As we know, once the initial rounds of advertising takes place, the content then goes out into the ether. Up until recently, these adverts were lost in the great expanse of the internet. Yet as long as the number of views and impressions were in line with what was expected, not too many people have been worried about these finer details.

However, inevitably the money men are going to want some clarity on where advertising spend is going. Results are all well and good, but in an era of Sarbanes Oxley, transparency has never been more important for big corporates. Yet what they will find may well alarm them more than not knowing at all.

In just over the year that we have been running commercially in the UK, we have found around three to four per cent of adverts we monitor are appearing on client-defined inappropriate sites, like peer-to-peer sites offering illegal content. When you extrapolate that figure with the number of adverts that are served monthly, then you are looking at hundreds of millions of adverts appearing on sites that offer zero value.

Worse still, we have documented millions of adverts appearing on sites which support criminality. Up until recently advertisers could legitimately say this was a consequence of the system and there was little they could do to prevent this from occurring. That is now no longer the case with ABC certifying a number of products which offer content verification, helping to stop adverts appearing on inappropriate sites.

With these solutions in place, the vast void of online advertising has had a light shone upon it, highlighting how often these adverts appear in the dark recesses of the internet, and pinpointing where campaigns are failing to deliver value for money. With a greater ability to track and analyse advertising campaigns, practices and methods will need to change to reflect a more scientific and accurate approach. By doing so, it will lead to a safer industry, more confident brands willing to part with online advertising funds, and prevent brands tacitly supporting criminality.

Location-based mobile advertising, and its typical application of geo-fencing, is one of today’s hottest mobile marketing’s topics. However, the true power of location is often misunderstood. When it comes to driving ROI through mobile advertising, location often doesn’t matter – at least not in the way you think it does. Instead of simply geo-fencing a static location, the more effective use of mobile location technology considers historical location data and the consumer behavior it reveals.

Smart marketers are implementing “location for lifestyle” targeting strategies as opposed to zeroing in on “location right now tactics.” Sending an ad to a consumer based on their current location often isn’t as powerful as sending mobile ads based on the user’s lifestyle and behavior that analysis of historical location data reveals. In fact, our research has shown that there is no correlation between distance-to-store and mobile ad clicks for retailer brands.

Also, consider that most consumers have their day planned out. They may be walking past a retail location and receive an ad, but they are unlikely to stop what they are doing and immediately head into the retailer to make a purchase – especially if the deal isn’t relevant to them.

Studies show that 80 percent of purchases are planned. Therefore, marketers should deliver ads to consumers about relevant topics beforehand to influence purchasing decisions. By analyzing historical location data, marketers can tell more about a consumer’s lifestyle choices and preferences – fast food junkies, shoe-shopping addict, loyal WalMart customer, etc. – and send them ads based on those preferences.

This reinforces the notion that simple geo-fencing is not an optimal targeting practice on its own. Instead, it is critical to target users based on what location tells us about their behavior. Especially for national brands that have many well-known locations in a metro area, consumers’ historical shopping patterns, demographics and lifestyle will have a greater impact on driving store visit rates (SVRs) and ultimately purchases, than the fact that they are one mile from a retail outlet.

Critics of location-based technology are quick to blame the data, claiming it to be unreliable or inaccurate. While the industry still largely struggles with the quality of location data, the lack of a relationship between a mobile user’s real-time distance to a store and CTRs cannot be explained by “bad location data.” Location data is of varying quality, but even the best location data doesn’t prove valuable in this situation.

Marketers should keep in mind that targeting power comes from understanding what location reveals about the user, not just the location point itself. It is who, not where, that more strongly impacts CTRs and SVRs. The power of mobile location data lies in extracting context and meaning from historical location patterns to interpret meaningful insights about users; not the fleeting, real-time moment that a consumer enters a geo-fence.

With the release of Firefox 22, Mozilla joins Apple’s Safari browser in blocking third-party cookies. This will likely impact 40% of unique browsers (actual, not downloads), and advertisers and agencies will see significant measurement distortions (except those solely using click metrics) and data management impact. (Note because measurement is census-based, the distortion will be exponentially larger than 40%.)

First order of the day is to take an inventory of the near-term impacts to the eco-system. Typically advertisers use 8-12 different technologies to plan, decision, deliver and manage digital advertising. The eco-system has historically bounced data from partner to partner via tags, broadcast synch or stitched it together. ALL THESE WILL BE IMPACTED: attribution, analytics, data management, available cookie pooling, ad measurement, site conversion measurement, etc. etc. In tests just on the Apple browsers, we’ve seen this distortion create significant impacts and distortions up to seven times, so we will expect to see this rise rapidly after Firefox 22 goes into wide release.

With the increased volatility in the measurement framework, we will also see the collateral power shift to sell-side groups with well-architected data models. These include the usual suspects—Google, Yahoo!, Facebook—. These companies are being joined by eBay and Amazon. As these companies also enjoy a direct consumer relationship, they are well-insulated from the volatility that besets others in the market such as third-party networks, publishers using third-party networks as an inventory model, retargeters (though one could argue that Criteo is better-placed than most as it relies on click model) and data pools that use third party tags that do not have a direct client relationship. Expect to see the balance of power shift to the majors.

What is less clear will be how the DMP folks will fare as, on the one hand, they are organizing data in a first-party model to support programmatic buying, while on the other hand, they need to effect good linkage currently. Companies such as Blue Kai could be very well placed as they also have strong data and publisher links while more standalone DMPs may struggle.

Clearly the uber-players are seeing big potential gains.  Weakness in the third-party middle of the market may drive better quality inventory to them as they develop significant data on-boarding frameworks. Of course, the sting in the tail here could be that privacy concerns are escalated. Last year Senator Markey et al. in Washington and others in the market pushed hard for change in different data practices and fair and adequate notice, choice, consent and derivative works.

The uber-publishers also need to be sensitive to the fact the advertiser and agencies need to able to measure the efficacy of their investments and also have the tools and technologies to determine where to invest in media. This may be antithetical to the model of “We know what’s best” but advertisers and agencies have significant concerns that, with the two largest ad delivery technologies owned by the majors, there will be a dumbing down or restriction on things like data exports, etc.

As the Barclay’s Renaissance of Ad Technology report (published just before the Firefox announcement) showed, there is still a need for better validation of spend as the industry investment still lags significantly behind the volume of eyeballs consuming content. Measurement and targeting are key staples of driving effective media investments and there is need to ensure that there is adequate availability of these on the buy-side as well as the sell-side. Judging by the volume of new business calls our team is getting for our first-party model, this is understood in the market. I’m actually excited by the change as it will force the market to innovate with renewed energy as a disruption in the eco-system creates opportunity to get creative. We may be able to eliminate much of the non-working media costs in the model, which currently is probably the biggest limiting factor in the equation. When 63% of the cost of media is not on media, then there is a problem.

Evolution or revolution is being forced on the market. The power shift has created better visibility into who is buy-side and who is sell-side – the LUMAscape can be re-drawn with more clarity – you are buyer or a seller or you help the buyer or the seller, ambiguity resolved. Simplifying and redrawing the eco-system will maximize efficiency of spend and improve ROI across the board. Display marketing will be stronger and serve all parties better, once the growing pains have been overcome.

What other media channel can compare with this?

Consumers are rapidly adopting mobile devices and behaviors and spending an average of 2 hours per day on smartphone devices. We are rarely separated from them, and we check our phones every 6.5 minutes (or 150 times daily). 

