Interactive Media

AOL’s revenues took a 20% dive off a cliff in Q1. The new head of AOL arrives at a just the right time. Tim Armstrong is in a position I love to be in when taking on a new role. When a company realizes that its existing strategy is not working and resistence to sweeping change is gone is the perfect time to get a company motivated in a new direction to profitability. AOL is now in a position to grow new business sectors and I can see a bright future in the AOL ad empire.

AOL’s earning statement already calls out the “content group” and “AOL” to distinguish the two business units and by the new content AOL is creating and partnering with to deliver advertising through is evident of that push.

The ad network is about reach. While still a blind network, I expect AOL to change that strategy by the end of 2009. Agencies just aren’t buying blind networks any longer. Everyone wants to know where their ads will be and the move is towards more a la carte purchasing in large ad networks.

I’m confident the business model will evolve for AOL and they will continue to be a good option for large retail advertisers trying to get the reach that drives retail.

As an agency that creates our own custom ad distribution channels we see room in the online advertising space for both models. While reach and visibility may be the mandate for some advertisers, laser-focused campaigns on premium sites still demand the customization and attention that we provide.

Overall advertising revenues are down across all media in this economy, but advertisers that do not significantly cut advertising budgets are poised to rebound from this economy faster than those that slash budgets.

If you are looking for a targeted campaign for lead generation, call-to-action or brand lift give us a call to discuss building a solution for you that generates real ROI for your budget.

Interactive Austin 2009 is a one day event on Monday, April 27.  The one-day conference will have separate tracks dedicated to Leadership, Interactive Marketing Best Practices, Social Capitalism, Practical Applications and Case Studies. The variety of topics will serve both experts and novices in understanding how to integrate Enterprise 2.0 and social media into their business practices.

If you have registered, there is still time to register online for this conference.

I’ll be speaking on a panel titled: Social Media: Outside the Enterprise. I’ll be focusing my comments on how business can use social media as it is intended and still create marketing messages and build relationships with their customers.

If you are in the interactive industry in Austin, Texas you should be at this event. Austin is a hub for talent and creativity in this sector. Bring plenty of business cards and network your way into a new business connection or maybe even a new client!

One of my favorite presentations about emerging technology and the rapid rate of change it creates in business and our world was recently updated and set to music. It’s a compelling story that I use to open the conversation about what it all means and how is your business embracing the change while at the same time sifting through the clutter to make sound business decisions.

Just because it’s flashy and new, doesn’t mean it will generate ROI for your business. For all of the change and fast pace of new media, sound business decisions and strong business acumen are at the root of successful companies.

That being said, watch the show.

We often tell our clients that online advertising is the most measurable media option in the media mix. While we all agree that we can measure online advertising six ways to Sunday, we are shooting ourselves in the foot by creating unrealistic expectations and commoditizing ad units in a way that do not lead to good strategic decisions.

The measurement of display must move beyond a CTR (Click-Thru Rate) only gauge of success. First, we can’t agree as an industry what is a good CTR. While some may hang on to a 0.3% CTR as industry standard, who’s to say a 0.01% is a success if it leads to more brand awareness? We have focused on the use of display as a strong call-to-action medium while ignoring the fact that display is a good branding medium. We can’t leave branding up to just broadcast. If publishers can boast a high average time-on-site metric consistently, an advertiser would be well served to get in front of that audience. Brands can see “lift” from exposure with these users.

AdvertisingAge recently published a review of the click as the wrong measurement. In the article they lead with the premise that, “…many advertisers in the past gave most of the credit for a sale or conversion — which in the web world could include anything from visiting a website to printing an online coupon — to the last ad clicked on or seen by a consumer.” What focusing solely on the “click” does for marketers is shift the ROI discussion to visitors or actions performed. Instead of focusing on the click, shouldn’t we focus on the desired result?  If my campaign is designed to increase brand awareness and penetrate a market simply reporting how many web site visitors a display ad provided is not proving my worth to my client. If I can review the media mix against increased sales or greater brand awareness then hasn’t my media mix done its job, regardless of the number of visitors we delivered to the client’s website?

