Calling The Digital Ad Industry; Let's Start Taking Banners Off Web Pages

Now, before everyone who works for an ad exchange, banner ad network, RTB or yield optimization firm flips their shit and calls me susie, just hear me out.  I want to make a case for removing advertising from our sites, and I'm a seller, so in theory I want that space.

First, for this entire rant, let's immediate remove the following ad products from the conversation because they are separate; pull downs, peel backs, expandable home page units, page skins, takeovers, etc.  What I'm talking about is your everyday standard IAB banners.

Let's just say we wanted to start driving up the value of ad inventory again (gasp, why would we want that).  I don't think anyone would argue that there is more banner space available than the market is demanding.  Fair to say, you can go to any major website, navigate 15 pages in and there are still leaderboards and skyscrapers everywhere.  Now, those useless placements are selling for pennies on ad exchanges and optimizers are crunching every penny in real time bidding environments to very slightly outbid someone else's minute spend threshold.  I'm making the case that if we move back to a model where we minimalized overall ad frequency and touch points in banners, we on the publishing side would maintain higher quality of advertiser and higher pricepoint.  Adversely, advertisers now avoid ad clutter and actually get their message across.  Lastly, consumers don't suffer from advertising overload and they actually respond to messaging like they did in the good old days.  Keep the level of targeting up but reduce ad clutter, I think you see better performance.

My focus is in video, and I have strong concerns about the commodization of long tail video.  There is no doubt that premium video inventory (I'm talking pre-roll only) will always command a high pricepoint.  It's a unique one on one interaction.  But the price is being driven down by exchanges drudging up video inventory and shipping it off for pennies, yet the value of the placement remains high.  Yes there was another subtle point in there; price and value are two different things.

On an aside, can someone tell me if ad exchanges are actually making money?  How many ways can you slice up a penny?

Changing Media Eco-System Finally Paying Off For Brand Advertisers

Digital advertising; it's blessing are also it's curses. Data, reporting, accountability, these are the reasons people advertise online. ROI, CTR, Conversions. These are the performance metrics that drove brands online in the first place, yet its always hampered brand advertisers because sometimes, there is no ROI. I can't always tell you how many people saw your ad or what they did after it (yes this sounds a lot like the TV ad experience). But with the advent of in banner video, brand studies, interactive rich media units, we are getting there. Bring content to your audiences. Bring them an ad experience where they can enjoy themselves and engage with information they care about. This is happening all over the place, and brands are doing it. But more importantly, the publishing side is providing the services to do so.

What is the easiest question for a media planner to answer? "Do you want me to put your brand in a beautiful creative unit that compliments the brand image and is chalk full of cool content?" Yes, of course.

I'm thinking about this today because I was working on putting an extremely dull brand into a branded entertainment package where 5 years ago it would have no place.

Great article in AdAge on a similar topic:
http://adage.com/digitalnext/post?article_id=141569

Some Crazy Stats About Interent Usage

Remeber when there was like 2 television stations and a newspaper in this country?

111 different domains, on an average of 56 seconds means we are all basically goldfish circling our bowls which double as the internet. An endless search for content while barely taking any of it in.

Omniture Brings Real-Time Analytics To iPhone Applications

Courtesy of TechCrunch...

Omniture is extending its SiteCatalyst measurement tool to native iPhone applications, enabling developers and marketers to gain insight on how users are interacting with their iPhone apps, based on real-time information. This should allow them not only to improve the user experience based on analytics, but also make adjustement necessary to generate more revenue by enhancing ad clicks, purchasing and increasing page views.

The new offer, which is basically an extension of its existing SiteCatalyst solution, is called App Measurement for iPhone and will be generally available as from January 2009. To our knowledge this is the first analytics program specifically designed for native iPhone applications, but it’s safe to say other providers will soon follow suit with similar offerings.

In related news, Tel Aviv-based Kenshoo is taking its Search Engine Marketing campaign management solution mobile, enabling users to consult campaign statistics and reports from their iPhone browser. More information about their solution is available here, and a video demo can be viewed here.

Omnicom Set to Cut Up to 3,500 Jobs

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The industry's largest holding company, Omnicom Group, is preparing a massive layoff of nearly 5% of its global work force of 70,000, according to executives close to the situation.

The executives would not confirm which divisions or agencies would be affected by the estimated 3,500 job loss, but it is believed that BBDO, the agency for ailing Chrysler, which lost its flagship U.S. brand Pepsi business this year, would particularly feel the ax. Earlier today, Ad Age reported that Omnicom media agency PHD was laying off 30 people and closing its Atlanta office.

An Omnicom spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment.

