Brand Republic Community

Eprivacy Directive: van Rompuy should reconsider.

Rob Taylor — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:35:00 GMT

Although his direct powers are limited, and the ink still wet on his papers, the new EU president Herman van Rompuy should consider using his influence to create a consensus for reviewing the recent passing of the EU’s eprivacy directive.

Part of the directive, which is about to be fully adopted, covers cookies and user’s rights. The individual member states are responsible for interpreting and enforcing the directive, but should the UK fully follow the bells and whistles route we could see virtually all digital activity requiring the user’s opt-in before being able to drop cookies. This will have a disastrous effect on the digital economy, and effectively catapult us back to the Stone Age. The success of digital Britain is due in part to advertising money underpinning all the rich content we see on the internet today. The advertising money is there because it’s possible to track the effectiveness of every penny spent - thanks to the use of cookies. Remove this visibility and advertisers will be less willing to spend, which means less money for the content editors. An impoverished experience for all will be the outcome.

Pile driver to crack a walnut? I think so. I’m making some really rough calculations here, but I estimate there to have been around 1x1015 cookies dropped on people’s machines in the past 10 years of the internet. I’ve tried to find a case of someone’s privacy being breached through cookie use, but I couldn’t. There probably are cases, but there’s likely only to be a handful. Not a bad ratio, and not surprising really when you consider that a cookie is just a random collection of digits with no personally identifiable information.

A big weight on the mind of the policy makers is the dreaded spectre of unforeseen consequences. In my mind, the consequences are stark. The internet is the future and the UK is at the forefront of developments in this medium. This directive will seriously hinder the UK’s competitiveness in the global arena with dire consequences for the future.

Goodbye Media Week, it was a comic anyway

Arif Durrani — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:48:00 GMT

Some media owners and agency leaders would be forgiven for greeting news of Media Week’s closure with initial relief on Tuesday.

It’s never easy being watched, let alone reported on and critiqued as well. And in the current climate, where every major launch or account win is offset by a deluge of loses and people moves, it must’ve at times been plain annoying.

Yet, once the dust settles and the world keeps turning, I suspect Media Week’s attentive gaze will be missed. Working in “meedja” is never going to hold the attention of the nationals for long, and no other business mag is devoted to it.

The commercial media business has had a committed advocate in Steve Barrett, who genuinely cares about the business and the people in it. I could only admire as he repeatedly pushed media launches and wins to the front of an issue, while relegating redundancies to online or a few pars at the back. The focus was always on the positive, while acknowledging the challenges facing the market.

Media Week’s focus on bite-sized exclusive news stories (in addition to great, industry-led features) and its bitchy back page, made it a weekly 20 minute romping read, a comic to its harshest critics perhaps, but it was the media industry’s own comic nonetheless.

(Naval gazing warning ahead)

But let’s be blunt: the writing’s been on the wall for Media Week for some time. The heady circulation days of 20,000 had long past, and once the worst advertising recession in living memory took hold, drastic action was required.

The phasing out of the controlled circ model for the subscription-only one introduced this summer was initially intended for media owners (because they’re loaded right now of course) but was soon extended to encompass agencies as well.

Many questioned the move, especially when the magazine’s content was still available for free online. But these were desperate times.

The good news is that most companies did indeed see a value in the magazine and initial orders, although low, were placed. I’m reliably informed these continued to rise right up until its demise.

But it all proved too little, too late for Haymarket management, and, while I haven’t been privy to the P&L sheets, I know enough to admit they couldn’t have been pretty.

Yet Media Week becoming an online-only proposition had been muted long-before any downturn. The magazine’s own founder Tim Brooks, now steering Guardian News & Media through the choppy waters, predicted the magazine, along with most other B2B titles, would close its print offering by 2010, and that was five years ago.

His reasoning, while surprisingly candid – especially made as it was in an interview with Media Week – reflected the growing groundswell of opinion. As the possibilities of the internet began to unfold in a post dotcom-bust world, B2B publishers were well aware of the need to reposition themselves.

