Written by Mihai Dragan on Wednesday, October 29th, 2008 ( Start discussion )
Tags: mtv, mtv music, online video
As I find out from Geek Sugar MTV launches MTV Music in a courageous move. MTV Music is a video streaming portal showing music videos from the last centuries and present. You will see “Womenizer”, the last video from Britney Spears, along A-Ha’s “Take on me”.
It is great to see that in a world of YouTube copycats someone offers an slightly innovative product. Also – I can’t wait to see how will advertising targeting be done on the website and how users will react to it.
Written by Mihai Dragan on Tuesday, October 28th, 2008 ( Start discussion )
Tags: ad networks, adbrite, adzilla, behaviour marketing, Interactive Advertising, jellycloud, lousy companies, sequioa capital, toby gabriner
The Wall Street Journal reports that several US AdNetworks have closed their operations. JellyCloud has stopped after raising $11.5 million earlier this year. So did AdZilla.
AdBrite also cut it’s workforce by 40 percent this year, in a move that let off VP-Marketing Paul Levine and VP-Finance Bob Feller.
So – will the Ad Networks actually crash and burn?
Well, no. Like any other industry Interactive Advertising has its good, mediocre and lousy companies. JellyCloud was neither good or mediocre. It was not the financial crisis that killed them but their inability to actually make a living. They’ve burned through almost $50 million dollars in VC founding, with the last $11.5 million in less than 5 months. Crisis didn’t make this happen. Lousy management did.
What about AdZilla? There is word on the streets that the company closed after its top executive, Toby Gabriner, left the company. Apparently their behavior marketing technology was a little too intrusive on the users and the Congress did not approve. Also, have I mentioned that they too managed to burn through a lot of cash ?
But wait, AdBrite is in trouble too
No, they are not. Not yet, at least. The company fired some of the staff and two execs only after their venture backers, Sequoia Capital, “urged them to control costs and become cash flow positive”, in the holly words of Michael Arrington.
So you see – it is just a matter of companies failing to manage their operations and failing to offer a decent product (both Adzilla and JellyCloud were snooping a little too much on the users). The interactive advertising is still strong and companies will turn to it more and more looking for more efficient ways of spending their smaller and smaller marketing budget. It’s just that some companies will not be there to help them.
Written by Mihai Dragan on Tuesday, October 28th, 2008 ( One response )
Tags: china, free speech, google, internet, microsoft, privacy, yahoo
I can’t tell if it’s just another PR move ( I think it is ) but the giants of technology – Yahoo, Microsoft and Google – got together to sustain something called The Global Network Initiative.
The Global Network Initiative is a project sustaining free speech and the privacy of users. The companies have been under heavy fire lately after offering confidential information regarding their users’ data. It is well known the fact that Yahoo China’s actions have led to the imprisonment of some dissidents .
Let’s see what the document says: the companies will “narrowly interpret and implement government demands that compromise privacy”. Oh wow. They will act slower in turning private data to the governments.
While I am not sure this is all these companies can do I also know the subject is a bit more complicated. Take Yahoo for example. Maybe the fact that it turned over the private data has led to the imprisonment of those people. Than again we do not know how much the other Chinese internet users benefit from Yahoo simply being accessible to China (even censored).
Being born in an ex-communist country ( Romania was a communist country for over 50 years, until 1990 ) I understand how harsh the lack of information can be. The internet is China’s window to the world. If something will change there it will change slowly. With better educated people a country can evolve faster, it can change faster and China sure needs change.
Yahoo’s executives would do much more damage to the people of China by not cooperating with the communist party. Weird, huh? By depriving the country of access to worldwide news and views it would just stop millions of people from getting to understand where they stand and what can they do for themselves.
After all … it is just a choice between free speech and free thought.
Written by Mihai Dragan on Tuesday, October 28th, 2008 ( Start discussion )
As we all know sex sells. Or at least it draws some attention but I wouldn’t recommend it for too many products. Could KFC be one? Check out this viral video:
Written by Mihai Dragan on Monday, October 27th, 2008 ( Start discussion )
Tags: list, long tail, Marketing, social media, tribes
Nick Fell, planner at Ogilvy Advertising in London put together a list containing 10 pieces of content defining these days’ marketing reality.
You will find there the Long Tail Theory, the Tribes concept, 2008 State of Social Media and some others I am sure you will find interesting. Enjoy.
Written by Mihai Dragan on Sunday, October 26th, 2008 ( Start discussion )
Tags: blogvertising, conventional media, interactive vs conventional, media spending, Online Media, viral marketing
The conventional advertising (TV, Radio, Outdoor etc.) is a strange beast for some of us who started their careers with interactive advertising.
For example an agency used to bill the client a certain cost keeping 15% and sending 85% to the media providers. Therefore, an agency was to get more by spending more of the client’s budget. What an incentive to increase spends.
The trend has changed in the last years with agencies charging also retainer fees to their clients. Better but not perfect.
Spend less, get more with online media
Online media lets you find new ways in managing client’s budget. How? By searching for creative ways to deliver the message. An agency should look for more effective ways than just add banners on high traffic websites.
Blogvertising is a great option with influential bloggers gaining more and more influence but it’s not enough. We also had great results with other social media tools and viral marketing campaigns. Pay per click campaigns delivers clear results. The options are practically endless and limited only by creativity and the will to search for new ways to reach targets.
All in all the financial crisis will drive clients to look for more efficient, budget-conscious agencies that care more for results than increasing media spending.
Written by Mihai Dragan on Saturday, October 25th, 2008 ( Start discussion )
Tags: clients, interactive agency business, tips
An advertising agency, be it interactive or conventional, cannot exist without clients. What is the proper attitude regarding the client and the services you are offering?
