Why click when you can RIGHT-click?

So what are right click ads you ask? Pretty self explanatory you may say.....and you would be correct. However, right-click ads are a relatively new concept (and something used only once in the UK as far as I know).

Right-click ads essentially allow the user to right-click on the display creative and select their destination from a pop-up list, as opposed to sifting through pages of content on the client's website in order to find the desired information. A useful tool, and one that could help many a digital planner tackle the issue of click-landing page drop off rates and perhaps even conversion rates. What these ads also allow is the ability to "click to call" and download brochures/product info directly from the banner - giving the opportunity for us, the agency, to include additional response metrics when reporting results back to the client.

As we know, in a perfect world, success should not solely be based quotes/sign ups/applications but should be based on things such as "leads" and initiatives that help improve brand perception and favourability.

Statistics from a trial with GIO are yet to be finalised however there is real potential for these formats to be cosidered longer term.

Stay tuned!

Here is an example should you wish to see them in action - http://www.flashtalking.com/showcase/hsbcRightClick/

Mobile is Here? Maybe Not

From Online Media Daily:

Anyone expecting 2009 to be the long-awaited "Year of Mobile" may have to wait a little longer. Wireless devices will be the primary means of connecting to the Internet for most people worldwide in 2020, according to a new report by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. The "Future of the Internet III" study, surveying nearly 600 Internet experts about the role of technology in the year 2020, suggested that the combination of portability and relative affordability will turn the cell phone into the leading Internet gateway 12 years from now. ...

"New" Online Trends

Not the most insightful document in the world, for those of us that have been working in digital for more than 5 minutes, but probably a nice, neat package for some of your clients out there.

http://www.strangecorp.com/news/view/online-marketing-trends-in-2009

Brand Impact Study

Is available now on the IABs website:

IAB Brand Impact Study

Nielsen online brand impact study

The results of the inaugural Australian 'public' Nielsen brand impact study were released to the market over breakfast today. The aim of the study being to prove that online display campaigns can in fact help to build brands.

To top line it - of course, the point was proven! The evidence is in, online does (or can) contribute to Brand awareness and more.

The study:

• 4 week online campaign for Sultana Bran, valued c. $200k
• 5 major Publishers donated inventory foc (Yahoo7, 9MSN, Fairfax, News Digital, Media Smart)
  
• Creative included various sizes (from memory banners, MRecs, MRec Videos, Islands) and was placed in a targeted fashion to GBs with kids
  

The methodology:

• Cookies were used to identify two groups; a control group who hadn't seen the campaign and an exposed group
• Survey pop ups were delivered upon exiting publishers sites utilised in the campaign
  
• The sample sizes were statistically viable

The results:

• The exposed group recorded increased levels vs every metric
  
• Metrics included - Awareness, Sentiment/favorability, Intention and Recommendation
• Majority of results were 5-10% increases
• In most cases Video results were slightly higher
  

Now, as mentioned in a previous post, this study is based on one brand and one campaign, so we need a lot more evidence to be built before we can shout it from the rooftops. But nevertheless, I have to say....I am encouraged!

The IAB are in the process of loading the full case study onto their site, so go there for the full deck; http://www.iabaustralia.com.au.

ShopSavvy Application

IF YOU WANT A GLIMPSE of a wildly promising mobile future, grab some geek buddy's T-Mobile G1 phone and fire up the ShopSaavvy app. Integrated with the phone's camera, you can aim the device at any product UPC code and pull down product details, online pricing and shopping opportunities, Web site references, and reviews, when available. Of course suppliers like Mobot and ScanBuy have been working with this sort of visual search model for a while, But I have never seen the mobile scanning process implemented so smoothly and with such tight integration with the hardware. Best of all, the process delivers information that is rich and relevant to the user, not just to an advertiser. - Mobile Insider

Google Ad Planner

To add a new notch on the Google's plot to take over the internet, check out AdPlanner.

I read about this first in the Google Agency Fortnightly Update (which I'd recommend you sign up to.. let me know if you need help with access).

"To make your life easier, we're introducing Google Ad Planner, a research and media planning tool that connects advertisers and publishers. When using Google Ad Planner, simply enter demographics and sites associated with your target audience, and the tool will return information about sites (both on and off the Google content network) that your audience is likely to visit. You can drill down further to get more detail like demographics and related searches for a particular site, or you can get aggregate statistics for the sites you've added to your media plan."
-http://adwords.blogspot.com/2008/06/introducing-google-ad-planner.html

Right now it's open by invite only (I'll keep you posted should I get invited and if it actually is helpful). I'm guessing that it will be more helpful than NNR, at least in time.

You can go to https://www.google.com/adplanner and have a play, but it currently seems to only include uniques, reach, page views by site (and by state). You can add some layering like 'keywords searched' and 'sites visited', but I'm not really sure what that means at this point.

The latest news from our friends at Nielsen

Measurement:

As we are all aware, the current digital planning data in Australia is flawed and the IAB are in the midst of finding a way to address this. Nielsen have been reappointed to provide the solution, however, there is still work to be done in delivering a satisfactory system. Essentially, however, we will move to a Hybrid methodology through Nielsen (combination of panel and cookies).

In terms of progress, Nielsens proposed Hybrid panel methodology has now been audited. There were 16 areas of concern that NNR were asked to address post audit. Of these 12 have been fixed, but the final 4 are still being explored - due to expense of resolution. Basically the IAB may need to dig in to their back pocket or find another way around.

The good news? Either way, apparently we can expect the new system to be in place by mid 2009. Hooray! Early next year a new version of Netratings will be released called 'Phoenix', this will be followed by the Hybrid solution late in Q2.

Ad Effectiveness:

In more news from Nielsen they have been working on an Ad Effectiveness Project.

Nielsen provide digital effectiveness studies to paying clients. In doing so, they identified a gap in the market for a more educational piece of research.

I was both excited and disappointed on this one! Excited, as we are crying out for evidence that Digital works beyond an acquisition model..... Disappointed, that the study is based on just one campaign (for one client). Better than nothing though and hopefully the start of much more work in this area.

Which brings me to some good news. I have put my hand up for us to be contacted to partner in the next phase of the project with one of our clients. Wave one is based on a retail client. Wave two will either be auto or finance...hopefully we will be involved.

In the meantime, wave one project outcomes will be presented over breakfast in a couple of weeks time. Watch this space for updates.

Economic impact on digital spending

I was asked yesterday to make comment on a current issue on the Australian digital landscape. Here's what I wrote:

• The major shift in the digital space in the past year or so has been towards a focus on ‘pay for performance’
• This means Publishers sell on either a CPC (Cost per Click) model OR better still a CPA (cost per acquisition/action)
• The key elements of impact are an increase in the Search Engine Marketing arena (which is entirely CPC) along with technology based solutions (eg behavioral targeting) and Affiliate Networks – often at the expense of the bigger Publishers
• Publishers have struck back by developing their own performance models, however, they are still often not able to compete quite as cost effectively
• Whilst the market continues to push for use of digital beyond Direct Response (eg to drive engagement and brand awareness), clients often resist
• In the coming year, with a tough economic client, we don’t expect this to change, with Marketers more focussed on measurable results than ever
• The good news for Digital? The channel is less likely to suffer from a recession and actually may benefit from further growth due the reassurance its accountability offers

Seems, my sentiments are being echoed elsewhere. I received an email yesterday which had a copy of some commentary recently made by the new CEO of the IAB - Paul Fisher. Here's what he has to say:

I'm loving Channel 9's new cop drama The Mentalist. Simon Baker plays a former TV psychic pretender, and using his powers of observation and faux psychic skills, finely honed in front of live TV audiences, he acts as a maverick consultant to the California Bureau of Investigation to find the clues, solve the crimes and catch the bad guys.

I don't know what he would make of the current and forecast impact of the global economic meltdown on the Australian interactive advertising industry, but if I apply his mentalist powers, which apparently we all possess, I can look at the signs around me, ask questions, listen to people's responses and come up with an informed view based on facts, observations, trends, and behavior.

Here are some of those views. Feel free to read them, challenge them, de-construct them, rubbish them if you want to but if you agree and/or see value in them, spread them around in all of your conversations, presentations, coffee meetings, team talks and 'water cooler' chats.

To use marketing terms let's divide these views into "quant" and qual". First, let's look at the numbers, the "quant".

