Will Your Next Car Stereo Help Save Radio Advertising?
On the heels of a 10 hour holiday road trip, I’m a big believer that one of the innovations yet to hit the market is a way for people to tag stuff when they’re listening to their car radios.
A few weeks ago, Apple took an important first step in making this a reality when it teamed with Alpine to bring a set of car stereos to market that allow listeners to tag songs for later download via the iTunes Music store.
I like this move, but it’s not that big of a breakthrough – after all, Shazam recently eclipsed 50 million users (who are primarily tagging when driving) and closed a round of funding from A-list VC firm Kleiner Perkins–putting them in a nice position to own the music discovery market.
The bigger opportunity – and one that has Google written all over it – lies in an easy way to tag commercials, talk show segments, news and other information while driving. This is underscored by the fact that most songs that get radio play these days are on the pop charts, are in regular circulation and can easily be found of iTunes with a click or two.
But, when you’re in your car, you usually don’t hear the same piece of information twice. News bits are regularly updated, ads are timed to optimize reach and frequency and conversations happen only once.
For marketers, giving consumers that are interested in content or promotional messages but have their hands tied when it comes to taking action, an integrated radio/Web tagging system could be just what it takes to make radio more actionable and most importantly, more measurable.
For terrestrial radio stations, this type of system creates new value for listeners and aligns radio with the important trends that have led to ad dollars moving to digital mediums.
And for everyone involved in the radio ecosystem – advertisers, stations and consumers – it combines the real-time nature of radio (which podcasting can’t deliver) with the direct response nature of the web and could help save this dying medium.
Here’s a prediction – not for 2010 – but for 2012 or beyond. Like Apple, Google will align with car stereo OEMs (or hybrid GPS/car stereo systems as they are doing with Google Earth and the upcoming Audi A8) and integrate tagging capabilities into their devices. In a few clicks, you’ll be able to “tag this segment” or “tag this ad.” These tags will then be queued locally on your stereo and eventually surfaced to iGoogle or some soon-to-be-launched dashboard that aggregates your tags from Gmail, Google Reader, Google Docs and the like.
Then, you’ll be able to listen to the content again using Google Voice (transcribed for reading via Gmail, of course) and with embedded calls to action (call this merchant, comment on this story, etc.), so that stations and their advertising partners extend the relationship with readers beyond drive time. Google could also roll out a “switch pitch” bidding system to allow advertisers to deliver offers and promotions against tagged content.
Right now, the infrastructure isn’t there to make it happen. But as Google rolls out more free wi-fi the US and as current connectivity solutions already in cars, including bluetooth, satellite radio, etc. bring the Web to our cars, it will be. And a new term, “driving the Web” will be coined.
Maybe by then, I’ll need a new mattress.
Does Jim Spanfeller's Remnant Ads Argument Add Up?
For editorial coverage of the world of business, few publications command more respect than Forbes and its online site Forbes.com. As CEO Jim Spanfeller winds down his tenure at the venerable media company, his assessment of online advertising and how online publishers are preventing it from reaching its true potential is making its way around the Web.
Online publishers, Spanefeller says, are hindering the growth of the industry by adopting the remnant pricing strategies established by the ever-struggling airline industry. Yet, when it comes to pricing reform, is Spanfeller’s characterization of remnant ad units, and the ad networks that sell them, as the major problem facing the industry an oversimplification of the problem?
Fundamentally, Spanfeller’s argument is rooted in the assumption that by offering unsold advertising units to ad networks, who in turn make this inventory available to advertisers at a significant discount, online publishers have created massive price erosion in the market. After all, why buy ads at rate card prices when you get the same or comparable inventory for a song through a network?
Following this logic, Spanfeller suggests that by eschewing the remnant model, publishers will sustain higher prices for their ad inventory and increase revenue at higher profit margins, thus driving the industry to new heights. Mission accomplished? Yes and No.
Truth be told, there are properties that have gone the DIY-only ad sales route. ESPN, for example, announced that it would no longer work with ad networks in May of 2008. As a top online sports property, ESPN made the decision that it would rather lose revenue from unsold ads than face pricing pressure from ad networks. Advantage Spanfeller.
