But what does it mean for an agency or a person to be innovative? The concept is buzzing around the marketing world, impossible to ignore and strangely, even harder to observe in action. Agency-defined innovators only have as much power and influence as their next idea. It’s no wonder that they soon find themselves trolling Twitter #innovation #hashtags, proving once again that nothing is new until everyone has done it.

But let’s take a step back, innovation, simply defined, is the introduction of something new, anything new, that’s it. So how can there be an SVP of Something New? Reinvention and curiosity is human, when each employee comes to the office ready to face risks without fear of failure, determination and creativity. Building a special task force of innovators can undermine others’ confidence and chip away at creativity, so engaging all employees, regardless of discipline, is crucial as soon as they set foot in the office. Unhinge traditional disciplines in favor of a more organic environment around passions. And if your employees aren’t introducing this disruptive ingenuity at work every day, why did you hire them in the first place?

As a mentor or anyone in a leadership role, you need to exploit your people, but in way that’s meaningful to all parties. Get them to share their passions using whatever media, whether they end up simply exposing what they love through passive social sharing or carefully articulating it to others through hacks or talks. Then, the fear slips away. Individual employees reap personal and professional benefits as they gain a greater understanding of themselves, their peers, and digital opportunities. As a result, the agency’s atmosphere becomes more progressive, multi-faceted, fearless of the new, with an insurgent mentality. If we are not only letting people bring their individual passions to work but also encouraging them to apply them to the culture, to client work, to research and development, then we are creating a work environment that revolves around people and their ideas, and is better tuned into the very culture we are going after in marketing.

Since inspiration originates from anywhere in the company, we aren’t favoring a particular aesthetic or professional persuasion. Creatives, administrators and developers alike aren’t afraid to interrupt, to disrupt, to share what they know about target audiences, channel requirements, business expectations or strategy. This translates to confidence in their sometimes obscure, very spontaneous and always remarkable moments of personal creativity. We want them to know we believe in them and that our clients should, too. This takes trust; trust in our employees, our agency, and the types of clients we want to work with.

As this confidence flows across hierarchies instead of slowly percolating from the top down, we can approach all three aspects of our job with new eyes: the process, the work itself, and our relationships with our clients. We can motivate our people using grassroots methods, as soon as they walk in, by whispering in their ear and prompting them to participate. We can strategize without being afraid of challenging and changing our methods; as soon as we have basic assumptions, or a template, we throw them out. We create opportunities to take concepts back to their beginnings, unafraid to change the practices behind them. We refine, cut, and trim ideas into their purist touch points, so they are raw and experimental. Keeping them simple. We prove their mettle immediately on the platforms we are most passionate about.

These days, our clients want to work with our people and their ideas, this allows us to include them early on in the process. If we depend on big reveals of an end-all concept, we could easily miss the mark, lose the opportunity to get the information we need to improve our work, and lose time and relevance – which is everything. Instead, we work alongside the client in rough drafts, touching lightly on concepts that they “help” us to define as we lead them towards the final product. They are more apt to appreciate and approve work they’ve invested with the agency – and we get to move more quickly. We get the work out faster, as digital demands; digital needs to be concepted against real-time, the traditional model is batch, and obsolete for this medium. If you look at the current landscape across industries, you see quickly that real-time, from financial to cursory browsing, is king.

Innovation is a comment on the past, while digital only knows the future. By constructing a culture of progressive thinkers, insurgent marketers, who continually thwart the rules, you are actually building an atmosphere, process and concept that promote the confidence and enthusiasm necessary to always do something new. This, in turn, translates to greater marketing confidence and innovation, as we take leaps without being overwhelmed by the definitions and data surrounding “innovative” campaigns that came before, by operating in real-time. Clayton Christensen remarked, “There’s a fundamental problem about the world, which is that data is only available about the past. If you wait until the data is clear that you’re getting disrupted, you’re going to be taking action when the game is over.” As digital evolves, it will force marketing into uncharted gray areas, where we’ll have only the fewest assumptions to navigate us. We cannot be overwhelmed by the past or its labels. It is a risk, but it is the only way we can move forward in true digital.

However, an important stat to consider is that 72 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. That means your video is competing for attention against many other videos. Therefore it's important to understand that in order for YouTube to work for your company, you need to do more than simply put your videos on there. You need your videos to be found by your target audience. If people can't find your video then it's not going to get many views and will become a wasted resource.

One way to ensure lots of views is to get it ranking top for important keyword searches that your target audience will make. Following these simple steps will boost your videos rankings and help your business harness the power of YouTube.

1. Keywords

Before you do anything you need to know what keywords you want to target with your video. These need to be related to the video itself but also link into what your target audience are going to be searching for. I would recommend a maximum of 6 words to target.

2. Title

Once you have decided what keywords you are going to target, you need to include them in the title of the video. The keywords must be related to the content of the video otherwise people are going to stop watching early, give it the thumbs down and your video will slide down the search rankings.