I remember reporting on David Hill, president and chief executive of IDG, one of the largest B2B powerhouses in the world, when he announced “we’re not magazine publishers any more” in 2002. At the time it was near-revolutionary. He preferred instead the idea of being a media content provider, regardless of vehicle.

This sentiment of diversification soon became the newly-labelled B2B media’s mantra, and to be fair Media Week embraced it with open arms. With its website, two news bulletins a day, podcast and Media Week TV, in addition to its annual Media360 conference and those coveted awards, it has set the pace for Haymarket's Brand Media's portfolio. It will be interesting to see if these brand extensions continue to prosper without the magazine.

But there has always been an elephant in the room, whose presence now looms larger than ever: online ad revenues alone do not generate enough to sustain the costs of running a substantial news desk.

I learned this lesson first hand as I watched my colleagues ebb away at Centaur’s Mad.co.uk. That had been an exciting, dynamic news wire environment that broke its fair share of exclusives – not least Bauer’s decision to buy Emap (a move which in itself seemed to symbolise the seismic shifts taking place).

But falls in recruitment ads started to take its toll. It's interesting to note that during this time Brand Republic’s own dedicated news desk was also at its strongest (& biggest), and proved a daily nuisance to all of Haymarket’s magazine brands. But that elephant just wasn’t going away, and so in the last couple of years the power at both companies has shifted back towards their stable of print brands.

This week’s announcement at Haymarket signals another step-change, and for me it makes the most sense to-date. Keep a hub of news reporters feeding into both online and magazine brands, with the emphasis in print more firmly placed on features, comments and analysis.

I’ve no doubt it’ll be messy at first, but certainly more efficient – and who knows, it might just satisfy that elephant.

There are alternative, interesting business models emerging in the sector of course, not least PaidContent and Utalkmarketing. Both are fleet of foot and relatively inexpensive, but they also rely on other peoples good old fashioned, expensive journalism upon which to draw. The Guardian is also set to unveil a new regional blogging initiative too, an innovative move that just might go some way in redressing the balance of news coverage at a local level.

But for now, spare a thought for the one that didn’t make it, just three months before turning 25. I know in the grand scheme of closures in 2009 Media Week's demise is small fry, just last week GNM announced it was scrapping its Business & Media supplement after more than 30 years and making more than 100 redundancies to boot, but its passing is indicative and will leave a void all the same.

Now Mystic Tim, if you’ll just email me next week’s lottery numbers, and I’ll get my coat.

To Bing....? The Big Question!

Mel Carson — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:11:00 GMT

One of the best bits of feedback I’ve ever had as a Microsoft employee was an email from a US super-affiliate – and I mean SUPER-affiliate – after adCenter and Microsoft in general were being discussed in unfavourable and fruity language on his blog.

I’d added a comment saying I thought we could perhaps do a bit better and soliciting some actionable data with regards to his readers’ concerns so I could send them to our product teams.

His email said, “The thing about you Microsoft guys is, whenever you screw up or something isn’t well received, you don’t get all down about it but come straight back asking questions! That’s how to run a business!”

Although I’d rather not screw up, it does pay to ask the right kind of questions, listen intently and collaborate with your customers to act on the path to constant improvement.

The recent launch of Bing out of beta in the UK last week is a good example of how we’ve listened... a lot!

I must have spoken at over 100 conferences to thousands of people about Microsoft adCenter and search engine marketing, and not a day has gone past in the last 4 ½ years when I’ve been asked, “When can we get more traffic? The conversions are great but we need more volume. This market needs more competition. We can’t have such a one-sided industry. We want variety!”

Now my role has always been to evangelise adCenter, but unofficially I’ve had to keep my fingers in the Dutch flood barrier – so to speak – keeping track of any piece of feedback received from the industry and feeding them to the engineers, forcing them out of their lab to exchange face-to-face with our users.