However, for a much larger segment of online publishers that don’t have deep relationships with advertisers, large sales forces and premium content, casting off ad networks is simply not an option. Even NBC Universal’s iVillage unit admits that while some sections drive lots of traffic, they don’t appeal to endemic advertisers, making ad networks a viable way to drive revenue that would otherwise be lost.
The bigger question – one which Spanfeller doesn’t address – is which approach will drive more ad dollars into the market and create a bigger opportunity for publishers long term?
In a recent quarterly report, LaunchSquad client BrightRoll reported that while CPMs across its video ad network were flat between Q1 and Q2 ‘09, overall revenue generated during the same period was up more than 200 percent. BrightRoll’s report illustrates that affordable prices are attracting more dollars into the video advertising segment. A rising tide floats all boats right?
Former client Adify, which delivers a platform for building vertical ad networks, allows media properties to offer reach to customers across their premium content and that of longer tail publishers by aggregating the ad units into a single, easy-to-buy network that streamlines the ad buying process.
Both examples signify that the real problem facing online publishers is not remnant inventory and ad networks, it’s moving more dollars into the medium and providing an easy way for media buyers to spend them at a time when reach, cost-effectiveness and efficiency are king.
Only time will tell if online publishers will embrace the model proposed by Spanfeller. What’s true is that the customer – in this case the media buyers, planners and strategists – is always right and the winning model will be born from an understanding of the unique challenges they face, not the desire to preserve old media pricing strategies.
iPhone 3GS: The New Auteur
Add “filmmaker” to the lengthy list of things the iPhone can do. In a stroke of DIY genius, Seattle hip-hop group Dyme Def recorded a video for its song “I’m Gone” entirely on the iPhone 3Gs, using the phone’s new video capabilities. The video obviously has that homemade feel and a little of the shaky, bendy quality you get from camera phones, but it’s safe to say that’s what Dyme Def was going for. The whole thing has a very fun, spontaneous feel to it, as the group – obviously having a good time – walks through Westlake Center in downtown, while getting stared at by passing pedestrians, picking up stragglers to march with them, and ultimately ending in a breakdance session.
It’ll be cool to see the proliferation of spontaneous, DYI video that will be an obvious byproduct of finally having a credible, widely used video platform for phones. The iPhone 3GS isn’t the first phone to do video, but it’s the first really popular phone to do it well. It’s not going to be too long until we send video around the same as we do text now.
Also, very cool to see hip-hop leading the way on this. Dyme Def is heading up a resurgent and extremely creative Seattle rap scene, so this type guerrilla film making utilizing new tech isn’t surprising. Seattle is a major tech hub beyond the Bay Area and the hip-hop scene in the Northwest, though not always as vibrant as it is now, has a history of progressive thinking and music making.
Ad Invasion: What’s the Next New Media Channel?
At lunch the other day, I picked up a couple of slices of pizza and noticed a Dasani ad actually printed on the pizza box. The company responsible was called Pizza Adz, a division of DoMedia, which specializes in advertising in alternative media channels, an idea I have always been intrigued by. What is the next vehicle for advertising that we haven’t thought of yet?
I first started noticing this trend when ads on movie theater screens started popping up years ago. Then brands and their agencies started getting creative: the top of UPS trucks (targeting office workers in skyscrapers), subway turnstyles, the liners of dry cleaning hangers. Where does it stop? I think this is just the beginning, but I also don’t think it’s a bad thing. While some people get really annoyed by all of these new ways that brands try and get their messages out there, I’m always looking for the next new channel. Maybe part of me just wants to be the one to discover it. …
Creative corporate sponsorships are also on the rise. Professional sports teams have been selling stadium rights for years. Critics say the owners are selling out, but hey, if my favorite team can sign better players due to the extra revenue coming in, I say go for it.
The next wave of corporate sponsorships could be your local subway station. In June, The New York Times reported that the subway stop that connects Atlantic Avenue, Pacific Street and Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn is being sponsored by Barclays. Barclays is based in London, you ask? Sure is, and while it has offices in Manhattan, the Barclays Center is the Brooklyn-based sports arena for the New Jersey Nets that is part of the Atlantic Yards project planned to open in 2011. Seems like a logical fit and we know that the cashed-strapped Metropolitan Transportation Authority needs the money, but as my colleague legitimately asked me the other day, does this mean that the Atlantic Avenue subway station will be cleaner if a corporate name is attached to it?