MOBILE advertising grew by 88% in 2012

While MOBILE ad/media spending is only 1% of total media (vs. 10% share of consumer media time), MOBILE advertising grew by 88% in 2012 (from $2.4B to $4.5B). MOBILE ad spending growth to-date has been limited by marketers/agencies challenges in creating MOBILE ads designed specifically to take advantage of MOBILE devices. Chia Chen, SVP Mobile Practice Leader at Digitas indicated their client's mobile ad spending grew by 400% (4X more rapidly) because their ads for Amex, Taco Bell, M&Ms and other clients treated smart phones as "small TVs" and incorporated richer media, and more native creative palettes.

Global Tablet Advertising Study - Results Presented

Beth Doyle, Innovation Director at Vivaki, revealed the results of a 14-month global industry study of 20 million global tablet users (sponsored by 12 advertisers including P&G and Coke and 12 media companies) titled The Pool: The Tablet Lane - TABLETS RISING. This study tested 35-40 tablet advertising formats and yielded 3 STD Tablet ad formats being proven as meeting consumers' needs: (1) let me drive; (2) more for me; (3) "tablet-ize" the user experience; (4) no guessing games - keep it intuitive and simple. Clearly, with MOBILE (smartphone and tablet) ad standards emerging, marketers are well on their way to utilizing this new medium in unique ways not available through other previous media channels.

MOBILE's Big Differentiators

MOBILE is a one-to-one media channel and LOCATION is MOBILE's big differentiator. These devices give consumers the ability to find anything they need in real-time and for marketers (with opt-in permission) to find their best customers and prospects when they are in active shopping/buying mode. 40% of consumers already utilize MOBILE devices as their primary (exclusive) online research channel and 60% of mobile shopping converts to purchase (with 75% of sales take place in-store).

Todd Morris, EVP of Mobile & Marketing at Catalina indicated mobile-assisted grocery shoppers buy 8%+ more and over 1M+ consumers are already spending over $1B+ in mobile grocery shopping where items are scanned, store discounts/coupons are applied, and orders are delivered or picked up without waiting in checkout lines.

Trish Mueller, CMO at Home Depot indicated mCommerce grew 129% in 2012 and sales from MOBILE are projected to exceed $650M by 2016. Home Depot has developed a MOBILE web and apps which make it one of the top 10 retail sites creating "an endless aisle" where consumers can access 400,000 SKUs as well as product information and peer reviews at the point of purchase. One of the most innovative apps is "Find A Pro" where consumers can take a video of a problem, send it to Home Depot, and they will connect consumers with "Pros" who can bid the job.

Winston Wang, Global Director - Strategic Innovation at AB Bev, demonstrated "beer and MOBILE go hand-in-hand" indicating beer is the original social network and MOBILE is helping Sales & Marketing along the entire purchase funnel as well as in the loyalty/advocacy areas after purchase. Winston shared MOBILE apps for Stella Artois (9 step pouring ritual, LeBar finder), Beck's and Bud Light.

Announcement: A New MMA Initiative To Address The Mobile Talent Gap

MMA-NA has launched a NEW Mobile Talent Task Force (Jeff Gundersen - Co-Chair) and the first open Committee meeting was held at the MMA-NY 2013 Forum. All parties (marketers, agencies, media companies, technology providers, educators, training & development companies, and other interested parties) are invited to reach out to Jeff Gundersen for a copy of the "Strategic Framework" and related mobile talent research studies pertaining to this new Committee.

If you were to go back in time and interview any leading advertising guru, it is likely he or she would never believe that advertising through a phone could work, let alone increase business for clients.  Yet here we sit in 2013 with mobile advertising dollars surpassing $9.6 billion per year.

In addition, one of the world’s largest companies Facebook, has recently declared mobile ads are a more viable channel than television ads.

Are the days of million dollar Super Bowl commercials, and celebrity pitches out the door?  Far from it.  But the truth is that mobile ads and specifically mobile branded apps, are becoming a go-to advertising and marketing tactic for some of the largest companies in the world, as well as small businesses.  From increased interactions, in-depth demographic data and deeper understanding of customer habits, there are many reasons why mobile ads and apps are a powerful new tool for marketing departments:

Mobile Devices Are Where the Customers Are

One of the most effective reasons to embrace mobile advertising is the ability to reach a rapidly expanding audience through a direct channel.  Advertisers interested in mobile ads, can tailor their ads specifically for the device type, operating system and even the specific update version.

Whereas, television ads were never truly optimized for HD television rather than standard definition, mobile ads have a customizable element.  Data regarding device type and OS of choice can give additional insight to who a brand is targeting.  With that information in hand, marketing departments can direct advertisements with increased precision and accuracy.

Last year, Priceline.com was in the news for personalizing offerings for Mac users.  Data about visitors to Priceline.com detailed how Mac users pulled in higher average salaries than Windows users.  In response to that data, Priceline offered more costly and expensive deals to Mac users.  The same can occur throughout mobile advertising, given that there are certainly demographic differences according to mobile device type.

Branded Apps Spur Customer Interactions

Starbucks has been a high profile adopter of mobile apps and mobile ads.  They have recently adapted one of their most popular offerings, free download cards for iTunes apps, into a mobile app as well.  Offers can only be obtained with a downloaded Starbucks mobile app while in-store.  The idea is to increase in-store visits and increase interaction with the Starbucks app, both of which contribute to business growth.

Branded apps are an effective means to spur physical visits to locations while simultaneously providing a touch point for customers to interact with a brand on the go.  An app created for consumers by an enterprise is a long term living advertisement which not only reaches customers, but gathers data about how customers interact with your brand and competitors.

Data produced by a mobile app is incredibly valuable for marketing to understand demographics and customer habits.  A single ad placed on recurring schedule for a TV show can only reach a viewer so many times for so long, and advertisers do not have exact statistics on how long each viewer sees it.  On the other hand, an app’s back-end can gather interaction data that can help you better understand the relationship your brand has with customers.

From Banner Ads to Branded Mobile Games

In addition to offer based apps from brands, there are increasing amounts of branded games that reward users with deals.  For example, Skittles has a branded app game that rewards a user for reaching certain levels or achieving high scores.  Ideally the user will receive discounts or free items and remain directly connected to the brand, and the brand will be connected to the customer.

Data regarding the way a user interacts with the app can show in depth details about how users shop, communicate on social media and respond to your outreach through the app.  When comparing this new model for advertising through mobile and the old method of banner ads and pop-ups, the main factor is that mobile ads produce valuable demographic data while older methods offer nothing like that.

Banner ads and pop-ups were essentially nuisances for users trying to access a website, and provided very little information regarding how the users interact with the ad. Specifically with mobile apps, the content is directly integrated with the advertising pitch.

Extended Reach and Long Term Interactions

Essentially, mobile apps and mobile ads provide direct access and interaction with customers in a way that traditional advertisements feasibly could not.  Advertisements, traditionally, stop functioning after the brief period of exposure witnessed by prospects and customers.  Mobile apps and mobile ads embedded in apps, allow for continuous interaction with a brand as well as the stockpiling of pertinent marketing data.

Not only are mobile ads and in-app marketing tactics being embraced as traditional advertising alternatives, the new tactic produces reciprocal value thanks to the data that is collected.  Marketers can now conduct real-time marketing analysis by monitoring the usage data of branded apps and interactions with mobile ads embedded in apps.  As mobile continues to dominant the computing and media consumption landscape, the channel will soon mature as a necessary bottom line outreach strategy for marketing departments across the globe.