3. Description

You also need to mention the keywords in the description, but don't keyword stuff. You only want to have a light sprinkling of the keywords in the description text and the first line should include the most important keywords. It's advisable to also have a link to your own website in the description.

4. Tags

Make sure you make use of the tagging feature in Youtube. Again input your keywords and I would recommend only using 6 tags.

5. Location shot

If you are looking for your video to appear in location searches on YouTube, one trick I have found useful is to use the video location feature in advanced video settings. You simply type in the location where the video was filmed, which will result in a map appearing and all you need to do is select the exact location on the map.

6. User engagement

Now you are optimised to compete against the right keywords, appearing higher than all the other videos targeted at the same keywords will depend on user engagement. This includes metrics like total number of views, likes, time spent watching, how many shares it gets etc. Try to encourage as many people as possible to view and like your video.

7. Links

Another important aspect of the ranking system will be the number of quality back links you have to your video. You want to get your message out there and tell people about your video to encourage them to have links on their websites to the video or embed it on their pages.

Click here to view the embedded video.

More importantly, what might they do with it?

An insurance company called RSA in the Middle East has created an interactive print ad that enables readers to ask for a quote, no mobile phone or other consumer device required, though the quote comes back via the reader's mobile phone (which obviously provides the brand with contact information it could use for follow up communications).

As PSFK points out, the ad, developed by OgilvyOne, is targeted to prospective customers in Dubai, and supports the brand's "Easy as Ever" promise.

Sure it's early days in this kind of thing - a first step toward some of the interactive print concepts we saw in 'Minority Report' a decade ago - and it will need to be enhanced before it gets truly compelling.

But here, the medium is quite literally the message - an innovative "wow" moment that directly delivers on the brand's positioning.

Read more here.

Data is driving decision-making in more businesses and sectors, and in ways that would have been surprising just a couple of years ago.

As in: Oh my god, when you really get down and think about it (and read this article), Netflix’s development of the new buzzed-about show House of Cards was totally driven by data and insights they obtain from mining the habits of their subscribers. In fact, their entire business is only possible through the hyper-intelligent use of data.

And, that’s nothing, it’s just entertainment. Take a look at how that most basic of human drives — the desire to find a mate — is being shaped and recast, made efficient and effective through data wizardry. If, as the online dating companies claim, “20% of us meet our future spouse online,” then eHarmony, Match.com, et al are mining a lot of data with massive impact on the lives of many.

Data is critical to winning in the future of marketing.

As digital ad spending outstrips print and is poised to be the big dog in marketing, data grows right along with it. Down the road, nearly all forms of marketing will be digitized in some way— addressable and targetable. What this means is an even deeper trough of data for marketers, brands, agencies and media companies to mine for insights.

In short, all marketing relies on data but in the big game, the winners will be the ones who can sift through the biggest pile of sand and extract the gold nuggets. We’re seeing more marketers look for solutions to get a handle on the vast trove of data available to them and leverage it for smarter business decisions.

Facebook has a billion consumers on its platform, China has hundreds of millions of folks on mobile phones. All of these people, preferences and actions create data points that are of potential interest to marketers. How do we all benefit from our data being used? Why do we care? In the great value exchange, people will get better targeted messages from brands, some offers and savings, and maybe some interesting (ad-supported) content.

More facets of our lives are being impacted by data — mostly for good — and the onus is on each of us to understand what that really means.

Like the saying goes, “knowing is half the battle.” It’s an established fact that our data is being known, used and monetized by enterprises and entities far and wide. We all have a horse in this data-stakes, a few examples of which are:

• Politicians and government are using data in the democratic process, as in the data-driven Obama election victory in 2012.
• Insurance companies are using tons of data to model and predict who will get sick and cost them more money; or who should get lower car insurance rates.
• The growing use of wearable devices such as the Fitbit. They read our physical status and imagine what we (or others) will do with the data they throw off.

While there are many critical reasons to reform education and job training in this country, here’s one thing we definitely need to do: start preparing a generation of data scientists, analysts and engineers who know how to work with and leverage data to build our tomorrow. I know for sure that our future depends on it. We’re all data now.

New brands are acknowledging this shift in consumer behavior, and, in order to build quick awareness, they are encapsulating their key message—either the functional product benefit, point of difference, or positioning—into their brand name. Take for instance the brand “Eat Well Enjoy Life” that conveys the functional and emotional benefit in its name. In these instances, the brand name becomes the brand sound bite. We’ve seen several examples in food and pharmaceuticals where brands are developing their distinct sound bites to build affinity and awareness in seconds.

Thomas Keller of French Laundry fame has created a new 100% gluten-free flour. Leveraging the standard cooking instruction, “cup for cup”, and distilling it further by using the abbreviation, the brand C4C is a new product that can be used to replace regular cooking flour. C4C telegraphs the key benefit that this product can be easily used with current recipes in the same proportions to create favorite baked goods, now just gluten-free.

