for BT?
- Tends to be a DR focused channel
- Frolich- “It works best for patient advertisers”
- Custom creative is essential, you must have a control group to compare how well it did
- Who are the top three partners?
- (I don’t think anyone wants to answer this one)
- What are the key obstacles in adopting behavioral?
- Getting creative and account teams to think more about behavioral strategy
- Client adoption
- What are the metrics for success?
- DR metrics
- Attitudinal Studies
- Levels of engagement
Tags: Anna Papadopoulos, Euro RSCG, Media Storm, Joseph Weaver, Mark Egan, MediaContacts, Agency.com, Michael Winter, Mediaedge:cia, Matt Straznitskas, Media Planning, Agencies, Mediapost, OMMA, Behavioral Targeting, Carrie Frolich
MediaPost Behavioral Marketing Forum-- "Effective Targeting" Research on the State of the Industry
A report on ad buyer attitudes toward BT and growth projections.
Emily Riley, Analyst, JupiterResearch
- What does this really mean when you are trying to reach your consumers?
- In five years 11% of all ad spend will be online
- The static banner is going away and rich media is taking over
- Information overload is a bigger issue than not enough info about audience
- Only 16% of advertisers have used behavioral targeting, while 30% have geo-targeted and 33% have demo targeted
- Advertisers are twice as satisfied when using BT
- BT is becoming more popular for both brand and direct response advertisers. These advertisers are becoming the same.
- Consumers are not as concerned with “spying” as they are with viruses and identity theft
- Increasing the use of search behavior within BT is the key
- Automotive leading the way in BT
- 80% increase in banner impressions online in the last two years due to social media
- Verticals with long purchase cycles will begin to embrace BT more thatn contextual etc.
Tags: Effective Targeting, Emily Riley, JupiterResearch, Mediapost, OMMA, Behavioral Targeting
AOL Buys Tacoda For 200 MM
MediaPost Behavioral Marketing Forum Raw Notes-- Personalization & Targeting Strategies: The Marriage of Technology and Creative
Forget about behavioral targeting "theory." In this workshop, you’ll learn real ways to quickly and easily deliver relevant and personalized content on your website and in ads – directly from leaders in the space. Jonathan Mendez and Paco Viñoly of OTTO Digital are pioneers in the personalization and optimization space. Using real-life examples from online marketing innovators, this workshop will go beyond the buzz and show you how to positively impact your bottom line through personalization.
Jonathan Mendez, Chief Strategy Officer, OTTO Digital
Paco Viñoly, Chief Creative Officer, OTTO Digital
- Discovery of segmentation and affinities
- Creative approach to messaging to these affinities
- Testing
- Different type of segmentation
- Thick slices gives a larger data set to working and optimize off of
- Small lifts make a bigger impact
- Behavior
- Temporal
- Source
- Natural search visitors varies from paid search
- Environment
- What does the targeting do to the message and vice versa
- The message has to be true to the user
- Behavioral/Contextual messaging based on internal navigation
- Relevance and reinforcement of intent
Tags: Jonathan Mendez, OTTO Digital, Paco Viñoly, Targeting Strategies, Personalization, Mediapost, OMMA, Behavioral Targeting
The River Of Politics Flows Faster Than Ever Before
The New Media Is The Message, You Cannot Control It
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Accusations Of Lemming Like Activity Becoming Lemming Like
As the conversation about the merits of marketing in Second Life continues, the pendulum seems to be swinging back and forth to the widest extremes. At each extreme sits people who only know one opinion, their own.
To date, the Second Life debate has generated three groups of people (as far as I see it).
Those who are 100% sold on the value of marketing in Second Life
- These people tend to be:
i. Long term residents of Second Life
ii. Marketers jumping on the bandwagon, or marketers hoping for a nice PR boost
iii. Those who think that Second Life is, without a doubt, the next iteration of the web.
