Digital marketers are focusing on how consumers interact with media across multiple screens at the same time. Users plop down on the couch and pick up their laptops, mobile devices or tablets, and ad networks and technology companies are pushing multi-screen ad buys to brands. The problem is, at this point, no one can agree on how many screens advertisers need to consider. Three? Four? Six?

Let’s make it really simple. Marketers looking to align digital and traditional only need to worry about two screens. TV is the obvious first one, but the second “screen” marketers need to utilize isn’t a tablet or a mobile device. It’s social advertising.

In a recent interview, Peter Naylor, NBC’s EVP of digital sales, lamented the fact that the television upfront put TV and digital into separate silos. Naylor and NBC are seeing so much overlap between TV viewing and connected device use that they want to find a marriage that works for advertisers. He didn’t directly say it, but Naylor’s talking about the way consumers are watching TV and interacting with social platforms.

TV viewing is now a far less passive experience, and the rise in tablet sales and connected mobile devices is making it so people are actively diving into the social stream of Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ during their viewing time, sharing opinions with their friends and followers.

With consumers simultaneously engaged in both social and TV, the social second screen opens the door for brand marketers to reach consumers in a way that combines both behaviors. The actual device doesn’t really matter, because consumers use the devices to connect to their social network or application of choice.

There are numerous ways marketers can track consumer viewing behavior through social. Twitter updates are public, and it’s relatively easy for marketers to search out hashtags or their program names while a show is airing. Facebook updates are less open, but marketers can still target advertising based on Likes or a friend’s interests. Then there are start-ups that connect consumers with their favorite programs, such as GetGlue, which lets consumers check in to TV programs, movies, and music for possible discounts.

And the ability to know who is talking about what opens the door to plenty of opportunities. For a network like NBC, social suddenly becomes a discovery platform where the network can market new shows, or remind viewers when a new episode airs. With Twitter’s open API, a big network like NBC could build its own software that analyzed what users were talking about, then classify the viewers and sell these audiences to their advertisers.

Consider reality shows, which are exploding with product placement. With a dedicated Twitter analysis, the network can easily identify people talking about the program while it airs and serve ads that combine creative for sponsor brands and the show. We’re talking about cooperative marketing programs for auto manufacturers, CPG, and food brands that can hit several audience buckets and demographics. The best part is that the ads are going to consumers who are already interested.

Thinking about social as the second screen also helps advertisers overcome the problems associated with the rise of DVR usage and cord cutters. Consumers still turn to social networks to discuss the latest episode of Dexter, even if they’re three days behind the show’s original airdate. This mitigates the DVR impact, replaces lost ad opportunities caused by fast-forward, and even creates more advertising opportunities.

TV networks have the resources to build their own social ad networks, but luckily smaller brand advertisers can already buy across networks that sell this type of targeting.

Advertisers can now effectively buy into a true “multi-screen” approach that hits consumers with relevant content on both social and TV. The added bonus is that the social component has a much larger life span. Fans talk about the programming long after the program ends, which means advertisers (or the network itself) can hit their audience again and again.

Jon Elvekrog is CEO of 140 Proof.

YouTube has grown over the past three years, now boasting that 48 hours of video is uploaded every minute and they recently surpassed three billion views a day. Out of those views, the majority are still music and personal videos. However, a shift has occurred over the past few years - people are now also searching on YouTube for business videos. That’s right - people are searching for videos about your organization, products and services. That’s why many businesses are uploading product how-to and support videos, along with promotional material.

What’s interesting about using YouTube is that your videos can also rank on Google for the exact same keyword phrases. And in some cases, your videos can rank on the first page of the Google search results, thereby increasing your web presence on Google. This is what we all want – more web presence.

How to Rank Higher in YouTube

First, you should be aware of how your current YouTube videos rank for the keyword phrases that matter to your business and who you are competing with. Once you know how your videos are ranking, then you can look at three critical factors that you can change immediately to improve your YouTube rankings:

1. Title - change the title of your video to something catchy that includes one of your keyword phrases
2. Description - write a compelling description and include your keyword phrase within the content.
3. Tags - use that keyword phrase as one of your video tags.

Other Factors Affecting YouTube Rankings

Engagement factors such as how many views your video has received versus your competition, video comments, and how many people have subscribed to your YouTube account also have an impact on your YouTube ranking. Sharing links to your videos via your website, email marketing, and social networks can have a positive impact on these engagement factors as well as encourage social sharing and backlinks.

YouTube also takes into consideration embedded videos on your website or blog posts. This is very interesting as it supports the theory that great ranking relates back to great content. At gShift, a best practice we encourage is to embed a YouTube video clip into your blog post. Both the video and the blog post can be written to engage your audience as well as optimized for an important keyword phrase. This combination of content will work together to increase your web presence and ranking.

Analyze YouTube Ranking Results Regularly

Finally, as a marketer, you should be checking how your videos rank each month, if not each week as you are adding videos or making changes. Your analysis should also include how many views your videos are getting individually and in total, along with how many referrals you are getting from YouTube to your website, and if any of that traffic is converting into business leads.

Remember, it’s still about providing quality, relevant content that is meaningful to your audience. It’s about connecting and building trust with people – always keep their interests in mind when creating videos, not just your business objectives. The more people interact with and respond to your videos around the web, the higher your YouTube rankings will be and the easier your videos will be found by others.

To learn more about how to gain a competitive advantage in organic search by improving your YouTube rankings, check out my video on YouTube:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

It does involve a special app - which is asking a lot of consumers. But for those interested enough to download it, the experience is fun, lively and goes at least a little way in helping Beetle seem more modern and (almost) masculine.

I do hope the app comes with a dealer locator and the ability to customize a Beetle using AR, along with the ability to schedule a test drive.

This particular initiative is from Canada, and is part of a larger social+mobile+who knows what else that will run through November 26.

What's your take? Does it get you revved up for the Beetle? Or inspiration in reverse?

Read more, here.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Universal Pictures has launched a virtual/augmented reality mobile app to promote the upcoming remake of "The Thing," which opens Friday.

(Haven't seen the original? Catch this hilarious 'Thing-in-4-min' video to a ersatz Sinatra tune.)