In today’s world of constantly connected consumers with ever shortening attention spans, online advertising’s mantra “Right time, right place, right person” is more resonant than ever.  The ability to reach those consumers who are most likely to purchase your product or service at the time and in the context to which they will be most receptive is the magic formula for turning browsers into buyers, and video advertising has proven itself as one of the most powerful tools for not just reaching, but engaging those consumers.

Even more than display advertising, online video offers marketers a wealth of options for delivering their message creatively, whether the content is funny, touching, powerful or straightforward. Some marketers have begun the transition from television to digital by repurposing their 15- and 30-second TV spots. This is a promising start, but only a hint of what online video can do to capture consumer attention. It’s time to take it to the next level, creating and repurposing video that’s relevant to the user throughout the decisioning cycle.

As in all forms of online advertising, relevance is key when it comes to getting people to not just view your video content, but actually click through and buy. However, there are a few different levels of relevance that marketers can consider.

Real-Time Relevance: reflects the events happening at that exact time in the consumer’s offline world. Oreo’s highly successful “You can still dunk in the dark” Tweet during the 2013 Super Bowl blackout is a great example of this; it was both clever and resonant because it reflected what we as a consumer culture were experiencing in the world at that exact moment.  It was heavily re-Tweeted and was a great way of underscoring Oreo’s fun brand reputation and highlighting their cultural awareness.

This kind of relevance does rely heavily on social media simply because it is the most “in the moment” of the digital channels, but the principles apply across the board. Combining real-time relevance with the visual impact and interactivity of online video advertising is extremely powerful when it comes to strengthening brand awareness and loyalty.

Personal Relevance: Knowing the consumer and what she wants is another key to keeping messages relevant. Once a marketer understands who the audience segment is via demographics, behavioral data or other sources, it’s possible to choose which video appears with which call to action, and/or which product should be featured in the ad. This is the real power of online video and one of the many reasons why simply repurposing TV spots fails to maximize the digital channel. There is so much more information online that can be leveraged to deliver truly relevant video content that results in more immediate engagement.

Contextual Relevance: A third level of relevance zeroes in on where the consumer is in the offline world and what he is doing while engaging with media. Whether he is watching television, shopping online, researching stats at work or using the navigation on his iPhone to find a business location, he is in a particular state of mind. These different states of mind are indicative of various levels of receptiveness to advertising, and that information can be leveraged to tailor the video’s message and call to action - or to determine whether it should be shown to that consumer at all. To illustrate, the guy using his navigation app may want to know where he can get a cup of coffee, but probably won’t engage with a video ad. In contrast, the shopper is probably very open to brand messaging. The marketer can use data to determine the consumer’s state of mind and drive cross-screen engagement.

Each level of relevance must be present in order to deliver the most ROI, but tying them together at scale and making that useful requires in depth data analysis.  Success in digital video advertising is about making nuanced messaging relevant for millions of consumers, so marketers must take a data-driven approach to understanding their consumers and targeting them with the most appropriate content.

In the early days of online video advertising, placements were based largely on page context, but we’re now seeing an evolution in relevance, from targeted media to targeted creative. We believe that this real-time relevance will be the new driving force behind the growth of online video. What this means is not only targeting video ads to consumers based on their demonstrated interests and where they are in the digital universe, but also creating a wealth of video content that can be tailored specifically to each consumer in real time. This can be achieved by personalizing the messaging that is layered on top of the video content, or personalizing the creative itself. This means that instead of 95 percent of online video content being repurposed TV spots, we will see a shift to the larger majority of online video being specifically created for the channel.

This is where we envision the world of online advertising heading in the not-too-distant future. With the combination of creative, data and technology, always relevant video advertising can be a reality that benefits both advertisers and consumers.  In the weeks ahead, we’ll dive deeper into these three themes on relevance to drive a better understanding of how they work in concert to make video advertising more effective.

Twitter’s new capability is a well needed platform move and is similar to Google’s ability to target in “real-time” whoever searches for “buy shoes.” One could argue that searches have clearly better intent than tweets. For example, “Justin Bieber’s new song is awesome!” (and getting served an ad for his album). Keyword targeting doesn’t provide any timing advantage on any other platform, without understanding the sentiment and context of the entire tweet.

Twitter is right, timing means nothing if you are unable to react to things that happen right now. The big opportunity for advertisers is how to engage users in moments that matter to them. Advertising is about being in the right place and in the right time, yet finding the right users who have explicitly expressed interest isn’t scalable, it requires an intelligent approach to finding new users who also may be interested but haven’t expressed it via tweets. Exactly like Google search advertising or of Facebook interest targeting.

For example, an airline wants to sell tickets for a flight to London, they already know that they should buy “Flights to London” on Google search and now you can also buy the same term on Twitter. But the real challenge is how to find even more people who care about London. But, let’s just say, that all of a sudden there is news regarding Princess Kate’s pregnancy, people who talk about that might have great affinity to England and might be interested in a ticket to London in the future. Advertising to them is a key benefit. However, the news may be in the headlines for a few hours only. Timing is about being agile enough to monetize this moment, making sure you are buying the keywords around Princess Kate, and no one said they are even talking about London.

My previous example is simple if you’re in the performance space, and have specific goods to sell. The challenge is even greater if you’re a packaged goods company or running a branding campaign. What would Coca Cola buy on Google search or Twitter’s keywords? “Coke”? How is this beneficial to them? What would GE, Unilever, P&G will buy? They are all about being there for their audience in the right place and in the right time to create a connection between the brand and what their audience cares for.

Twitter’s keywords targeting is a great feature on Twitter’s platform, but it doesn’t solve the big problem of making your timing works.

But what many buyers tend to forget is that even basic targeting in mobile, using the kind of contextual information you can easily acquire from the most standard of mobile traffic, is still far better than the PC equivalent.

Let's take a quick look at the most basic of them all: device type (OS) and connection type (e.g., mobile vs. Wi-Fi). Knowing what kind of mobile device a user possesses and where they are using it (on the go vs. at home/work) is far more valuable than identifying what kind of PC or browser someone is using, and who provides their Internet service. I don't know about you, but I don't identify myself as by my ISP. iPhone user? Yes. Constantly on the go? Yes. Comcast customer? Not so much.

More importantly, advertisers are finding that simple additions to these first two criteria, such as time of day, day of week, or a carefully chosen frequency-capping regime, provides even deeper improvement of CTR performance.

Called intelligent prioritization, it can mean the difference between good results and great:

And that's just the click-through rate. In the Q1 State of Mobile Advertising report that our parent company, Opera Mediaworks, released this week, they found that conversion rate performance is similarly affected by intelligent prioritization from basic-level targeting.

For example, in this mobile ad campaign for a financial services company, Android was recognized as the top performer among all of the OS options. They then found that within that group, honing in on those accessing data from Wi-Fi (vs. any carrier) yielded different results based on the Android version they had. Version 2.2 and 2.3 were clear leaders, while Versions 3.1 and 3.2 surprisingly underperformed. Adjusting the campaign based on those insights dramatically enhanced overall campaign performance.

But a browser company that owns 30 percent of the browser market has a greater responsibility to the industry they operate in than to just the user. Mozilla is ignoring a huge portion of these parties. I really believe that the company feels that they are working on behalf of their users, but I also don’t think Mozilla realizes all of the touch points that they are operating within. The user is the main party they interface with, but the Firefox browser interfaces with the web, and there are a number of parties involved beyond just the User. Let’s take a look at those parties.