The signs from the US and the UK are that total advertising spend will be cut for the rest of this FY and most likely into next FY. Marketing budgets seem to appear an easy and obvious first choice to save costs that go straight to the bottom line, on which most C-suit executives are judged and remunerated.

So the first view we must all wake up to is that all previous forecasts and projections for our market are no longer valid. The online advertising market will not achieve 25%-30% year on year growth this FY.

However, many of the signs suggest it will still achieve double digit growth, with some low end forecasts such as ABN Amro forecasting 14.2% overall industry growth - see AFR Monday 20th Oct 08 p57 "Online ads feel the pinch"- to Goldman Sachs JB Were's forecast of 20.5% overall growth - see AFR Monday 20th Oct 08 p55 "Wary TV chiefs stay mum on ad market".

Whilst the IAB PWC results for Q3, due out in the first week of November will give a further indication of actual growth, the impact of this expected downturn will grow in Q4 and into the first half of 2009 and most likely into the next FY as well. The truth is this situation has exploded globally so fast that all of the actual data available right now is out of date before it is launched. There really is little value in knowing that the first half of this year saw the US online market grow by 15.2% up to $US11.5b, the UK market expand 21% to GBP 1.68bn and our own market increase 28% to almost $800m.

In Australia I think we can take some comfort in the fact that our percentage rate of growth is still relatively high, so any downturn will still see a double digit growth over the rest of this financial year. However this is little comfort to those of you who have invested your cost bases on projected revenue growth of over 20%.

A recent (Aug 08) Epsilon survey of 175 US Chief Marketing Officers of major corporations, some with >$US10b turnover, found – 59% of those surveyed stated they intended to decrease their traditional media spends, with 29% remaining the same and only 23% increasing their budgets. Whilst 63% of those surveyed stated they intended to increase their interactive/digital marketing budgets, with 23% remaining the same and only 14% decreasing their spend.

Now, the "qual". Randall Rothenberg, President & CEO of the US IAB calls it "the flight to accountability".

An article posted on 16th October this year titled "Digital Ad Spend Up At The Expense of Traditional" from the Centre for Media Research surveyed 175 US Corporation CMOs in August and had this to say

"...Senior marketing executives anticipate further cuts, says the study, but are confident that they will be able to manage their budgets by focusing spending where it will have the greatest impact. As the overall marketing pool diminishes, the budget for interactive and digital marketing is dramatically increasing, while that for traditional marketing continues to shrink toward interactive, digital marketing..."

Mike Iaccarino, CEO of Epsilon, who carried out the survey said "... marketing executives are seeking accountability and measurable results. Data driven marketing is an increasingly important component of corporate marketing campaigns... "

You can read the article in full at -

http://www.numantra.com/blog/nublog/2008/10/digital-ad-spend-up-at-the-expense-of-traditional.html

"Shoppers get educated online" headlines Nina Lees' recent article published in AdNews on 17th Oct 08.

"Consumers are using the internet to arm themselves with information about potential purchases before hitting the shops..." she starts.

She was reporting on a recent survey published by The Leading Edge titled "Assessing Drifts in shopper purchase behaviours" and she goes on to write that "shoppers are informing themselves not only on big ticket items, but increasingly use the internet to learn more about consumables, such as where to find the cheapest and best groceries or electrical items."

Clay McDaniel wrote in Online Media Daily on 22nd October about the 5 key questions marketers should be asking of their agency in these times.

One of those questions is "How can I get more for less?" He goes on to write -

"Consumers and companies are pinching pennies in a down economy, so you need to attract new customers more cost-effectively and retain existing ones with more urgency than ever. If you haven't asked your agency lately what they're doing to get more site traffic, boost your brand awareness, and encourage your customers to be brand advocates, now is the time to ask. If your agency partners aren't suggesting innovative new ideas to get more leverage out of less marketing spend -- especially online, often the most cost-effective channel for customer acquisition and retention overall - then they should be."
So what are the signs telling us?

The industry will contract.

The interactive industry will experience slower than forecast growth.

Marketers will look for safety – safety to many of them appears in the forms of measurability and accountability, and more cost effective marketing.

They will look for measurable results and return on investment that they can actually demonstrate to their CEO, COO and CFO.

They will look for value.

They will want justification and support for their marketing decisions.

They will want to reach their audiences in the most cost-effective way.

They will want to reach those audiences where they are researching the most about their purchases, as consumers look for the best deals to spend their hard earned and threatened incomes.

And this is where you come in. Whether you are a publisher, a buyer, a seller, or all of the above, the CMOs and media agencies in Australia are looking for reassurance, confidence and accountability. They need to feel confident when they are briefing their CEO, COO and CFO that they can justify their marketing decisions with specific supporting data as to why they made the choices and allocations they made, as well as feel confident they can deliver real data showing the return on their diminishing marketing investments.

In this industry, we can do all of that. Whether it's with case studies, previous campaigns the client/agency has implemented on your site(s)/network, relevant and recent data collected from the many sources available to us to demonstrate the accuracy and accountability of this medium, you, above all, have the tools to support marketing executives and media agencies through these difficult and challenging times.

Paul Fisher
Chief Executive Officer

IAB Australia

The March Continues

CEASA released Ad figures to June 2008 this week. Once again, online was the big winner (albeit with slower growth than recent periods have seen). See below from AdNews:


Ad revenue spikes

SYDNEY: Advertising revenue in main media spiked by 6.4% to $6.7 billion for the six months to June 2008, according to CEASA figures.

Stand-out growth came from inserted metro and national newspaper magazines which grew by 12.9%, Sunday papers (up 6.9%), subscription TV (20.2%), regional non-dailies (10.8%), regional radio (9.8%), online (28.7%) and outdoor (14.1%).

Printed classified directories were up by 7.9%, followed by regional dailies at 6.7%, radio at 5.7%, magazines 3.4%, cinema 3.4%, newspapers 2.9% and television at 2%.

Suburban newspapers was the only category to dip, sliding 1.3%.

A note on metrics

It's been a while since the last post - over a month - so it seems as good a time as any to post some interesting content (and also to prove I'm not dead yet).

In the August issue of Media (MediaPost) there was an article on metrics written by Yaakov Kimelfeld who happens to be the vice president, digital research and analytics director at MediaVest USA. (As the site requires signing up to view the articles, I've uploaded the document here). It's an interesting 3 page article about how reach and frequency should not be the gauge for online effectiveness. Yaakov goes on to say that most marketers and advertisers still tend to use their rearview mirrors when dealing with online, in that they are using metrics developed for print and TV in an environment that is totally different.

I can see the argument for and against Reach/Frequency. While they shouldn't be the sole measure for evaluation, they still play a role in determining whether or not an environment is suitable for a campaign. This is where it becomes hard for those trying to migrate over from 'traditional' media. When you have developed your career dealing almost solely with R&F, it can be hard to grasp the idea that there are other (often more important) ways of determining site suitability. When you add in the fact that different advertisers have different measures of success and different metrics, then you can understand why some people get flustered and give up on trying to learn.

There is a seemingly infinite amount of information we can obtain from online advertising, and unfortunately the simple method of R&F no longer applies. Unfortunately for those coming over from TV and Radio this means altering the way you think about media and from the outset you have to think about what the outcome of your campaign will be. You can then start looking at different avenues and comparing them in a way that will drive success for the campaign, and ultimately your client.

Reinventing the Music Chart

IBM and the BBC have teamed up to reinvent the music chart. As you may or may not know, CD singles sales are down and album sales are following them, which has lead some companies (such as ARIA in Australia) to start looking at iTunes and other download services to create a Digital Chart.

The Beeb has taken this one step further and trawls many major music websites to find out what people are really interested in. The service, called Sound Index

"Crawls some of the biggest music sites on the Internet - Bebo, MySpace, Last.FM, iTunes, Google and YouTube - to find out what people are writing about, listening to, watching, downloading and logging on to. It then counts and analyses this data to make an instant list of the most popular 1000 artists and tracks on the web. The more blog mentions, comments, plays, downloads and profile views an artist or track has, the higher up the Sound Index they are."

Essentially it starts off as a basic top 1000 artists or songs chart, which is interesting enough on its own, however they have taken it one step further and allowed users to create their own lists. So if you want to know what 20-30 year-old males are listening to, you can. If you want to know what is popular among 15-20 year-old girls who listen to Emo music via Myspace, you can.