Not all units affected...
The executives said not all Omnicom units will be touched. "Wherever adjustments had to be made, agencies that needed to make the adjustments made them," said an executive with knowledge of the situation. "That does not mean all companies made adjustments." And the current layoffs, to be concluded by year's end, may not be the end of it: Additional cuts could come in January across the holding company, executives said.

The depth of the layoffs is striking considering Omnicom already took measures to reduce its head count earlier this year. Just last month BBDO slashed 22% of its staff in Detroit as the office's embattled Chrysler client indicated it plans to reduce its marketing activity. Earlier this month, Ad Age reported that Chrysler, now in the midst of trying to win a government bridge loan to stay alive, is believed to owe the holding company some $80 million.

Omnicom, the parent company of agency brands such as DDB Worldwide, TBWA Worldwide and Goodby Silverstein & Partners, employed roughly 70,000 people worldwide by the end of 2007, up 6.1% from the end of 2006.

Omnicom Group in October posted $213 million in net income for the third quarter of 2008, up slightly from $202 million in the same period last year. But signs of trouble for the holding company were beginning to show in its third-quarter earnings statement: Its public-relations practice, which is made up of Fleishman Hillard, Ketchum and Porter Novelli, among others, showed negative growth for the quarter.

~ ~ ~
Contributing: Rupal Parekh, Bradley Johnson

Newspaper Ad Spend Continues To Sputter...Enter Digital

From the Newspaper Association of America

Smaller Advertisers Causing The Ad Market To Drop

Joe Mandese wrote an interesting piece for Media Post today, highlighting a new study that has shown smaller advertisers, normally spendng in the long tail, are the ones who have put the brakes on spending recently.

"If you go back one or two years, when we were seeing modest growth of 2% or 3% in ad spending, the grow was coming from the bottom of the market. Those smaller, long-tail advertisers were in the forefront of the advance. Now they are leading the retreat," explains Jon Swallen, senior vice president-research and the de facto chief economist at TNS Media Intelligence.

Mandese also provides some interesting insights into the spending habits of the big three automakers, which makes you raise an eye to the current bailout happenings.

While some big advertisers have also hit the breaks, especially two of the Big 3 domestic auto marketers - Chrysler and Ford, both down 33% year-to-date - one has actually been boosting its advertising budget in defiance of an economic downturn: General Motors.

Through the first nine months of 2008, GM boosted its advertising budget nearly 16%, more than any other top 10 marketer, a move that could raise some interesting questions on both Main Street and Capital Hill as the Big 3 automakers have called on Congress fro a multibillion bailout to stay in business.

Here's a look at the modest cutbacks that have been made by some of the biggest advertisers:

Hulu and YouTube Battling Ad Revenue Projections

Great story from CrunchGear comparing the revenue projections of video giant YouTube and NBC/Fox internet front Hulu.  As a big Hulu fan and someone who has been bashing media buyers for buying ad space on YouTube, this article really made me happy.

Something’s wrong with YouTube, and it looks like Hulu stands to benefit. 

YouTube, as you’re all painfully aware, is primarily comprised of short videos of guys falling off their skateboards (embedded here), dudes playing video game songs on the piano and illegal Seinfeld clips. Those types of videos aren’t attractive to advertisers. That may explain why YouTube, which had 83 million unique hits in September, is only expected to generate $100 million for the year.

Compare that to Hulu, which primarily consists of professionally made NBC and Fox shows and clips—I just wasted quite a few minutes watching a few “popular” Simpsons clips, for example. That all of the content there is nice and legal makes it more appealing to advertisers, which explains why, even though with only 6 million hits in September, Hulu is expected to generate to $70m.

Both sites are expected to generate $180 million next year. Don’t think that’s because, overnight, Hulu increases its viewership 10-fold.

In other words, people (“analysts” and the like) are now wondering how, if ever, will Google will turn YouTube into a monetary success.

Don’t forget that Google paid $1.65 billion for the site two years ago—that’s a lot of skateboarding videos for which to sell ads.

Email Targeting Knows I lived In Romania

I've long been a proponent for email targeting in advertising. While it may seem invasive for Google to let me know about airline prices while I'm emailing my buddy about going to Vegas, its also unbelievably convenient. I'm on the side of offering more information to advertising companies because the Web will only develop as a personalized medium when consumers allow it to. And bottom line, anyone who has ever had a credit card has already given up more personal information than any ad targeting company will collect.

Having said all that, I was truly amazed this morning to find this email in my inbox..."Been Looking For ROMANIAN Products?" The capitalization of Romanian is a dead giveaway that my email somewhere crossed with Romania as a trigger. I have no idea who Idakoos is or who they've contracted for their emails, but this is unbelievable Out of left field I'm getting ads for t-shirts that say "Everyone Loves A Romanian." This is amazing because not only am I part Romanian, but I also lived there for 4 months last year. I hadn't emailed or spoken to anyone about this experience in months, and then this email shows up.