Those who feel Second Life is nothing more than a fad and a waste of time for marketers
- These people tend to be:
i. The “show me the numbers” folks
ii. The people who go against the grain for the sake of going against the grain
iii. The lazy folks who would rather continue doing what they know, and not bother spending a little extra time at the office working on experiments
The third group is the smallest of the three. The third group is comprised of people who take an organic, fundamental look at Second Life, as well as what it stands for. These people tend to be:
- Those who are willing to put in a little extra time for experimentation.
- Those who know that, sometimes early mover advantage is only beneficial in that it provides one with the ability to fail first, learn from the failure, and then proceed to be the first to succeed
- Those who don’t really care about Second Life, per se. These people see Second Life and the closest realization of a new wave of communications and know that Second Life may not in fact be the silver bullet
I would tend to liken myself to the third group with one exception. I do care about Second Life on a more personal level. My experimentations in this virtual world have led me to meet some extremely creative, inspired people. Second Life has also allowed me to do some really interesting media experiments such as Virtualive.tv.
Always question extremists
I recently read an article by Rebecca Lieb of Clickz entitled, “Second Life, Lemming Like”. Rebecca is yet another journalist in the wave of anti-bandwagon journalist’s to denounce Second Life as a viable way to market. While I do not fully disagree with everything Rebecca has to say (and completely respect and appreciate her right to speak her mind), I take issue with her approach. r
Rebecca’s stance is staunch. She apparently feels that marketers should not enter Second Life, end of story.
- Does she think that every creative idea has already been tested in Second Life?
i. Perhaps we have not seen a perfect Second Life campaign yet, but does that mean everyone should stop trying. After all, the barriers to entry are relatively low and the possibilities are endless.
ii. For creativities sake, I hope no one takes her advice as gospel. Think for yourself folks. If you have a creative strategy to implement in Second Life and you are aware of the risk and the potential for failure, go for it! Don’t let anyone ever tell you no!
- Here is a quote from her piece,
- “All that abandoned corporate property kind of resembles derelict corporate blogs, doesn't it? Same thing, really. Hire an agency, drink some Kool-Aid...then move on and leave the mess behind you (for all to see, of course).
i. Rebecca, this only proves that doing anything poorly will have poor results. I am 100% on the same page with you that there were a tremendous amount of poorly executed corporate blog strategies, but does that discredit the ones that worked?
What do you have against sex anyhow :) ?
- Okay, so that point was a joke, but the fact of the matter is that the internet is riddled with pornography. Should we stop marketing on the internet?
- My main issue with people continually bringing up the vast amount of sexually charged activity in Second Life is that it adds nothing to the conversation.
- This line of reasoning is the default cop out for those making a case against Second Life. The lack of creativity in this argument is becoming increasingly boring.
A Media Circ.us Bottom Line\
- Think for yourselves
- Take a look at the whole picture before devising a strategy
- Second Life is certainly not right for everyone, but it is no ones place to say it is right for no one!
And now to stir the pot a bit. I have chosen a handful of people who have conveyed strong opinions on the merits (or lack thereof) of marketing in Second Life. I tried to put together a list the runs the gamut between love, hate and uncertainty. The one thing that all these people have in common is that they are highly intelligent well respected individuals.
I would love to hear what the following people have to say about Rebecca’s article and this conversation in general. So please except my link invitation :) (of course I would love to hear from everyone, I just this list could produce a great conversation)
Tags: Joseph Jaffe, C.C. Chapman, Greg Verdino, John Swords, Jason Heller, Clay Shirky, Darren Barefoot, Alana Semuels, Allison Fass, Prokofy Neva, Mark Wallace
Jeremiah Owyang, Rebecca Lieb, Clickz, Second life, Virtual Worlds, Marketing, Experimentation
I will never forsake Flickr, but Picasa Is Really Growing On Me!
I did not know that you could create embedable slide shows on Picasa. Very Cool!
Fan-Force/Transmedia Storytelling/Experience Planning
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More Talk Of Yahoo Acquisition
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Test Of Clip To Blog

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Who Are You, Digitally Speaking?