This makes for a fantastic service in that you can chop the data pretty much any way you like, and it makes for a great research tool to find out what your audience are not only listening to, but interested in. It also makes for a great gift guide :p

QR Codes

Over the past four weeks or so you may have noticed an influx of Telstra advertisements pushing QR codes. So it seems Telstra have decided that QR codes are a big deal (well they must have to shell out for a 4 page cover wrap of the S magazine in the Sunday paper - tres expensive!).

So, for the uninitiated, you may be asking, what is all the fuss about? Or even what is a QR code?

QR stands for Quick Response. Developed in Japan, QR codes are a black and white graphic that when photographed by mobile automatically link you directly to web based further info. Neat huh!

QR codes are being touted as tags for the physical world. So think billboards, press and magazines. See something you like? Take a pic and next thing you know you are linked to a mobile site with functionality allowing anything from more info to direct purchase.

So could this be the next big thing? It certainly is in Asia. And from where I sit Telstra have deep pockets, so you've got to think that they have a/ researched this and b/ established we Aussies have an appetite for it. So I'm thinking there's a pretty good chance QR codes are here for the long term.

Thoughts?

For those wanting to get on board from a consumer perspective, you may have to wait. While new handsets will be geared to process QR codes, your current phone likely isn't. But note to self, next time you upgrade it may well be worth asking the question....

2 weeks on, a whopping 1 million iPhones sold

I knew it would be big, but not this big this fast. 1 million handsets have now been sold or are on order - that equates to almost 5% of the Australian population having one!

To that end, thought I'd open up a discussion on the broader impacts of this huge consumer reaction.

My 2 cents on what it will all mean.....
- Increased usage of the mobile web - this is a given and something we are aware of....BUT at what cost? What happens when you get your first bill and it's enormous? Are the Telco's doing enough to bring data charges down?
- Mobile phone company switching, can't get it through Optus? Go to Telstra
- Short term impact on consumption of other media - surely at least once you first have one in your hot little hands you will be spending a lot of time getting to know it
- Long term impact on media consumption - will there by any? If so where what would you sacrifice?
- More downloading and podcasting
- More music video viewing
- Increased use of other handsets/smartphones functionality?

Must run now but would appreciate hearing your thoughts.

Consumers are gearing up for the iPhone release - 2 days to go!

According to Search queries, with the iPhone release now two days out, price queries are on the rise. The following Google Trends map charts the phrase 'iphone price' over the past 30 days in Australia:



The attached link looks at Hitwises 2cents on this matter. According to their data, as the launch date approaches, price has become the focus, where previously apps and features were of greater interest:

Hitwise

So, just how fast does Broadband need to be to be fast enough?

Submissions received by the current Govt regarding regulatory issues to do with our National Broadband Network were released for public consumption last week.

See the attached link:

LINK

Personally I feel like I've been watching paint dry this is all taking so long!

So what does it all mean? Here's the ABC Digital reporters 2 cents, which if on the money I find a bit concerning!:

The value of high-speed networks

The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Stephen Conroy, this week released the submissions made to his department on National Broadband Network regulatory issues and, as Alan Kohler points out at Business Spectator, every submission calls for the proposed fibre to the node network (FTTN) to be built and owned by a specialist network provider and not an integrated telco. In other words, not Telstra, at least in its present form.

BTW: I do find it odd that Kohler seemed to be suggesting that no one really needs speeds of more than 12 megabits per second (Mbps). I know it’s not about speed, but it is about capacity. In the UK a recent report to government made the point that economic benefits would accrue as faster networks - of say 100 Mbps - would allow more people to work from home and allow businesses to be more distributed.

The report said that a nation wired for high-speed broadband would also benefit socially. Lifelong learning programmes would be easier to support, flexible working would be more viable and social exclusion could be diminished.

Meanwhile, Stilgherrian has been looking at the final report of Australia 2020 Summit, and concludes that Australia’s “best and brightest” and “clueless” about the internet.

iPhone update and news re the Blackberry Bold

I know you are all aware by now that the iPhone will be available here in a matter of weeks (I believe c. 11 July). And I have waxed lyrical about my lust for it in posts gone by.

However, now that it is almost here, wouldn't you know it, I've actually gone and lost interest in it.

Why? Well as it turns out, Blackberry are a client. More to the point, I personally worked on the strategic brief for their new device - the Blackberry Bold a couple of weeks ago. Which led to me researching the Smart-Phone market rather than relying on my consumer based opinion of it.

So, having done the research, the question remains.....is the iPhone actually deserving of all the (some generated by me) hype?

The answer is, it is and it isn't. The reason for me that is IS, is not the device itself, but what the impact is likely to be on the adoption of the mobile web in Australia. Which is predicted to be huge. The brands developed cool factor and reputation re ease of functionality will generate a mad scramble down to Apple. And once in hand, consumers will invest time and energy into getting the most out of all of the features.

Which leads me to why it isn't. Many of you are currently in possession of devices that ALREADY can compete to a degree with the iPhone but you simply haven't invested time and energy into getting the most out of all it's features.

Do you know how much memory your mobile has? How about whether you can buy additional memory and how much additional space it can take? How much music have you copied onto your phone? What about photos? Videos? How many megapixels is your camera? Is your phone 3G? If not, how smoothly can you run the web using GPS?

Look, I am biased now that I've developed emotional ties to the Bold. Also, I'm much more likely to be given a Blackberry upgrade at some point (whilst I'd actually have to buy the iPhone!). Plus I'm yet to be convinced of the iPhones 'for business' features.

Any way, what all this has led to for me personally (surprise) is a greater understanding of what I can already do on my existing 'kit'. All of a sudden, I have 150 tracks and 100 photos on my BBCurve. As a result, I no longer carry my iPod in my handbag, it's saved for at home use and longer travel. And I'm aware that once I've (fingers crossed) got the Bold it's only going to get better; better looking, faster web, more memory etc.

I guess that's a wrap. Apart from me admitting the truth. Even if I don't rush out and buy one, I have a feeling that despite all of the above, I'm still going to suffer from iPhone envy.....I'd just look so cool with one, don't you agree?

PS

I brought up this debate with some non Starcom, techy colleagues and they were all about some of the other smart-phones out there, which are excellent for both business and play. For example, check these out for a mean piece of kit:

HTC Touch Pro


Sony EXPERIA

WAP Site Execution Example

I've been trying to push one of my clients into thinking mobile - not necessarily from a banner, or texting, or even an adverting point of view, but really understanding the mobile can be a fantastic tool to further develop a relationship with their consumer.

Anywho, I came across this good ANZ demo:
http://anz.com.au/aus/Personal/Ways-To-Bank/Mobile-Phone-Banking.asp

Good interactive link to send to clients.

Digital radio is fast approaching, get ready for more change

Digital radio is the most significant advancement in radio broadcasting since FM was introduced, almost 30 years ago.

The platform will offer many similar advantages to digital TV. Such as:

• Improved sound quality
• More channels/programmes, deeper content
• Ability to pause and rewind live to air
• Ease of tuning (no need to remember frequency)

In addition, depending on the player, your radio will now come with concurrent text and data. So, for example, if you are listening to a tune and wondering who the artist is, simply look at the player and you'll be in the know, as this type of info will be scrolling (along with traffic updates, news and weather, what's coming up next etc). More upmarket players will offer images as well, and both text and image will offer new advantages to advertisers (call to action, location details etc).

You will need to buy a new digital radio for access. Once you've purchased, however, there are no subscription cost, the rest is gratis. Plug ins will also be available for your existing MP3 player if you are looking for a cheaper option.

Consumer tests have taken place and the results are strong. The key statistic being that post investing in a digital player, over 50% of people listen to more radio than they did prior.

So what to expect? From a consumer perspective there will be a heavy campaign pre Xmas aiming to push buyers into store to purchase new radio equipment. There will be heavy point of sale in store across the period as well. This will be followed by an industry 'launch' in early 2009 involving all stations in metro markets designed to create awareness and promote new services.

Back to work, and I'm guessing you'll feel it arrive before you hear it. Given an on air date of January 1, 2009, you can guarantee sales folk will be out sprucing towards the end of the year.

So start thinking about the applications for this technology now, it will be hear (here) before you know it!

