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Archive for September, 2008

Digital transformation still slow Saturday, September 27th, 2008

Rebecca Lieb, writing on the ClickZ website, rightly observes that it’s high past time that the advertising and media industries fully embrace digital solutions. She writes, “It’s not just old-timers on the traditional agency side of the equation who are stubbornly resisting the shift to digital. It’s an issue across the media landscape. Their reluctance was perhaps somewhat understandable in the go-go ’90s and in the sober, austere, bleak era around 2002. But now?

“Still, I’m seeing traditional publishers cut back on digital endeavors (and digital staff) in a desperate and futile effort to sustain their flagging, dead-tree legacy brands. I’m seeing digital executives going to senior management with requests for back-end tools, such as content management systems and social media software, only to learn their corporate overlords have no idea what all that stuff is, much less what it’s actually used for or how it can benefit the business.

“And I’m seeing some of those print publications flatline. Friends who have been print journalists for decades are panicking in the face of cutbacks, early retirement, consolidation, and plain old extinction.

“But they’re not learning digital skills. A critic friend stays up nights over the fact his paper is due to shutter at month’s end. When I inquired about his online skills, he replied that even the most fundamental elements of a story, such as hyperlinks, were determined and executed by the online editor. He doesn’t know how to do any of that stuff.”

I’m happy to report that not everyone in the advertising and media industries in Australia over the age of 30 is a techno-Luddite. But a lot more needs to be done to encourage them to embrace digital formats and produce new ways of communicating ideas that capitalise on these new formats, rather than continuing to produce digital creations that are still rooted in traditional thinking.

Gen Y is not reading newspapers anymore. They’re watching TV without ads, via DVD or DVD recorders, They’re staying away from websites that throw pop-up ads at them. Those of us who grew up with traditional forms of communication are still in the majority - but we won’t be for that much longer. As Lieb says in the headline of her article, “Digital or die”.


Don’t interrupt; instead, facilitate Monday, September 22nd, 2008

As we say on the home page: “Markets are conversations”. Irish web content expert Gerry McGovern writes in his blog this week that, “Marketing used to say: ‘Don’t go down that road, go down this road. My destination is much more interesting.’ On the Web, we choose our destination and will not change it. Marketing must now say: ‘I can help you get to your destination faster and easier.’”

In the information-rich 21st century, McGovern says, the Internet succeeds because “it helps us make better decisions. We go to the Web to get more details. We go to the Web on a mission. When was the last time you went to Google and said, ‘I wonder what should I search for today?’ You go to the Web wanting to buy a lawnmower. The chances of your attention being caught by some clever ad for a vacation in Greece is very, very small. ”

“The Web is the land of the skeptic, the cynic, the impatient, time-starved, information-overloaded consumer who is on a mission. The mission is to solve a problem, answer a question, get a good deal. The Web is the land of the comparison shopper, the person who wants to read reviews to see if the product is actually any good.

“Trying to grab the attention and tug the sleeve of this information-rich consumer is much more likely to irritate than to interest them. Presenting them, on your homepage, with the big, smiling face of some actor who has never used your product, is a good way of getting them to sneer at you.”


Porn loses its lustre online Thursday, September 18th, 2008

I have found a new favourite technology writer - Robert X Cringely at Infoworld. His recent article “Is Sarah Palin more popular than porn? Search me“, is a hoot. He cites a new book by Hitwise general manager Bill Tancer, which shows that searching for social media is now more popular than searching for porn online. As Cringely (yes, that’s his real name, not a pseudonym) writes, “‘As social networking traffic has increased, visits to porn sites have decreased,’ said Tancer, [who] indicated that the 18-24 year old age group particularly was searching less for porn.

“I’m guessing Tancer has not visited many social networks, or that all his Facebook friends are old farts. Because when you’re age 18 to 24, social networks ARE pornography. In fact, they’re better. Have you seen some of those profiles? Two words: humena humena.”

I never knew how ‘humena humena’ was spelled before - you learn something new every day!

He goes on to write about something (or someone) else who has gone on to become more popular than porn on the Internet: Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

“Hitwise also measures the most popular searches for political terms. You can guess which lipstick-wearing pitbull of a hockey mom tops the charts there. Per the Washington Post: ‘… in her first two days in the national spotlight, US Internet searches on all things Palin outnumbered any other politician in the past three years…. In many cases, her name was searched alongside the word ‘hot.’ I’m guessing that also includes searches for Palin’s head photo-shopped onto various nude or bikini clad models.

“Does that qualify as porn? If so, I think Tancer needs to revisit his conclusions about social nets.”

A geek with a sharp sense of humour - got to love it.