I don’t see the problem in these type of ads or sponsorships, because they often lead to better products and services for consumers, whether it’s a more competitive baseball team or a more enjoyable subway ride. Like it or hate it, it seems like we are marching to the inevitable future that is portrayed in movies like “The Running Man” where everything you can think of has an ad attached to it.
Think you have the next big alternative media channel? Let us know.
Bravo to Bravo for Getting Social
First came fantasy baseball, then fantasy football, and now fantasy Top Chef? As a self-described foodie, I have been a fairly loyal viewer of Bravo’s reality cooking show, Top Chef, and eagerly anticipated Top Chef New York’s debut earlier this fall. During past seasons, I’d DVR episodes and watch them a few days later, and once I visited the Top Chef Web site to look up one of Lee Anne’s particularly enticing recipes. So from the perspective of Bravo’s ad sales team, I was a guaranteed set of eyeballs, but that’s about it.
For a while now, Bravo has done a really impressive job of trying to engage with its audience, and their social media strategy is light-years ahead of the major networks. Fantasy Top chef is just the latest element of a strategy that seemingly aims to use every social media avenue out there. If you’re a blog reader they’ve got blogs aplenty, from judges Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons, to favorite past contestants chiming in on the action, and even, in the spirit of cross-promotion, from “chef” Bethenny Frankel of The Real Housewives of New York. They even have a blog widget so that you can have all the blogs on your iGoogle page. Prefer Twitter? Then you can join the 740+ followers of season four’s Spike and Andrew @BravoTopChef. Mobile addicts can vote American Idol style on who they think should go home, or download mobile Top Chef games to play. And then there are the online games: Which Judge are You, Foodie IQ quiz, crossword puzzles and on and on. Essentially, if you’re looking to kill time, Bravo has a plethora of ways with which to do so.
Despite this massive effort to draw me to their site and make Top Chef a part of my daily foodie life, I’ve stuck to DVRing the episode and rarely visited the site. Until now. I have witnessned first hand the all-consuming power of fantasy games as my boyfriend likes to give me daily updates on the status of his various football and baseball teams. I’ve heard all about how unfair it is when a promising player blows a game, or, even worse, when you bench a mediocre player who then goes on to have the game of his life. And now I know what it feels like.
In Fantasy Top Chef, you accrue points based on the various actions of three chefs. The point rules are quirky at best, but leave a lot to consider as you pick your team. For example, if a chef “gets bleeped,” you lose one point, if he or she makes salad or scallops as main dish, that’s another minus one. If a chef wins a Quickfire Challenge (always a heavily sponsored event), that’s plus four. Although my Top Chef “team” is currently ranked, ahem, 5,313 overall, I am now infinitely more valuable to the Bravo Network and its advertisers. The new, finally-engaged me does the following:
1) I no longer DVR the episode, since Bravo emails me two separate emails the next morning telling me what happened and how it impacted my ranking. Although I could filter the emails, I still run the risk of finding out the winner elsewhere. For Bravo’s advertisers, this means that I can’t fast forward through TV commercials.
2) I visit the site weekly to update my team, where I’m exposed to a plethora of ads and sponsored games, and am much more likely to be sucked into their vast empire of Top Chef content.
3) I gave Bravo my personal email and home mailing address in order to become a “member” and play the game.
In the past I’ve made fun of the constant and pervasive product placement on Top Chef, i.e. “The Kenmore Kitchen,” or when Padma earnestly tells chefs to pack their meals in the “Glad Family of Products.” But, before I know it, the new me will be planning what they’re calling “bhive,” the national viewing party, and then uploading pictures of my party to their Web site. Bravo and their advertisers have finally, after much effort, got my undivided attention.
Google Chrome Kind of Freaks Me Out
For years I accepted my dependency on Google applications.* Then came Google Chrome.
When the search engine launched earlier this month, my first reaction was to leave work and download it immediately. My second reaction was to acknowledge the reality of the Google ad-monster, and make an effort to avoid the glorified browser.
We all know that Google is ad-supported, but Chrome has taken it to a new level. The browser allows Google to track every URL, partial URL, word or phrase you type into the location bar (even before you officially search).