The pharmaceutical brand, Help, purposely chose its name to minimize consumer confusion. Each product starts with Help followed by a consumer problem, such as Help I’m tired. With such communication, consumers clearly understand the product benefit, leaving nothing to doubt. A brilliant example of naming that gets to the point and stands out against the industry norm of fanciful, scientific sounding nomenclature.

Being direct about its product promise is the brand Good Food Made Simple. While the brand name is a bit lengthy, it is so straightforward that it effectively builds affinity. The brand then backs up the promise and gives its name meaning with these statements on its website: “Our commitment is in our name: we make good food, simple. Simple to make. Simple to trust. Simple to enjoy.”

As a marketer, what can you do to pique the interest of your over-messaged, skimming consumer? Imagine yourself in a brand speed-dating situation. You have five seconds to tell your target shopper your story and what you can bring to the relationship. Try taking your positioning statement, key brand benefit, or elevator pitch and put it into plain English to create a brand name. For existing brands, apply this clarity and simplicity of messaging to all forms of communication from packaging to digital. Consumers are pleading: skip the marketing jargon and just get to the point!

How? First let's talk about those dreamy, mythical deadlines that are weeks or even months away. Besides the natural tendency to procrastinate, the tendency to over analyze becomes the greater issue. The more time you have, the more you second guess what you're doing or the less willing you are to commit to a direction until you feel it is the ultimate solution. Or something could be great at first, but because you have all the time in the world you don't know when to say when. You keep building up and tearing down until you're left with something average or safe, not realizing that brilliance was staring you in the face days ago.

When you have a tight deadline, you're forced to immediately focus on the ask and quickly come up with an efficient game plan. Once the essence of the brief is understood, you go to some of your favorite digital or traditional resources for some quick industry research. Next, you sketch or write out a few simple concepts on paper, and because of time you rely on your instincts to quickly select the best concept and flesh it out. I'm willing to bet more times than not, by following this approach, most creatives are pretty impressed with the results in these seemingly less ideal circumstances.

So is that it? Not exactly. Once you think you've mastered the above process, you're really only halfway great. The truly talented are "always on" or seem to rarely run into that creative wall that stops many in their tracks.

The real trick, is knowing what it takes to keep you going or how to quickly get going when the ideas start to fall flat. Of course there are many ways to do this, and every creative has their preference, but usually I find it comes down to four. I polled our own creative team to see what approaches would bubble to the top.

Reset Yourself - whatever it takes to clear the mind
Get away from the screen. Temporarily move your workspace to a different area of the office. Take a long walk for coffee or lunch. Cake or cookie break at Jupiter. Draw. Have a music discussion with a colleague. Catch up on Facebook or Twitter. The Daily Show. Take a nap. mostawesomestthingever.com

Get Inspired - where you can find the latest and greatest
thecssawards.com, mashable.com, digitalbuzzblog.com, contagiousfeed.com, creativity-online.com, ffffound.com, mcsweeneys.net, thefwa.com, smashingmagazine.com, designspongeonline.com, designobserver.com, wemadethis.co.uk/blog, motionographer.com, designcharts.com, notcot.org, various specialty tumbler sites, fashion blogs, twitter trends.

Plan Your Attack - steps that always deliver
Put down the mouse and actually sketch or write your thoughts down on paper--know what you want to create before jumping into Photoshop or Word. Surf the web, research, look at the competition. Synthesize the creative brief down to the main ask--what will define success? Sum up the concept into a headline. Can you sell it in 140 characters? If not, move on.

Your Creative Window - knowing when you're at your best
Early mornings rule. The am is usually quiet with little or no distractions--take advantage of a fresh, well-rested mind. Late night grinds are rarely as fruitful.
Obviously there are some situations where a short turnaround just doesn't work, no matter how prepared you are. When you're dealing with a multi tiered social campaign with dozens of extensions and activations or a massive site redesign with endless layers of functionality and business requirements, the last thing you want is to be in a situation that forces you to compromise. There will always be projects that require a thorough development cycle with multiple checkpoints and milestones across every discipline.

At the end of the day, most creatives really have mixed emotions when it comes to having to deliver at the eleventh hour. Even if they seem to knock it out of the park every time. They love the challenge and satisfaction that comes with solving the impossible, but hate all the pressures, chaos, and emotions that come with it.

Do tight deadlines really equate to better work? Maybe not. But there's something to be said about the raw, streamlined process it forces us to switch into.

Following up on our list of Top 10 Mobile Marketing Initiatives of 2012, it's time to look at some trends we'll see emerge and/or evolve in the year ahead.

Among the most prominent (not necessarily in this order):

5. Mobile Advertising Picks Up Speed (For A Time)

According to Forrester Research, mobile ad spend will boom next year - to $15 billion. Why? Because consumers now spend 10% of their media consumption time on mobile devices, yet mobile attracts less than 10% of ad dollars. The firm reasons that the old school Internet's ad growth from 8% of spend to 22% of spend means mobile must follow course (even though marketers get less and less from that increased Internet spend). But, the firm says, even a small step toward closing the gap will mean big dollars for this medium.