The app's free, of course, and sports 360-degree flamethrower action where players must use their weapons to survive attacks. There's even one of those "Thing Yourself" features where you can see your mug mutilated from the inside out - and share it with your freaked out friends.

Not surprisingly, the app comes from metaio, which is making a big name for itself in this space.

A nice way to get the film's young, mobile fan base fired up for more.

As one of my readers put it, "It's the THING for Halloween!"

Click here to view the embedded video.

Makes you want to go out and wreck a building while you sing in autotune.

I learned this early on, the first day I entered broadcasting... it's always about 'the story'. Telling a tale that flows, that connects, that resonates... *and* that sparks conversation once 'the story' itself, has reached it's end. This is evident today more than ever, with the rise of social media - where it's not just about "The Story" anymore...  but almost more importantly, the *conversation* surrounding the story.

It's easy to gauge what gets people talking... RT'ing, "sharing", "liking" while adding their own thoughts to the original tale... These types of conversations can offer a lot of value to those participating, and especially to the original storyteller.
Feedback from our communities = invaluable.
This is happening more now than ever on these evolving platforms we all spend so much time on.

What 'story' are you telling...
... + does it get people talking?

Follow me on Twitter @LisaOstrikoff + @BizBOXTV

To connect.

Marketers know emotion plays a massive role in getting a message across... consumers choose + stay loyal to certain products and brands because of how they make us feel ~ and what they broadcast about ourselves.

It's no surprise, taking TV commercials and re-purposing them online is not nearly as effective as creating web video content specifically for an Internet audience. With high quality video more affordable + accessible than ever before, what better way for a brand to connect with it's potential clients/customers?

Did you know Video = #1 way to connect with people on Social Media? If you're tweeting ~ you should also roll video into the mix.

You'd be hard pressed to find another medium that engages and connects like video does. I'd go as far to say... impossible.

Connect with me on Twitter  @LisaOstrikoff + @BizBOXTV

As a long time reader (and failed contributor I might add) of Y Combinator's (YC) HackerNewz, I was very excited to attend their first annual Ad Innovation Conference in Mountain View, California yesterday.  I saw some familiar faces around the conference room, but mostly, it was a room full new media and technology geeks like myself who for some reason or another, are passionate about new ways to get consumers engaged with brands, aka the evolution of advertising platforms.

First a bit of background on the show you are hopefully going to continue to read about.

Y Combinator:

A group of Y Combinator-funded startups working on ad-related technologies have joined forces to create a new event focused on the future of advertising.

Topics to be discussed include: NFC advertising; the use of Twitter and Facebook content in display ads; ad/game hybrids; embedding ads in the 3D space of videos after they’ve been shot (i.e. retroactive product placement); geolocal ads and offers; audience polling; the evolution of SEO; marketing on Facebook; monitoring competing AdSense campaigns; landing page optimization; ad-based alternatives to paywalls; the future of QR codes; and advertising on the iPad.

In the next housand words or so, I attempt to capture and share my thoughts on each company and presentation from yesterday. It's really nothing more than a stream of consciousness brain dump written during the conference, as it was happening, presented back to you after nothing more than a cursory proof read while on a plane back from SF to Dallas.  I say this not as a humblebrag, but as a pre-emptive plea to the spell checkers, grammar fashionista's or word tense connoisseurs to take it easy on me in the comments.  Hopefully, some of you will find some of the information helpful or interesting and we can engage in witty banter instead and become internet BFF's.

Ready? Begin present tense writing...

From the Opening Remarks: What to expect to come down the innovation pipe for advertising

1. Tablets are very important. Not a gimmick, not a fad, and will affect how people interact with ads.  Think paradigm shift within the next 10 years in terms of how people engage with not just ads, but with brands.
2. “Apple is going to take over the world…they are even more powerful than they look. Ignore their market share of devices sold, and instead look at their share of profit..ridiculous..they have as much of the market as they want…they are in a position to take what they want, when they want…which is frightening as one company dominating is normally bad news for startups….they control the platform and set the rules, which are set to change at any time, for any reason, at their discretion “
3. All data will be stored in the cloud and live “in the web”.  This will free up computing resources and place less emphasis on specs like the size of the hard drive you are packing. What that means for advertising is that all of the information you could ever want and have dreamed of is sitting there, on some server, in the cloud.  But will you be able to access it? Who will grant you access it? How much will you have to pay? How will consumers react to this?
4. The peer to peer economy moves into the real world as micro economies (isnt this the same as local?) emerge.
5. There will be even more startups.  There used to be 2 things you could do as a young programmer right out of school: get a job, or go to grad school.  Now there is the option of creating your own company, aka a startup.  If 10% of the best brains are creating their own paths, big companies, like advertisers and brands, are going to have to start paying attention more to that guy who you make fun of for working out of his garage.
6. Facebook is even a bigger deal than you think. They havent even tried to start making money yet, they are still focused on user acquisition and have an entire team dedicated to this quest. Think about what happens when they create a Financial Growth group and begin to monetize the data they have collected on us all for nearly a decade.  Plus, Zuck is young and healthy (read: not Steve Jobs). He will be there for years to come.
7. More and more companies will become “software companies”.  People often talk about how Amazon is really a software company that sells things. Expect more and more disruption as tech based startups enter over more and more markets and out innovate incumbents.
8. Ad Targeting is still in its infancy. As more and more data is collected, and ad platforms evolve to take advantage of this information and act upon it, Minority Report is not too far away.
9. If you had to bet  on creative vs measurement having the most impact on ad performance in the next decade , bet on measurement.  We have so much data, and our ability to analyze, target and serve is only limited by our computing power…welp, remember Moore’s Law?
10. Creative will fuse with generated.  Something about stories becoming more important, but not in the generic way we usually talk to brands about the importance of a story based marketing campaign, but instead like how stories play out in video games: branched story lines/arcs with many ways to get to the same place.  An “Execute your user” line was used in this part of the preso and I like it in this context.

Ginzametrics:

Next generation SEO optimization platform.  They seem to be very focused on the quality of content to affect search rankings along with enabling your visitors to promote your content via the social graph. They do this through an automated platform that allows enterprise level, content driven companies manage their site, and by that they mean content, through a user friendly and simple web interface.