In a post by Comscore’s Gian Fulgoni, the demise of the click is compared to other media measurements. “I think the issue is that a click no longer reflects the effectiveness of a display ad. Just as we wouldn’t expect that print ads, TV ads and radio ads should generate immediate consumer response, why would we expect it to be so with online display ads?”

Comscore’s results show that brand life is not immediate using online advertising, but is measurable.

In our world of instant gratification continuing to focus on delivering a click is short-sighted and desperate. When we talk with clients the measurement we can provide is the sizzle, not the steak.

As the line between advertising agency, content publisher and advertiser continue to blur we are seeing more and more “strange bedfellows” in the marketplace. Content publishers are fighting to remain relevant and get advertiser dollars while competing against a widening array of publishers in the space. (It’s a tough pill to swallow for a media company when they have to admit a blogger is competing directly with them.)

In the same way, agencies are being forced to innovate and reach customers as the way in which people consume media evolves. For example, if Twitter is the “next big thing” an agency has to find unique ways to leverage the social microblogging tool for their client’s brand.

We are constantly reviewing our media mix for clients and always on the search for trends to stay out in front of the fast pace of new media. Of course, evaluating a trend includes evaluating the ROI of that trend. Believe me, that’s the hard part!One thing we are seeing more and more of in the market is the idea of creating “content” for a content publisher. For the first time we are working with content publishers to form a true partnership. Lexus and Time, Inc. are the latest to explore this new distribution method. The agency for Lexus’ new RX (Team One) came up with an idea to create a custom magazine experience, inspired by the custom experience of owning a Lexus RX. They then pitched the idea to Time, Inc. to create a customizable print or online magazine and “Mine” was born.

“Mine” is the first fully customizable print magazine and the sole advertiser and sponsor is Lexus RX. By pitching the idea and putting dollars behind the pitch, Lexus is now a “partner” in providing content with Time, Inc. This is what we mean when we tell our clients to consider putting skin in the game. Lexus is accepting some of the financial risk for the success of the venture, while Time is accepting the risk of creating a very cozy relationship with an advertiser. Traditionally a no-no in the editorial world.

We follow @themediaisdying on Twitter and in having conversations with some of our media partners and clients, we discuss the change in the industry. My usual quote is, “The change in media is happening so fast it’s like trying to drink from a fire hydrant.”

Here’s a presentation I gave to some journalism students on the “broadcast track” at The University of Texas at Austin. I think it sobered them up for a few minutes.

Here’s a presentation I gave to a few of our clients in a 2009 Overview Session we hosted last week. I thought I’d share it with everyone. If you would like us to present to your group, contact us and we’ll be happy to provide your team with our trend analysis and review of your existing marketing plans for this tough year.

Facebook has sued Sanford “Spamford” Wallace for allegedly spamming members by flooding their Facebook walls with posts that appear to have come from their friends.

In a complaint filed last week in federal district court in the northern district of California, the social

networking site alleges that Wallace and two others ran a scheme that involved creating Facebook accounts, tricking members into providing their passwords, and then impersonating them to send messages to their friends. Wallace and the others allegedly began the enterprise last November. (source: mediapost)

The advances in spam have made it difficult for content publishers, marketers and every legitimate business to effectively use the web for marketing. Under the CAN-SPAM law, the feds are taking an agressive approach to the spammers. Unfortunately, it is difficult to trace them and even more difficult to get any damages from them.

We believe in email marketing when reaching out to those that have “opted in” to our messages. I personally receive some great online coupons and alerts via email that have become great marketing tools for call to action and direct response from me. So that these marketing tools maintain their efficacy, it is up to all of us to fight spam and other shady marketing efforts I’ve seen.

How spam is destroying Email as a communication tool

The start of February saw Internet spam levels rise to as high as 79.5 percent of all e-mail messages due to a spike in botnet activity and spammers leveraging the financial crisis and Valentine’s Day, according to MessageLabs.

My love/hate relationship with email boiled to the surface in this April 2008 post about the fact that email is no longer the best way to reach me or communicate with me. My email box receives an average of 46 emails every hour. If I stayed on top of incoming emails, it would be my only full time job! People I do business with know now that calling me or texting me is the best way to get a more prompt reply.

But, that’s another story altogether.