Cool weight loss idea

I've been sick this week hence a lack of blogging updates. In the spirit of keeping the dream (blog) alive, here is a cool paste from springwise.com:

Anyone who's ever tried to lose weight or improve their fitness knows that it can sometimes be tough to get motivated. For those who need a little extra help getting going, a new service called WeightNags will nag customers mercilessly until they get off the couch and get some exercise.

WeightNags, which was just launched by Texas-based ConnectWorks Media, needs nothing more than a customer's email address to get started. In exchange, it will hound that customer once a week for free in the hopes of motivating him or her to exercise and lose some weight. Of course, we all know that emails can easily be ignored and deleted in the blink of an eye. Customers who don't trust themselves to take WeightNag's emails seriously can also request weekly nags by phone. All they need to provide is their phone number and first name; the cost is USD 4.95 per month.

Without a way to tell WeightNags when you do get some exercise in or have resisted every single calorie-laden temptation—and thereby win a respite from the nagging—it seems to us the effectiveness of the negative feedback could soon wear off. Nevertheless, it's an interesting concept that could be a nice micro-business opportunity for anyone with a Skype account and a talent for nagging. ;-) (Related: Sell what you say.)

Website: www.weightnags.com
Contact: tgraysonboyd@sbcglobal.net

From where I sit, there's got to be an awesome mobile concept...Jenny Craig, anyone?
Y

News from Nielsen re online measurement

Nielsen hosted their quarterly agency meeting this week. There are a number of new initiatives in play regarding online measurement in Australia. This is great news for the industry and is as a result of the enormous pressure the MFA have been putting on the IAB; and the IAB in turn putting on Nielsen. Nic Jones our very own MD Digital has been instrumental in pushing this matter to the forefront of industry agenda.

Top line, here is an update on all that was covered:

• Market Intelligence this week launched "Ad Networks" as a new category
• This function enables quick analysis of the various major networks individually and by category eg Auto
  
• NB of course you need the Publisher to subscribe to MI in order for their results to covered so there goes Yahoo!
• Interestingly, NNR are encouraging smaller sites to band together to create their own Networks to improve afford-ability/access, hence if you are working with a smaller player not covered feel free to encourage they get back in touch with NNR
• Online usage measurement
• NNR have recommended a couple of solutions to the measurement issue to address matters in response to the IAB blue print
  
• As per the blue print, the new system must overcome current issues; ie must be people based (not browser based), priority focus on domestic traffic - however visibility over International traffic, better weighting of activity at home and work, easy rollups of domain levels, high quality, statistically strong data - true reflection of population
• NNRs preferred solution is a hybrid between browser and panel, with a larger panel than currently in market
  
• The new platforms working title is 'Phoenix' and all going well will be available early 2009
• We need to put pressure on the likes of Yahoo7! to ensure all publishers are represented in the new system NOW
• The IAB have appointed Peter Danahar to audit the new measurement system
• There is much focus on the quality of the panel, particularly ensuring that the work panel is vastly improved (currently it is made up of 80% small biz)
• Online spend measurement
  
• Nielsen are currently working on a solution to incorporate online into Adex, this is also set to be in place by early 2009
• Industry panel working on this to ensure improved accuracy re spend estimates
  
• Adrelevance will continue to be developed and provide access to impression data and creative (however will exclude spend estimates, which have never been too accurate)
• Buzz Metrics
• Will be launched next week in Sydney, stay tuned for more info
  

Spend 16 minutes watching this

I picked up a link to a video of Clay Shirky presenting on cognitive surplus.

What is this you may ask? In a nutshell it's the amount of free time the modern world would have on their hands without TV.....

Clay is a deep thinker, this is 16 minutes of your life I strongly recommend you invest. Watch it here:

www.calacanis.com

iPhone impending arrival

Finally, a statement has been released confirming that Vodafone will in fact be carrying the iPhone, later this year.

There was no mention of whether they are indeed an 'exclusive' carrier.

My money is still on multiple providers, and fingers crossed we are only weeks away.

More here:

http://blogs.smh.com.au/gadgetsonthego/archives/2008/05/vodafone_to_release_aussie_iph.html?page=2#comments

Applying search technology to TV ads..the Google way

Imagine the TV advertisements you enjoy most automatically being played more often. Well Google are doing more than that. In their planned system, you'll pay more for the same ad space if the ad doesn't 'perform'. The attached link is worth a look:

http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=126849

The new music model is - well free!

Emerging artists have long been using the Internet to gain audience. I'm sure we've all heard the story of Lilly Allen, who launched herself by streaming live gigs on MySpace. One thing soon led to another and next thing you know young Lilly has a huge following and the Record Industry beating down her door. And this is just one of I'm sure many examples of success.

The poor old Music Industry has been hit hard by the digital evolution. What once was a viable commercial model is no more. The Industries primary source of income has traditionally been via physical purchase (albums, tapes, CDs). Sadly for them, they don't make money on much else - live shows are sewn up by the artists and promoters. The radio and TV industries have been accessing their content free for years. And now consumers are able to get at their content gratis as well. Time for emergency measures.

I don't know much about what these measures are and how the business will change in the coming years. Merchandise is still an opportunity, ring tones worked for a while, and I'm sure there are plenty of renegotiation's taking place in every other aspect of their artist relationships.

Any way, I have gone off on a tangent when what I really wanted to say is this.

Coldplay have released their latest single for free for all to download on their website (www.coldplay.com). So far 600,000 people have taken advantage of this - I mean 600,001 given I've just done so myself. What started out as a tool for the emerging has officially gone mainstream. Actually about as mainstream as you can get.

V. Important iPhone update

Just had a bite to eat with someone more in the know than self. Said person is proud owner of iPhone so definitely contender for my unrelenting iPhone envy. He was kind enough to share his views on all matters iPhone related (that I asked about anyway).

I'm not saying any of these facts will be news to you, but they were to me so just in case I am will share.

• Currently 7000 people on the Optus Network, in Australia have gone to the trouble of importing an iPhone, decoding it (having broken I don't know how many laws!). I imagine that extending this figure out across major Telc'os we'd be talking at minimum 20,000 devices in the country. And I thought I was an early adopter!
• It is definitely a matter of months until they go on sale in Australia
  
• After learning from o/s mistakes, Apple will be going to market here across multiple providers (woopee, I am an Optus customer and I am quietly confident I'll be aok)
• The current model does not support email (ie Blackberry). Not such good news, may have to be laggard and wait :(

The bigger story of course is the pressure delivery will put on the market to drop packet data costs. With any luck, as a result the mobile web is about to take off in a big way. And I think we've all agreed in the past that the opportunities available on this platform are going to be quite revolutionary. I am excited!

Apparent blogging slackness

Sorry! After the week out my workload has gotten the better of me. Hence part 2 from Spikes has been a long time coming. And to be honest the content is not as top of mind as it was.

But I will try.

Note to all. The quality of the Media entries was poor. A travesty that we didn't enter some of own quality work! There were no Gold Spikes awarded in the media category, only silver. In the digital category, 7 Silvers and 1 gold so a better showing.

Once again the Creative vs Media debate arose. Bored of it, so bored of it. 2 sessions were dominated by this agenda on day 3. Enough already!

Barry Cupples from Omnicon (I know a competitor) was the presenter of the day. His topic was content, a moving feast. An inspiring session on the content topic. One notion I thought of merit was briefing Hollywood Writers to come up with integrated branded content then funding the whole shebang via merchandising. Big picture but why not!

The final session I wanted to mention was titled 'An Inconvenient Truth'. The topic was sustainability. Whilst the intent was to encourage us to leverage this issue within client marketing efforts, there was another theme coming though. That being, if we don't do enough within our own office to accomplish change how can we champion this with our clients? Watch out Starcom, I may just make this a mission for us all. Anyone passionate enough to help?

Oh and more from from Gayle of Microsoft. Her 7 ways to Rock online;

- Keep it short but very sweet (the 3 min max)
- Pick topics that can work across multiple markets
- Get creative with funding
- Get creative with time sensitive targeting - time of day as well as appropriate length of content
- Know that good values is good business - give back, social relevance and causal marketing trends are huge - but no one is landing digitally so far
- Don't walk away too soon, you may be just around the corner from the tipping point
- Trust in the numbers

Spikes 08 learnings

Currently I am attending the Spikes Award and Conference, which Microsoft have sponsored and added digital specific sections to.