What they never talked about was the fact that in the end, producing good content should always be the first step.  ”Once you have that down, come talk to us” is something I would have liked to hear them say. I really think brands and publishers need to start putting quality back at the top of the list of “things that will help me grow my business”.

Tagstand:

An NFC (near field communication) platform that makes it easy for developers and businesses to incorporate near field communication into their apps. This becomes extremely relevant to advertisers as the next generation of smart phones will be NFC enabled. The opportunity, according to them, is in physical tags that when tapped with a phone, make something happen for lack of a better imagination on my part to come up with a metaphor: launch a web page to find out more, subscribe to a mailing list, set your dvr to watch a new show, purchase an mp3 or movie and have it loaded into your cloud drive for viewing across all sorts of connected devices, etc.  The possibilities are endless.

Tagstand wants to help you manage all of this.  It is a management platform for advertisers to manage their soon to be 1000’s of tags in the wild. This of course includes tracking them, always important to brand and media folk who like their excel spreadsheets to optimize their campaigns.

But what makes NFC so interesting, is that In Real Time is no longer the gold standard for managing media campaigns.  With NFC, you can manage them in real life. This is called micro-location analytics: not just that one mall display is better than the other mall, but that one display location within a mall is better.

Vidyard:

Simple: YouTube for business.  ”YouTube is the dead end of the internet” “You have to put ads on your own content just to get them back to your site”.

Vidyard handles the it all, serving, updating, tracking and syndicating of web based video.

Coca-Cola (their agencies) is an early adopter of their service.

This presentation cemented it: the new kids on the block are looking to fill in the gaps left by the big ocean liners in the technology/media world.  In this case: YouTube. It’s easy to call it an acquisition strategy, but since Vidyards clients are paying customers, they might actually be able to turn a profit, something that YouTube, in its quest to subsidize every one on the planets video storage and viewing habits in exchange advertising opportunities.

By the way, these guys get extra points for their “Rage Face” tshirts. “Y U NO USE VIDYARD?!”

Crowdbooster:

“The first intelligent social media dashboard”.  Claims to save social media managers drowning in data and reliant upon expensive analysis and reactionary strategies.

I think this is a great start to a pitch as they are addressing a real problem to grab the attention of potential new users in the room.

Like other social media management tools available for brands, Crowdbooster has all the data that you want. If you get off on graphs, be it pie or line, they’re there.  But what separates CrowdBooster is that they present analysis and recommended actions to take based on that data in a very easy to understand format.  And it does this in real time.

By removing you from the overwhelming and pretty much unusable firehose of information, CrowdBooster allows the Brand Social Media Manger to focus his or her  attention on what actually helps you achieve your social media objectives.

Optimizely:

Dan, a former product manager at the Google (Chrome) who left to join Barak Obama’s campaign in 2008, returns to the start up scene with Optimizely, which promises “website A/B testing and personalization for non technical users that you will actually use.”

Our live demo tests whether or not users like MIke Arrington’s right or left side. I think half of the crowd gets this joke. I like that he user interface looks a lot like what one would see on a blogging platform, be it wordpress or tumblr.  Not that the functionality is the same, but the familiar feeling is a very important feeling if you are trying to get non-technical, often impatient and hypercritical users to use your product.

Optimizely has quite the client list: Techcrunch, Starbucks and other things I use to not work during the day.

Loopt:

One step beyond engagement - motivating someone to move their feet. Their big idea: letting businesses bring in customers when they need them with dynamic pricing.

“It’s a rainy day, business is slow, I will give people half off if they come in to the store today.” But how to get that word out?

Loopt gives merchants the ability to self manage deals and push notifications to opted in users in their area. But taking it further, Loopt has a massive set of location data at their disposal that they can use to predict user behavior and in the future, they hope to be able to use this information to help connect merchants with receptive customers.

I keep having a recurring thought that a lot of these start ups are really in the data collection game and a lot of these marketers are in the data buying game. Nothing surprising there, but what is surprising is how no one so far has mentioned how a consumer might feel about all of this data being made available to marketers and what they do to mitigate this risk…

Mixpanel:

“The most sophisticated real-time analytics platform that companies can use to understand how users behave.”

Per Mixpanel, the most underserved and not paid attention to metric in data analysis is retention. Think about it, a video or app or feature goes viral and explodes across the web.  Thousands to millions of users flock to a destination on the web, but then the real problem sets in: keeping users interested.

The inspiration for Mixpanel’s solution to this problem began from looking closely at gaming, who has dealt with short attention spans for decades.  You level up to level 67 but then a new shiny object appears in the app store, you download and you forgot why you played World War in the first place.

And then the presentation ends….kind of left me hanging there.  Ummmm thanks?  They have a very nice client list but I’d like more info on what your solution actually is as I think you are trying to solve a very important problem for brands and publishers.

Ohhh I get it! Mystery! You are marketing to the marketers! Now I have to chase you down to find out more info.  Clever Girl.

Paperlinks:

Paperlinks wants to be “The QR code infrastructure for business.” and own the back end of “Proximity Commerce”.

While this company focuses on QR codes to bridge the gap from the real world to the digital world right now, they recognize that there are other flashier things in the near future that may replace them.  But they aren’t spending time trying to chase down shiny objects like NFC enabled tags.  They want to be the first to provide a mature and usable back bone, technical infrastructure, and management system for marketing campaigns that use QR codes, NFC tech, etc.

They end their presentation with a few QR code best practices:

1. Use designer codes, 4x more likely to be scanned
2. Offer a payoff for the consumer (give an incentive for engaging)

PageLever:

Analytics that help businesses be more effective on Facebook.

Insight: “People don’t really revisit fan pages after becoming a fan of them.”

When Paperlinks helped the Washington Redskins become the fastest growing Facebook page for a few weeks last year, they realized they had no idea why the growth was happening.

In their research to find out why, they learned that a brand’s fan page is simply not that important after the initial acquisition of a fan.  What really keeps the community alive, engaged and growing is the content you share with your fans via status updates. While knowing this important fact is half the battle, the other half is finding out that each status update you and your brand send out only reaches 25% of your fan base

So how do you get the other 75% engaged and to see your status update?