Google sends your cookie out with every search, then all of this information connects to your main account so ads can sprinkle down on you from all the Google applications.
Lots of folks have objected to this model, including the entire country of Germany. Google has reacted with slight modifications that claim to make the data collected from browsers anonymous within 24 hours. However, security experts say that this development is still entirely insufficient.
I say, fellow Google addicts, beware. No need to discontinue use of these great Google services – but do try to use wisely. Opt out of ad-targeting when possible and use a virtual private network, which will will seal off your online behavior from spying eyes.
LaunchSquad client AnchorFree has an amazing free VPN called Hotspot Shield. You can download it now. Then you can download Chrome, and enjoy Google again without fear.
*For the record, I regularly use: two separate Gmail accounts, two Google Calendars, Google Docs, Google Reader and Picasa. On a daily basis, I search: Google News, Google Blogs, Google Maps, Google Video, and the Google Search engine. I have downloaded the entire Google suite of applications for my Blackberry. I have bought Google domain names. And I have now downloaded Google Chrome.
I Know Where You Are
Ever since I purchased my 3G iPhone, I have been amazed at just how handy the location-based service applications are. Being lost in Bodega Bay a few weeks ago, I was happy to find a crab shack using Yelp and being swayed away from the many little 2-star rated restaurants on the main Highway 1 stretch.
Suddenly, I found myself being thrown into a whole new generation of “tracking.” In college, it was all about checking friends’ away messages on AIM. Then came Facebook with its News Feed. Now, services such as Loopt allow users to know exactly where friends in their network are. So you know, you can randomly show up at a bar where you know your friends are at. Creepy? Maybe slightly. Way too intrusive? Perhaps.
Recently, another company called Pelago, has created a new social network allowing users to “share real world adventures and discover places.” They’ve forged a partnership between this new service, Whrrl, and HBO to let devoted fans of the popular show “Entourage” track where their favorite stars hang out. Correction – not the stars – rather, the characters. The relationship will allow users to share opinions and recommendations. Interestingly, Vincent Chase, the lead character in “Entourage,” actually writes reviews. Seems like now, we’re not only interested in friends in our network and reality television star tracking – we’re now becoming active players in the fictional lives of our favorite TV personalities.
It’s clear that as mobile devices becoming more ubiquitous, software companies will continue to find new ways to make location-based offerings more intuitive and creative. Advertisers, it seems, are not too far behind.
Managing Your Personal Brand Online – Or at Least Your Rep
The recent and frantic digging into the lives of Sarah Palin and her ilk has made me ponder the importance of managing one’s online persona – especially given how easy search engines and social networks have made it for complete strangers to get information about each other.
Although most of us don’t have the vice-presidency hanging in the balance of our online dirty laundry, almost all of us will have relied on our Web persona for a job sometime in our professional lives. Those jobs will almost certainly be worth more than “a warm bucket of spit” as well.
Long ago, when I graduated from college and was looking for a job in the real world, I began to seriously consider how my online presence may help or hinder my attempts to secure gainful employment. At the time, this simply entailed cleaning up a few areas of my Facebook account.
According to the results of a recent survey conducted by Careerbuilder, this was a good move on my part. The report found:
“Of those hiring managers who have screened job candidates via social networking profiles ([22 percent of all hiring managers surveyed]), one-third (34 percent) reported they found content that caused them to dismiss the candidate from consideration.”
This content included the following:
- 41% – candidate posted information about them drinking or using drugs
- 40% – candidate posted provocative or inappropriate photographs or information
- 28% – candidate bad-mouthed their previous company or fellow employee
- 27% – candidate lied about qualifications
- 22% – candidate used discriminatory remarks related to race, gender, religion, etc.
- 22% – candidate’s screen name was unprofessional
- 21% – candidate was linked to criminal behavior
- 19% – candidate shared confidential information from previous employers
These are all fairly simple – not to mention obvious – mistakes to avoid when it comes to your web-presence. This is especially true with social networks where the user is the one who controls what content appears on his or her profile. Facebook’s granular security controls put the onus squarely on the user to ensure that their profile reflects well of them.