Chrisbook
This morning I read a post by Chris Brogan Superstar which spoke about the various things he would do if he could rebuild Facebook. Without even reading his list I knew I agreed with every point he was about to make. Not because I trust his opinions :) , but because a truly democratized digital persona, operating within the confines of our new digitized, social economy, should have the ability to define themselves, and the way in which they are able to define themselves in any way they see fit.
Sure, a platform needs to be able to be monetized and so does content (Brad Grier ponders this over at his blog) but that needs to be a secondary or even a tertiary thought, as a platform without mass will never be monetized anyhow. As someone in the ad industry I know this all too well!
Facebook As AOL 2.0
Here is a meme worth propagating. I first saw the link at Brogan's blog and then followed it over to Kottke.org:
Have a look at these two posts (ok, I am riding the long tail with these. They are a few weeks old):
Facebook is the New AOL
Facebook VS AOL Redux
I am going to reserve judgment on these posts for now and be content in my meme propagation. I really need to think more about these posts before commenting.
Sir Owyang Always Sheds The Light
Jeremiah Owyang wrote this:
"Facebook is a closed garden with one way doors. Data in, but no data out. With so many companies, startups, ecommerce companies building widgets for this platform did anyone stop to consider that they’re not letting data flow out?"
How can a truly democratized knowledge community thrive in a walled garden?
So What Does A Media Cir.us Think?
How can we maintain our digital identity and the digital identity of our knowledge community?
I love Facebook and think that it adds a lot of value. Yes, I can get a great deal of the same value through the organic platform that blogger's have created by leveraging various open source platforms, but will this ever scale to the point that I can truly achieve the type of collective intelligence that Pierre Levy says can only grow out of a intelligent knowledge communities or networks?
Many of the smartest people I know will never have a blog, don't care to use Twitter and cannot even pronounce Jaiku, and many of these people are individuals that I want in my pool of knowledge.
As much as I hate to say it, I have no strategy to achieve such a community other than a strategy that adopts simple rules (I recommend the essay Strategy As Simple Rules, as I have found it has influenced my business life as well as my personal life). Sometimes 100% definitive strategies serve as nothing more than blinders to experimentation and optimization.
What I am really trying to say is, I am going to keep my eyes open. Heed Jeremiah's warning and continually listen to my intelligent network.
Tags: jason kottke, kottke.org, Chris Brogan, Grasshoper Media, Pierre Levy, Blogging, Facebook, Knowledge Communities, Intelligent Networks, Strategy As Simply Rules, Digital Identity, Platform 2.0. AOL, AOL 2.0, Open Source, Walled Garden, Advertising, Brad Grier
Widgetry Needs To Go Back To School
I think that Rodney Dangerfield had it right in the classic 1986 comedy, Back To School, when he asked the following question:
Dangerfield: "What's a widget?"
Professor: "It's a fictional product"
Dangerfield: "Yeah, try tellin' that to the bank"
It does seem as though this fact has been told to the bank (or at least the investment bankers), and they are listening. Why shouldn't they?
After all, comscore reported a 24% growth in widget reach to 230 million (I cannot seem to find the press release but it seems to be quoted everywhere).
I have a few questions:
Are we really getting to the heart of the matter when we focus all this attention towards something that economists once used as a word to describe a variable, or a fictional product?
Is it possible we are looking too closely at the surface and not examining the engine that is powering this new widget craze?
The nature of this recent game change does not lie in the widgets themselves.
The shift is in the way we are beginning to consume media, and this new mode of media consumption is not endemic to the widgetosphere (yes, I heard someone use that term. I believe that I heard this term last week at WidgetCon).
If my memory were a bit better I would be able to tell you who said the following:
“Widgets are no more than RSS with a dress”
Verdino, did you say that at Widgetcon?
Even if you did not, you should claim it as your own as it was the most poignant thing that was said all day (I also enjoyed Ian Schafer of Deep Focus’s proclamation that he was changing the entire nature of his business to widgets)!