PageLever of course! PageLever finds the sweet spot between posting to much and not enough.  Too much and you get 2 status updates in the stream at one time and the user gets annoyed and unfan your brand.  Not good.

PageLever works to ensure you always have a status update in the feed without annoying your fans.

I like where this company is going.  It’s trying to solve a very important problem, but I cant help but think that making sure you are always present in someone’s news feed is a great second step.  The first step should be to actually have some great content to share that is worth me looking past the fact that you keep asking me to keep paying attention to you with multiple status updates per week/day/hour/what have you.

GazeHawk

“Webcam based eye tracking to accurately measure and increase display ad effectiveness.”

Interestingly enough, they see opportunities to help brands/advertisers find the most effective ads to serve, but conversely, they want to help publishers accurately place a value on their inventory.

The founders plan to have a big product announcement within the next few weeks.

MixRank:

OMG! THEY HELP ADVERTISERS SPY ON THEIR COMPETITION!

Definitely saw a lot of people perk up with that opening line. Per the founders, Mixrank brings the competitive intelligence for online advertising.

They want to answer questions like, “Where is the best audience?” “What ad format / creative works best?” “Does the whole “below the fold” really matter all that much anymore?”

I think that this is a company that will get a lot more interesting to marketers down the road as they will have the data on what works and what doesn’t to give agencies and brands, and their competitors the leg up they need to make a quick improvement in their online advertising. For direct marketers online, this could make or break a quarter in terms of monetary performance.

Hell, they might even have it now.  If they do, I think that is how I would be selling my product rather than focusing on how it works.

Polleverywhere:

Poll Everywhere: Live audience polling via mobile devices. Their platform promotes audience engagement in real time via the users own cell phone.  Think: immediate feedback.

They consider themselves a disruptive technology that costs 10X less than their competitors in the space (i.e. the clickers you used to see on America’s Funniest Home Videos). The instead leverage the users existing cell phones and interact with the user via text messages and offer their clients a robust analytics platform to help them manage and optimize their campaigns as it is happening.

Still considering themselves a startup, they have half of the fortune 500, not to mention thousands of educators already signed up and track over 17,000 responses a day.

DoubleRecall:

A new captcha like ad type that monetizes 12x better than banners aka atool to combat banner blindness as well as offer publishers an alternative to paywalling their content.

Instead of logging in or paying for content, users have to engage with an ad to read the content they want to see.  More valuable to sell for publishers, keeps content free on the web for users.

The user interface looks a lot like a Tweet, with familiar “buttons” or calls to action like Favorite and Retweet.

They are looking for 5 beta partners, preferably media buying agencies this month to prove their worth to the world of adverting and digital marketing.

This is a real problem for publishers and brands that sell and buy advertising space on the web, but I can’t help but think that new ad formats that interrupt and delay gratification are just not the sustainable permanent solution for funding content on the web.

Twitch.TV:

A last minute, unannounced addition to the lineup.

From the founders of Justin.TV comes a platform that allows gamers to upload their “gamecasts” (highlights of their gaming experience) to a platform that not only monetizes the content (brand sponsored content), but cuts the gamer in on that revenue!

But video of people playing video games you say? Really?

Dude, get over yourself.  Your bias is showing.  It’s the 2nd largest category of videos on YouTube with over 800million views a month.

I personally love this idea as there are incentives for every stakeholder. Uploaders get a piece of the revenue. Brands get to sponsor fan content, endearing gamers to their brand and spectators can be entertained!

I was wondering if TwitchTV was behind the North American Starcraft League, and it turns out they are.  Thank you Reddit for keeping me in the loop. FML.

End note: Thank you to my employer, UEG for the opportunity to attend this conference.

ABOUT UEG:

UEG has unparalleled access to influencers in the fields of movies and TV, music, sports, gaming, fashion and beauty, art, publishing, technology, digital content and engagement, with a track record of seeding influencers with product and, more imperatively, developing strategic partnerships that create validation and awareness among consumer targets. Created as a joint venture with Hollywood powerhouse United Talent Agency, UEG works with the best talent throughout Hollywood and the world. UEG’s executive team has developed some of the biggest and most successful branded entertainment platforms in the industry.

Click here to view the embedded video.

It's been a 2D barcode kind of week, with my talk on QR codes on the Blasingame Show/Forbes.com, and parts one and two of my interview with Nicole Skogg, CEO of SpyderLink, on the "social barcodes" in this month's Glamour.

Now, there's this ambitious movie poster campaign from Fox SearchLight for the film Martha Marcy May Marlene, as captured in this YouTube video from Fox.

As a side note, this dark-looking film stars Elizabeth Olsen, the heretofore largely unknown younger sister of Mary-Kate & Ashley (no joke). There's a pretty funky website, too.

What's your take: Too much trouble to scan the posters - or the perfect way to make this print campaign interactive?

Read more about the initiative, here.

Facebook Updates Your News Feed: Introducing Topic Groups

You probably noticed this showing up. I think it’s a great move. Consolidates similar content and also shows who among your network likes similar types of content. That type of chart can’t be far behind.

30% Of U.S. Homes Have Net-Connected TV Device

While still not mainstream, these numbers are increasing quickly.

Looks like HTML5 is gaining momentum — Tech News and Analysis

Looks like you’ll be missing less and less content on your iPad.

New Balance Offers Free Shoes If You Can Find Virtual Batons [VIDEO]

Interesting idea. I’m not sure I’d have shown the guy coming around the corner stealing the prize from the girl.

Don’t Ask People to Like You, Give Them a Reason to Like You | ClickZ

As content becomes the reached-for tool in the marketers belt, it’s going to take a monumental shift in thinking for a lot of people accustomed to just pushing out messages. The idea of adding value does not come as naturally to advertisers as it does to publishers.

How Brands Become Publishers in a Real-Time Marketing World | iCrossing Digital

According to a recent Roper survey, about 90% of CMOs see content as the future of marketing. This is a very good high level view of how marketers can approach the new content game, with a number of good charts breaking out the process.