Does the client know best?
Yes he/she does. I know it’s tough but live with it: the client knows what is best for it’s business. But not his advertising. That’s why they hire an agency. That’s why they need your advice. The client can probably run his business as good as it gets but when it comes to advertising the agency is supposed to know how things should be done.
Unfortunately most of the agencies focus too much on “means” (art, copy, implementation etc.) and too little on “goals” (client’s brand awareness, sales, profits etc.) . I am yet to find an interactive agency, for example, that actually knows financial, business processes or other details regarding the client. If they do know something it is not enough to understand the true business objectives the client is actually paying for.
I know this sounds a little too corporate. Maybe I do sound cheap and a little like a sell-out for actually bringing out this kind of not important details ( like client’s needs ) but we, the interactive agencies, won’t accomplish our true potential until we start trying hard(er). Learning harder. Doing research a little more. Listening more to what the client wants and understanding more what the client actually needs.
So – should I make the logo bigger?
Just because a client says something doesn’t make it right. But before you jump to conclusions think twice and try to see if you have all the data.
An agency has an “birth – given” right to say what is best in terms of advertising. However, saying it doesn’t mean jack unless it’s backed up by research, deep understanding of client’s business, continuous communication and yes … an open client.
Choose your clients carefully
The trouble with getting to be one of those agencies that “make the logo bigger when they want” is trust. Trust is hard to get. You have to work hard and deliver results. Yes, it’s frustrating and yes it takes a lot of time and work. Sometimes you work hard, do your job, create successful campaigns, help the clients and it just doesn’t work out.
Mainly because advertising is a people business and humans are not generally logical creatures. You have to take into account egos, corporate politics and many others.
Look for numbers. Set targets. If you achieve them you’re good. If you go beyond targets you’re great. If you do achieve them and you still don’t have a happy customer improve your communications. Constant reporting is a key factor to gain client trust.
Once you are good enough you can choose your clients. Don’t take any account. Choose the ones that best suit your company and to whom your agency is best suited to. Don’t think money unless you really, really, really ,”Ican’tpaythebills-really” have to. Think opportunities.
Once you chose to work with a client identify your success with his. If their business grows, so does yours. If they are successful, so are you.
What a client wants may be different from what a client needs
Sometimes you have to chose between doing the right thing for the client and doing what the client wants. What do you do then?
First of all you should look for all the possible approaches and try to see the problem from the client’s perspective. If it actually makes sense, do it. If it doesn’t – try explaining it to the client. Try to change his or her mind with logical, sustainable arguments.
If it doesn’t work out and you know the results can be disastrous step aside and inform the client you will not work against his interests. If you are a responsible company you will do this to help the client at all costs, even if this means loosing an account.
Don’t be afraid to speak your mind and sustain it with logical arguments. Doing that you will show some respect for the client’s business and yours.
Written by Mihai Dragan on Friday, October 24th, 2008 ( One response )
Tags: amber, blog theme, download, wordpress
As I said earlier this week I have been planning the release of an Wordpress theme.
Some of it’s features are:
- An widget-ready sidebar
- “Featured post” feature (just create an “Featured” category and add posts there)
- Advertising space: 728×90 in the upper area and a 300×250 space in the right hand area
- Clean HTML code, ready for search engine indexing
- Works with Wordpress 2.6.2
Find out more about it here.
Written by Mihai Dragan on Thursday, October 23rd, 2008 ( Start discussion )
Tags: gps, phone, pixon, samsung, social media, twitter, viral, widget
I’ve found here a cool new campaign from Samsung, promoting their new Samsung Pixon. You can access it at www.thephotographicadventuresofnickturpin.com .
Basically Nick Turpin (this is his real name) goes around London, taking pictures of interesting activity. Nick, of course, uses his shiny new Samsung Pixon to do that. Users can vote anywhere inside a picture to determine what will the street photographer shoot next.
You can follow Nick on twitter, by RSS, through an widget, by email or even on GPS (nice little touch here pointing out the GPS feature).
The website is multilingual therefore having a broader range. I love the social feeling on this one although the execution is rather rough around the edges.
Check out Creative Review’s take on this one.
Written by Mihai Dragan on Thursday, October 23rd, 2008 ( Start discussion )
Tags: book review, Books, brittish, entrepreneurship, richard branson
You know … billionaires are people too. Some of them quite interesting but you probably knew that already about Richard Branson. The man raised a global brand from virtually nothing. The Virgin Brand stretches from media to space programs (wow!) offering the same experience (I wouldn’t know as the only “Virgin” product I have experienced up untill now was the book I’ve read) and brand proposition: “Virgin is a way of life”.
“Business Stripped Bare” is split in the following chapters:
1. People.
2. The Brand.
3. Delivery.
4. Learning from Mistakes (Shift happens. Get up and start again).
5. Innovation – probably the best a company can do when times get hard.
6. Leadership.
7. Social Responsibility – with great influence comes great responsibility.
8. The last chapter, ending with Rudyard Kipling’s IF – Success.
Richard is a great salesman and can deliver his vision but management doesn’t seem his strong point. The first part, which is mostly management stuff, is pretty boring but it gets more fun when you discover his true interests. The man is curious, a born leader and an innovative spirit. I got caught up reading about his adventures, the people he met and the things he changed and is most proud of.
All in all “Business Stripped Bare” is a great book. It’s not management material but if you want to see how the man that built the Virgin Brand against all odds thinks – this is the book. You will not get facts and figures but rather ideas, views and advices. After all – do you actually need more?