Meet the surfer: The surfer, or “the user,” as many like to call this constituent, is the innocent person who traverses the web, day in and day out, reading this and purchasing that, watching that video and looking at this friend’s latest pictures or update. The surfer is the consumer of content and experiences offered by the internet, and the best part is that the majority of content online is free. Sure, there are some pieces so good that they’re worth paying for, but the majority of online content and activity is free of charge.

Meet the publisher: The publisher produces content and information for surfers and users to consume. In some cases they do this for free, or what would appear to be free, and in other cases there may be a payment collected in the form of a subscription. In all cases, there is value created by those who publish, produce, and distribute content online.

Meet the advertiser: Thank goodness for the advertisers, for without them, there would be no one to pay for all this great stuff online. Advertisers are typically companies that are looking to connect surfers with their brands, inspire them to buy their products or services, or consume their information.  Many advertisers also produce sites or catalogs of all sorts of things that surfers want. Think of Amazon or J. Crew, where a surfer can browse thousands of items and see what others have bought or looked at.

All three of these parties enable the online experience to develop, mature, grow, and produce wonderful experiences.  You cannot remove one of them and continue to grow and evolve in the same way. It’s just not possible.

Hurting Multiple Parties to “Protect” One
Unfortunately, that’s what Mozilla is attempting. By blocking third party cookies in the Firefox browser, the company is essentially eliminating the appeal of online advertising. Without cookies, it’s impossible to track ad placements and measure the reach of ads to a relevant audience – advertisers would be better off investing in print or direct mail, as those channels would offer better audience control. If the advertiser goes away, this strips a publisher of the ability to make money and recover costs of maintaining its site, thereby affecting the publisher’s ability to deliver free content.
The damage to two parties is supposedly all in the name of protecting the surfer, but the situation is comparable to a three-legged stool were two legs are being removed. In the larger context of how the internet operates, it just doesn’t make sense.

Mozilla recently published a post where an executive evaluated his daily ritual of surfing, both with the blocking and without. Of course, this demonstrated a drastic reduction in the number of cookies from third parties that were set on his computer. In the eyes of the surfer, this may seem preferable, as no company can track their movement online[A1] .

But this point is made without proper context, ignoring the fact that surfers rely on cookies to maintain their internet experience. A surfer visits his favorite publisher – maybe themorningnews.com -- to check out the day’s weather and what is happening locally. Without cookies, the surfer sees the same ad with every impression, on every page, in every size possible. Unfortunately for that surfer, it’s an annoying, irrelevant ad. And they see it over and over, all day, on their favorite site. Why? Because this publisher is not big enough to maintain an in-house sales force, and relies on third parties to generate ad revenue. Mozilla has removed this publisher’s ability to use these third parties to maximize revenue.

The Affects on advertising
Let’s turn back to the advertiser for a minute. Frequency capping is a mechanism that ensures users aren’t bombarded with the same ad on every page. High-frequency ads annoy users, and advertisers don’t like sending repeat ads either, as it’s a waste of impressions. Killing frequency capping makes an advertiser’s buys less effective (or, even more concerning, annoying to their customers), which makes them angry, and that ineffectiveness (and anger) eliminates the publisher’s means of monetizing content. Content which, keep in mind, is free to the surfer because advertisers pay for it.

Blocking third party cookies not only eliminates the ability to buy reach or frequency, but it kills attribution for conversions or sales as well, making it impossible for advertisers to measure whether or not ads are effective and how much they should pay the publishers and partners who drove the sales.

Advertisers have invested in services and technology to buy measurable, efficient and effective advertising. These strategies are not limited to targeting users based on behaviors or preferences, but also include the simple act of putting an ad in front of a user at the right time, or in the right context. If publishers can’t help, and technology has no real use, then advertisers have no incentive to buy online media.

This change will effect large publishers very little, as they will maintain their understanding of their visitors and remain in a good position to target that base. Small and medium sized publishers that rely heavily on third parties will not fare so well, and neither will their partners. Networks, exchanges, and other technology companies that provide value to the publisher will be most affected at first, but the effects will ripple throughout the internet economy. Advertisers will soon lose efficiency with their advertising, publishers will lose significant revenue, and surfers will be left with the bill at the end of the evening.

Considering that chain of events, it’s difficult to understand how Mozilla feels this decision even helps the user. Industry self-regulation efforts has made it easy for consumers to educate themselves on how their data is used and opt out of first- or third-party cookies. Mozilla was formerly in favor of this self-regulation effort, but now seems to have reversed its stance. Rather than empower users to make their own decisions around cookies, Mozilla is saying that browsers should dictate cookie policy on users’ behalf.

Cookies and third parties are not the enemy. They are not something to be scared of and block. Companies have made tremendous progress in using them more responsibly, and they are vital to the continued expansion and prosperity of the internet. Cookies are the current standard distinguishing one user from another, for everything from website personalization to making sure that advertising is more effective for all parties. Including the user. The user is important, and we should ensure they are educated and can easily make choices on this topic, but by no means are they the only player in this game. Without publishers and advertisers, there would be no online environment for the surfer to consume.

We also found that stations are increasingly using online video to reach their audiences online. Today between 58%-70% of local TV station’s budgets (depending on market size) are allocated to online video advertising and fully 85% plan to use online video ads to support their tune-in efforts in 2013.

Local TV stations understand that “today’s audiences are not only online, but are increasingly spending a large portion of their online time watching video. TV broadcasters are uniquely positioned to take advantage of this shift and reach viewers with online video advertising. TV marketers already have engaging video content, daily topicals, social media strategies, promotions, co-op programs, and skilled creative resources at their disposal.” This makes online video a no brainer to extend the reach and frequency of their on-air promos.

Travis Brower, Manager of Promotion & Production at PHL17 says it best, “Including online video advertising in a station’s promotional mix is no longer an option, it’s a requirement.”

What are the best ways for stations to create engaging and effective online video ad campaigns that drive viewership?

The basics:

1. Use your existing on-air spots.
2. Lead with daily topicals to drive immediate spikes in viewership.
3. Ride the coat-tails of popular prime time shows by using a split-start frame where the left side of the display ad features a popular network show and the right side features a topical for the 11pm news. Or split the video spot itself between two shows.
4. Personalize the ad by local call letters and logos to drive engagement rates up to 27% higher and view rates up to 30% higher.
5. Entice viewers to watch by clearly showing that the ad is a video. Include a still image of the video framed in a player (including control buttons).

A more advanced collection of best practices can be found here: TUNED IN: 2013 Tune-In Advertising Market Research.

It wasn’t about story-boarding or scripting, it was about asking questions, getting answers, and weaving content together to produce an interesting and useful story. The benefits of combining the approaches of traditional journalism and brand storytelling seemed obvious. It’s something we’ve called “brand journalism” since day one, and it’s picking up speed as the new-media world continues to evolve, along with consumers’ habits.

Businesses are using social media, web video, and digital publishing to speak directly to consumers. It’s a way for brands, big and small, to use the approach of professional journalists to create, curate and share expert content in the form of blogs, articles and video. Brand journalism is obviously not as impartial as journalism, but it’s a way for a brand to engage an audience with relevant and interesting material. The content must be factual, and keep “relevance to the viewer” top of mind.