Well done Idakoos. However you found me, I'm damn impressed.

Marketing Has Trained Me To Be An Optimist

In the under- statement of the century, I’m generally sarcastic and wry. While it doesn’t always really affect my mood, it’s a skin I’ve developed to help keep myself entertained and humbled, (sarcasm allows you to constantly turn humor back onto yourself).

In the face of a struggling economy, stock market and the “new economy,” I’m truly flooded with jokes about the failures of current presidential administrations, economic policies that are laughable, and the general panic of the financial media. But I bought stocks last week. First time in about 7 years. And I did it because of marketing.

I bought Deutsche Telecom, owner of T-Mobile in the wake of the G1 arrival news. On a personal level, I think the phone is rather basic and is just an iPhone competitor, nothing revolutionary. But I genuinely believe it has the potential to take digital advertising to the next level. As TV and print budgets continue to get cut in the coming year or so, that money will continue to come online and whether we like it or not, it’s going to partly go to Google. Search continues to make up 40% of most online budgets, and with mobile search taking off, the G1 is going to send millions of searches to Google a day.

Did I drop the bank on DT stock and plan my retirement around it? Of course not, but I did feel I was playing my part in keeping this economy moving forward, and not yanking all my money because that is how the market crumbles. I felt it was symbolic to place some trust (and funds) into companies that are looking to grow in this time period, and online advertising companies are at the top of that list. Granted we are in a bit of a cocoon because major brands will always spend advertising dollars, and right now online happens to be the least expensive medium. And it’s growing. Online opportunities are not going backwards, they are going forward.

Maybe it’s selfish to be thinking solely for my own industry, company, colleagues etc., but I think we are going to be ok as a whole in this country. I think things will stabilize in time and I think we will all find ways back on our feet.

Bottom line, I think their is a right time and place for everything, and digital advertising is poised to support lotsof dollars in the coming year.

Crowdsourcing And The Effects On Our industry

If you haven't heard the term thrown around yet, you will soon. Crowdsourcing is the act of taking a certain act or job to a group of people and having the power of the mob decide the best way to complete said job.

With many of the top advertising agencies becoming more and more disinter mediated, overhead costs going up in a floundering economy, and the need for fresh new opinions in a fragmented media world, crowdsourcing may very well be the answer.

Crowdsourcing can have a thunderous impact in many different sectors of the ad world, including both media and creative. Everyday we see different videos online on YouTube or Daily Motion or (fill in video destination of your choice), and we think to ourselves, “wow that person must be doing really well to have created such an inspiring piece.” The fact is there is a massive waste of creative going on, because of I house creative teams, lack of resources for up and coming talent, and a media world with more channels than one can count. I see crowdsourcing as being an answer to that major problem, and I’m definitely on the lookout for a company that can solve this issue.

Also, for an interesting read, check out Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of the Crowd Is Driving the Future of Business by Jeff Howe.

7 Experts Tackle Online Marketing Myths

Yesterday at the iMedia Brand Summit in Coronado, CA, seven highly touted industry folk took a shot at some of online marketing’s biggest myth and most over hyped trends. The distinct blend of agency, brand, and network people tore down a few industry standards while making some interesting predictions about the foreseeable future in digital adveritising.

Check out the coverage from the hottest panel in Coronado here.

“When I die, I want to come back as me.”

TechCrunch50 rounded out this week with a fantastic one- on- one interview between Jason Calacanis and Mark Cuban. They talked about Cuban’s path to start- up genius and his wildly successful business career thus far. Cuban is his usual candid self and it was an absolutely hysterical interview.

Click the picture for the full transcript.

CARAT CARAT CARAT!!!

What is there really to say? We’ve all seen it, we’ve all talked about. Carat and there email blunder…..opening lines of the story below:

E-mail Blunder Alerts Carat Staff to Major Restructuring
Top HR Exec Accidentally Sends Out Talking Points About Upcoming JobCuts Published: September 03, 2008

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Struggling media agency Carat is planning a major restructuring of its U.S. operations, including an undetermined number of layoffs -- news it accidentally released today via a memo the agency's top New York-based HR executive e-mailed to the entire agency that appeared to be intended only for senior managers.

In a rare, uncomfortable look into the preparations for employee layoffs, management informed its rank and file of forthcoming layoffs and other changes in Microsoft PowerPoint and Word documents full of "message" points on how people should be told of their fate and what should be said to their still-employed colleagues, clients and vendors. According to one source, the memo was sent to all staffers before the mistake was realized, and it was pulled back by the IT department. The documents, obtained by Advertising Age and posted with this story, detail talking points for managers as they talk to clients, vendors, the press and employees as Carat tries to navigate the fallout from the news.


For full article, click here.