When looking at content syndication, it is imperative to consider the dynamic between form and function and the importance of the power structure between the two in modern media. The widget is merely a form by which the function of pull style syndication is carried out.
Without the widespread desire for the function, the form would not be needed.
So are widgets a game changer or are they a product and a symbol of a larger game change?
(Insert your comments here, please!)
A MEDIA CIRC.US BOTTOM LINE
Be creative!
Consider your overall position, story and goals. Then decide what vessels are essential in implementing your overarching strategy.
Widgets are not a strategy, they are a media vehicle
Podcasting, Blogging and Second Life are not strategies
New Media is not a strategy
All of these things are simply vehicles to drive your strategy. Do you know what your strategy is?
If so, remember that you are, were and always will be in the driver’s seat. For your own sake you better hope that a widget cannot possess the ability to drive your strategy, as you may very well find yourself out of a job.
...and now for you viewing pleasure, the triple lindy!
Tags: Rodney Dangerfield, Back To School, Freewebs, Widgetcon, Widget, Comscore, RSS, Syndication, Blogging, Podcasting, Widgetosphere, Ian Schafer, Greg Verdino, Form and Function, New Media, Strategy
Life Before The 30 Second Page View
In a long overdue, but highly celebrated and respected (by some of us) announcement, Nielsen has stated that they will not longer rate sites based on the page view, rather they will be rated on time spent on site.
What does this mean for the media planner?
The first thing that it means is that not enough agency people are reading the trades/ or the game changing impact of this news was not as obvious as I think.
Last week there was a lot of chatter about this announcement however, in comparison to talk about the iPhone, this news may well have been a weather report.
Where is everyone?
I had a busy week and did not write about this for a few days, perhaps it was a busy week all around, as this is one of the top 3 things to happen to the industry this year and potentially one of the top ten things to ever happen to the interactive space and I feel there was very little noise made. I hope the truth is that I did not do a good job in keeping up with the news last week and simply did not hear all the quality noise.
- Interactive Media Planners: Drink up, enjoy your publisher lunches and perks while you can. Your jobs are about to change and there will be a lot of work involved!!!
- Traditional Media Planners: This is your last chance to get in on the future. We will be needing your skills, only we will need you to work with us.
DEATH TO THE CHASM BETWEEN TRADITIONAL AND NEW MEDIA PLANNERS, LONG LIVE THE EXPERIENCE PLANNER!
What does this mean for the publisher?
Publishers, are you ready for this? Have you thought about how exactly you are going to sell your media in the new world?
- Have you thought about the fact that impressions may not be the way to sell media?
- Perhaps it is time to start looking at qualitative ways approach media sales.
- Perhaps it is time to start selling engaging experiences
I buy media. I would buy a quality experience not based on impressions if I felt that you spent time devising a quality strategy.
What does this mean for the growth of The Experience Web?
Ok, anyone who reads this blog or has heard my speak lately knows I have a one track mind (The Experience Web…no that does not mean Second Life).
I have not heard one person talk about selling experience in light of Nielsen’s recent announcement. If time spent on site is really how we are going to be measuring media, how else can it be bought and sold?
Are we going to start selling thirty second page views at the risk of having Joseph Jaffe coming to your house and killing you with lectures (Joe, you know I am huge fan, have listened to everyone of your rants and loved them all)?
The answer is of course, no (although I would love Joe to come to office and give a lecture to my team. I am still waiting for CC as well :) ). What we are going to have to start doing is planning experiences that are engaging and that add value. That is the bottom line. That has always been the bottom line and will always be the bottom line. The difference now it that we have the metrics to prove it.
My question for all of you is, how will you be engaging and provide valuable experiences?
Who Else is Talking
Tags: Nielsen, Page View, Web 2.0 Ajax, The Experience Web, Experience, Media Planner, Interactive, iPhone, Jospeh Jaffe, Experience Planner, cc chapman, value, time spent, Read Write Web, Ajaxian, All thing digital, Computerworld, Webpronews, Arun Rajagopal, 30 second spot, 30 second page view