Marketing strategist David Meerman Scott, author of The New Rules of Marketing & PR, says “brand journalism is winning over direct marketing and PR attention-getting techniques.

“I'm convinced that those with the traditional skills of marketing, public relations, and copywriting are not the right people to create brand journalism content. Instead you need the skills of a journalist.”

Brand journalism is about facts and balance. It’s about telling an engaging story, and the goal is to educate rather than blatantly market. This way, readers or viewers are informed, and they become engaged with your business and it’s mission.

Home Depot is one major brand that has been creating expert content and useful do-it-yourself advice for a while, and it’s reaping the benefits. The content, whether it’s in the form of blog posts or web video, generally doesn’t try to sell anything directly. Instead, it keeps the focus on education.

Cisco is another example. On its blog, most of the articles and videos don’t mention the company at all. Its plan is to create a conversation and to position itself as a leader in the industry it represents. The company’s digital lead, Karen Snell, has said: “The goal was to generate engaging content to spark a conversation ... If we can make people understand what Cisco is doing, then we’ve been successful.”

Boeing is often mentioned as a successful adopter of brand journalism. “When brand journalists think of what’s interesting to their audiences and create engaging content, they generate stories that can really take off,” writes communications director Todd Blecher. “This story is about testing the brakes on our new 747. It involves speeding an airplane down a runway, hitting the brakes just before takeoff. It ends with the brakes on fire, which is eye catching, to say the least.

“We’ve had millions of views, and our key messages about safety and durability reached more people through our website, YouTube channel, and Facebook than we would’ve ever reached with a traditional news release.”

There are huge benefits to providing content that educates and informs, and it’s easy to measure the return on investment. How many hits did it get? Was it shared? Did it spark conversation? As the public and businesses become increasingly “social,” brand journalism can make communicating with consumers more interesting, while setting a company apart from outdated "push" marketing approaches.

Businesses that do it properly can create a huge competitive advantage, while increasing their credibility and relevancy in the marketplace.

Lisa Ostrikoff is a TV Journalist & Anchor turned creator of BizBOXTV -- a Canadian Online Video Production/Advertising + Social Media Marketing Agency. You can find her on Twitter and Facebook.

This can present a bit of a double-edge sword: while native ads reportedly deliver higher engagement rates than many other types of ads, consumers may view them as deceptive since they look so much like publisher content. A recent study by MediaBrix showed that many consumers find sponsored video that appears to be content particularly misleading. Additionally, participants in the study also revealed that they often feel mislead by native content on social networks. So how can brands take advantage of the high engagement opportunity offered by native advertising on social networks without losing consumer trust? It’s a challenging question, but here are some best practices to follow:

1. Be honest. Whether you’re sponsoring a podcast or the lead story on a news site, make sure it’s clear that your content is advertorial. The word “advertisement,” “promoted” or “sponsored” should appear in a prominent space somewhere near your content. If you’re honest and upfront about your relationship to the content, there’s no reason for anyone to lose faith in you or the publisher.
2. Be relevant. This is true of all advertising, of course, but even more important when it comes to native. Because native advertising looks like site content, it should also feel like site content in terms of subject matter and tone. Therefore, know your publisher, and more importantly, know your audience. Leverage real-time social data to understand what your target audience likes, what their interests are, and what they find entertaining. Then consider the environment in which you’ll be sharing your message. For example, Oreo’s Pride cookie did exceptionally well on Twitter and Facebook, but it may not have fared so well on other sites, just like a slick video for a new Mercedes might not resonate on the Cheezburger network. It boils down to knowing what types of content peak your audience’s interest, as well as understanding their anticipated experience on a particular site.
3. Offer value. Value should naturally follow relevance. Assuming an ad is in the right place and reaching the right audience, it should also deliver some value to the audience, which will in turn, bring ROI to the advertiser. For example, John Grisham’s recent release “The Racketeer” had a very successful launch on Facebook. Marketers at Random House publishing reached out to Facebook users through native Sponsored Story and Page Post Ad placements, letting them know the author had a new book available. Because those targeted by the ad were current Grisham fans, or users interested in thriller novels, the response was overwhelming! (Full disclosure: Random House is a Compass Labs customer.)
4. Learn from the best. Keep your eye on brands that do native right – Oreo on Facebook and Twitter, Campbell’s Soup on AllRecipes.com, Virgin Mobile on Buzzfeed, Geico pretty much anywhere – there are loads of great examples. Look at how they’re targeting their messages to the audience within the context of the site, and how they’re engaging that audience. Take note of what they’re doing and how they’re doing it. Follow their lead – and these four best practices – and you’re sure to find success in native advertising.

Despite the ubiquity of these devices, marketers continue to struggle to effectively monetize the mobile channel. It’s time to step back, look at what makes mobile different and come up with some fresh thinking.

Mobile devices aren’t little desktops. They’re not even little laptops. Too much of the advertising taking place on these devices is rooted in what worked on the traditional Web. Banners on mobile browsers are for the birds. Tiny fonts and big fingers are a terrible combination. How many times have you inadvertently clicked an ad while simply trying to scroll or stretch or pinch a page? It’s great for click through rates, even if unintentionally.

Creativity takes the cake. When we see something novel we notice; it’s human nature. Marketers get this and they’re increasingly trying new ways to grab our attention in the mobile world. In-app advertising is a first step but a lot of it simply relies on what are essentially still banners. But some brands are doing interesting things with apps themselves – either as stand-alone programs or as part of a broader campaign.

One device, many use cases. The fact that we can talk about banner ads in the mobile browser, in-app ads and app-based campaigns speaks to the variety of use cases that exist on mobile. Within seconds a user can take a photo, customize it using Instagram, share it on Facebook and move on to browse the Web. In virtually every use case there is an opportunity for brands to engage.

A universal view of me and of you. One of the challenges with the various use cases described above is recognizing that the same user is performing them all. It may seem elementary but marketers have no way to bridge between the mobile Web and apps when it comes to recognizing their audience. The result is wasted impressions, the inability to do frequency capping and a less than optimal user experience.

Performance is paramount. Marketing on mobile devices is still marketing, and a big part of marketing is managing hundreds of billions of impressions on hundreds of millions of devices in tiny slivers of a second. While speed is critical, longevity is important too as it means customers can be confidently reached for an extended period of time.

Privacy, privacy, privacy. Marketers have played fast and loose with customer data, skirting best practices and turning a deaf ear to consumers’ requests for greater privacy protection. Mobile offers a fresh start – based on the concept of privacy-by-design – for the industry to give consumers the protection they want while still providing marketers with the data they need to create relevant and respectful relationships.

Mobile is exciting. It’s promising, fun, personal, immediate, intimate and it’s everywhere. Now is the time for marketers to create engaging connections with their customers that are just as exciting and promising and personal and fun as the devices they run on. It’s time for marketers to look at their audiences, the ecosystem and the available technology to deliver relevant content for engaging consumer experiences.

If you have a website or use a search engine on a regular basis, it’s likely that you've heard of SEO or PPC. These two common acronyms are mentioned and preached every day. However, does everyone really know what they mean, or how they work? If you don’t, you’re not alone.

Let’s answer any lingering questions, settle myths, and clear the air of this SEO madness! I've compiled the most common myths, most important facts, and the most exciting secrets in this post! I know what you’re thinking, “Whew! it’s about time!”

So let’s start from the top…

Define:
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – An algorithm designed to impact visibility of web content (pages) through organic search results. Commonly used as a free alternative to PPC (pay per click) advertising.