NBC and Versus to Broadcast Major League Soccer Games | Adweek

An interesting part of the negotiation was the number of homes NBCU reaches. With rumors flying that YouTube is making a run for the NFL contract, I have to wonder if that won’t be a potential problem for them. Sure, everyone has a computer, but most people aren’t going to watch a football game with their friends on it. Perhaps there will be some sort of partnership deal with a smaller network.

Instagram on your underpants | Adverblog

Once personalization has reached underwear, it’s either hit the big time or jumped the shark.

Study Says Drudge Report Drives More Traffic Than Facebook & Twitter Combined

While the Drudge data is interesting, it’s not a marketing opportunity the way Twitter and Facebook are. So the most interesting part for me is down the page, where they explain why Twitter refers more traffic than Facebook. I have to agree, although still I’m surprised Twitter is anywhere near Facebook, given Facebook’s sheer size and frequency of use.

STUDY: 1 In 5 Of Facebook Contacts Are Work Related

This stat isn’t surprising, and I think if anything points to how many of us have a difficult time segmenting a large portion of our network into either friend, family, coworker, or whatever. While I like what Google+ is doing, I wonder if people are really up for making those additional posting decisions on a regular basis. It does add friction to the posting process.

100 YouTube Videos Come Together To Cover Led Zeppelin [VIDEO]

More than anything, I think this shows how something as seemingly simple as video sharing has impacted so many people in so many situations and environments, and draws a common thread across all of them.

This iPhone Survived a 13,500-Foot Fall

A great brand story, irregardless of what a freak event this may have been.

Track that bias: New app visualizes cable news topics live — Online Video News

The first 2 paragraphs of this are all you need to read to get a nice sense of how text analysis can be used to add depth and perspective to a batch of data difficult to otherwise get a good grasp of.

How Bing’s Editors Choose Sexy Images To Seduce You Away From Google | Fast Company

A battle of the page design strategies between Microsoft (Bing) and Google. While Bing has supported their page launch with a significant paid media effort, I can see how this more emotional greeting is a great shot at Google’s supposed strength; simplicity. It’s like the political debate strategy of attacking, not your opponents weaknesses, but their strengths.

AmEx Links Up Facebook With Coupon-less Deals, And Lets Merchants Go Social | TechCrunch

I really like how AmEx understands their value in this corner of the market — creating a coupon experience with less friction for the end consumer. The less behavior changing you have to do, the better.

Why are web workers happier? — Online Collaboration

Agencies often struggle with the idea of an out-of-sight workforce. This is an interesting counter to that.

Game Insight Shuns iOS for Android, Prepares to Tell Facebook Crime Story

If you were a Mac user in the 90s, you have to remember how slowly, developers started investing less and less effort in their Mac apps, relative to the PC versions. Android is looking more and more like the new Windows. Better? No. But cheaper, more widely available, and thus gaining a larger customer base? Yes.

Facebook Asks Users to Help It Get Local Business Owners to Claim Their Places

Using their community to build their database of businesses. Smart move.

REPORT: How Google Plus Stacks Up Against Facebook

Given Google’s lofty brand status and massive reach in the technology world, I’m not surprised to see them come out of the blocks this strong. I don’t think 10% of Facebook’s US traffic is really the traction point for them. But the next few months could be very interesting.

New Filing Shows Zynga-Facebook Exclusivity Goes Far Beyond Credits – Liz Gannes – News – AllThingsD

A revealing, if not interesting, exploration of the relationship between these two. Facebook clearly has little to lose in this deal, and it shows Zynga’s heavy reliance on Facebook for the success of it’s platform. Like all the brand pages themselves, Facebook has put themselves in a position where they’re the only game in town, and if it weren’t for Facebook, the reality is, companies like Zynga would likely be a shell of their current selves.

And he's got an all-too-familiar golden mane.

That's right, 80's icon Fabio - he of the Harlequin novels of yore - is the new star of new TV and print advertising, as well as a new OldSpiceGuyFabio YouTube Channel.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Look for much new social media fun from Weiden+Kennedy Portland to follow. Already, press kits are coming with faux personalized videos dedicated to recipients (here's one a reporter at Creativity received).

Still, Mustafa was an unknown actor Old Spice made into a star (and, it can be argued, vice versa). Can a well-known, B-list celebrity bring an aura of hipness to the brand along the same equation?

Nothing against Fabio - he just scored big time. But Mustafa really did bring something for which men can aspire and women admire.

In W+K's able hands, I think this will probably be something different, and just as awesome, in its own way, as the original.

But what's your take? Does this new effort have a fresh, cool fragrance?

Or is it really putting the "old" back in the brand name?

Read all about it, here.

Laura Desmond, CEO of Starcom MediaVest Group, recently voiced her concern over media mix modeling, since the standard measure is exposure and not engagement.  She would rather the industry measure the consumer experience.   Consequently, MediaVest recently announced a new practice that will focus on understanding the human experience as consumers interact or engage with media.

As the digital landscape continues to advance and evolve, it’s critical that we look at new formats and metrics that not only benefit advertisers but give users a better experience.  New formats that give users a choice with video advertising, which they’ve become accustomed to in other aspects of their digital lives.

We have the opportunity with online video to go beyond the traditional TV model and explore formats that generate consumer engagement.  We don't have to always interrupt someone's desire to see a piece of content by forcing them to watch our video advertisement.  We can give consumers the ability to choose which ad they watch and reward them for engaging behavior.

What's next?

If we decide to push back with advertisers against the hybrid TV-model crammed into the digital landscape, what alternatives can we offer them?

One interesting format and metric for digital video advertising that is poised for explosive growth is Cost Per View (CPV).  CPV is based on the concept that the consumer controls the experience.  With CPV, consumers can decide whether or not to watch the video ad in full.  And in many placements such as on Facebook, consumers can also decide which ad to watch.