That unofficial job is now really redundant.

With the launch last week, the guys in our Search Technology Centre in London have done their bit and will continue to do their bit to push the boundaries of innovation. They’ve asked all the right questions and worked tirelessly to create a search engine that I am proud of and very happy to use. Bing is a search engine that not only delivers in the worldwide #1 search market, but also meets the needs of local consumers and advertisers.

Although my better half is American, the other half is still very keen on its conker battles, Yorkshire puddings and warm beer. So the in-depth localisation efforts on the user experience and algorithm results keep reminding me I'm in Britain and not in a Vegas hotel.

Here’s the rallying cry!

So we can gauge what you think, please use Bing.com as your default search engine for a week and comment below on what you think after 7 days. Have it as your homepage and discover some new facts about different parts of the world from the daily changing photo that teachers all over the world are now starting their pupils’ day at school with. Use it to check football scores and do your Christmas shopping while you’re at it!

The industry wanted a game-changer, and while we start working on the consumer marketing, where better to start talking about and using it than within the industry itself.

If you’ve enjoyed any of my previous 323 posts over the last 2 ½ years just indulge me this once... you might be pleasantly surprised!

http://www.Bing.com

Sky Media's MTV ad sales deal is a sign of the times

Steve Barrett — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:07:00 GMT

It has been noted in these pages several times that everyone is talking to everyone in this distressed economic climate. No deal or partnership, no matter how unlikely, is off the agenda - especially in TV ad sales.

But amid talk of Channel 4 hooking up with Sky or Five, IDS being subsumed in Sky or Viacom as a result of a sale of Virgin Media TV, or BBC Worldwide linking up with any of these parties, one deal not mentioned - at least in public - was the one that just happened.

Sky Media has built on its retention of Discovery's ad sales by stealing the £75m-a-year sales contract for MTV Networks International, which BSkyB owns jointly with Viacom Inc, from the Nick Bampton-led Viacom Brand Solutions. Sky Media will sell across MTV, Viva, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, BET (and E! Entertainment) from 1 January.

The new arrangements apparently guarantee MTV its ad revenue for the next five years, although at 2009 rates, and could save it £4-5m in costs in each of these years.

It is likely to already be involved in 2010 TV trading negotiations for the channels. And it almost certainly means the end for incumbent VBS, putting the future of Bampton and other senior managers among 75 staff at the sales house in considerable doubt.

It is small reward for Bampton and his team, above whose heads the deal was done between Sky Media's Nick Milligan, BSkyB chief executive Jeremy Darroch, MTV Networks UK & Ireland managing director David Lynn and head of international Bob Bakish. But they have fallen victim to a vicious business environment where doing a great job, being innovative and being creative aren't necessarily enough to retain contracts - as many media agencies will testify.

It's a sign of the times. It's a sign that everyone is in the middle of 2010 planning. And I have a feeling it certainly won't be the only eye-catching development in media-land before the difficult year that has been 2009 draws to a close.

Who owns social media?

Justin Hunt — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:32:00 GMT

Turf battles are breaking out in corporate land. Who owns social media? Is it CR? Digital teams? PR? Brand teams?

Social Media does not respect organisational charts or silo cultures. A company's customers own social media. But internally no one seems sure about who should take charge of this new phenomenon which is impacting all aspects of a business. Social media is potentially a grave risk to the reputation of a business if it is not managed intelligently. I'd be interested to know what models could work best? Individual departments taking the lead? Stakeholder approach? Head of social media?

www.itsopen.co.uk

Win a £5k Search Audit with Reform Digital

Mel Carson — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:07:00 GMT

Just fill out this survey if you're a UK Advertiser http://www.reformdigital.com/research for the chance of a digital makeover.

Thanks for the heads up from the wonderful Amanda Davie who, I'm sure, will answer a few questions on the findings when the data has been put through the mangle!

Sunday Paper Pick ‘n’ Mix

Mel Carson — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:06:00 GMT

I spend around 15 minutes every month down at the recycling bins in Sainsbury’s car park in Richmond.