Facts:

• Organic search results is a natural method for locating a webpage. This process will match search terms with relevant content on competing webpages. The stepbrother of organic search results is “non-organic”, or paying per click. “Paying per click” are ads that allow a company to blindly bid on highly competitive key search terms.

• New content is the maintenance that will keep your page ranked. The most effective way is blogging and tagging with search terms. Google, and other leading search engines will reward your website for publishing relevant information. Since you know your business, show off and show off often!

• Content is king. Keep relevant and new content flowing like a river! Adding content is important for your ongoing ranking; the most effective way is with a blog attached to your website. All blog content should follow the relevancy rules; essentially giving extra space to display content that your website does not have room for.

• Play to win. Similar to Monopoly night with your Grandmother, the SEO game is never ending. Compete, and compete often to maintain and most importantly to increase your ranking.

• Duplicate and be dumped. Search engines (especially Google) are smart enough to detect fluff and manipulation; so think of these algorithms as more of an art than a science.

• By the numbers. If you’re more of a numbers person; you can make SEO a science project by using the KEI (keyword effectiveness index) equation. This will give specific words a rating based on the number of times a word is searched over the number of webpages displaying the word or phrase. Using this approach will show you what words and phrases can give you the best chance of winning the keyword game.

The internet can be the most rewarding source of marketing if used properly. Website optimization best practices are ever evolving and will only become more competitive as time passes. Adopting this process now can completely change the way your business operates in a positive way for years to come.

Modernity, however, is a fickle mistress, and as times change so do user preferences. With the rise of tablets, smartphones, and streaming media, television consumption has gone rogue. And so, Nielsen, the staunch overseer of ratings, has had to hop-skip from the staid television set to a whole new array of hardware, recording the behavior of viewers who prefer streaming video through on-demand services such as Hulu.

The reason, of course, has been the increasing popularity of the tablet. NPD DisplaySearch projects the number of tablets to grow from 374 million units in 2012 to 809 million in about five years with Apple’s iPad, even in the wake of recent slips, still holding on to a 48 percent market share. With this boost in tablet sales there has been a corresponding rise in online ad spending. Not only that, but users’ viewing habits are influencing the kind of advertising we’re seeing.

This has led to an increase in ads with interactivity and video. According to recent data, between 2009 and 2014, online video ad spending is estimated to swell from $1.97 billion to $5.71 billion. Forrester Research released a report in October, 2012 known as “The Digital Media Forecast 2012 – 2017,” which predicts that video ads will be the fastest growing sector of advertising, growing by an average of 26 percent a year until 2017. By 2014, Forrester forecasts that at least 40 percent of the online display ad market will take on the video format, effectively eliminating the static banner ads and archaic click through rate attempts of old.

Thus far, these video ads seem to be more effective. According to a 2012 report from leading ad management and distribution platform, DG , and its online campaign management solution, MediaMind, the click-through rates (CTR) for interactive online video is about 27.4 times that of standard banner ads and almost 12 times that of rich media advertisements. Furthermore, according to the study, people globally are 10 percent more likely to watch an interactive video ad to completion than a rich media ad that simply contains video within it.

Nielsen’s part in this unfolding drama is to provide accurate measurement tools. While there is plenty of competition in measurement in the digital space, such as Comscore, Google, and Quantcast to name a few, Nielsen has an incredible advantage in the video streaming space for one very good reason. It is the measurement tool in television. As the bulk of ad dollars are spent on TV the buyers will look to Neilsen as they begin to test spending on video streaming. Buyers will want one solution that tells them how their ad performed across TV, tablet and mobile. It is an incredible advantage as dollars shift from TV to tablet.

The streaming media game will finally give the powers that be a transparent look into the behaviors of users gobbling up content on their own time; free from the clutches of scheduling and cable programming. The result: a new channel of revenue and exposure for brands and advertisers looking to allocate their spending habits in a previously untapped market.

While it may have been fashionably late to the game, Nielsen might just be the scrappy sidekick that helps the tablet achieve the advertising dominance within its grasp.

Changes can be unsettling, whether they're potential or actual, positive or negative. You may be gearing up for a promotion/new position, staring at a wide-open field of new prospective clients, or launching new products and services. Or you may be hunkering down in the face of outsourcing, downsizing, mergers/consolidations, takeovers, and local or global competition. 

Consider the Changes Taking Place at Yahoo!

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has certainly unleashed enormous, untold passions about how, when and where people should work at Yahoo.

The recent, now infamous, change requiring Yahoo employees to work in the office instead of telecommuting from home has been likened to the shot heard round the world.

No less than a great war has ensued and Marissa Mayer has been villainized and vilified by some and verified and validated by others.

It is no secret that Yahoo has been struggling to keep pace with the likes of Apple, Facebook, and Google, all of whom have strong in-office cultures and not coincidentally, strong revenues to match.

In Our Opinion...It’s not about trusting people to work at home, it’s about Mayer’s challenge in the turnaround of Yahoo regardless of where people are working. Mayer has to build a new corporate culture of trust in the infinite possibilities of what the Yahoo organization can create together.

However, as we are hearing, this change process is creating considerable stress for Yahoo employees.

How We Respond to Change

Do you respond or react to change and do you know the difference? As soon as something nudges you out of your regular routine, or challenges your understanding of how the world works and where you fit into it, it will likely trigger a deluge of feelings including; fear, anxiety, overwhelm, excitement, distraction or denial.

How Does the Way You Respond to Change Impact Your Brand?

These feelings can manifest in your behavior.  You may, unconsciously, act out with behavior that is not a brand match for you, or your communication style alters, both at work and at home. You might feel compelled to push yourself and others to overwork, or take the opposite approach - which most do - and procrastinate, avoid the work that's on your plate and get sidetracked with misconceptions, assumptions and gossip to changes that may or may not happen.

On a personal level, your self-care may suffer and you may reach for unhealthy substances, get less sleep, skip meals or overindulge. You might cut yourself off from friends and family, and spend more time alone or with other people who have unhealthy habits or attract people who are in the same place as you.

The Impact

Dealing with change requires flexibility, resilience and an ability to think on your feet. Unfortunately, when you're caught up in your reaction to change, these mental abilities are affected as well. When you're preoccupied, worried and focused on the future instead of the present, it's much harder to concentrate and apply your brainpower to what's in front of you.

Great leaders are admired for their serenity and confidence even in the face of uncertainty and upheaval. For many of us, though, when change is afoot, serenity is far from our reach. Instead, emotions are much closer to the surface and can flare up at the most inopportune times. Whether you lash out, cry, or pound on your desk behind closed doors, it's incredibly uncomfortable to feel so out of control.

Consider, also, the impact on the people around you. Emotional outbursts, whether at work or at home, can irrevocably damage your effectiveness, your reputation and your relationships.

Successful Strategies for Dealing With Change

Here are five strategies to help you remain flexible and resilient in the face of change:

1. Take care of YOUr body. Eat well, sleep well and refrain from harmful habits like indulging in caffeine adrenaline behavior, excessive drinking, or other risky behavior. Work out whatever that is for you!

2. Take care of YOUr mind. Stay in the present moment. Challenge your negative thinking and keep things in perspective; when the doom and gloom sets in, ask, "How important is this, really?"

3. Take control of YOUr emotions. Find reasons to smile and laugh, even when you don't feel like it—especially when you don't feel like it! Funny movies, blogs or videos can help. Vent your negative feelings by exercising, banging on a drum or pounding on a pillow.