I'm not completely convinced. As a marketer, I find mobile advertising a bore (even some of the newer, much hyped expandable ad units). As a consumer, I find it all a snooze fest.

Mobile's far more powerful than just trying to replicate ad models from the old school Internet and slapping them on a small screen of a phone, or even the larger screen of a tablet. But there's just too much potential revenues at stake so, in 2013 at least, mobile advertising will be a hot topic. Until it's someday not (or is at least recognized as one small, nearly insignificant sliver of the amazing things you can do with mobile). But as Ad Age points out today, 38% of click-throughs in mobile are from fat, clumsy thumbs.

The pub goes onto talk about some ways mobile video and native mobile ads within apps like Foursquare may see success. But in my view, Coca-Cola's Re:Brief integrated campaign is probably the best example of mobile advertising combining with social & traditional media to work cohesively in a compelling manner.

And, as I write in my book THE ON-DEMAND BRAND, using mobile to not just promote but enhance your product - turn it into a mobile service, ala Nike+ and other successful initiatives - is what will define winners and losers in many categories next year and in the decade ahead.

4. QR Code Stores Proliferate (Just Not in The US)

QR code stores in subways and elsewhere seem to have been the surprise hits of 2012, and could seriously take off in 2013. According to shop2mobi, 300 of these virtual stores launched last year - and 2,000 have already been planned for the next 12 months. Still, while these are huge in South Korea, China, Germany and elsewhere, QR codes themselves still mostly elicit quizzical looks from consumers, when they generate any notice at all. I could easily see commuters in New York or San Francisco taking advantage of these kinds of offerings. But it may be a while before they stand any chance in most of the US - and by the time that happens, we'll probably be onto whatever will replace QR codes next.

3. Mobile CRM Gains Strength As Transaction Capabilities Advance

Here's a winner: Use of mobile for customer loyalty programs like Starbucks'. Look for more brands to move beyond just using mobile to replenish cards to having mobile become the entire platform for loyalty. Look for transaction capabilities to advance, and adoption rates to follow suit.

2. More Brands Make the Mobile + Social + Local Connection

The big trend here is that more brands will stop viewing mobile and social as (just) cool new ways to connect with consumers, and start viewing these channels as cool new ways for brands to enable consumers to connect with one another - moderated and empowered by the brand.

In my piece the other day on social media trends for 2013, I point to early examples of this, including Vail Resort's Epic Mix app, which connects real friends in the real world in a highly social, physical world brand experience.

This past year, one look only at Heineken's personalized concert QR codes to see how ad hoc mobile + social + local branded experiences can take shape.

Look for more of this in the year ahead (especially as it pertains to things like social television viewing) - along with a new syllable, as we move from SoLoMo to SoLoMoCo with the addition of Co, which stands for Commerce. In a mobile roundtable I hosted this last August, SAP CMO Jonathan Becher and I discuss what this new dynamic might mean to brand marketers and retailers alike in the year ahead.

1. Augmented Reality Gets Really Cool

One look at my list of Top 10 Augmented Reality Initiatives 2012, and it's clear that AR - while quite gimmicky today - holds great promise for brand experiences via mobile and elsewhere. One of my favorite things about mobile AR is that it gets to the heart of the mobile ad debate.

In my view, mobile is far more powerful as an activation mechanism for communications we experience in other media - in print, television, radio, direct mail, outdoor and so on - than it is as an ad platform in and of itself. Mobile AR is an experience activated by the consumer, at his or her own initiative, at the point of communications impression. And it delivers something that literally can't be achieved in any other medium.

Not that many consumers are going to go download an AR app and start using it in 2013. But as standards emerge, these kinds of brand experiences will become more common - and will make up some of the cooler components of integrated campaigns in the year ahead.

This is a little different than our other Tops lists for 2012 – a list of digital promotions that didn’t
involve consumers interacting with any kind of screened device, mobile or otherwise.

Here, the interface may be your voice, your body or your brain. All that matters is the fun.

5. Honda’s Life Size Paper Model of Its New Car

Sure it’ll crumple in a crash. But I hear it’s very light and picks up speed in a stiff wind.

4. Mini ID’s Your Driving Style & Offers You A Cup of Joe to Match

Crazy ass drivers get an industrial-strength espresso, while slow pokes may get a mild Americano.

3. VW’s ‘Up!’ Care Powered by Cheers (tie)

How many miles-per-cheer can you get with the Volkswagen up!?

2. Fridge Magnet Orders Pizza for You

What's not to love about a fridge magnet that orders your favorite pizza when you push it?

1. Coca-Cola Amplifier: Magazine Ad Turns into a Speaker System for Your iPhone

Bringing whole new meaning to the term “plug and play.” Yes, it does involve a mobile screen, but the promotional device itself is print. Brilliant (see video above).

