Who Is Responsbile For Monitoring Contextual Advertising?

One of the major value propositions of advertising online is the ability to target users with relevant messages. The problem is, algorithms used to do such targeting are not humans. Therefore. there are often issues with algorithms being to literal.

I just returned from a behavioral targeting summit where I heard such comments as, "help, my computer thinks I am a 40 year old female" (from a 30 year old male of course).

So how far have we come in our quest to be hyper relevant marketers and advertisers?

It is my contention that we have come a long way, but when I see examples like the ones below, I realize that there is still a long way to go.



This morning I saw another example on CNN of contextaul gone wrong. The article spoke of how ads from John McCain appeared on sites that vilified Barack Obama.Needless to say this is less than political and the ads were pulled (I am sure the media buyers had a great night).

If you are a media buyer purchasing ads on networks to save time, you may want to rething your strategy!

Those of us in the business know there are efficiencies to be gained from networks, but I can tell you from personal experience that there is a lot of danger out there for advertisers.

As an agency executive, it is your job to protect your clients from such dangers!

Google Content Network; Recreating Mass Media Or Pimping The Advertising Ghetto

Family Guy Image Taken By Brian Hursey Long seen as the dregs of online advertising, Google Adsense is being infused with a taste of Hollywood.

According to the New York Times, Family Guy creator Seth Macfarlane will be creating video shorts that will run along content on Web sites as part of the Google Ad Sense network. These shorts will not be ads; they will be original content or webisodes (there will of course be pre-rolls or banners overlays on the videos).

The part of the New York Times article that I find most interesting (as well as comical and somewhat scary due to the fact that part of me thinks it could be true) is a statement by Kim Malone Scott, director of sales and operations for AdSense. Scotts boldly says;

“We feel that we have recreated the mass media,”

My initial reaction to this statement was one of disdain for Google's arrogance but then I got to thinking-Google does have one of the largest digital distribution networks in the world, and while the distribution network has traditionally been for advertising, there is no reason that it cannot be just as effective for content.

Some key thoughts on this whole thing:

  1. Google will still not admit they are a media company (click this link to read more about Google's stance on this issue today)

    • Eric Schmidt said in 2006

      • "It’s better to think of Google as a technology company. Google is run by three computer scientists, and Google is an innovator in technology in our space. We’re in the advertising business – 99% of our revenue is advertising-related. But that doesn’t make us a media company. We don’t do our own content. We get you to someone else’s content faster."

        • While Schmidt has technically not gone back on his word, there is no doubt- GOOGLE IS A MEDIA COMPANY







  2. Content is king, but distribution/syndication is the kingdom

    • Google holds the keys to the kingdom these days



  3. Mass media is not dead

    • Mass media is simply changed forever

      • Massively niche is the new mass media





  4. Google is making better marketers (and content creators) of us all

    • If Seth McFarlane can do it, why can brands with million dollars production budgets create content that people actually want to see.



  5. Traditional syndication is taking it's last gasps of fresh air


Will this be a tipping point for original online content?

I doubt it but I would love to hear your thoughts!

Social Media; A Commitment or a Campaign

Yesterday at OMMA Social I made a comment about how Morpheus Media would now be referring to social media initiatives as commitments, not campaigns.

In the heat of the conversation I did not realize that was I was actually doing was channeling one of my favorite figures in new media/marketing; Joseph Jaffe. While I stand by my commitment, I would like to publicly give credit to the man who coined the phrase, and acknowledge where the influence came from.

If you do a site search on Jaffe Juice for the word "commitment", Google returns 37 posts where Jaffe mentions the word "commitment". I imagine if Google were able to translate the Jaffe Juice podcast, the number of mentions would be a lot greater.

It is apparent that this is a notion that Jaffe is passionate about and his passion is infectious (but not Viral :) ...I don't want Verdino throwing up in his mouth)

Listening and reading Joe's work over the last few years has had a profound impact on my outlook. So much so that, in this instance I quoted him without even realizing it.

Joe, I hope you know I give props where they are due and would never try to steal your thunder. I will however pass the knowledge forward (and try to do it with attribution).

*Curious about Delta Skelter? Give it a click!

OMMA Social 2008: Tomorrow!


  • How for have we come when it comes to the integration of social media into our marketing efforts?