We opened the conference today with a quick overview of some of the themes so far. Two of them pique my interest the most, 1.) The need to keep advertising inventory at a premium and limit the “commoditization” of inventory, and 2.) Publishers must provide services to their advertising clients in addition to inventory. Such as, lead generation, event production or publication opportunities.

Today we start with Google speaking to us about their foray into display advertising and to rebut the charge that “display is dead.” Google is not doing anything to dispel the F.O.G. (Fear Of Google), but diving into display with the expansion of the current AdSense business model. Google’s advantage is its reach and long tail display.

Google’s Rosenblatt says the distinction between creativity and technology, between networks and media brands is “delusional.” Rosenblatt speaks to how Google Display will work and compares the methodology to airlines first class versus coach ticket fares. The flaw is that airlines also price seats by point of purchase, date and other methodologies that are somewhat convoluted and antiquated. We work directly with publishers on placing inventory that fits both our clients needs and meet the publishers requirements for filling empty inventory that also suits their brand.

Google Display claims they are friend to agencies, stating that they paid out $6 billion to agencies last year. That’s real money and a testament to Google’s ability to work with agencies, publishers and provide value on their existing products.

Mobile Platforms

We have been hearing that mobile will be the “next big thing” for a while and predictions are high for revenue, but we are not seeing the actual revenue from a publisher perspective. AdMob reaches 6 million iPhone users and believes that providing a rich experience is paramount to the success of the mobile platform. Digital media needs to provide a meaningful audience for its advertisers, regardless of the platform. Mobile has more than 50 million mobile web users per month and is growing. AdMob claims their audience diverse, but 50% are in the 25-50 demographic. Mobile will target by age, gender and location…just as display online will do.

Admob proves that there can be a rich experience by demonstrating a 3-D effect on their Fast and Furious ad. I’m sold, but not quite sure of the efficacy of the ad experience on the mobile platform.

Moving Beyond The Click

Advertising Age posts today an article that’s been the topic of conversation here at the conference. Their article “Why the Click Is the Wrong Metric for Online Advertising” is the heart of what we are discussing as we evolve the sophistication of the online metrics.

They also discuss the reality of the recession, which should not come as any surprise to anyone with a pulse.

Agencies v. Publishers…

The great debate is similiar to our debate last yeart. Publishers are taking on more and more agency roles when it comes to interactive advertising and acting as consultants to their clients. The agencies and publishers consequently have conflict as they feel publishers “stealing” services from their clients.

As an agency, we believe we provide a depth of brand marketing expertise online that a publisher simply cannot provide. Sure, the publisher deals with clients lack of sophistication, but those agencies that are not providing adequate interactive support and mentoring to their clients are failing them and deserve, in my opinion, to lose their clients business.

Agencies should be seen as the experts in all media for their clients, when they let them down regarding interactive the publisher has had to step up and become the consultant. Brands do need agencies, but they need the right agency.

Editor’s Note: These are live notes from the conference. My thoughts and analysis will follow after I have a chance to digest this great information. For the time being enjoy these notes. I will try to make them as concise and understandable as possible.

Day 2 of the IAB conference started with Michael Mendenhall, CMO of HP. The breadth of the Internet is growing by leaps, not increments he says. The amount of digital information is doubling every 18 months. All of that information is useless unless it can be acted on.

HP’s product MagCloud allows publishers to create, design and print their own magazine and print on demand high quality magazines. As we look at who we define as “content publishers” we not only compete with bloggers and sites like babycenter.com, but also with local publishers in print. These opportunities presented to advertisers allow for highly targeted advertising campaigns.

According to Forrester, Gen Y is spending 30% more time online than watching TV. Where would you go to find your audience?

Panel discussion begins to discuss the “agency of the future” with a group of executives from agencies. As the discussion continues of how an agency evolves to compete in the new market and adapt to the changing way in which people consume media, we learn about a campaign in Florida that capitalizes on the new experience and expectations of the new consumer.

Consumers expect to be listened to, Blue Cross of Florida created thepowerofthehumanvoice.com. This site solicited people to speak up about health care and what they needed from insurance and the company responded with new programs directly addressing the desires of the constituents. It’s a powerful testament to the power of the consumer.

The agency also talks about the ability of the new consumer to look past the fancy graphics and production values to create messages in an authentic voice speaking directly to the core audience they are trying to reach.

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