Thought I'd share some of the more interesting 'stuff'...

Stuff take 1

South Korea is currently building a completely new city from a connectivity / infrastructure perspective, ground up, it's name is New Songdo City. It will be interesting to see this come to life as Microsoft having won the tender are incorporating technology into every fibre of the city. So think the Jetsons and you will be on the right track.

What this means for advertising in Songdo is a true glimpse at the future. They will not permit any advertising that doesn't serve a purpose. Every advertisement will be governed to only appear in context and be interactive.

We were shown a new product in development called Microsoft Surface which will be part of every home. See if you can find a demo online, it's amazing. It looks like a table and is your portal to 'your world'. Walk in and put your phone on it and it will instantly sync. You can move data, photos, videos, music etc at the shake of your hand. Every element within the screen is interactive and easily available to move across every device.

Moving on from Songdo, stuff take 2.

A recent worldwide study into 14-24 y/o found that this demo on average have 53 friends. That's a lot of friends right?! When probed further their friends fall in average as follows:

- 6 close friends

- 27 friends but not considered close friends

- 20 friends whom have met online but never in person

My immediate reaction was sure, but this would be driven up by some Asian countries who are more wedded to the net than most. Apparently not. Whilst there are skews, Australia falls almost bang on average! The two countries with extremely high online only friends were China and Brazil with 40+.

Final stuff

The final item to share today is regarding branded entertainment. Gayle Troberman, the Global Microsoft CEO of this pillar was an outstanding presenter, full of passion and energy for her topic. They have accomplished some amazing work around the world, I was left with a determination to get something happening in this arena.

One example she shared was for a brand targeting mums. Their approach was to solicit real stories about kids from mums and make them into video segments. She called this user inspired content. The reason being they took the real stories and hired Hollywood actresses, and used high production facilities to shoot. The results? This online TV series called 'The Motherhood' has been streamed over 50 million times. Brand awareness, consideration and sales are all ahead of forecast.

A final thought was regarding the length of video content a consumer is likely to 'snack' on. They have found that the absolute max is 3 minutes. What is more interesting is that if you are able to pack compelling content into say 45 seconds you are in a position where the user is still on the edge of their seat....in this instance, a perfect time to populate the screen with eg search links to every possible direction relevant to the clip. In doing so, they are converting 10% through to search results.

It's now 9am and I've another full day of sessions ahead so will report more later.

Yvette

Innovative billboards for Google Video in Berlin

When Google launched their German version of Google Video they decided to do a bit of advertising for the product. Google don't usually advertise much as they have tremendous word-of-mouth and brand recall. However this didn't stop them from using a very innovative (in my mind) billboard campaign.

The billboards were mostly clear, with a little strip on the top and bottom of the frame to make it look like watching a video in Google Video. In the search term box were some words describing the scene passersby would see through it.

Check our the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um-WL7FRANM

The most influential writing on media, technology and the internet

I just came across this list of the most influential Media Writing of 2007....Written by John Bracken leveraging his wide professional Network it will certainly give you some food for thought.

Following is the key paragraph followed by a link to the full article.

When I asked this question last year, the two most cited works were Yochai Benkler’s The Wealth of Networks and Jack Goldsmith’s and Tim Wu’s Who Controls the Internet. This year, three pieces particularly stood out in people’s minds: The Wealth of Networks, once again; Wu, again, this time for his Wireless Carterphone paper, and Benkler’s Berkman Center colleague David Weinberger for Everything is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder.



http://bracken.wordpress.com/2007/12/20/the-most-influential-media-writing-of-2007/

Morgan and Nielsen go head to head

The battle is heating up between the major research players in Aussie media research re online consumption.


2 weeks ago we saw the release of research from Nielsen claiming that we Australians spend more time on the web than watching TV (see post dated 19th March).


Roy Morgan have now gone out refuting this claim (http://www.roymorgan.com/news/internet-releases/2008/734/). Their single source research reports that whilst consumers spend 21.8 hours watching TV weekly, they spend just 9.5 hours on the internet.

I'm not taking sides, but 21.8 hours in front of the box is truly sad! Get a life people.

Our friendly search guru Rob Marston stirred the pot and asked Nielsen for their comments on the matter and got this back:

It is a good laugh – industry posturing and generally poor form on their part. Basically Roy Morgan’s point about methodology was incorrect & Ad-News should have checked it first – the results we put forward are based on internet and telephone interviews. We believe they missed the point that we are approaching a sea change in where peoples attention is. It is the first sign that status quo maybe changing. Ours was just the one data set that suggests this – and it is consistent with international trends we have been seeing. We also didn’t say TV was dead – that was Neil Shoebridge…

Comments anyone?!

More Google shenanigans on April 1...

In addition to the previous post with Google's breakthrough gDay search, a quick trip to google.com.au gives you a link to Become a Virgle Pioneer. Apparently Google and Virgin (Richard Branson's company) are teaming up to get 100,000 people in an inhabitable colony on Mars within 100 years.

It has some sense of authority, but given its April 1, and the people involved, it has to be a prank. You can also fill out a questionnaire to see if you will be eligible, a possible answer to the question: "How would you describe your physical fittness" is 'Great. I'm totally buff.'

April Fool's - Google Way

Search tomorrow's web today... In true Google fashion..another great innovative technology solution.

The following stunt was released to the unsuspecting public today (lifted directly from our friends at Google):

About gDay™ technology

The core technology that powers gDay™ is MATE™ (Machine Automated Temporal Extrapolation).

Using MATE’s™ machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques developed in Google’s Sydney offices, we can construct elements of the future.

Google spiders crawl publicly available web information and our index of historic, cached web content. Using a mashup of numerous factors such as recurrence plots, fuzzy measure analysis, online betting odds and the weather forecast from the iGoogle weather gadget, we can create a sophisticated model of what the internet will look like 24 hours from now.

We can use this technique to predict almost anything on the web – tomorrow’s share price movements, sports results or news events. Plus, using language regression analysis, Google can even predict the actual wording of blogs and newspaper columns, 24 hours before they’re written!

To rank these future pages in order of relevance, gDay™ uses a statistical extrapolation of a page’s future PageRank, called SageRank.

gDay™ and MATE™ were developed in Google’s Sydney R&D centre.
Looks like this isn't the first time Google has pulled a stunt like this. See attached link from Techcrunch:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/03/31/gmail-april-fools-not-very-funny-on-the-upside-they-started-a-wikipedia-war/

I'm feeling ex-stream-ly happy with this site

This morning MCM Entertainment held the PR launch for their new music video site movideo.com.

The concept is pretty simple. Advertiser funded free content on the web. Nothing new there!

Having said that, this site has got enormous legs from where I sit. MCM have tapped into their strong music company relationships and that combined with their market leading technology has resulted in a unique offering. The best quality free streamed music video available on the internet. Oooooh big call. Apparently this is the case though. Let me know if you disagree.

Their music is catalogued in a number of ways. You can for example select 'break up songs' and wail along to your hearts content. 1 x 15 second commercial runs directly after track one, and after every three songs thereafter. A pretty fair exchange from a consumers perspective I'd imagine.

At this point the music is pre-organised. You can select artist, mood, genre etc but you can't build your own play lists. However, they are working on incorporating this functionality so the site is by no means set and forget. And they are planning to develop it quickly. In fact, this little Australian business reckon this one may just get them on the global stage.

For this mornings launch they had 2 flat screen TVs and a quality sound system hooked up to a laptop. Both the audio and visual were outstanding. Of course they were running it off the offices pretty fast broadband system. Then again, Kevin 07s working on broadband speed for us so I guess we'll all be enjoying super fast connections some time soon!

New Sony TVC for digital products

This post isn't strictly 'digital' but its about one of our clients, so I figure I can post it.

Sony have had some really great TVC's for their digital products: They've rolled thousands of balls down a street in San Francisco, Blasted Paint all over a disused building in the UK and the most recent features colourful play-doh bunnies.

The newest ad will be called Foam City. They had Yvette's favourite new toy whilst filming - Twitter, but this is no longer being updated as it is now in post-production. Slam X Hype have a couple items and a few teaser pictures here and some behind-the-scenes shots here.

