Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008
Long-Tail Theory Re-examined
Ever since Wired editor Chris Anderson’s best-seller, “The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More” was published in 2006, producers and retailers hastened to experiment with new distribution models on the Web. Anderson postulates that digitization of music, video and content is distributed so cheaply on the Web that consumers and producers can interact on niche, specialized areas of the Internet, thereby creating new relationships and marketing opportunities. Anderson’s theory is so bold as to say that the classic rules of society and commerce would be changed forever as blockbuster or “hit” products no longer command the most consumer attention.
Just like many best-selling ideas that sound logical and sell briskly to the Silicon Valley entrepreneurs investing in these market opportunities, alas, a Harvard Business School professor comes along and crunches the numbers and spoils all the fun coffee talk.
Today’s Wall Street Journal references the current article by Anita Elberse “Should You Invest in the Long Tail?” that dispels some of the new faith in the activity happening on obscure corners of the Internet. Basically, she relies on marketing wisdom and Anderson’s own references to make this refutation: “Hit products remain dominant, even among consumers who venture deep into the tail. Hit products are also liked better than obscure products. It is a myth that obscure books, films, and songs are treasured. What consumers buy in Internet channels is much the same as what they have always bought.”
Her advice for online advertisers? Check this out all you Intercept/Undertone folks: “Advertisers hoping to reach a broad cross-section of consumers in a world of proliferating media are better off placing ads around popular products; not only will their messages be seen more often, but, because those products are generally liked better, they will be seen in a favorable context. Hit products may therefore have a disproportionately high value.”
Wow! I think everyone at Intercept and Undertone, in one way or another, says that every day they go to work!
Posted in: Business by Ed Carey @ 11:51 am Permalink | Comments (0)
Sunday, June 29th, 2008
Semantic Web
I was thinking about how the Semantic Web will unfold over the coming years. The Semantic Web combines smart data with legacy software and hardware. By organizing data into knowledge, computers can automatically link commerce and communication databases to cross-link subjects, websites, people, organizations, and content.
We are building toward this model, where information is “pushed” to users, rather than “pulled” and organized by the user. Moli.com, Radar Networks, SPARQL, Amazon, and Yahoo Food, are all experimenting with different platforms that will connect communities of users with commercial and personal applications, so that the Web can induce user interests for better service, like a librarian instead of a card catalogue. Obviously this Web experience will be more personal than today’s Web, and bottom-up content will assist with the intelligent use of data in a way that naturally selects content for consumption. From these processes will emerge “suggestion engines” similar to search engines but powered by the collective intelligence of the online community.
All of this talk of Web 3.0 in entrepreneurial, investor, and trade circles hasn’t leaked to big media firms as they are reluctantly coping with Web 2.0 blogs, wikis, search, and online household penetration. What place do professional media organizations have in a world dominated by high technology and consumers? Clearly big media firms must adapt to, invest in, or acquire emerging tech companies if they are to profit from the enormous paradigm shift in information consumption whereby authority is not handed down by companies and brands, instead achieving critical mass by communities that may replace content services as we know them.
Posted in: Business by Ed Carey @ 7:17 pm Permalink | Comments (0)
Thursday, June 19th, 2008
50 Habits of Highly Successful People
I recently came across an interesting article on Lifehack.org that lists 50 habits of highly successful people. It’s definitely worth a read.
Posted in: General by Dan Cassidy @ 10:02 am Permalink | Comments (0)
Wednesday, June 18th, 2008
Targeted Advertising: Opt-In Only?
In MediaPost’s coverage of Undertone joining the NAI, the article ends with fair balance to some privacy advocates that say the NAI does not go far enough. Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, states that consent must be opt-in only. The NAI and many others take the stance that, as long as no personally identifiable information (PII) is collected, user information can be used for targeting advertisements.
While I can understand the desire for behaviorally targeting ads to be opt-in only, is this really necessary? And where’s the precedent for this? Consider the shopper card for your local grocery store that you might be carrying. That card identifies you explicitly down to your name and address, among other PII. Then it tracks your shopping habits to determine what coupons you should receive. Some of these coupons are printed when you checkout, others may be mailed to you via e-mail or snail mail. Did you opt-in to this marketing? Well, technically, yes – when you signed up to receive the card. But do you remember reading the fine print about the marketing you’d receive?
PII has been the gold standard online for awhile now, and it seems to serve us well. If we’re all going to see ads on the Web anyway, why not see ones that might pertain to our surfing and shopping habits? And isn’t it better that we get those ads through a vehicle that does not actually know who we are?
Posted in: Behavioral Marketing by Jared Skolnick @ 11:29 am Permalink | Comments (0)
Monday, June 16th, 2008
Joining the NAI
It was announced this morning that Undertone is the newest member of the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI). The NAI has done a great job at taking a proactive approach to online advertising and its impact on privacy and consumer protection. We are pleased to join this group to help educate consumers, advertisers, publishers, trade organizations and related government entities. To learn more about the organization you can visit http://www.networkadvertising.org/.
