September 5, 2008

A view from the Wasatch front:

Quote from Wenda Harris Millard, former Chief Sales Officer of Yahoo!: "Technology is very important, but where many companies go wrong is when they think technology is the answer or primary solution to proving a business solution to a marketing problem," she said. "The business of advertising is still a business of persuasion. Machines can't make art...I'm extremely disturbed at the commoditization of Internet advertising before we've had an opportunity to establish its value proposition." We still don't know how to use the Internet.
Cloud computing, the idea the guts of an application are spread around who knows where so they can be accessed from anywhere, is transforming into the media cloud. This makes traditional viewing habits and even consumption difficult to pin down. So rather than focus on the time and place of content distribution we should think about the level of interest - if it is valuable, it will be consumed. Adapted from Tom Ohanion's post.
Short-sighting social media. People find fault with every new technology. For example, writing was going to make people to 'cease to exercise their memories and become forgetful' and the printing press would 'weaken people's minds' and undermine authority. All the nay saying was in fact correct, but the unseen (and unimaginable) benefits clearly out weighed the problems and democratized information. Similar points have been said before: Nick Carr's "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" and Cathy Taylor's the problems with online video (social media.) Applying metrics and rules from a previous generation of technology (brain to scribe, scribe to press, analog to digital, corporate to community) is risky business.
From the differentiate or die category. eBay's effort to enter the media market failed. The idea that THE originator of the auction platform can't enter a market that is all about selling inventory to the highest bidder should tell you a lot about people view your brand. They define your sandbox, not the hard logic of rational planning.
If the purpose of the new Microsoft campaign with Jerry Seinfeld (CP&B) was meant to start people talking - it did. At the moment, the tide seems to be running in the 'I don't get it department.' There will be more about a Conquistador in a size 10.
The intersection of Behavioral Targeting and Social Media remains a hot topic as people try to figure out the two. The industry is clearly moving toward leveraging common interests via a social graph as the route to monetization (ad serving in most cases.) Sometrics is taking the human genome approach - start with disparate bits and link it all together.
"The big idea is a simple solution to a complex problem." Cory Treffiletti. Same with strategy.
David Koretz writes about why a coupon for Starbucks on your mobile phone is an insane idea.
- At $100 bucks a month, we're not going to tolerate intrusive advertising
- In spite of all the high-tech ads, the technology to support it isn't widely available anyway. Nor is the precision of knowing whether you're walking by or already in line.
- That's an ad based on location, not interest or intent. I'll avoid walking past the Utah Enhancement Center, thank you very much.
- The focus should be on a new category of micro-services.