Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Are We Losing More Than We Are Gaining?

The amount of time I spend looking at my smartphone since upgrading (and that is an understatement) from a Blackberry to an iPhone 5 has increased by at least an hour a day.  What can't it do?  I COULD use an app that alerts me to oncoming traffic when I am crossing a busy Manhattan street with my head down.

Seems even futurists and science fiction writers are having trouble imagining the future as hyper- accelerated technological change and innovation plows down everything in its path.  Taking a breath one morning before plugging in to one of my devises, I stumbled across this quote in the paper, and thought deeply about my children and the world they will be part of as adults.
While we have gained some skill sets (multitasking, technological savvy), other skills have suffered: the art of conversation, the art of looking at people, the art of being seen, the art of being present. Our conduct is no longer governed by subtlety, finesse, grace and attention, all qualities more esteemed in earlier decades. Inwardness and narcissism now hold sway.
But this is an extreme perspective.  We have gained many more skill sets - My 10 year-old's blog has enhanced her writing skills and self confidence, and my 12 year-old's YouTube channel has unearthed a passion for performing arts.  And it's not only leading us to inward driven conduct. My daughter's FB feed alerted us to opportunities to help some neighbors after the Hurricane.

Are we losing more than we are gaining? Hard to say.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Need Versus Love

The more digital my life becomes, the more I crave traditional media forms.  I NEED my smart phone, but LOVE shutting it down and popping into a museum to see some great artwork in person.  I like the ultility and immediacy of my kindle, but love browsing the bookstore and taking home a classic in print form.  I enjoy browsing the daily edition of the NY Times on my iPad, but cherish my Sunday mornings with the print version.

Came across this great column in AdAge titled "How I Learned To Stop Clicking and Love Print Again"  which totally captures my feelings about digital and traditional media forms.
... the constant adrenaline rush of producing and consuming web content ...  leaves me feeling a little ... lost sometimes. When you spend your days floating on a cloud of internet ephemera -- breaking news, status updates, smart and dumb blog posts alike, tweets, animated GIFs, etc. -- you can't help but feel a little light-headed. And unmoored.
For me, and the author, mooring comes when the digital feed is turned off.  Although I did stumble across this column in my Google Reader news feed.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

New Standards for Gauging Reach

Facebook is throwing a lot against the wall these days as they work on regaining their footing and credibility.  But they are and will continue to be among the most powerful media platforms in the world and everything they do is worth noting.

The latest is highlighted in this piece in AdAge, "Facebook Measurement Chief Advocates New Standard for Gauging Reach".  While almost comically self-serving, it clearly identifies a huge need and opportunity in the market.  I work with dozens of agencies and clients each week, helping them reach their customers across multiple media platforms.  And most certainly...
"a metric that looks at the unique reach and frequency of a campaign across all "experiences" -- including traditional media such as TV, radio, print and outdoor, as well as online media, social media (owned, earned and paid), mobile and in-game ads"
 ... is a big idea.  And it is comical that our $200 billion advertising industry, driven by so much extraordinary innovation, is years behind in measurement standards.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

The End of Email?

Some fascinating data highlighted in this recent MediaPost article on the displacement of email by social media.
Apparently consumers are more attached to their social network pages, than to email -- especially teenagers, who visit Facebook several times a day, but their email address maybe once a week.
The study found 38% of those ages 18 to 34 log onto their social network as soon as they awake, but before checking email. Not only are consumers afraid they will miss a news event,  but the younger generation often checks in with their friends and followers online before they’ve even rubbed the sleep from their eyes. And 27% send more messages from within their social network than from their primary email account.
 
So true .... I recently spent a week trying to connect with a young cousin of mine in Ireland.  He sent me a message on Facebook and I sent him an email, both messages sitting unchecked for days in our respective secondary digital communication channels.

Friday, June 29, 2012

Our Facebook Mobile Ad Test

Nice plug for our company, Targeted Social, in this Forbes story.  The results from the first Facebook ad campaigns on mobile devices have been extremely encouraging.  Our first campaign featuring a Unilever promotion was no exception.  CTRs were almost 2%, a 2200% increase over the same campaign on desk top.

The Forbes reporter focused on another layer of data from our campaign and a few others - performance of ads on IOS versus Android devises.  And the results are compelling.  Android users clicked on ads 28%-109% more than IOS users.

Monday, June 25, 2012

Facebook: A New Creative Canvas

Highly recommend "Facebook: A New Creative Canvas", a 20 minute presentation by one of Facebook's senior brand and product execs.  Great, broad overview of how brands should be using Facebook as well as some obviously self-serving, but compelling visions of how a future social-media infused digital media landscape will look.

The main strategy outlined here coincides with our most successful Facebook campaigns at Targeted Social: Use many lightweight interactions over time to build relationships, and then throw the party.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Newsprint On My Fingers

Great article in GIGAOM titled "What Happens When A Newspaper Is Just Another Digital Voice".

Are the newspapers that have been able to hang in there, now cutting back on the number of days they print and rely more and more on digital distribution, losing their power as community watch-dogs and influence sources?

I certainly feel there is much more power in the print version of The New York Times that lands at my door every morning at 6 am, the authoritative first news of the day, then the version I read on my iPad or Google Reader, packed in with dozens of other news sources.

Certainly the advertising is more powerful.  Is there anything more impactful than a full page ad running the length of my arms to thighs while I sip my morning coffee?

But I will soon be moving out of the demo that advertisers covet most.

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

TV's Golden Age

TV is in the midst of a truly golden age, perhaps even  supplanting the movie industry as the showcase for our best and most innovative filmed entertainment.   There are literally dozen of shows now on the air that are not just buzz worthy, addictive entertainment, but truly artistic expressions of some of our country's most creative and innovative thinkers.  And while our technology innovation gets all the press, we sure know how to create great entertainment that is gobbled up around the world as voraciously as our iPhones and Facebook apps.

HBO built its reputation on introducing this stuff to TV audiences, but now there are dozen's of channels with a water cooler hit or two in their line up.  At a dinner party last month, just a few weeks before the Academy Awards, the conversation steered to TV shows.  Seemed everyone had a different show or two to rave about, and the list was broad and varied, as was the networks that carried them, from the major broadcasters, to large and niche cable networks.

The big question is how can all these networks sustain themselves on just one or two hits each, especially as more and more of the viewing occurs in DVR, online and tablet environments, where ad monetization models are still being established.