    • Whose responsibility is it to handle social media?



  • Does social media belong as a line item on a media plan, or should it be interwoven into an entire marketing effort?

  • How does an agency charge for social media?

  • What challenges do agencies face when dealing with social media?

  • Do we need a new type of agency to handle social media, or can our current agency structures suffice?

  • What are the unique benefits of social media for marketers?


These questions and many more will be answered tomorrow at the very first OMMA Social. I will be speaking with some old friends as well as some new ones and am very excited. I look forward to seeing all of you that can make it, and for those that cannot, I will do my best to bring you some of the goods. You can also follow the event on Twitter. You can also follow all the Tweets at Hashtags.org.

Here is my panel:

Media Plans: Additive or Core Ingredient? Putting Social Media in the Mix
For most marketers, social media represents the latest new ingredient to a marketing mix whose recipe gets more complicated all the time. While it’s all the rage, is social media a must-have for all marketers? If not, what categories and brands is it particularly appropriate for and how should they use it? Also discussed: using social media to listen to consumers.
Moderator: Joe Marchese, President, SocialVibe
Augustine Fou, SVP, Digital Strategist, MRM Worldwide
Greg Verdino, Chief Strategy Officer, Crayon
David Berkowitz, Director of Emerging Media & Client Strategy, 360i
Rich Gagnon, Chief Media Officer, DRAFT FCB
Adam J. Broitman, Director of Emerging and Creative Strategy, Morpheus Media

The Future Of The Blogosphere

Yesterday in a discussion about social media, one of my clients asked; what do you feel is the future of the blogosphere?

The question specifically referred to advertising models and how I felt that brands would be able to leverage the blogosphere to get their messages' across to consumers. A subsequent question was; do you feel that long tail will continue to grow, or do you feel most prominent bloggers will join some sort of media/ad network?

Interestingly, one of the first pieces of news that I read this morning was about the formation of the Technorati Media network. This got me thinking about yesterday's questions. Here are some of the thing I have been thinking about;

  • The Need For Personal Expression Will Never Cease

    • As long as people are compelled to express themselves they will take advantage of platforms that make it easiest for them to do so; blogging is such a platform



  • There Will Always Be A New Tail To Tell

    • Today's long tail may consolidate into something that we may refer to as the "fat body", but all the while a new long tail will grow and wag with great fervor



  • Humans Are Greedy By Nature

    • Okay, that is a bold statement but I was trying to be provocative. I do feel that all of us are subject to greed from time to time. No matter how hard people try to portray bloggers as honest, sentient beings, bloggers are humans and can be enticed by economic gain as easily as anyone else.



  • The Lines Between Pro, Consumer and Prosumer Will become More Clear

    • Advertising in blogs that are authored by full time professionals will mean something much different than advertising in blogs written by hobbyist's or part-timers like myself. I will not speculate which will be more effective, but I will say that the two need to be treated very different



  • The word "blog" will mean something entirely different in five years than what it means today

    • Again, I cannot really speculate here, but I know that the common perception about what a blog is will be very different in five years than what it is today.

      • One one hand, the concept of the blog may be relegated back to the place it was 6-7 years ago when blogging looked upon by many as a lesser form of journalism.

      • On the other hand, blogging may continue to invade the mainstream and become much more similar to what mainstream media is today.





        • Either way, it will be very different!








Anyhow, these are just some early morning thoughts. I have not thought all these through thoroughly, but I figured I would put them out there while they were still fresh in my mind. I would love to hear what all of you think!

Firefox 3 Day Is Here (for those not paying attention)!

Help create history today (sort of). While there appears to be no current record for the most software downloads in a single day, Mozilla is still aiming to garner 5MM downloads today.

Help support web standards and the forward movement of the Internet; an Internet that is open for all of us to mash and consume how, when and where we want it!

Download Day

Download Day - Italian

Download Day - Spanish

Download Day - Chinese

Finally, A Branded Facebook App That Does Not Make Me Hate Facebook

Okay, so the title of this post is a little bit harsh but let's face it, brands have been doing a terrible job of leveraging Facebook (one might say this is true of the social media space at large, but that is a story for another day).