It’s be a lot less frequent if I wasn’t throwing away a load of the Sunday Times I don’t read.

Regular news – forget it – rather get it from the BBC
Sport – too much footy and again rather hear what Aggers has to say
Appointments – quite happy where I am thanks
Culture – although I need some I have a TV to tell me what’s on next

What I do read?

Style – because gawd knows I need it and I like AA Gill’s restaurant reviews
Home – because I always want a bigger one and like to snoop
Magazine – the features are often very good
Travel – I like to get away from it all on the train
Gadget – because I love to see how negative the journos can be about MS products

So does that say something about me?

If I only went for the last 5 would that give advertisers something better to aim at?

It would save some trees, energy, and do much for the paper delivery man’s heart condition as I live on the 3rd floor with no lift.

Someone tell me why I can’t?

Twitter and Brands

Justin Hunt — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:48:00 GMT

Do people want relationships with brands through Twitter? I’m not convinced. A lot of brands simply are not personal enough. What they want though is news of great deals or useful information which can improve their lives. This is underlined by some new research by Razorfish. Their survey of 1000 internet-savvy consumers reveals that 44% of those who follow a brand on Twitter do so mainly for access to exclusive offers and discounts.

http://itsopen.co.uk/social-media-users-want-deals

Murdoch tries to do a Sky with his online charging

Steve Barrett — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:44:00 GMT

There must have been some groans at Wapping in May when Rupert Murdoch pronounced that his newspapers would be charging for online content within a year.

Whether that was the News Corporation chairman's plan or not, Alex Ferguson at Manchester United and Tony Blair at Number 10 have shown that revealing self-imposed deadlines in public can make you a hostage to fortune and is invariably counterproductive.

Hence, it was no surprise when Murdoch admitted last week he "can't promise" the deadline will be met, although he wasn't forthcoming about the reasons why. My understanding is that News International is trying to set up an online pay platform to bring together content from third-party providers in addition to material from The Sun, News of the World, The Times and The Sunday Times.

The service will mirror online what Sky, in which News Corp is the biggest shareholder, does on its TV electronic programme guide. The EPG provides access to Sky TV, as well as channels from other TV firms. TV media owners pay Sky for a listing on it, encryption and regionalisation. Sky pays the media owner a fee for every subscriber signed up and a share of revenue if it sells the advertising.

Users would buy News International content and add on other packages as desired. So you might buy The Times and The Sunday Times, as well as The Daily Telegraph, which News International has been in discussions with. The system works because it avoids multiple pay platforms, which dilute the user-friendliness of the purchasing process and don't exploit economies of scale.

The downside for third-party media owners is that News International owns the customer relationship and will presumably be able to market further services to the user base, which is no doubt complicating negotiations and technical integration.

Other media consortia are looking at similar group charging initiatives, so no wonder it is taking more than a few months to put together. My sense is that News International and its competitors' online charging efforts will be one of the biggest rolling media stories of 2010 - but the offers won't be trivial to put in place.

Media among the casualties of Observer restructure

Arif Durrani — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:42:00 GMT

Coverage of the UK media business will be among the casualties of the upcoming restructure at The Observer in 2010.

As details of the cost-cutting drive at one of the country’s oldest national newspapers start to emerge, it transpires the Business & Media section will be folded into the main paper.

It will be a loss to the British media industry and signals a seismic change for The Observer, which has had a separate Business section for more than 30 years.

It comes a year after The Independent closed its Monday media supplement, which had run for four years in competition with The Guardian.

Both moves appear to be an ominous reflection of the current UK media landscape, which has been hit hard by a sluggish jobs market and the ensuing loss of classified recruitment ads.

In addition, print circulations continue to fall while the emergence of nimbler, online competitors now take large chunks out of any remaining business.

Those in the industry will have noticed The Observer’s media coverage has been on the slide for some time, but the upcoming changes are set to have dramatic repercussions.