God of War inaugural activity

We have a few online 'media first' placements/creative running today for the launch of God of War on PSP.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/ (click on the leaderboard at the top - this is a user-initiated homepage take-over never done on Foxsports before)

http://au.ign.com/ (wait for Kratos to appear and click on 'view the trailer' - this is video-wall which had never been done on IGN Australia)

http://au.gamespot.com/ (this is a Toggle video-wall which again had never been done on Gamespot Australia)

Yvette posting on behalf of Sandrine :)

Interesting work from our friends at MV NYC!

Now this is thinking outside of the box....at least the one that sits in front of you at home/work!

http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=125937

IAB Media finalists.....

MEDIA FINALISTS just announced. We are through with Subaru but busy greedily wishing we'd had more in the final round!

Category: Automotive
Publicis Media - Honda CR-V; Honda
MEC:interaction - Lancer Supershort Series; Mitsubishi Motors
Starcom MediaVest - Impreza MY08; Subaru
MindShare Interaction - Ford Mondeo; Ford Motor Company of Australia

Category: Consumer Goods
OMD – V-Raw; V Energy Drink
MindShare Interaction - iinet Naked DSL launch; iinet
MindShare Interaction - Easy Mac; Kraft
OMD - Selleys BBQ Wipes; Selleys

Category: Financial Services
Initiative – RaboPlus; Rabobank Australia
MindShare Interaction - First Home Buyers Guide; ING Direct
Neo@Ogilvy - American Express; Neo@Ogilvy

Category: Travel, Entertainment and Leisure
Publicis Media - The Simpsons; 20th Century Fox
CNET Networks Australia - CNET Networks Asia Pacific Grand Slam Mobile Gaming Tournament; CNET Networks Australia
OMD - Shangri-La Business Travellers
Carat - Traveltainment; Tourism Australia

Category: Fusion
New Dialogue - Kevin07; Australian Labor Party
pureprofile/naked - Mount Franklin Well of Positivity; Coca-Cola Amatil

Category: Search
dgmAustralia - Dell Search; Dell
24/7 Real Media - CareerOne Search; CareerOne
Publicis Media - Domestic Hotels; Qantas Holidays
iProspect – Network Ten Search Engine Optimisation; Network Ten

Twitter Tweet Tweet?

Whilst I've been aware of Twitter for some time, the tweets seem to be getting much louder right now. Yes, I've been to 3 days worth of conferences in 3 weeks, it's true, so it is digital community specific. Having said that, from experience, what begins to gain traction from the digital evangelists (on this scale) tends to soon take off from a broader consumer perspective .

So, I've begun to Twitter myself. I'm all for self application as a means to learn and grow.

My problem is this.....I've got no-one to twitter with! This seems to be at odds with what I'm hearing is happening o/s. One of the Podcast experts I saw present recently said he used Twitter as his primary marketing tool. I logged on to the Ad Age digital site yesterday to find a summary of their latest conference. Apparently, much of the audience 'tweeted' throughout it. They even voted on the best 'tweeter'.

Starcom Australia, the time is here. Please join James and I and get on board! Even if it's just as means of experience at this point...:)

BTW, I go by the very creative Twitter name of.....yvettemayer.

ps if you are wondering what the hell twitter is: Think of the 'is' on facebook and explode it to a social networking community with a sole purpose of ISING all day - keeping their 'friends' up to date on their movements. Enjoy!

My digital Easter

This post I'm afraid is very self indulgent, but hang in there with me, it was a tough weekend.

For the entire 4 day Easter break, I had the most severe case of viral tonsillitis I've ever experienced. Actually before the weekend I didn't even know there was a difference between viral and bacterial tonsillitis. Lesson learned, with viral tonsillitis, antibiotics don't cut the mustard. You simply have to wait it out....and count down the hours until you can next take paracetamol.

Anyway, I got through it and joy oh joy I am much better today, just in the nick of time to be back at work relatively healthy!

So given I was in bed all weekend, I wondered what I would be able to share with you today of interest. But then I thought back to what I did with my time on the weekend. It dawned on me that I managed to kill the time in a variety of ways that didn't even exist say 10 years ago.

So here goes:

- Realised the situtation was getting worse whilst heading South for a weekend away. Looked up Nowra hospital on the mobile and used Google Maps on mobile to direct us there.
- Updated my status on Facebook every day to inform/remind all of my friends just how sick I was (via my mobile and blackberry, mood dependant). Which resulted in maximum sympathy vs minimum effort :)
- Finished watching the Bachelor 7 series on Foxtel IQ. Then searched the web to find out how the couple are doing now (they broke up, actually after two years, seems the series 7 just shown in Australia is over 2 years old). And I thought they were forever :(
- Quickly visited Charlie O'Connels fansite to see if he is still single. Do you think he would like an Australian girlfriend?!
- Watched 'Stranger Than Fiction' on Foxtel 'On Demand'. Fell in love again with the song the lead plays guitar/sings to his love interest. Logged into i-tunes and bought it. FYI, It is the Dogs, I'd go the Whole Wide World. Seriously lovely tune.
- Whilst a passenger in the car (too sick to drive) google searched 'viral tonsillitis treatment' just to make sure the silly Dr was right re no antibiotics....she was. Also discovered this condition can take several weeks to clear....and had a melt down!
- Got off my backside (and even out of my house) to the DVD store to hire 'As it is in Heaven'. I've been meaning to watch this for a long time (you guessed it, word of mouth at its best). I loved it so much that my eyes welled (both with joy and sadness). At the end I wanted to rewind to find the beautiful song in it for Gabriella. Instead, I searched online, found it on youtube and saved it as a favorite for continued viewing pleasure! (You Tube was perfect as the track is not in English and this version carries the subtitles). I also searched the lyrics separately just in case I get around to buying the CD (the track wasn't available on i-tunes, I did try)
- Didn't get to the hospital to see my new baby nephew due to germs. But did get to see him anyway as my brother took a picture just after he was born and emailed it to me....
- Also received a very beautiful photo uploaded (via mobile Facebook) of the window view of Whistler from the Condo where one of my best mates is staying. Pffft!

I'm not sure I've captured it all. To be fair I also read a couple of books, I'm not so young hip and groovy I've entirely relinquished contact with the non digital world!

Looking back, the question begs........just how will I spend my VERY down time in another 10 years? I guess only time will tell.

Cheers
Female, Gen X

Australian Online Consumption overtakes TV

The day has dawned, according to Nielsen, online consumption is now higher than TV (based on hours per week - 13.7 on the net, 13.3 on TV).

So how will this impact marketers?

Well, from a SMV digital team perspective we haven't experienced much beating down the doors to spend up big online thus far. Yes spends are growing faster than any other media, however, we are a long way from competing with TV for the lion share of the $.

We are aware that the power of TV isn't going to go away. We don't doubt that there is no faster way to build brand awareness than an enormous FTA campaign.....Online is simply too fragmented to be able to build as quickly.

But the tide is changing. It's no longer enough to simply get a TVC out there. Consumers have wised up to the power online provides in terms of brand and product knowledge. What we need to work harder to achieve is providing communications that seamlessly provide a brand experience throughout the customer journey. And that means offline, online and everywhere in between.

So, from where we sit, sure, go spend up big on TV. But NEVER at the expense of online as a channel. The days of digital being considered niche are well and truly over. Do both if you must, but start with digital, don't end with it.

There's been much banter on here of late around the big idea. Believe the hype! A big idea should be able to be brought to life at every consumer touch point. Whether it's on TV, at the storefront, on the phone, on the web - even within a companies culture.

So, what we believe this means for Marketeers is a challenge to old conventions. Challenge yourselves, your superiors and your agencies to think much bigger. Then make sure you are prepared to LIVE IT.

Google Creative Lab

I was fortunate enough to have breakfast this morning with the head of Googles 'Creative Lab' - Andy Brendt. It was a smallish affair with about 20 people at the table. Andy, is extremely credentialed and was last Co President of O&M New York, having risen through the ranks as a creative guru.

Interestingly, the attendees were primarily agency heads, rather than those with specifically digital backgrounds. And the discussions were not about Search, or even Google. At all.

Instead, the old debate of Creative vs Media, Mainstream vs Digital, and mostly separation vs integration rose its ugly head. It seems this is still an enormously topical subject in the States and Andy wanted to see if we suffer from this in Australia as well. Short answer. Yes.