They call this promotion? Thursday, September 18th, 2008

This blog deals with all aspects of Internet content, and sometimes strays into more general content issues. Here’s one that’s a bit out of left field, but I think is worth discussing. I belong to a US-based academic institute related to my postgraduate study (I won’t bore you with the details now, but maybe in another post). Anyway, a sub-group of that society (which shall remain nameless because the issue I have has nothing to do with them, but with the tourism commission which undoubtedly fed them information) is having a conference in Oklahoma City. Here is a verbatim description of the conference city sent to me in an email today:

Oklahoma City is the capital of the Great State of Oklahoma.  This city ranks 31st among United States cities in population and is easily accessible by land and air.  In 1995, Oklahoma City experienced the most destructive act of domestic terrorism in United States history when the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was bombed by a disaffected U.S. Army veteran.  Conference delegates to Oklahoma City can now join the over 3 million people who have visited the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial and Museum that was established on the site of the blast that killed 168 people and damaged more than 100 nearby buildings.  In addition, delegates can also enjoy visits to Myraid Gardens and Crystal Bridge as well as recent MAPS developments such as the new baseball park, the civic center, the fairgrounds, and the canal to the Bricktown entertainment district, in particular.

Is it just me, or does anyone else find that ’sales pitch’ for Oklahoma City decidedly creepy? Why on earth would you lead off the description of your beautiful city with a detailed description of your worst moment? Maybe if I was going to visit Dachau I would be sent similar information, but that seems to be no way to pitch Oklahoma City. By all means, it was a terrible tragedy, and, just like my recent visits to New York included a visit to Ground Zero, I would no doubt visit that museum if I visited Oklahoma City. But to base your entire promotion around the details of the bombing? I suppose the context jarred me as well - following a very brief description of this conference, it launched into this long screed on the bombing. Maybe the fact that I first read this on my Blackberry influenced my reaction, as I was sitting there scrolling through this weird description to get to the detail of the conference. Interested to hear your comments on this.


Hire a journalist for top content Wednesday, September 17th, 2008

From The HubSpot Internet Marketing blog:

“At the Inbound Marketing Summit last week, marketing guru David Meerman Scott encouraged business owners and marketing executives to ‘hire a journalist’. What was he talking about? More than 10,000 jobs have been cut this year at U.S. newspapers, and Scott sees the ‘dire situation for many reporters and editors as a tremendous opportunity for corporate marketing.’

“Why? Because journalists are trained to write, edit and, above all, tell stories in an even-handed way.

“‘Hiring people trained in journalism sounds like a good idea for marketers - they’ll be getting someone who’s more likely to be comfortable writing for a general audience, simplifying tricky concepts and telling stories,’ says Jon Fortt, a senior writer at Fortune.

“In the new world of inbound marketing, that’s what you need to do. You can’t interrupt potential customers with ‘marketing material’, you have to create rich, interesting content, that attracts people to your web site. You have to create content that’s useful to your customers, not gobbledygook about your product. Having somebody on your team who can do this will set you apart from the competition.”


Online shows, short-form video for Fairfax Wednesday, September 17th, 2008

From the B and T newsletter:
“Fairfax Media is diversifying its advertising opportunities through the development of new types of short-form video content on its websites, and has commissioned several new online shows.

“The new internet TV shows include several ‘infotainment’ broadcasts and branded content shows including Land Rover’s Best Breaks, a 12-part series looking at short breaks from Sydney and Melbourne.

“An increased demand, particularly around lunch time, from viewers has led to a new ‘primetime’ audience for advertisers to tap into, said Pippa Leary, managing director of media for Fairfax Digital.

“’Short-form videos offer more freedom to viewers- because it’s on demand and easy to share with others,’ she said.

“….Fairfax is closely monitoring what is happening in the US and the UK in the branded content area, said Leary. ‘As audiences get more sophisticated the advertisers have to get more sophisticated, too.’

She said one of the major trends Fairfax have noticed is advertising agencies creating both TV ads and online ads when doing a shoot: ‘The ads for online are a lot shorter and also incorporate more interactivity.’

“The media company’s latest show was a comedy sketch called 51st State by performer and writer Dan Ilic, which covered the Democratic Convention in the US. ‘Because it was topical at the time, the series blurred the lines between news and entertainment. It appeals to a broad audience and also advertisers trying to reach a diverse audience,’ said Leary.”


Help a Writer Australia Wednesday, September 17th, 2008

Inspired by Peter Shankman’s Help a Reporter Out service (http://helpareporter.com/), we’re starting a similar service aimed at Australian writers and reporters. The idea is that everybody is an expert in something, and that social media networks on the Internet can help connect writers with sources for their stories, books and other writing projects. If you’re a writer based in Australia, please join our Facebook group and forward your requests (see ‘Guidelines for reporters/writers’ on the Discussion Board for how to structure your requests) to ray.welling@gmail.com. Meanwhile, anyone who has an interest in being a source (you may be a PR representative or just an interesting person!) can sign up to receive periodic emails that will go out looking for people to help out with a writing project.