My good buddy C.C Chapman sent over a social media press release about the new CokeTags initiative and my first reaction was, "just what we need, another branded app that will interrupt and annoy, and claim to be joining the conversation".

I was quite wrong (had I been right, I probably would not have taken the time the write this post. Who wants to read another whiny blogger talk about how everyone is getting everything wrong).

Adam Broitman's CokeTag ExperienceI am not going to go into all of the ins and out about how the CokeTags program works (you can do that yourself). I would rather point out some of the reasons why this new program is really on the right track:

  • CokeTags is taking advantage of the notion of the World Wide Social Web. Here is a quote from Michael Donnelly, Director, Worldwide Interactive Marketing, The Coca-Cola Company;

    • "While Facebook may be the starting point for CokeTag, it is only the beginning. We are excited to be working towards the potential of expanding the use of the CokeTag application throughout the web and we are now working on the best way to leverage the OpenSocial platform. We are looking forward to the day when anyone could potentially create a CokeTag and have it on all of their social network profiles and their blog and only have to worry about updating it in one place. That excites me."

    • This excited me too! What especially excites me is a forward thinking marketer talking about social media in a way that makes sense



  • CokeTag Adds Value

    • The application does not merely offer some goofy novelty (i.e. throwing a sheep). The applications accentuates the social nature of the web and potentially provides for deeper connections between friends

      • The application takes an existing technology (tagging) and aims to streamline it in a way that is useful and accessible to the masses





  • Coke Does Not Insist On Inserting Itself In Every Aspect Of The Application

    • Sure, Coke has a presence within the application and they even have a branded widget skin, but this is not the default.



    • Coke is there if you want them to be part of the conversation. It is also apparent that coke respects the fact that you may not want them around all the time



  • Coke Has Created A Platform That Will Help Them (and other marketers) Better Understand The Community

    • This point may not be a benefit to the consumer, but from a marketing perspective I think Coke has laid the groundwork to garner some decent user data in a non-obtrusive manner. The employees of Coke will certainly have their work cut out for them when it comes to making this data actionable, but this is a good start.




I am very excited to see whether or not the CokeTags program is something that is adopted by consumers, and does not turn into something that only marketers point to as a good idea. For the sake of advancement in social marketing, I am really rooting for Coke on this one!

Brand Indentity Syndication

I have to admit, it is alarming how many brand marketers still feel that they can support a successful campaign with a single presence online. I am not suggesting that the microsite is useless, but I do believe that the microsite is merely one weapon in the arsenal.

The web is a series interlinked hypertext. The modern web user is less discriminant as to how they reach their information, as long as they get what they want. It is this fact that makes it a necessity for a brand to have a ubiquitous presence as opposed to a singular, centralized presence. This is the basis for my latest article in iMedia. Head over there and take a look. I would love to hear your thoughts on this subject.

Mobile Marketing Forum Day Two- Buying and Selling Mobile Ads

Buying and Selling Mobile Ads
Buyers and sellers will learn the differences between using a mobile ad network versus transacting directly with one another. We'll showcase how advertisers today are working with mobile ad networks including AdSense for mobile content. We'll also take a look at how premium publishers sell and manage mobile display ad campaigns.
Rob Victor, Product Manager, Emerging Media, Google/DoubleClick

  • There is a lot of friction in this marketplace

  • 2001 Doubleclick first started building a mobile platform

  • Mobile display advertising has been one of the fastest growing channels

    • (hmmmm. I need data on this one)



  • many advertisers still don't have mobile web presence

  • advertising need a single dashboard where they can control their own media

  • there is still no advertiser third party in mobile (single centralized server)

    • creating the same type of dashboard for the mobile as what we have for the web



  • Mobile is still a premium type of ad unit

  • Targeting as differentiation and value add

  • counting standards still need to be established

  • Content management and ad serving should be interoperable

  • Multiple sales channels should be available with a centralized place for reporting etc.

  • transparency is best for the industry

Mobile Marketing Forum Day Two- Location Based Mobile Advertising

Location Based Mobile Advertising
Opportunities to be discussed include proximity marketing and location based services - and the options available for mobile advertising.

Moderator: Jim Manis, CEO, 1024 Wireless Services & CEO, Mobile Giving Foundation
Brian Levin, CEO, Useful Networks
David Klein, Vice President, Advertising Sales, Navteq

Lisa Uhrmacher General Manager, Mobile Advertising Sprint

  • What type of threat does Google pose to carriers with their location based services?