First up, 10 (well, okay, 11) of the best augmented reality initiatives for 2012.

11. Net-A-Porter: Augmented Reality Meets Window Shopping 

Who knew fashionistas would go ape sh*t over AR?

10. Holiday Inn: World's First Augmented Reality Hotel

Just in time for London's 2012 Olympic Games, patrons of one hotel find the place crawling with athletes.

9. Nokia Lumia Augmented Reality 'Angry Birds'

For me, 2012 was really the year Live AR started to really take off - and this is just one way consumers get in on the action, no special glasses or mobile devices required.

8. Marco Tempest Makes Magic with Kinect-Powered AR at TED Conference

Say goodbye to PowerPoint; this is a glimpse of the future of live presentations.

7. Ikea Brings Augmented Reality to 2013 Catalog

This is a brand with 211 million ways to make an impact on how we use augmented reality to sell.

6. Angry Birds Augmented Reality Game

While Nokia's promo was just that - a promo, this effort shows us where gaming's going fast.

5. Boo-Boos Be Gone: Kermit & Piggy Bring AR to BAND-AIDS

If a BAND-AID and a kiss won't cut it anymore, maybe Miss Piggy can do the trick.

4. Wonderbra Decoder App Gives You X-Ray Vision

School-age boys the world over rejoice.

3. 'Mission Impossible's 'Action Movie FX' Mobile App Puts You In the Action with Big Time FX

Can't tell you how many hours of fun this created for kids ... like me.

2. Magazine Cover Becomes Interactive Video Game

This is one way to make print relevant in the mobile age.

1. BBC/National Geographic 'Frozen Planet' Live AR Promo

Very cool, indeed (see video at top).

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The SoDA Report features research, articles, infographics and case studies from top digital agencies, elite production companies and client-side digital marketing executives worldwide. Industry leaders from North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia have contributed to this edition which is now available for iPad.

SoDA represents the cream of the digital marketing industry in the U.S. and abroad, and that intelligence is on full display in this, the latest edition of The SoDA Report.

In the context of advertising, Halloween is an individual’s opportunity for disruptive rebranding.

364 days a year you present yourself to the world within the fixed parameters of your personality and identity. Some days you’re more pleasant than others, but unless you’re bipolar or suffer from multiple personality syndrome your identity typically falls within a specific predictable range.

The same hold true for brands.

While Oreo exuberantly celebrates its 100th anniversary and even releases a candy corn flavored cookie for Halloween, it steadfastly maintains its core identity. According to Becky Tousey, Kraft Foods’ corporate archivist, the brand’s message has maintained a consistent theme throughout the years. Tousey told ABC News: "The focus of advertising was on the fun of eating Oreos, the fun of the parts of the Oreo. It has that theme of the enjoyment – the twisting, the licking, the dunking.”  By consistently reinforcing this fun-focused brand identity, Oreo remains on top of the packaged foods pyramid.

Going dramatically off-brand can have immensely positive effects. Just look at Old Spice, traditionally considered a “grandpa” product for the mature gentleman. That is, until the now virally famous “Swagger” campaign transformed the product into a direct competitor to the Axe-wielding 12-34 male demo. The result: 400% sales growth.

The impact of a dramatic rebrand comes with inherent risks of confusing the audience.  Consider P&G’s Parthenon campaign for Pantene. Traditionally identified as the “Don’t Hate Me Because I’m Beautiful” product, Pantene rebranded itself by focusing on 18 benefit-themed collections including quirky terms like “4 o’clock flop” and “second-day hair.” Customers didn’t grasp the concept. The result: P&G failed to hit their usual 5% annual beauty growth mark – which CEO A.G. Lafley directly attributed to the Pantene rebrand in his April 2012 earnings call..  Ever the adaptable powerhouse, Pantene has since reignited a dynamic campaign that focus on its core value of beautiful, manageable hair.

The allure of Halloween is the promise of a rebranding transformation for a single day without repercussion. The lowly assistant can transform into a princess without the consequence of being considered a social climber. The buttoned-up exec can let loose as Elvis and avoid HR write-ups for his manic hip gyrations. The introverted analyst can become a sexy (insert random non-sexy profession or animal here) without having her morals questioned too harshly.

As with Old Spice, you might astound your associates with your contemporary, bold reveal. Or,  you could present your audience with a confusing, socially awkward faux pas. The key to a successful rebrand is to create something that will surprise and delight your audience. But, in the world of Halloween you could either delight or horrify and still be considered a raging success. For one night you can explore the daring and bizarre aspects of your personality by becoming someone or something else. Come November 1^st, you return to your normal self – perhaps slightly hung-over from sugar and cheer, hopefully holding on to that beautiful self-expression and exploration only Halloween can conjure.

Consumers are ignoring ads like never before and banner blindness is plaguing the industry. Even if consumers were paying attention, many ads wouldn’t be “in view”:  They’re served below the fold, or take longer to load than the time viewers typically spend on the page.