With CPV, an advertiser only pays if a consumer watches 100% of the ad, and pays on a per impression basis.  Typically, the CPV advertising cost is higher than CPMs; however CPV is a system markedly different than the traditional TV video advertising model, and delivers more than the traditional CPM model.  First, CPV allows advertisers to only pay for engaged consumers and therefore ensures that their advertising costs are better aligned with their goals of being able to increase and measure video ad viewership.  Second, because consumers have a choice, the responsibility of creating compelling content that captures consumer's attention and time falls back onto the agency.  Compelling ad content in turn leads to higher brand awareness and trust in the brand.

This changes the game. It gives consumers choice, gives advertisers a captive audience, and gives agencies better information for measuring and optimizing campaigns.

What’s our responsibility here?

Temptation and inertia are strong for agencies to give CMOs the metrics and ad buys that they're accustomed to. However, if CPV can measurably impact the ultimate goal – engagement that leads to increased brand awareness, brand lift, and sales from an advertising campaign, then we should push an advertiser or CMO to strongly consider it.  In fact, YouTube has predicted that 50% of video ads will include Cost Per View by 2015 – a startling statistic that proves we have the power to change our industry for the better by delivering better engagement for advertisers and giving consumers the control they desire.

Be ahead of the curve. It's a painful cliché, but it's painful because it's true - change is hard. Many digital advertising executives will read this article, and make a mental note - I need to add CPV to my To Do list. We all know what happens to things at the bottom of your To Do list. They don't get done. Why not be one of the leading agencies or advertisers embracing new units and metrics?

Standard ad units like pre-roll and metrics like click-through rate (CTR) will be a valuable part of the advertising mix for awhile. But the burden falls on us to give advertisers and CMOs the information and understanding to take that leap into more innovative ways like CPV to engage a consumer and measure their response.

For that reason, it was fitting to see the SVP of Marketing, Carol Kruse, address a crowded room on the next generation of entertainment marketing and how marketing a sports network differs from consumer package goods.

We caught Carol after her presentation and asked her a few questions about marketing for the nation's largest sports network. Watch to find out what she had to say:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Note: This is a SAFE FOR WORK article – get your head out of the gutter, pervert.

The industry of Adult Entertainment (referenced as AE herein) has brought with it many of the advances we use every day in the Internet, Digital Media and Advertising Industry. Don’t flush red just yet. As I said, this is a safe for work article. However, I know the mention of the word “porn” brings with it raised eyebrows, unsettled seat shifting and for some, total damnation. It’s a contentious word in parts of the world and a flavorful one in others. For some, the word conjures “free speech” and for others proof that this obscenity means we should not be so free.

Let me clarify the following up front…

1) I, in no way, support the AE Industry, and

2) I am not stating the AE industry invented all these innovations

However, I am stating that the AE industry has clearly utilized these innovations to their advantage and does drive technological advancement in all of them.

To recap history, in the 1980’s the AE industry helped usher in the unanimous use of the VHS tape as the standard in-home movie viewing over that of Beta. Of course as DVD media format came on the scene in the late 1990’s even VHS began to fade in its dominance, and it would be fair to estimate that soon digital downloads and streaming will give fade to DVD format just as digital downloads have led to the demise of physical CD or Albumin the music industry. Some suggest that digital will all but eradicate DVD format as early as 2015.

So what are the contributions and innovations of the AE industry to the more mainstream Internet, Digital Media and Advertising industry?

1. Video Downloads & Streaming

2. Electronic Billing

3. Digital Rights Management

4. Pop-up Ads

5. Affiliate Marketing

6. Wireless Content Delivery

7. Geo-location Software

Some of these may be surprising to you. Geo-location software? You may be thinking to yourself, “no, no, no that was pioneered by the likes of Foursquare and Gowalla.” Well, not really. Clearly Foursquare and Gowalla have become darlings of the mainstream industry and VC’s alike, but there is a darker side to location-based services. Albeit, not unintelligent.

Over the last few years I have spoken to a number of technology providers that serve both the AE and the mainstream media industries (i.e. companies like Time Warner and Comcast serve both by the way) to understand how they are implementing technology and services, creating unique revenue models and growing their businesses. I do not aspire to work in the AE industry, but I will tell you that many of the folks that do are very smart and well-versed on the ins-and-outs (it’s ok to laugh) of the Internet, Digital Media and Advertising Industry. Yes, we all hear of the seediness of AE but these folks also know their business and their legal limits, arguably better than executives of many mainstream companies, such as Goldman Sachs, Citibank, AIG and any other high profile financial institutions that always seem to “bend the law – make that break the law.” Yes, that’s a personal jab (Advice – rent the Oscar Award winning documentary “Inside Job” – it’s a financial flick, not otherwise, Gutter Boy).

More importantly, these folks in the AE business are specific, detailed, know what they want, what they expect and how to measure it. They are well-organized and do make many, very smart decisions. Some of their businesses are more profitable and operate more efficiently than many mainstream publically traded companies.

The following are three examples of how the Adult Entertainment or Porn industry has provided innovation in the Internet, Digital Media and Advertising Industry.

Affiliate Marketing - the industry of Porn has all but conquered the ultimate business model in Affiliate Marketing. These companies build multiple platforms from which to share content both owned and from competitors. They squeeze every conceivable cent from potential customers all in the name of making a profit, in some cases with very advanced methodologies.

Example: If a customer on company X website doesn’t purchase company X content, then company X serves up company Y content (Y may happen to be their competitor). The focus is on revenue, and some is better than none. Imagine Jenny Craig sending customers to Weight Watchers–not likely to happen. However, some mainstream companies have embraced this approach – Progressive Insurance comes to mind. Can’t find a great rate with Progressive they’ll offer you other options, from competitors.

Pop-up Ads – ok, so not every technology or deployment from the AE industry would be considered positive or advance the Internet, Digital Media and Advertising Industry. Most all of us would agree that Pop-up Ads are akin to junk mail and fairly annoying, even potentially harmful to brand reputations. Nonetheless, the AE industry led the charge to deliver on these ads and to this day continues to thrive off of them.

(Special Note: In 2002, just a month prior to me co-founding my current company, I worked for iVillage. We were the first to publically ban pop-up ads from our web properties. This started a movement that led to the likes of Yahoo, The New York Times and WSJ, among others, following suit. This had a great impact on the diminished use of these ads today from what was, at the time, overwhelmingly commonplace.)