  • "the road to hell is littered with location based services" Levin

    • privacy stigma

    • carriers go overboard with privacy measures

    • google has brought these services to the forefront by making them free



  • It was either to make text interoperable than it is location/mapping

  • Navigation Media

    • relevant location based advertising

    • scale will be key



Mobile Marketing Forum Day Two- Case Study: Perspectives from Brazil

Case Study: Perspectives from Brazil
LATAM (Latin America) is one of the hottest growing markets for mobile marketsng. Join this engaging session to learn about the state of mobile marketing in Brazil. Two of Brazil's leading providers will share some recent successes and case studies.
Daniel Costa, Co-founder, MobX - Mobile Marketing
Federico Pisani Massamormile, CEO, HANZO

  • Population of Brazil 189 MM

  • Stocks are booming, economy is strong

  • GDP growth 1,551 USD trillion

  • Consumer spending boom 6.5% over 2006

  • 127MM phones

  • mobile penetration 67%

  • 4 major carriers

    • Vivo largest mobile carrier



Mobile Marketing Forum Day Two-Case Study: SuperBowl Mobile Campaign

Case Study: SuperBowl Mobile Campaign
In 2007 Anheuser-Busch introduced an innovative way to bring the success of our SuperBowl commercials to the mobile platform via text voting. The program also launched a highly successful IVR campaign that lasted well into the third quarter of 2007 We have experienced continued success in 2008 with the program and our enhanced WAP site and look to continue to grow the mobile program for SuperBowl in 2009.
Tim Murphy, Senior Manager, Digital Marketing, Anheuser-Busch

  • We really need to start with the idea

    • everything else is an outcome





      • (agreed)





  • Budweiser text campaign extended TV initiative into other spaces

    • added coolness factor to creative



  • Budbowl 2007


Mobile Marketing Forum Day One- AKQA/Mobile Case Studies

AKQA/Mobile Case Studies


Dan Rosen, Founder, AKQA Mobile




  • There will be no eureka moment, but the industry is growing and there are new trends

  • Utilitainment

    • (love that :) )



  • Case Studies

    • Smirnoff

      • mobile great way to engage consumers on the move

      • an example of a brand investing in the media, not just a tactical campaign

      • local and globals modules

      • wearable bluetooth to beam video to people in bars

      • Pocket Bartender

        • the worlds smallest bartender

        • based on a customer insight

        • integration not replication

        • optimizing your media for users on the go



      • Vodkapedia



    • Coke

      • brand led personalization

        • "the greatest gift is giving"

          • M Cards

            • sell for about 5 dollars (hmmm, never heard that before)









    • Nike

      • "Run London"

        • RFID placed on the shoe



      • "SuperSonic"



    • McDonalds

      • "the lost ring"

        • ARG (alternate reality game)

          • global mobile internet presence

          • engaged with bluetooth

          • there were very few logos on the site, they were benefiting from the association











  • The mobile phone- "The Remote Control For Your Life

    • Social Networking a big part of mobile

    • Mobile banking

    • maps

    • tickets



Mobile Marketing Forum Day One- Metrics!

Was is worth it? Why accurate measurement is the key to helping marketers move to mobile


Anil Malhotra, Senior Vice President Marketing & Alliances, Bango


George Ivie, Executive Director & CEO, Media Rating Council (MRC)





  • What people are looking for in metrics these days?

    • reliable data

    • mobile marketing touches audience in a way other media cannot



  • Media Rating Council not for profit association- Audience Measurement

    • working to develop standards for mobile metrics



  • Mobile Campaign KPI's

    • We have gotten use to granular metrics on the PC. Mobile is a bit more difficult, but there is a lot of data we can garner





      • Uniques, Visits, Repeat Visitors

      • Referrals

      • Location

      • Carrier

      • Handset type

      • M commerce transactions

        • revenue



      • Traffic by carrier

        • down to MVNO level





    • Don't assume that PC analytics will work on mobile



Mobile Marketing Forum Day One- Pitch Panel

How does a brand ensure success in achieving their strategic objectives when there are so many vendors in the mobile space? Learn first hand how a pitch is orchestrated to achieve brand goals and objectives.