Posted in: Ad Networks, Business by Michael Cassidy @ 10:05 am Permalink | Comments (0)
Thursday, June 12th, 2008
Maximize Your In-Stream Spend with Re-Targeting
I wanted to get back to discussing creative ways to utilize pixels. For the past year or so, some marketers have been leveraging their direct site buys by placing pixels in their ad tags. Users who are reached in that targeted environment are cookied by the advertiser and can be utilized for re-targeting (usually via an ad network due to their inherent high reach). This tactic offers marketers the ability to build frequency within this valuable, core group with targeted messaging. It becomes another point of engagement to bring them through the “conversion funnel” most efficiently. Another benefit is in cost: reaching that same user via re-targeting with an ad network is oftentimes accomplished with a lower CPM, thus lowering the overall cost to engage the user.
Marketers can leverage their in-stream buys in the same manner. In-stream is an extremely effective way to target key audiences or as part of a greater brand effort via sight/sound/motion. Placing pixels in the ad tags that run in the companion space alongside the video allows the user to be reached subsequently across other display buys. And thus, maximizing those engagement/efficiency factors again.
Posted in: Behavioral Marketing, Video by Eric Franchi @ 2:16 pm Permalink | Comments (0)
Sunday, June 8th, 2008
The Next Step in Brand Studies
“Have you ever heard of a bad Dynamic Logic study?” That was a question posed to me by a client on Thursday, to whom I replied I had not. This agency executive said he had only seen one bad study, and it was attributed to an insufficient sample size. The point he was trying to make is how do you validate branding online beyond a research study?
I am a proponent of brand studies because they add some level of accountability to online advertising, especially for those marketers looking to go beyond the click conversion metric. While I am no expert in all the nuances of what goes into the studies, I do get the sense that the marketplace is looking for and needs something more.
I have always found it ironic that the same advertisers who scorned pop-ups and pop-unders were the same advertisers commissioning brand studies that used those ad units for data collection. The ubiquitous Netflix, Orbitz and LowerMyBills ads are oftentimes been replaced with ads saying “Want to take a study?” With typical click-through rates so low, and consumers increasingly tuning out online advertising, promoting your product or service is enough of a challenge, let alone getting someone to comment on the advertising they remembered viewing.
Posted in: Business by Michael Cassidy @ 8:28 pm Permalink | Comments (0)
Friday, June 6th, 2008
Changing Perception One Presentation at a Time
At our last iMedia Summit presentation, we had the opportunity to present to a group of senior, influential agency executives. We co-presented a case study on the American Idol campaign with our client, Joe Weaver, from Mediastorm. Our main goals were to achieve the following in an entertaining, engaging format:
• Influence and/or change market perception: There are some agency folks at the higher levels who do not know our key value proposition.
• Highlight Undertone’s branding strengths: Networks are still mostly considered for direct response use only. We wanted to show how our prestitial/synched ad product can be used effectively as a branding vehicle.
The feedback we received afterward was resoundingly positive, so we came away feeling like we accomplished our goals. But there’s nothing like a blog post from Jim Nichols, a long time agency executive and partner at the highly regarded Catalyst:SF, to further underscore it.
Posted in: Uncategorized by Eric Franchi @ 2:23 pm Permalink | Comments (0)
Thursday, June 5th, 2008
Pixels: Not Just for Confirmation Pages
Let’s play a word association game. I say “ad network” and “pixels.” What is the first thing that comes to mind?
If you are like most people in the online ad business, you’d likely say “confirmation page.” Indeed, the ad network model, particularly when it comes to direct response campaigns, has been largely built on the insights of the tiny line of code that resides on a final page of the sign-up or sale process. Those insights become ROI when coupled with smart ad serving and ad operations processes.
As the ad network model has evolved, the use of pixels has evolved along with it. Many marketers today place a pixel on their homepage or key landing pages. This allows them to build pools of qualified users for re-targeting campaigns, further driving results.
It’s becoming increasingly apparent that online campaigns are properly viewed in the context of a funnel, with multiple touch points ultimately contributing to the final result, be it a sale, inquiry or sign-up. And it has been proven that there is a link between search and display. This is where strategic pixel use can be even more valuable.
Placing a pixel on search landing pages and then using that data to inform re-targeting across an ad network is a technique I encourage all marketers to test. Best practices here include utilizing targeted display messaging based on keyword groups. This results in providing the most qualified prospects (those coming from search) with a clear path straight through the funnel, rather than spending too much time at the top and middle.
More on strategic use of pixels next time…
Posted in: Ad Networks by Eric Franchi @ 10:17 am Permalink | Comments (0)
Monday, June 2nd, 2008
Interactive Campaign Setup Best Practices
As I’m sure many people have seen by now, the IAB recently released a white paper on Interactive Campaign Setup Best Practices. This document lays out ways in which we as an industry can work together to avoid bottlenecks and errors during the campaign setup process. There is nothing earth-shattering in there, but the main points it conveys are solid: clear and consistent communication, simplicity, consistency and accuracy are all basic things that oftentimes get overlooked due to the rush of getting deals closed or campaigns live. By having all parties involved in the process slow down and focus on the long term success of a campaign as opposed to getting one piece of the process completed quickly, we’ll be able to save everyone on the client, agency and publisher side a lot of headaches in the long run. Kudos to the IAB for establishing these guidelines.
Posted in: General by Dan Cassidy @ 3:15 pm Permalink | Comments (0)
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