Digital Rights Management (DRM) – this is a key area where the AE industry is possibly further along than most all other mainstream industries in both understanding and usage. Ownership and delivery rights related to Porn not only have financial implications but also legal. Clearly there are federal and state laws against/for the use and distribution of this form of content, and the content owner,

A) does not want it stolen by a pirate, and

B) neither do they want it shown somewhere it should not be (shared or viewed) for legal reasons

Two companies have driven this innovation further than others: they include Vivid Entertainment and Private Media Group. Vivid Entertainment and its visionary founder, Steven Hirsch (I’ll refer to him as a younger Richard Branson), was the first to deliver in the DRM area by offering customers one-time downloads (burn to DVD) from a website. This is? controlled and limited use of the content by the consumer. Vivid aims to vigorously protect its content and ownership credentials.

Meanwhile, Private Media Group (PRVT – a publicly traded company, NASDAQ) CEO, Ilan Bunimovitz, was one of the first to offer HTML5 iPad optimized downloads and is also working on cross-platform delivery across multiple devices for its content. Supposedly, Private Media Group does not DRM protect any of its content because as their CEO states, “The way to fight piracy is not to limit who you sell content to…(i.e. consumers)” [but rather fight the piracy sites directly.]

So, the next time you fall in love with that really cool technology or sexy app that helps you through your day, consider where it spent the night before you.

I would enjoy your comments on how you feel the AE industry has driven innovation in these areas and others and how this had benefited the Internet, Digital Media and Advertising Industry. Please comment below and follow me @SParkerJr on Twitter.

Image Source: crazy-desktop-wallpaper.blogspot.com

Usual colorful characters were in full regalia promoting a respective company and/or product – a pair of vertically challenged hires wore head-to-toe bear costumes, an attractive young lady decked out as some kind of fairy godmother passed out flyers, and a number of people sported coiffures with bright hues of green, tangerine, even magenta.

Standard stuff for GDC.

Looking beyond GDC, overall, the PC gaming industry appears healthy and poised for significant growth assuming the economy slowly continues to improve both in the U.S. and abroad.

Market research firm Jon Peddie Research recently released its figures on the forecast for video game graphics boards sales for the next two years and actual Q4 2010 shipments. The firm found that worldwide, consumers spent five percent less during the holiday season on ultra high-end enthusiast video graphics than during Q3 2010, but four percent more on upper-end midrange performance boards.

This suggests, says Dr. Jon Peddie, president of the firm, that consumers were still watching their wallets and despite some encouraging news about an improving economy, cast their votes with their hard-earned dollars.

Overall, noted Peddie, the graphics board market generated sales of $4.4 billion in Q4 2010, and of that the firm estimates 44 percent was for gaming graphics (although the graphics boards can of course be used for other functions).

Looking forward, Peddie sees a steady growth in the high-performance enthusiast segment and expects it to reach $2.45 billion by 2013.  And last month the company released a PC gaming hardware market report, estimating that 2011 expenditures will be up 27 percent over 2010 to about $22 billion worldwide.

Another market research firm, NPD, released its figures covering video game console and game sales for February. They reported that U.S. consumers spent three percent more (a total of $1.36 billion) on video games last month compared to the same period a year ago.   NPD said console accessories sales figures scored the biggest gains – a 22 percent hike from last year - primarily due to sales of Microsoft’s Xbox Kinect motion sensor controller.

NPD said for February, the top five games in the U.S. were Call of Duty: Black Ops; Marvel vs. Capcom 3; Just Dance 2: NBA 2k11; and Dead Space 2.

Powerhouse Electronic Arts is somewhat upbeat too. In an interview with Gamasutra, EA Games President Frank Gibeau said MMORPG’s (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) and other PC games will continue to be a key revenue producer for EA.

“The user base is gigantic,” said Gibeau. “PC retail may be a big problem, but PC downloads are awesome. The margins are much better and we don’t have any rules in terms of first approvals. From our perspective, it’s an extremely health platform. It’s totally conceivable it will become our biggest platform.”

There are a number of key factors influencing the amount of money people are spending on PCs as a gaming platform.

Here are a few of these as reported by Jon Peddie Research:

• The natural cycle of PC hardware purchases from historical inflection points. The biggest inflection points correspond with highly anticipated software releases. The refresh cycle of PCs for this crop of gamers is hitting over the last year and through the next year. This stimulates sales.

• System demands of modern FPS (first person shooters) and RTS (real-time strategy) titles. To play Black Ops or Starcraft II at good resolutions and frame rates requires a pretty decent rig. Gamers that are interested in these titles are buying new rigs to run them, stimulating sales.

• The cost of 1920x1080 PC displays has dropped to around $200. This is a very important factor in mid-range PC gamers buying and upgrading equipment to run on this resolution at good frame rates.

• Solid state drives are on the wish lists of a lot of PC gamers and they are using this technology as the decision base for upgrades and new rigs.

• Steam, The EA Store, Direct2Drive, and other services make buying PC games very convenient. The word is getting out and it is influencing people to adopt the PC as a gaming platform.

• The current console platforms are old and they have performance limitations. Gamers are choosing the PC because of the incredible quality that is possible beyond a console. One can obtain a $600 PC that exceeds the capabilities of a console (and you can use it for a lot of other things).

• Direct X 11 is being widely applauded amongst higher end PC gamers who spend a lot of money.

• PC gamers are spending a lot of money on high quality speaker systems, headsets, mice, cases, cooling, and other accessories and customizations.

• 3D is also opening the wallets of PC gamers. Though it is not universal, there is a significant and growing interest in 3D capabilities.

• Ultra HD displays are on the wish lists of many high end PC gamers. Gamers need a very fast system to run these resolutions and this is stimulating sales.

• Wide gamut displays are starting to attract attention and dollars from PC gamers. Traditionally used by graphic designers, “wide gamut” displays are capable of showing more of the color spectrum, often making games look better.

Games go well with desktop and notebook computers; the market should only get stronger over the next several years.