So how can you make sure your ads will be seen? Get ads into the content stream. It’s where you and every other consumer on earth spend the bulk of their time: watching, listening and reading content.

Companies like Vibrant Media create “in-content” brand-discovery solutions that get brand messages into those content streams, where consumers are actually paying attention. These placements are the polar opposite of the old static banner ads that sit quietly in the right rail of the page, just waiting to be ignored. For example, Vibrant has contextually relevant rich-media brand canvases that take all of your great content – such as the social media channels you spent so much sweat and treasure to populate – and bring it into the editorial well, where it’s ready to be discovered by consumers who are interested.

Now that you’re in the content, what are you going to deliver? There will always be a place for “traditional” digital advertising, whether it is a 15-second web video spot or even a banner ad with a simple call to action. However, we have seen that advertising performs best when it delivers genuine value to the consumer. Create ads that are relevant, fun and engaging. Want to do display? Then make it radically different, like this one from Ikea. Reel people in with ads that are contextually relevant, and really useful like these Jeep ads that run alongside news stories and highlight road conditions and weather info.

Much of the buzz around native advertising focuses on branded content or sponsored content, such as what you see on sites like Buzzfeed and the Huffington Post. It is clear this will grow as an opportunity for publishers seeing their revenue squeezed both online and off.

However, not every brand is going to develop its own content shop with a healthy budget. We should hope to see “hundreds of content shops” blossom, whether they are small home-based operations in Brooklyn or big-time offshoots of ad agencies. We’ve already seen some PR firms get into the game.

Whatever its origin, content is the key (along with context, of course) to the hearts and minds of consumers. Ads need to be fun, value-adding, and “content-like,” and they need to be seen to be appreciated. You’ve engaged them, so now you better be engaging.

Let’s face it: mobile advertising still has a long way to go. Facebook finally announced its latest and greatest mobile-ad effort last week, but smart industry folks say it still leaves much to be desired. And even though more money’s flowing toward mobile, the dollars spent on mobile marketing still don’t come close to aligning with the amount of time we spend with smartphones in hand. In fact, some say that the only reason mobile pulls in ad spend is because it’s so  damn cheap.

Even so, it seems inevitable that mobile’s share of spend will continue to increase – if only because it already owns such a significant share of mind. Mobile also has serious potential to perform for marketers. A Nielsen report out this week showed a shorter time to purchase and dramatically higher purchase rates among mobile consumers. And leaders at trailblazing agencies are putting serious effort into setting the mobile agenda for the rest of the marketing world.

Mobile has transcended its role as a connection and convergence device. In the words of Starcom MediaVest Group’s Jesse Missad, “it will be part of every communications plan.”

I spoke with Missad and other industry leaders about their thoughts on mobile. Here are their five rules for the mobile road – actionable insights you can put to work right now:

1. Don’t ask “if,” but “how?” Big brands no longer see the need to justify mobile. Rather, they’re looking for partners who’ve mastered it. The question is not whether you need mobile, but how you can do it well. Altimeter Group analyst Chris Silva harks back to an old lesson of Web 1.0, saying that agencies need to be “mature” about mobile – putting real thought into strategy and technology. The days of building it and hoping they will come are long gone.

2. Mix it up. Faced with a sprawling menu of mobile marketing options – from apps and ads to sites and social media – brands risk getting stuck on one reliable formula. Don’t. Every campaign is different, and there are no one-size-fits-all solutions in today’s world. Consumers expect more than that – as Paul Gelb of Razorfish puts it, “success comes from identifying actionable consumer insights, business objectives and the experiential message to communicate.”

3. Which leads me to my next rule: Know thy customer. Mobile technology brings new possibilities to people’s lives, and new opportunities for marketers to deliver engaging content, messages, value and utility. But it also means that consumers expect an experience tailored to their needs. Central to this, from a marketing perspective, is relevance. Thanks to mobile technology, we can deliver content and advertising experiences that are in truly the interest of the consumer. As Gelb says, when advertising is contextually relevant, users in overwhelming numbers “report not only a positive impression of the ad they saw but also the concept of ad-supported media.”

4. Lead through change. It takes more than a village, but rather a whole industry to spur the changes we need to see in mobile advertising. This will take broad adoption of initiatives by trade groups such as the IAB or MMA, decisive action by top agencies and brands, and widespread adoption of standardized metrics that show how mobile is actually working. Missad says we face a long road ahead. “While progress is being made through mobile ad-server development, publisher adoption of tags, and attitudinal evaluation, measurement is simply not keeping up with consumer realities and proliferation of technology.”

5. Last but not least, put mobile first. Paul Gelb believes that mobile needs to emerge from its silo. “It’s always on,” he says, so find ways to integrate it with TV and brick-and-mortar touchpoints to more holistically engage your consumer. Missad adds: “Reality calls for an integrated approach to mobility, not a separate strategy. Mobile is a full-funnel solution.”