What we could all agree on was that it doesn't matter who does what, as long as we work together to create brilliance for our clients and their brands.

Andy is fervently in favour of a one shop solution. I'm less inclined to think that it's a one size fits all arena. I believe we need our clients to lead the integration charge. And it has to start from inside out. If they are silo'd within their marketing teams, you can bet that's how they are briefing us (which often happens with digital).

From where I sit the bigger issue is Australian digital resource and ability. If we continue at the current pace, we could be 5 years away from groundbreaking fully integrated work. Why? 1/ We are expereincing a skills shortage and 2/ Right now, we are still governed by traditionalists at the top end of spectrum (particularly at the client end).

So how do we create an environment where we at SMV can move at a much faster pace than the market? First step I believe is more education. For our leaders, for our clients, and even our creative partners. We must be vigilant and I'm afraid, we need to start yesterday. So it's a good thing in some instances we did.

The Big Brand idea

There has been a shift in marketing. It is no longer about pushing the message to people than it is to create enough engagement to make them seek out for it. The role of communication is to make this happen. But communication is not all, what we need is a BIG BRAND IDEA!

What is the big brand idea?
- It is an idea that is big enough to drive a brand's behaviour across all channel
- It is media agnostic (please, no more schizophrenic brands!)
- It is proprietary and unique

What are the keys to a big brand idea?
- Shut up & Listen! A big brand idea cannot be created in isolation to the consumers
- It has to start at the top, to be embraced by the CEO and applied at each level of the company
- Everyone in the company is a marketer and everyone is accountable for delivering the brand promise
- Do has you say!

Media is becoming more and more complex/fragmented (however the person being the computer is also the one who watches TV!), as media agencies we need to ensure that we deliver a unique and consistent message across all communication platforms.
- Start finding the unique role your brand plays in customers lives
- Don't let new media become the 'shiny' object (in brief, don't do it for the sake of it!)
- Be rigorous and relentless in driving the idea into every single thing you do
- try zagging when everybody else is zigging
- 'inertise' before advertise (i.e efficiently communicate your value within your company before advertise to customers)

The empowered consumer

A shift has occurred in the past decade with consumers becoming 'users' and ads becoming 'content'.

The rise of the Gen C is happening alongside the changes in devices (i.e web, mobile, iQ box, etc.). Initially called the 'click & go' generation, the Gen C is more than a demo. C can indeed stand for any and all of the following:
- community
- connected
- creative
- content
- celebrity

Their home is MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr
Their device is a mobile phone - it the trustworthy device of the Gen C (interestingly a survey showed that people were happy to lend their car, their home, even their husband to their best friend but 70% of them wouldn't lend their mobile phone)
Their communication revolves around Social networking sites, messenger, SMS (not emails, emails are for the older generations)
Their network accounts around 110 individuals with a core group of 10-15 (e.g Facebook network, chances are you have 200 'friends' but only correspond with 10 or 15 of them)

The change of devices incurred a change of behaviour. The users attention is shifting:
- 84% of respondants to a Nielsen survey (Aus/NZ) use some form of web 2.0
- 83% consume user generated content
- 77% comment or create UGC
- 78% download audio or video
- and more importantly, they trust unknown peers more than experts

So is technology the cause for empowering users? (i.e HD recorders, sling box, Torrent, Joost, Hulu, YouTube, Mobile tv, etc.)
Or is this community?
Well, a bit of both really...

With communities has also emerged 'user filtered content ' - if a content is good/strong enough, user will pass it on... It is also interesting to note that not all social-networking sites serve the same purpose. There a social-networking map (which I couldn't draw here) but basically it contains the below:
- identity (in the centre)
- sharing (e.g Flickr, YouTube)
- presence (e.g MySpace)
- conversation (e.g Messenger)
- groups (e.g Facebook)
- reputation (e.g MySpace)
- relationships (e.g Facebook)

Consumer, target audience, customer, client, person, human!

Well after two days at Ad:Tech the message was surprisingly clear (and obvious!). The heart of everything we do as marketers must be about adding value to the consumer, if we are to connect them to our brands.

Having re-read the Introduction, there is no mention of a consumer oriented theme. I attended sessions on a multitude of topics; from podcasting, to mobile, integration, brands, innovation, dialogue and more. In every session human behavior floated to the top.

So I've set myself a challenge....and I'll throw it out to you as well. What could help you through your day on your mobile device? Is it GPS? News updates? Jokes? Discounts/vouchers? And further, can one of your clients legitimately offer this service?

Nike has done a brilliant job with NikePlus if you need a little food for thought...a brilliant insight around adding value to runners lives.

I do think sometimes in the daily grind, we are so busy pushing out messages we forget what the consumer truly values. And not just the consumer. Ask yourself, what does your client really want? What gets him/her out of bed each day. What about your boss? I believe, if you can approach your day with this in mind, you just might start having more influence than you thought possible.

EU Approves Google-DoubleClick merger

Last night the European Union gave its final approval for Google and DoubleClick to merge. All calls from privacy advocates were rejected, along with complaints from Microsoft that the merger would lead to anti-competitive behaviour.

Full article available here from Ad Age.

While there are no immediate implications regarding product offerings from either company, there has been mumerings about whether or not Google will now accept third-party served display ads or even the possibility of free adserving.

Should be an interesting space to watch.

Ad Tech

Well, us Sydney folk are off to the second annual AdTech for the next couple of days. There is a full on line up - link here.

http://www.ad-tech.com/sydney/adtech_sydney_schedule.asp

In the meantime, all you Starcommers outside of Sydney, feel free to get busy blogging! I'm sure we'll have plenty to share on our return.

From the Guardian in the UK, the 50 most influential blogs

Interesting reading, I'm just not quite sure how our blog didn't make the list ;)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/mar/09/blogs?gusrc=rss&feed=media

Mobile @ Media08

The last two presentations on the day were mobile related. I got a lot out of Nokias presentation in particular.

There were three areas I will mention for you to think about:

- The newer phones now have the functionality allowing you to plug your mobile directly into your TV.....so, want to go online at home and don't have a connection? - too easy. Why not download the latest Video clip for viewing on the big screen?
- Motion Detection - think Nintendo Wii - your phone becomes your eg tennis racket
-Context is the biggie, the ability to market based on your location is going to have an enormous impact, the opportunities are endless

Re the last point, I got lost driving to a rented holiday house on the weekend. I took the opportunity to download Google maps on to my mobile. Suffice to say I got there pretty quickly after that!

Which got me thinking. The days of one PRIMARY device for everything are not far away at all. I'm sure the early adopters out there are streets ahead of me but I'm already envisaging a future where my mobile device is pretty much my only device. And it all starts when I get an iPhone . (not that again Yvette!)

The wrap on Media08 – March 7, 08

The line up was interesting, and for the most part inspiring. Having said that, the agenda was built to cover a broad spectrum of attendees, so was of course a mixed bag. Fairfax had in attendance the senior staff from their print teams along with their clients and advertising partners.

What came out loud and clearest was that I MUST GET an iPhone. Let me tell you, even those who are sooooo immersed in the digital space that they are invited to speak on the matter are obsessed. No less than three speakers swore their undying love to the device when on stage! I feel so hardly done by right now. Pffft.

Moving on, there were a few recurring themes across the day.

1/ Importance of innovation
2/ Compelling content
3/ Engagement
4/ Web 3.0 / the semantic web
5/ Rise of mobile
6/ UGC, citizen journalism
7/ Apps/gadgets/widgets…syndication, data not pages

In review, much of what is on your mind should be on your mind.

Rather than try to sum up each speaker, coming out of the conference, here’s a list of to do’s (for me and you).

-Check out these websites; Netlog, Vuze, Twine, Netflix, Damaka
Make sure you understand what the semantic web is and means (read previous post re Web 3.0)
-Visit Nike Chain, in fact take part! I think there could be a team oppo here
-Download Google maps on your phone
-Subscribe to the blog – ReadWriteWeb
-View awesome creative www.oneclub.org (like Nike Chain)
-Watch Kate Modern on Bebo, Quarterlife on MySpace
-Ask yourself how you can turn consumers into brand evangelists….or think about citizen journalism as the peoples advertising agency…work it!
-Get an iPhone ;)

Live from Media08, so more Monday - Yvette

The power of Web behaviour as research

There is a story on Australian television viewing, linked to web behaviour on the hitwise blog today:

http://weblogs.hitwise.com/sandra-hanchard/2008/03/underbelly_vs_so_you_think_you.html

My first point in relation to this is that I am so predictable! I have personally searched for both So You Think You Can Dance AND Underbelly online over the past couple of weeks (as a consumer not marketer). First up, I was watching "Dance" live evictions and hadn't caught all of the previous nights performances....so went looking for them. Then last night, I finally got around to watching a bit of Underbelly. At which point I decided I should start from the beginning, so went digging for downloads. However, I gave up when I realised it was going to take 24 hours to download one ep! (perhaps I can get these old episodes elsewhere? anyone?!)