4. Treat others well. Strengthen your good relationships so you can draw on their support and work at your challenging relationships so they don't add to your stress.  In fact, this may be a good time to remove them from your life altogether.

5. Take charge. Be proactive and prepare the best you can for the changes that might come, but then accept the reality of the moment. Think back to other challenges that you've come through and remind yourself that everything will work out okay this time, too.

I’ve spoken and written a great deal recently about the problem of Banner Blindness, which impacts advertisers and publishers alike. According to our own survey results, only 14% of consumers surveyed found ads served to them as relevant.  Half of the respondents never click on any ads, and 35% click on less than 5 ads a month. By the numbers, Banner Blindness adds up to fewer leads for advertisers and lower revenue for site owners.

A large part of the problem can be attributed to predictable placement. Display ads typically run as a leaderboard across the top of the page (728x90), embedded in content as a large rectangle (300x250) towards the top of the page.  These placements haven’t changed in a decade , so consumers have inferred that there’s nothing valuable in these regions of the page, and their eyes are trained to scan elsewhere for engaging content.

Another critical issue is relevance. Ads rarely seem targeted to the current intent of the users who encounter them. The industry is so caught up in the use of Big Data, user profiling and programmatic buying that we have accepted a high rate of targeting error, flimsy estimates of in-market frequency, and the appalling lack of relevance to the user’s task at hand. Just because people showed an interest in a product at some point in the past does not mean they want to engage in product consideration or purchasing behavior when they are engaged in another activity, even if they are still technically in-market. Stated more simply, context matters.

With respect to these issues, native advertising appears to be a solid solution. Placement directly in the newsfeed on sites like Facebook or Twitter reduces a user’s ability to predict ad placement. In Google AdWords, one of the earliest examples of native advertising, targeting is keyword-based and therefore directly relevant to the users’ real-time intent.  In the case of individual publishers who “roll their own” native solutions, they are typically customized to be relevant to their content, making the advertising real-time targeted to the user’s specific task at that moment.

While native solves many of the problems in online advertising today, there are some complications that still need to be addressed.  One of these is scale. By definition, a native ad unit is unique to a particular site or platform. For advertisers, that means the wheel must be re-invented for every site, from the ad creative, to the targeting specifications, to the buy itself. There is no standardization, so more legwork is required. On the publisher side, this means a lot more work as well – custom insertion orders, custom code, and direct sales, for starters. To be profitable, many publishers must charge premium rates for native advertising, but they must have the traffic and quality audience to justify those rates. For this reason, native will likely only be feasible for larger publishers who are likely to have the direct sales force and administrative resources to support it.

Companies doing it right address the scale issue by doing real-time contextual analysis on every page load, and their systems assess the presence of user intent and the matching desire of an advertiser to target that intent, all in real-time. Some also serve ads as overlays, which gives them two controls most ad servers don’t have: retaining the option to serve nothing if the relevance isn’t there, and delivering the ad in a non-traditional location to overcome banner blindness. Think Google Ad Sense with the flexibility to serve in unexpected locations or not serve at all (full disclosure: Infolinks offers these solutions).

Native advertising is a great solution for many advertisers and publishers, but it can’t address scale until the platforms offering it reach critical mass. To solve the problem of Banner Blindness, publishers and advertisers need to think outside the standard placement – and perhaps think more deeply about relevance.

Stagnation leads to starvation

According to its customers, the writing had been on the wall for CDS’s Adify business for some time, but customers weren’t abandoning ship. As quoted in AdExchanger, one anonymous customer said,  “I think we all saw it coming at some point – but you never know how long a giant corporation like that is willing to let something coast along.” The company seemed to stagnate as more online media migrated toward exchanges and more capabilities became expected platforms. But “coasting” should never be something media companies accept from their vendors, even if you’ve been using their services for a while and are afraid to transition. If you settle for something that isn’t working, you are equally responsible for the impact a vendor’s fallout has on your business. Instead of settling, learn how to identify a stagnated vendor and take action by finding a better fit. Here are three signs your vendor has stagnated:

1) Old problems aren't being resolved.

When a process is broken or a product has a flaw, the vendor should be ready to collaborate on resolving the issue rather than making it someone else’s responsibility. We all saw the backlash that Apple faced when they released iMaps prematurely. The same standards should apply to B2B companies. The implication that old problems with Cox’s CDS platform services weren’t being handled should have been a red flag for customers. I know first-hand that reporting was limited when you served VAST tags through their ad server. You had to guess how many impressions you think you called because they only tracked the deferred impression inside the VAST tag. Before entering into or staying in any partnership, think beyond the basic signs of features and sales and look at the real collaborative and forward-looking mindset of the vendor’s people. A partner will be committed to ensuring your success by identifying and resolving product issues and expediting solutions. It’s pretty much inevitable that you’ll encounter problems (trust me – I know), but the vendor you’ll want to stick with is one who responds to your concern with a drive towards resolution. It is that drive that translates into my other two points.

2) New features are few and far between.

The digital industry is incredibly fluid and ground-breaking innovations are announced almost daily, sometimes regardless of readiness, actionable uses, or false starts. In this rapidly evolving climate, vendors must constantly reinvent and improve their products and services to keep up with the demands of today and anticipate the needs of their partners tomorrow. At OneScreen, we’re constantly retooling existing operations, processes, products, and entire codebases under those products. It’s like watching Inception again and having the “ah ha” moment when you realize something new. Product offerings do not exist in a vacuum; they should be constantly improving and adapting with the industry. If you haven’t seen a new product rollout or a features upgrade in a while, that’s a telltale sign that you’re working with a vendor who is “coasting.” One of the easiest ways to foresee innovation in a company is to listen to their willingness and excitement to build on their platform for your needs or even to suggest things you haven’t thought of yet. It’s hard to appreciate a vendor for more than one or two capabilities, but over time, platforms who continuously build on their products will only get better.

3) You're told "We don't do that."

You should never hear those four little words come from the mouth of your vendor, unless you’re asking for something that’s laughably out of their scope (and why would you do that?). I’m not talking about your Silicon Valley 3-person startup that only wants to do one feature for $9.99 a month. I’m talking about that partner who will help you succeed in an ever-confusing marketplace like digital video. Your vendor should be committed to helping you reach your goals of today, but also expand beyond those goals and take your business to new heights, without you having to reinvent your operational workflow and pay double the cost. At OneScreen, some of our most innovative products have been made because of a request from one or more partners that we see as valuable for the industry. We may not have had the product at the time they asked for it, but we worked with the partner to create what they need (and sometimes beyond it) and we are able to apply what we learn to future product rollouts. Look for the candidness and transparency that shows your vendor has the confidence to challenge themselves. The response “We don’t do that yet, but let’s make it happen” is more like it.

Bottom line, your vendor should be your partner, not a company that approaches every one of your business’ needs with a cost-benefit analysis (for them). Vendors that are partners build their businesses with the flexibility to continually adapt to changes in the industry and the evolving needs of clients. The vendors that you want to align with will have both an appreciation for your long-term goals and a forward-looking platform that is capable of adapting to wherever the market takes us.

What personal characteristics do we look for when hiring for Private Equity?

How can you assess if you have the “chops” to work for private equity? Is your personal brand a match for private equity? What can you expect and what is expected once you are hired, in terms of the operational differences, compared to working for a large, publicly owned company?

