Brunner Digital Blog

In Issue 16.11 of Wired Magazine, Paul Boutin, a correspondent for the Silicon Valley gossip site Valleywag, wrote an essay advising his readers to give up on blogging.  He writes:

Writing a weblog today isn’t the bright idea it was four years ago. The blogosphere, once a freshwater oasis of folksy self-expression and clever thought, has been flooded by a tsunami of paid bilge. Cut-rate journalists and underground marketing campaigns now drown out the authentic voices of amateur wordsmiths. It’s almost impossible to get noticed, except by hecklers. And why bother? The time it takes to craft sharp, witty blog prose is better spent expressing yourself on Flickr, Facebook, or Twitter.

Paul concludes:

As a writer, though, I’m onto the system’s real appeal: brevity. Bloggers today are expected to write clever, insightful, witty prose to compete with Huffington and The New York Times. Twitter’s character limit puts everyone back on equal footing. It lets amateurs quit agonizing over their writing and cut to the chase. @WiredReader: Kill yr blog. 2004 over. Google won’t find you. Too much cruft from HuffPo, NYT. Commenters are tards. C u on Facebook?

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I’ve been surprised recently to hear so many people in our industry claim the era of integrated marketing is coming to an end. They say it’s an overused term, and its meaning has become diluted. If that’s the case, then why did my Google search of “integrated marketing” just turn up 6.6 million hits? A Blog Pulse snapshot indicates the topic is hotter than ever. Clearly, integrated marketing is more than an industry buzz word. It’s actually a concept that isn’t going away any time soon, but the focus has definitely shifted. As digital media becomes ever more prevalent in our society, marketers—clients and agencies alike—are struggling more
than ever to get their arms around how to effectively integrate digital into their marketing programs. MORE

I finally got around to finishing this post which is why it references an article from April!  One of the writers that I follow, and who’s opinion I very much respect is Steve Rubel who writes for Advertising Age. In his April 21, 2008 column he calls out for digital industry standard metrics and indicates that until we get there, that marketers will not be truly ready to embrace the right level of digital marketing spending levels.

There is no doubt that standard metrics will make it easier for all of us. But at the same time, with all of the press regarding metrics today, you would think that the industry doesn’t know how to effectively measure digital campaigns. I would contend that we know more than we give ourselves credit for…we (collective we) have been doing this for quite a while!

So while we’re waiting for the IAB, the Four A’s and everyone else to sort through the standards that will eventually give us a common language, I’m suggesting that we keep a few of the tried and true best practices in mind:

1) Start with your business goals and objectives in mind. I would start with 3 or 4 and scale up from there.

2) Don’t start out by “measuring everything”. That never works, and you’ll get lost in the data minutia.

3) Build strong relationships with your technology team - they are critical in helping to put the tools in place in order to get the reports that you’ll need.

4) Get comfortable with some of the new metrics that are available to you — engagement time, brand interaction rates and video views. But don’t treat them like they are the be-all-end-all metrics anymore than CTR’s are. They are pieces of the puzzle.

The direct marketing world recognizes that every campaign is different. Every company is different. Although there are more options within the digital realm, if we stick with what we already know, I think we’ll be surprised how effective, and relatively painless, our measurement efforts can be.

Geert Desager is a Trade Marketing Manager in South East Asia for Microsoft. Geert spearheaded the making of a commercial for Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions. The short film, called The Couple, makes a strong statement about the relationship between today’s advertiser and today’s consumer. It was a risky project considering that the ad challenges advertisers and agencies - the target clients for this Microsoft solution - to question themselves and the way they communicate with consumers.

In June, the commercial won a Bronze Lion at Cannes and we at Brunner Digital find it . . . well . . . simply hysterical and right on point. The first commercial was so successful Geert did a sequel. They both promote the advancement of one-to-one, integrated and smart digital marketing in a thoroughly entertaining fashion. Take a look below:

If you would like to learn more about the making of the commercial, check out Geert’s blog, Bring the love back. And oh by the way, Brunner Digital is here to help you bring back the love. Lot’s of love.