It’s a slightly different game when the content isn’t so directly controllable, as is the case with much – if not most – information online. I found some good tips for managing this kind of content/information:
- Ask the owners of the site to remove or amend the questionable content. A friend of mine was mortified to discover the first hit for his name on Google was the results from a less-than-reputable athletic competition from his college days. He simply asked the site owners to remove it and offered a brief explanation why and the site was happy to comply.
- Crowd out the bad results by posting comments in blogs or forums using your full name. This is most effective with popular sites that are likely to have a good online ranking themselves. *hint* Make sure the site doesn’t require a login.
- Make online profiles on LinkedIn, Facebook and other networking sites. Not only will these help to drive the less-glowing elements of your online persona lower in the search rankings, but a prospective employer is likely to start their information-gathering campaigns on these sites. While crowding out negative content doesn’t eliminate it, for Internet searches, out of sight truly is out of mind. Think about it: when was the last time you went beyond the second or third page of results for a query? Instead of worrying about expunging all negative content, just try to push it onto that fourth page.
- Set up Google alerts for your name. This may sound megalomaniacal (and it is) but you’d be amazed at the variety of old content that gets crawled and dredged up every day. If you see it, it means others can too. At least this way you can be prepared.
This all may be moot if more countries follow Finland’s lead. Finland has dealt with this issue with the simple – if draconian – approach of banning employers from conducting Google searches on potential employees.
The best advice is simply to exercise prudence online – and in real-life situations that may be documented online. Either that or regularly change your name…
Can CC Sabathia Save Print?
CC Sabathia, the former dominant starting pitcher for the Cleveland Indians (and born and raised in the Bay Area) was recently traded to the Milwaukee Brewers and took out a full page ad in the Cleveland Plain Dealer on Wednesday thanking the city for 10 great years.
Shaquille O’Neal was traded to the Miami heat from the Los Angeles Lakers in 2004 and soon after his departure, took out a full page ad in the LA Times to thank the fans and the city (probably not Kobe though).
So if this becomes a trend, if athletes that are traded, or retire, start taking out full page print ads in the local newspapers, could this somehow save print? Maybe it’s time for ad sales to shift their efforts to something that the economy has very little effect on, apparently — professional athlete’s salaries.
Math is not my strong suit, but if we take CC’s $11,000,000 salary this year and and assume he starts about 30 games and throws around 100 pitches per game, he only had to throw 3.5 pitches to pay for the $12,870 ad he bought. Yeah, he didn’t even have to actually fully-throw that fourth pitch…
Future of Marketing, Thy Name Is Baron
Viral + celebrities + humor = The future of marketing.
Two brilliant YouTube videos have been making the rounds the past two weeks that are fantastic examples of how to use viral marketing – one overt, the other more subtle. But both use the above formula sublimely.
The first is a pretty ingenious piece of cross-promotion for iBeatYou.com, a competition-based social network started by NBA star, entrepreneur and LaunchSquad hero Baron Davis. The clip features Baron and Adam Sandler as Zohan, the title character from his new movie, in a staring contest. It’s really funny
(Why is Baron a LaunchSquad hero? Well, that’s pretty obvious.)
The second doesn’t actually mention a brand by name – but is for Nike – stars Kobe Bryant and the “Jackass” guys, well, doing stupid stuff. Also very funny:
So, what’s the common denominator here? 2.8 million. That’s the total number of views these videos have gotten for only the nominal cost of producing these videos. How’s that for effective? Millions of people – engaged users who sought this content out – saw these ads and they cost literally nothing. Just a bit of star power and creativity.
I was at the Under The Radar conference in Mountain View earlier this week and there was an interesting discussion amongst a panel of Internet advertising execs about why companies haven’t abandoned traditional advertising for these types of viral campaigns. The answer was a mix of two factors: First, the there will always be a need, in some manner and in some scale, for traditional advertising; and second, that big companies and agencies are simply addicted to buying advertising. That’s amazing.
Being skeptical of new technology is one thing, but ignoring it because, well, that’s the way you’ve always done it, is just stupid. All it’s going to take is for one of these types of campaigns to totally blow up and all the sudden, they’ll become the norm – I’m sure advertising on television was scary for a while back in the early 1950s. Until then, it’ll be pretty easy to spot the savvy companies. Just visit YouTube.