If you are considering a career opportunity in a private equity financed business, then check out the top 5 qualities and characteristics to better understand if you really are ready, willing and able. 

1. PE firms want to work with entrepreneurs.

Private equity firms have been started by investment bankers, successful corporate executives and entrepreneurs with a proven track record of building wealth by risking capital and building businesses entrepreneurially. In selecting a CEO, COO, or other C-level executive, private equity firms want to see proven entrepreneurship in the executive’s prior career steps. Has the candidate successfully started and built a business from scratch? Has he or she turned around a troubled business? Does the candidate have the proven track record and hands-on leadership profile to build confidence among others in the organization (including strategic alliance partners)? You need not apply if you do not have “entrepreneurial DNA" and passion, plus prior success implementing a business plan involving significant change (i.e., not managing a “steady state" business).

2. PE investors want “hunters" not “farmers."

While they tend not to manage from quarter to quarter, like so many public companies, private equity investors are looking for—and expecting—mega-growth of a business over a five- to seven-year window. The expectation is that the returns on capital are multiples of the original investment once the business is sold (usually to a strategic buyer) at the end of the investment period. Hunters have the fearlessness to compete in the marketplace on a daily basis, and their hunting skills are usually directly tied to an ability to increase the top-line revenues. In addition to growth via acquisition, most private equity investors evaluate revenue increases in the base line (“same store") business. This almost always leads them to hire a new Head of New Business—and it always needs to be a “hunter." We recently completed four executive search assignments nationwide for this type of position, most within the first year after a private equity firm has made an investment.

3. PE firms hire "doers" with a strong bias for action.

In LBOs and buyouts of privately held businesses, there are typically major issues that need to be addressed immediately: the prior owner/parent company/CEO may have failed; growth in the business may be stagnant; and investments or changes in the business were deferred because it was deemed a “non-core" asset. This is one reason that private equity investors like to hire “doers" with a bias for action – because typically so much needs to be done – and very quickly. Consider the GM turnaround and the three months the Board gave the initial CEO before making a change. As Jack Welch has said numerous times, a non-decision is sometimes the worst decision a CEO can make. If you are a procrastinator, stay away from private equity.

4. PE investors are reasonable until they become unreasonable.

Private equity investors typically resist hands-on involvement in the day-to-day operations of a business. They will typically put two to three of their own people on the Board of Directors and will remain minimally involved as long as the business moves forward according to (and in alignment with) the corporate business plan. They may come to Board meetings to listen to the CEO (and others in senior management), and they’ll work on complementary activities related to expanding and growing the business, such as additional acquisitions, or capital investment to increase manufacturing capacity. However, when/if the CEO and senior leadership begin missing the milestones, and the business turns south (even slightly), they are back with a vengeance ready to make changes in the senior leadership team (i.e., trade out the CEO, hire a strong COO with a sales/business development background, etc.) Working with a private equity-backed firm is potentially good for executives who (1) under-promise and over-deliver, and (2) are good at developing and implementing realistic business plans—and keeping the company on track and ahead of the key milestones outlined in these plans.

5. PE firms want an accelerated pace of change; be prepared to “ride the rapids."

While many C-level executives express frustrations at the slow pace of change in large corporations, many are unprepared emotionally to work in the rapid waters of private equity. You can expect almost 180 degrees the opposite environment once you switch over to a private equity-owned business. When you meet with the partners of these firms, invariably the first question they will ask you is, “If given this job, what would you do first?" and “What would be your plan for growing/fixing this business?"

Know what works best for your personal brand before jumping in!

It is extremely important to be prepared, and to do your homework, especially if you are considering one of these types of opportunities. For some true entrepreneurs, those unafraid of operating without a safety net, it can be exhilarating and highly rewarding (equity stakes and payouts are usually much higher than stock options earned inside a public company). However, for those executives lacking the necessary risk-profile and DNA, this is a career step to be avoided altogether.

If you have worked for a private equity firm, or have considered pursuing one of these opportunities, please write to us and share your experiences and perspectives.

When we hear the word endurance, we usually relate it to the performance, stamina and the resilience of an athlete. As leaders and emerging leaders, we suggest you “hear” the word and take the same definition, but add the elements of bravery, prevail, and persistence.

Particularly in these challenging economic times, we need to create athlete-like minds AND bodies to sustain performance in the pace of the current marketplace, to be great role models, and to create outstanding results in every area of our lives!

Endurance is Crucial not Optional

Where does your brand need to ramp up it’s endurance? Is it the challenges of your company, role or business sector? Is it the balancing of work and home responsibilities? Or perhaps it is the uncertainty of your brand not getting the traction it needs. What do you need to do to strengthen and flex your endurance muscles? What can you eliminate or change immediately to increase endurance both personally and professionally?

What relevance does building physical endurance have to your performance in business? In our experience as senior-level talent acquisition and personal branding specialists, endurance is crucial and not optional. We all know and have seen too many examples of over-stressed and out-of-shape CEOs, some of whom have died on the job due to stress-related illnesses or heart attacks.

Clearly, such a lifestyle is personally dangerous. But it can also be professionally dangerous. In today’s 24/7/365 environment, you do not want to risk making a costly business or personal brand decision simply because you were tired, careless, and sloppy due to a lack of endurance.

Also, if you are a C-level or even an emerging leader and you do not take care of yourself, how can you expect to be a role model for others in the organization? To the contrary, you send an undesirable message to the organization.

Take control of building the endurance you need to maximize your performance. Incorporate our EC Top 5 List of “Endurance Best Practices” into your daily schedule to improve your endurance:

1. Take an Endurance assessment. Check your endurance levels and create an action plan where you need energy the most. Want more endurance?  Stop doing what drags you down. Plan for eliminating the “tolerations” in the following areas; business, personal, finance, health and well-being, and relationships. This could include questions, such as; What is keeping me up at night? When do I schedule time away from my work?  What do I need to improve to get into better physical condition? What relationships do I need to remove that drain me of my energy?  Remaining active outside the office will help you build the stamina and endurance you will need on the job.
2. Develop and maintain an optimistic attitude. It is proven medically, people with a “glass half full” mentality are happier and less stressed than their alternative counterparts.  It takes a lot less energy to be positive. Work on your unique outlook and eliminate worrying about all the people, places and things that are not aligned with being positive or outside of your personal control.
3. Delegate, Delegate, Delegate! Identify the tasks at work and at home that you really do not want to do or you are not good at (the “drudge” tasks) and delegate these immediately. You will be amazed how much lighter this will make you feel and give your endurance a boost! Notice how our energy levels seems to be low when we do not want to do something or be somewhere we don’t want to be.
4. Take Control of Your Calendar. Don’t constantly overbook yourself. For example, after a late night of meetings, travel or client entertaining, do not schedule yourself for a 7 a.m. breakfast meeting. Give yourself time to recover. Don’t let business issues spill over into your personal life and vice versa. Work on compartmentalizing the different areas of your life and use success and happiness in one area to raise your energy and spirits in the other areas.
5. Plan ahead. Be Pro-Active! Manage your health and mental well-being! Most senior executives have at least four to five weeks of vacation annually; you will be surprised how many do not take this time off, or if they do, they actually work all day on vacation. Set boundaries, leave the laptop at home, empower others to step up, and disengage on a quarterly basis.

And above all…check in with yourself on a regular basis and make course corrections as necessary, you can shift and change as you need to. Continue to build your brand to endure maximum performance!