Enough of my predictable TV viewing habits.

More importantly, after reading this Hitwise piece, I wanted to highlight the enormous power available to us as Marketers to glean insights from web behavior. From a Starcom perspective, this Publicis/Google deal could offer us more power than most. Just imagine the possibilities of working with the data Google have access to. Volume, scope, scale, speed etc. It seems predictability may well be our friend.

So, here's to us being able to do more than imagine!

Publicis / Google deal

I am looking forward to some inside info re this one!!!

http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/18497.asp

Web 3.0?

Now there's a heading! As you are no doubt aware, there is still no one definition regarding web 2.0, but let's not get hung up on that......Web 3.0 is here!

Whatever it is, there is a new Real Estate site in Australia which was apparently developed based on the principles of 3.0. I've been in and even listed my house (OK unit) as I wanted to get a handle on the sites functionality. From where I sit it does a good job of organising content so that it's difficult to separate the corporate from the UGC. Maps, photos, blogs etc are all integrated of course. It is absolutely a networking community ahead of a commercial site. But it seems to be aiming to achieve both. Not a great deal of content is up yet though so it could be some time until the experience comes to life.

Check it out:

http://www.lovethatplace.com.au/index.php

On another note, it got me thinking that my mates who launched http://www.iambored.com.au/ are on to something. Maybe this site is 3.0 as well?

Opportunity for shameless self promotion (well Starcom promotion any way)

TELL US WHY YOUR COMPANY IS A GREAT PLACE TO WORK.
Here is your chance to tell the world why your company is a great place to work. Simply shoot a 3 min video with your colleagues telling us why your office is a great and fun place to work. There are no rules and no limitations it all up to you. The entrants will be uploaded onto the IAB Australia Channel on YouTube and will be shown on the awards night in May.

Simply send your video to iabawards@gmail.com or send a CD/USB (see file specs below) to:Melanie SilvaGoogle AustraliaLevel 18, 201 Sussex StreetSydney NSW 2000Send in your entries no later than 15 April and send any questions to iabawards@gmail.comWhat video file formats can you upload?YouTube accepts a wide range of video file formats such as .WMV, .AVI, .MOV and .MPG. We've found that files converted from .wmv to one of the other formats our webpage accepts generally have a lower playback quality than other file formats. If you have your source video in a format other than a .wmv file, you may want to encode directly to MPEG4 (DivX, Xvid, SVQ3) at 640x480 resolution, with 64k Mono MP3 Audio. If you have a source .wmv in high bitrate and larger resolution you may want to convert to MPEG4 at full resolution and then resizing to 320x240 using a high quality resizing algorithm - this can help reduce the number of artifacts you end up with.

So team, let's get on board. Please reply with your ideas.

Raging debate re online measurement

The debate over online measurement continues with the IAB meeting on the matter last week. The good news is that Publishers look set to invest up to $10m to improve the current system. It's a shame there still doesn't seem to be a firm course of action....... I rather appreciate Dominic Elfers POV that a combination of both Panel and Tagging would be best. Looks like this could be the general consensus....

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23307002-26077,00.html

PS3 in game advertising

News from our client Sony Computer Entertainment....


http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=125318

TubeMogul.com

Hey all you digital media planners who want to give your client some added value with seeding content, have I got the tool for you....

I came across this yesterday - not sure if this is 'yesterday's news', but I thought it was pretty cool. TubeMogul is a video distribution site that lets you post to multiple UGC video sites in one stop. There's also a reporting function where you can follow your views with in a dashboard.

Does anyone have any experience with this one?

Microsoft Pitches New Ad Measurement Approach

Microsoft's advertising arm is becoming increasingly active as the company looks to get the most out of the internet.

Recently Microsoft has tried to differentiate its advertising by offering a new form of ad measurement to help track multichannel campaigns.

As it moves to better compete with Google in online advertising, Microsoft is aiming to increase its appeal to marketers with a new way of tracking Web ad campaigns' performance and return on investment (ROI).

The company's new "Engagement ROI" measurement -- which is being baked into its Atlas Media Console campaign management tool -- seeks to promote a change in thinking about how ads affect consumers' buying decisions.

The conventional take has been that consumers' buying decisions are impacted only by the most recent ad they clicked on -- the so-called "last ad clicked" view.

"Our engagement mapping approach conveys how each ad exposure -- whether display, rich media or search, seen multiple times on multiple sites across many channels -- influenced the eventual purchase."

Engagement as a metric is starting to be pushed pretty hard lately, but there is still no one concrete definition/measurement standard for it. For a lot of companies 'engagement' is simply a buzz word for 'time-spent' while for others it is 'time-spent interacting' which applies more to flash based activities. It will be interesting to see how Microsoft (via aQuantive) can turn this into an ROI figure.


Read the full article here

Free Mars Bars

Check this out, I'm a little envious of the ingenuity to be honest, talk about a seamless online to offline experience....and for one of our clients no less! What will WE think of next.

http://www.springwise.com/marketing_advertising/real_mars_bars_for_virtual_fri/

Social Networking vs Social Destination

Yesterday, the MySpace crew hosted a presentation at the Vibe Hotel in Goulburn St, Sydney. The key speakers were Rebekah Horne and Andrew Cordwell. Rebekah had just stepped off a plane (from LA) so the proceedings were a tad unrehearsed....but that wasn't a huge problem for me. The real issue was a lack of compelling content. You be the judge.

As you weren't there here's the top line

1.
New UK research released by Myspace reveals social networks are now so integral to daily life, for some, they have surpassed TV as the entertainment media of choice. Nearly half of 18-24 year olds claim that if they had 15 mins to spare they would spend it on social networks rather than TV, reading, talking on the phone or playing games

2.
The UK report also identified 6 key personalities ranging from business to social users and beyond;
-Netrepreneurs - income earners
-Connecters - love to spread viral
- Transumers - grazers
- Collaborators - use it for people power, to create events, ideas and activities
- Scene Breakers - early adopters / trend setters
- Essentialist's - stay in touch with friends and family

There was no mention of the weight of each of these segments, just some indicators eg Essentials are the vast majority.

3.
What's Next?
- Explosion of MySpace as a video hub, MySpace TV is now second only to YouTube, in fact their Silverchair concert achieved over 2.1m streams in one month. This is in line with a strong Zone one TV programme so I believe does show potential.
- Continuation of the 'secret' series' (Music), Black Curtain (movies), Black Games (games). Great opportunities here for brands to facilitate unique experiences from online through to offline.
- More personalisation, apparently this will enable users to operate in different spheres. This was code talk as it's apparently top secret. My guess is perhaps different user interfaces for the same user depending who they are connecting with?
- Custom Communities - Check out V Raw, it just won campaign of the year at the AdNews awards. http://www.myspace.com/vraw
- This weekend will see a huge Mardis Gras online and offline event - MySpace will actually be broadcasting on screens at the event. Actually if you attend watch out for this I'd like to know more.
- Hypertagging. This is pretty cool it seems everyone's into it! MySpace is beta testing new technology using tagging.....ie every word on a users profile will be tagged to form 'buckets' for advertisers to exploit. Eg Got a new DVD release? Target user users with DVD in their profile...
- MySpace believe their user base is at a tipping point and will grow exponentially as consumers embrace the mobile web. Obviously they are investing heavily into this area. As expected so far it's much more about 'snacking' than the internet in terms of behaviour though.

So, that was about it....as for the tipping point, I'm not convinced.

I did store one tidbit for future use. On an introduction slide the title read 'Social Networking vs Social Destination'. I think this is a great way to express the difference between MySpace and Facebook. So my 2 hours wasn't a total waste, witness me weave that lingo into future presentations :)