Jean Halliday reported in the March 17, 2008 Digital Issue of Advertising Age that GM is shifting “fully half of its $3 billion budget into digital and one-to-one marketing within the next three years.” If there are still doubts that digital should be a substantial element of advertising and marketing plans, then let GM’s “roar” serve as a clarion call. As Halliday wrote, “as GM goes, so goes the entire automotive industry . . .” Hyundai is doubling its online spending in 2008. GM is dissuading their dealers from doing spot TV advertising and moving dealer efforts online. The Kelsey Group expects that by 2010 nearly 40% of auto advertising will be done via local online and directional media — an estimated $10.8 billion piece of the pie.

Marketers should not only take note of the dollars GM and the rest of the auto industry are shifting to digital, but the type of digital these dollars are buying. We’re not just talking banner ads here. Efforts include gaming, search, mobile and a broad array of applications.

And this trend goes beyond the automotive industry. Here is a list of facts from Jonathan Lemonnier’s March 26^th Ad Age article on alternative media spending increases. Alternative media includes online, mobile, entertainment and digital out-of-home advertising.

• Spending on alternative media hit $74.43 billion in 2007, a 22% increase over 2006
• Forecasts predict a 20.2% increase over next year, to a total of $88.24 billion
• By 2012, 26.6%, $160.82 billion, of all advertising and marketing dollars will be spent on alternative media
• Interactive marketing alone which includes e-direct marketing, word-of-mouth and e-custom publishing increased by 24.4% in 2007 to $11.9 billion

Of course, GM isn’t directing its entire $3 billion budget into digital and one-to-one. They understand that these are important communication modes in an overall, integrated marketing program. Broadcast, outdoor, direct, etc. are still and will continue to be warranted. Unlike many marketers though, GM realizes that digital must be given equal resources to have a measurable impact within a marketing-mix model.

So Google is following Amazon and providing a scalable platform for web apps and web services development and hosting http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/04/07/google-jumps-head-first-into-web-services-with-google-app-engine/. In my role I am often caught between the need to follow the latest trends/support where advertising technology takes us, and the ever present challenge to make sure that security, loss of data and service reliability are taken care of.

I often find that many IT departments are in conflict with marketing because they are bound by the requirement to maintain systems and services. And to the IT group that often means keeping everything inhouse. The trend towards hosted apps, mashup sites, open source hosted sites, web service offerings, etc. continues relentlessly. These systems can be integrated and co-exsit with our mainstream online marketing activities. In fact by using the plethora of services available, we can not only reduce our workload, but significantly improve our product offerings, reach more people and drive sales — all while looking like technology hero’s.

I’m not saying that we should follow every trend but we must recognise that there are other solutions that we may not have full control over but do present serious opportunities to lower costs, improve time to market and meet the business goals that we all strive to achieve.

In an earlier post, I sang the praises of the advertising model offered by Pandora.com. Another site that is taking an innovative approach to advertising within broadcast media content online is ABC.com.

As television networks continue to make more programming available on the web, they have taken different approaches to incorporating advertising into their online program streams. Most of the networks have basically created a video stream that mirrors their on-air model. They play a portion of the program, then switch to a 30-second advertiser’s spot, then continue on with the program.

But ABC.com has taken a different tact. Within ABC’s online video player, advertisers have the option to load in a branded web page or even a microsite during the commercial breaks. This branded page is completely under the control of the advertiser, allowing the brand to include a variety of content - video and audio streams, flash product demos, user polls, online games - whatever the brand want to provide. A countdown timer keeps viewers on the advertisers page for the length of a standard TV spot, and after that the user actually needs to click to continue with the program - it doesn’t just start again. This model is really forward thinking for a television network because of all that it offers both the advertiser and the viewer:

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One of the most thought provoking articles that I’ve come across in a while appeared in the January 21, 2008 issue of AdAge Magazine (http://adage.com/abstract.php?article_id=123200). Essentially the article talks about two very different worlds that are rapidly converging within the social network space.

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I’m not always a big fan of online banner advertising. They certainly have their place in the mix. But display banners often try to entice people to stop doing what they are doing on the page (reading content, checking email, interacting with other users, etc.) and click through to an advertiser’s web site. And depending on the audience trying to do anything more invasive, like over-the-page ads, can be found to actually annoy and frustrate users. That’s not really what advertisers should be setting out to do. We need to strive to be more innovative and relevant.

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Much has been written about for the past 12 months about behavioral targeting and many that I have spoken with over the past few months talk about it like it’s a silver bullet that will solve all of the world’s online marketing challenges.

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