The key takeaway here? Follow these five indisputable rules to spur and accelerate change across our industry. By doing so, we can all work to build an ideal mobile future.

First off, interim CEO Ross Levinsohn is in the process of rolling out a strategy that allows the company to take advantage of its position as one of the most important media properties in the world.  Regardless of its stumbles in terms of position, revenue, and executive management, consumers have never stopped flocking to the site.

A smart publisher with this kind of clout can truly leverage opportunities in the marketplace.  First, they have a chance to truly claim the position as the premier guaranteed inventory property on the web.  With an effective sales force, Yahoo can leverage sponsorships, large formats, creative executions, video, etc. at premium CPMs like no other.  The quality AND the scale are there.

Second, they can take advantage of the “programmatic” opportunities in the marketplace.  With a knowledgeable approach, and the right leadership to make fuel the company, they can create private marketplaces for their best clients. Yahoo can leverage secondary demand from qualified sources and they can maximize revenue efficiency across the board.

Yahoo now has sales leadership to monetize their premium inventory from the top down, and the experience and wherewithal to do the same from the bottom up.

This will be a great story to watch unfold.   I look forward to seeing them get out of their own way in terms of trying to be a leader in advertising technology, and finding their rightful place as the leading digital media company. What do you think?

Definitely worth a read on some of the major issues, Namely’s CEO, Matt Straz pointed out in a bold MediaPost article, “People who work at agencies are frustrated because RFPs are still largely managed through email. A single RFP sent to a dozen publishers can result in hundreds of emails going back and forth among the parties.” Clearly, the process is tedious and lets be honest – it can be maddening.

A special poll recently conducted by STRATA (with agencies of varying sizes that are on a wide spectrum of buying systems) turned up some alarming information, mainly that many people have thrown their hands in the air when it comes to the Digital RFP process. While 27% say they plan to purchase a platform to handle the process – a more surprising 58% said that they will not buy a system to handle this increasingly important media process.

So what are they left to do? Here is the shocking part for all of us in the media buying software industry – only 25% say they will use their media system. Ouch. Nearly half said they will use Excel to handle the process. A process that Straz labeled in his article is a pain in the neck for literally everyone, including the sellers, buyers and publishers.

I’m not saying that STRATA removed the Digital RFP sword from the stone when no one else could, but we have recently launched a Digital RFP module to our buying system that boils the request/response workflow process down to a couple of clicks while expediting negotiations and inventory selection.  I’d be lying if I didn’t say that we are pretty excited about it. BUT, there remains a problem. It is a problem of a mindset that is stuck in a traditional process. It is a mindset that as we have noticed for years – where Digital is great but Traditional remains the bread and butter. Well over a third of STRATA Survey participants say that they don’t ever see Digital ad spend being greater than Traditional.

What does the industry need to do? Educate. We as system providers need to educate the agencies on what is needed to streamline the process that includes Digital RFP. Yes, it is different than Spot TV or Print. But they can be equally or even more effective (sorry, Excel isn’t efficient). If agencies feel comfortable leveraging these tools, that will come across to their clients and demonstrating the value of Digital will be simple. I know for us at STRATA, we have the tools in place and it is up to us to educate agencies to help push this ever-changing advertising avenue forward.

Most traditional forms of research are typically conducted with a few premises that present some gaps in understanding human intention and behavior, including:

1. Asking a select group of people to provide their true opinions about a brand or product.
2. Surveying a large sample size of randomly-selected people a large volume of questions, hoping to get a “true” understanding of their behavior.
3. Posing real-time questions about their experience post interaction or purchase (in-banner surveys in web forms).

Looking at some of the principles of psychology and sociology, people often don’t know why they do what they do, or say what they say and find it difficult to answer such questions in a group setting. Most times they act on feeling, impulse or habit.  It’s the way they’ve always done it or what they’ve always thought. To provide some context, think about the last time you brushed your teeth. Did you think through the process of getting your toothbrush, rinsing it off, grabbing the paste, opening the lid, putting it on your brush, closing the lid and then start brushing your teeth? It’s safe to say that you probably did not. It was habit, instinctual. Another good example might be the last time you went to a restaurant, had a wonderful (or awful) experience and wanted to share it with your friends on Facebook. Did you put a lot of thought into what you said then wrote and rewrote it while fine tuning your position throughout? Most likely you wrote what came into thought, shared your true and honest opinion as a result.

The unaided, unbiased, qualitative information provided from watching consumers in action in their own environment can be extremely useful – sometimes more so than web analytics – in driving both online and offline marketing strategy. Brushing your teeth may seem like a mundane, habitual act, but for companies that are able to watch, it can offer numerous insights that can drive product design (how do they hold their brush), packaging (is the tube easy to open) and product type (is there too much foam in the paste, do we need to alter the ingredient mix) just to name a few.