Key industry forecasts to look out for:

• Display ad market will reach $50 billion by 2015
• Video will be the single largest driver in the digital market.
• Display will continue to shift to an audience buying model.
• In 2015, 50% of all ad buying will be done in real time.
• By 2015, 50% of online display ads will feature rich media, from 6% in 2009

Ad Spend

Despite continued economic downturn, online ad spend grew throughout 2010. Growth in display ad spend grew larger than Search for the first time since the recession hit the industry. This trend is expected to continue through 2014. The long awaited return of display was fueled by robust platforms including Ad Exchanges, Real Time Bidding, Social Media, Video and backed by a growing demand in brand advertising.

European online ad spend closed the year with double digits growth. During H1 2010, growth in Spain, Poland, Italy, and UK were up by 20%, 18%, 15%, and 10% respectively. IAB Europe predicts the European online ad market to overtake the US market in value by the summer of next year. On the other side of the Atlantic, US H1 Online ad spending were up by 11.3%. Display back on the lead with growth of 16% compared to search with just 11.6%.

The impact of innovative Rich Media

TV ads may be ahead in terms of creativity, but they lack fundamental aspects that are possible with rich media ads in an endless way. The possibility to dynamically customize display ads to provide an exceptional user experience is at the heart of the current digital advertising landscape. With the explosion of internet enabled mobile devices, location aware/geo targeted advertising apps, embedded rich media ads can be used to enhance campaign performance in real time.

Moreover, Google/DoubleClick research found the following about rich media ads: When embedded with video, rich media ads increases purchase intent by 4 times as compared to standard banner ads, awareness can increase by five times and favourability by 15 times. Additionally, one in three internet users click on ads and one in five perform a related search about the exposed brand or products of the company.

The television “check-in” right now is ripe for taking off.  It’s part of a larger trend called SocialTV.  Television networks need help with their ratings and consumers love to interact, so this sounds like a match made in heaven.  Interacting with other people while watching a common show is a win/win opportunity for all constituents in the television ecosystem.  Content creators (studios) love it because there are opportunities to integrate and extend the programming; networks love it because people tune-in, and fans love it because they have a chance to engage with each other and potentially the show itself.

My experience last night fell flat as I expected robust dialogue between all the people who were checked into the show thru the apps.  There weren’t too many people using the apps that did more than “check into” the actual show.  I’m not completely sure why this is and would have to look at the user experience of each individual app for their respective messaging and calls to actions, but I would have thought they would have pushed the community to interact with each other.

While earning badges for eating at restaurants, checking into hotels, and now watching certain television shows are nifty, at some point we all get badge fatigue.  These apps need to move beyond just giving a badge to people who check into a show and move towards harnessing the community and building a robust interactive extension.  This is precisely where I believe the SocialTV app creators will differentiate themselves amongst each other and the smartest ones will sign deals with the networks and content producers to carry their content.

I think this area is going to be fascinating to watch over time.  No pun intended.

Darren Herman is the Chief Digital Media Officer of The Media Kitchen and kirshenbaum bond senecal + partners.  He is also the President and Managing Director of kbs+p Ventures, an early stage investment arm of kbs+p.  He is always on the lookout for innovation on the edges and likes to write about it at his own blog, DarrenHerman.com

Click here to view the embedded video.

Come Monday morning, we'll get hit with the latest barrage of news stories about how an everyday consumer showed up Madison Avenue with a popular Super Bowl spot. And just like last year and the year before that, the news media will mostly fail to report that the winners of these contests are often professional filmmakers who could have just as easily been the ones hired by ad agencies to create the spots in the first place. See last year's New York Times coverage as just one example of this failure. And this year's USA Today announcement about the Ad Meter winners is another.

I don't blame the brands for the confusion - they open up these contests to all comers, and it stands to reason that the really good entries would win.

But maybe it's time the news media should, perhaps, stop framing these promotions as if it means a ticket to the big time for anyone with a Handicam and Hollywood dreams.

Let's take Doritos annual "Crash The Super Bowl" user-gen contest (which is run by agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners). Past winners like "Live the Flavor" (guy crashes car while eying attractive girl), "Checkout Girl" (cashier and customer raucously bond over Doritos flavors) and "Free Doritos" (co-workers toss a crystal ball into vending machine in order to score some free Doritos, then run into trouble when one of them accidentally throws the ball into their boss's nether regions) all come from professionals - not everyday consumers.

"Live the Flavor" came from Dale Backus and Wes Philips, professional videographers with their own commercial production company. "Checkout Girl" came from Kristin Dehnert, who is an award-winning filmmaker. And Joe and Dave Herbert, the guys behind "Free Doritos" are award-winning videographers with their own independent film studio, called Transit Films, which offers advertising and animation services, among other things. As a result, their entries look great. They're well shot, well cast and well produced. Doritos' own ad agency couldn't have done better.

And that's a conceit that won't wash with consumers for long.

As I recently told National Public Radio, "It's ironic, because the people who actually end up winning these things are the people who could probably build careers in advertising, if they aren't already."

That's not to say the winners have done anything wrong, or that the spots aren't grassroots efforts. Last year's "Underdog," from Joshua Svoboda, who just happens to have been, yes, a creative director at a production company called 5 Point Productions (something the New York Times failed to point out in a story on the spot), reportedly cost only $200 to shoot.

And this year's winners, JD Burningham (described only as a 'part-time web designer by USA Today) and Tess Ortbals - who are actually award-winning filmmakers who run their own commercial production company - only spent about $500.

It's just that the money spent is spent, one could argue, by pros, not just some Schmo shooting a spot in the backyard.

After their big win with "Free Doritos," I talked to the Herbert Brothers about how they created their Ad Meter-topping spot. It's a fun, inspiring conversation - these are great guys who did a phenomenal job. And we hear their perspective on just how consumer-created "consumer-created" really is and what it means for the future of advertising.

It's an refreshing story, one the news media should spotlight - instead of framing these kinds of contests as citizen marketers making hay at Madison Avenue's expense.

Audio Interview - Confessions of a 'Crash The Super Bowl' Winner Pt 1: How We Did It

Audio Interview - Confessions of a 'Crash The Super Bowl' Winner Pt 2: Myth of the 'Consumer-Created' Super Bowl Spot