Moderator: Gene Keenan, VP Mobile Strategies, Isobar


Chris Murphy, Director, Digital Marketing, adidas US


David Rippetoe, Senior Director of Business Development, Neighborhood America


Fidel Parente, VP Account Director, Global, Basketball, CARAT


Matt Shaw, Director, Advertising Sales, AdMob


Paul Salumbides, Senior Account Executive, Carat



Further conversation about the adidas campaign




  • Emphasis on integration on agencies

    • traditional agencies not used to giving up power to digital agencies



    • very important to add extensions of traditional campaigns, especially for certain demographics that are used to searching and not just going to a URL



  • Will tagging commercials with short codes become ubiquitous?

  • Personalization very important when dealing with something like a mobile experience

  • adidas used athletes to gain trust for the brand to help them join the conversation

    • the brand was kept out of the phone calls



  • User experience was central to the campaign

  • How do you measure ROI on a campaign like this?

    • Murphy "I am on the brand side, I don't have to track ROI" :)

    • I can't







Mobile Marketing Forum Day One Keynote

Keynote


Chris Murphy, Director, Digital Marketing, adidas US




  • Adidas very active in the mobile space

  • Why Mobile?

    • The third screen is first in users

    • youth spend 8x more on mobile than music

    • mobile is an addiction

    • brand favoribility goes up considerably due to mobile campaigns

    • there still is a lack of reach

    • there is still a lack of measurement relative to the rest of the digital space, but there is still a decent amount of metrics

      • knows enough that it is still attractive



    • mobile has to be integrated as part of a larger campaign

    • Participation is the new engagement





      • think qualitative, not quantitative audience





    • mobile is easy to integrate

      • one click, on the go access



    • Relatively inexpensive compared to traditional media

    • mCRM

      • Mobile CRM- How do you have an extended conversation via mobile?

        • mobile campaigns, much like social campaigns are conversations







Mobile Marketing Forum NYC 2008

It is a very exciting time to be working in the mobile space. While I am not personally doing a whole lot of paid mobile marketing, many of the brands that I work with are beginning to take a much closer look at this channel and I will continue to stay on top of all of the progressions taking place in this space.




  • 1 billions pc’s/3.3 billion mobile subscribers (half the global population)

  • a lot of new marketing choices in the mobile space

  • MMA from 40 at start to 630 members

  • 8 mobile marketing forums around the world

  • 2012 $4.5MM in messaging revenue

The Future Of Content

The exponential growth of content online is often times overwhelming for both users and marketers. It does not help that there is a new tool for content creation released daily (it may help certain content creators, but it does not help control the clutter). At a certain point it will become very difficult to navigate through this expansive sea of content and data created by our social graphs’.


How will you get to the content that you really want?


How will you ensure that you are getting the most important news from the friends and family that are most important to you?


A recent post over at TechCrunch touches on similar questions, and I agree with much of what Arrington has to say. As always, I agree with his strong belief in mobile as the center of our social network.


One point that Arrington does not touch on is the importance that search will play in sifting through the heaps of content to get to what we are looking for. This is of course something that Read/Write Web is always good at. A recent post of at RWW talks about the myths and reality of Semantic Search. While I remain skeptical about the concept that there is a semantic search solution just waiting to overrun Google, I do feel that the future of how we find things online is rooted in structured, meaningful data, as well as the connections between data.


I would love to hear some thoughts on what you feel the future of content will look like!



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Marketing To The Person Behind The Persona


There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate;
Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea.



From The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
T.S. Eliot (1888–1965). Prufrock and Other Observations. 1917.



The above is an excerpt that I used in my latest article for iMediaconnection. The article was written with my good friend Jack Tatar. He and I spent a lot of time talking about the gap between how we portray ourselves online, and who we really are (and how this effects marketers of course). It was a pleasure working with Jack on this, I definitely recommend taking a look at his work.



In writing this article we explored the differences between 2 dimensional, non persist online communities and 3D virtual worlds. We were in agreeance that at the end of the day, they are pretty much the same thing; online communities.



We explored the notion of Generation V and how younger generations are becoming increasingly comfortable with 3D persistent virtual environments.



Head over the iMedia and have a look. I would love some feedback!



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