All forms of research are valid and can provide brilliant ideas. That means organizations can’t become narrow-minded in their approach and not see the bigger picture that comes from getting too mired in digital numbers and prompted questions. In order to fully understand the consumer, marketers must also observe actual behaviors, listen to their unaided opinions and understand the context of the situation. Taking this into account along with the more popular forms of research (survey, focus groups, statistics) will help companies understand the complete picture of human behavior in order to develop the most effective plan.

For the record, Rachel Pasqua, Organic's new executive director of mobile marketing, thinks the QR code is like cilantro: You either love it or hate it.

You'll hear more pronouncements like that, presumably, in the upcoming book Mobile Marketing in One Hour A Day (Wiley) that Pasqua is writing with eMarketer analyst Noah Elkin (listen here as Elkin interviews me about QR code best practices for a recent analyst report).

In part two of my interview with Pasqua, we begin a discussion about this month's Super Bowl advertising and mobile's varied role as an activation or response mechanism - starting with audio activation ala Shazam and yes, more about cilantro.

Q&A: RACHEL PASQUA, EXEC DIR, MOBILE MARKETING, ORGANIC (PT 2)

Click Here to Listen to: Q&A: Rachel Pasqua (Pt 2)

(3:32)

On the heels of its designation as Ad Age's "Comeback Agency of the Year," Organic has hired Rachel Pasqua as its newly-minted executive director of mobile marketing.

In part one of my recent conversation with Pasqua, we get a sense of mobile's role in the post-modern marketing firm, and how it will help Organic stay on top of its game (full disclosure: Organic Chief Creative Officer Conor Brady wrote a rave review and cover blurb for my latest book).

In coming days, we'll review mobile's role in this month's Super Bowl advertising - and what it all could mean for mobile integration moving forward.

Q&A: RACHEL PASQUA, EXEC DIR, MOBILE MARKETING, ORGANIC (PT 1)

Q&A: Rachel Pasqua, Exec Dir, Mobile Marketing, Organic (Pt 1)</a
(3:32)

The goal of this article is to make your job a little easier by helping you frame your digital marketing successes in a way that even the most skeptical CFO would want to support you.

In the past few years, Klout has quickly risen to social media stardom as a provider of analytics measuring a user's influence across social networks (primarily focusing on Twitter, Facebook and Google+). By measuring data from social sites, the size of a person's network, and other factors, Klout gives users an influence rating  (Score) on a scale of 1 to 100. Most Klout Scores are in the 20’s, and reaching the 30’s and 40’s tends to show a good amount of social engagement. This can create, as John Scalzi puts it, “status anxiety” and social insecurity, but the credence you put to what your Score says about you remains up to you.

Like any startup, Klout is still growing and developing. Even though recent adjustments and evolution have brought controversy, Klout as a measurement tool remains an interesting data point for social media users. Of course, the influence measurement is guided by the company’s own definitions and interpretations. Currently, Klout scores are determined by the following in terms of a user’s “ability to drive action”:

• Twitter: Retweets and Mentions
• Facebook: Comments, Wall-Posts, Likes
• Google+: Comments, Reshares, +1
• LinkedIn: Comments, Likes
• Foursquare: Tips – Todo’s and Tips – Done

Klout says that users can also connect Facebook Pages, YouTube, Instagram, Tumblr, Blogger, Wordpress.com, Last.fm and Flickr accounts, though these networks do not impact your overall Score…yet. That last word is very important to keep in mind. Klout says, “The way influence is signaled online is constantly changing. New networks are born and new behaviors emerge overnight. The Klout Score will continue to evolve to support this change….and will always exist in a dynamic state of improvement.”

So what is missing? Klout doesn’t take private messages into context, nor can it measure influence between users in a network if their interaction is taken offline or onto email. That level of engagement is likely to carry many times more weight than conversations happening publicly on a social medium. Another missing piece relates to the importance put on the network size of an individual. Some advice we often give to PR clients when discussing media outlets is to keep the target audience in mind when setting goals for news coverage. The right trade publication with a circulation of 1000 readers has often brought in more new business for certain clients than a general newspaper with 10x that audience. The goal for online interactivity should not be the amount of content, but rather the quality of that content.

As Klout has grown, the data and measurements they pull from their users have added an element beyond the ranking and gamification aspects, and this is where they show the most potential from the marketing side of the equation. Using Klout as a resource to find experts in a distinct category has already caught the attention of some major brands. Agencies and marketers should also be looking at Klout as a directory, keeping in mind that the information being presented still needs to be evaluated rather than taken at Score value as a true recommendation engine.

What it comes down to is this: Klout is growing as an evaluator of the variety of social communities, but it is (self-acknowledging) nowhere near “done”. Those of us engaging with social media professionally (brand marketers, product managers, agency staff) now have another metric to consult with and take into consideration along with measurable KPIs. The fluctuations of an individual Klout Score, however, should be taken with a grain of salt. Use Klout as a gateway or marker in broader research, focusing on the content and conversations on a deeper level than a simple score.