In addition to the Business & Media section disappearing, the personal finance coverage in The Observer’s Cash section is also folding. The paper will endeavour to continue some sort of coverage of both sectors in the main paper, while the travel-based Escape section will be subsumed into an expanded Observer magazine.

The Observer has also announced plans to close three of its monthly magazines - Observer Sport Monthly, Observer Music Monthly and Observer Woman.

More than 100 of GN&M’s 1,700 editorial and commercial jobs are set to go in the latest attempt to reverse “unsustainable” losses, leaving a much-reduced £2 Sunday offering.

Meanwhile, GNM has once again sent emails to staff encouraging them to consider working part-time, taking a sabbatical or applying for voluntary redundancy.

Further changes are set to follow, with parent Guardian Media Group’s CEO Carolyn McCall, admitting "We are midway through a process”.

An Outside perspective

Mark Howe — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:08:00 GMT

When I worked in telly, we'd sometimes take a programme director along to one of our regular meetings with media agencies. Although they never drilled down into the details of the media owner/agency relationship they brought with them outside thinking and a fresh opportunity for agencies to get excited about the business and the industry in general. So it was with pleasure that I was able to bring along Google's CFO, Patrick Pichette, to a couple of client meetings last week where he was able to offer a birds-eye view of our business, and offer a top level perspective on the industry and Google's aims and objectives. I hope we manage to do more of this sort of thing in future months, where product managers, engineers and those who get their hands dirty building tools and applications for our agencies and advertisers can engage with the people who'll actually be putting these into practice. Sometimes we forget that the best sales people are not actually from the sales department at all.

Video Interview - Ben Chapman - BBC Radio 1 - Social Media

Mel Carson — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:56:00 GMT

More social media insight! This time from Ben Chapman who heads up interactive for BBC Radio 1.

In this 12 minute interview he serves up how they use digital to enhance radio for their 11 million weekly listeners.

Vodafone confides: There will be no iPhone price war

Arif Durrani — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:29:00 GMT

I’ve got bad news for anyone waiting for the much anticipated “price war” to erupt over the iPhone in the UK: it’s not going to happen.

There’s been much excitement about the iPhone being made available at lower prices ever since Apple announced it would not be extending its exclusive two-year iPhone deal with O2. But I’ve learnt it’s not going to happen any time soon due to one very specific reason.

The touch-screen operated iPhone is undisputedly the daddy of all mobile handsets right now. If you know someone who owns one, chances are you know someone who loves one.

Many admirers not on O2 have been waiting for the rollout of the iPhone across other networks, and the increase in competition is widely expected to act as a catalyst that will bring down the monthly cost of the iPhone.

There was notable disappointment when Orange, the UK’s third-largest mobile phone operator, unveiled its tariffs for its iPhone deal on Monday, and guess what, they are broadly in-line with those already being offered by O2 – around £30 a month for contracts, and an 18 month commitment.

Yes, there are slight variations over what is included in the monthly tariff, but the basic packages and, more importantly, the monthly cost to the consumer are very similar.

There’s a reason for this.

Those now pinning their hopes on Vodafone undercutting both O2 and Orange when it launches its iPhone package in the New Year will be equally disappointed.

A high-level Vodafone exec has told me the basic price ranges of the iPhone are being set by Apple at the negotiating table.

While some degree of variation is being allowed for, the general monthly costs, at least for the first round of contracts, have been stipulated by brand-protective Apple.

If you want an iPhone in 2010, it’s still going to cost you.

Pizza Hut App Generates $1 million ++ in Sales

Russell Buckley — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:09:00 GMT

If you're one of those marketers who think this iPhone Apps trend is all very well, but in your heart of hearts a little well.... overhyped, you're not going to like this story very much as you're going to have to rethink your world view. Because Pizza Hut's recent iPhone App has already generated more than $1 million worth of food sales, as well as winning hundreds of thousands of branding points in the form of downloads and free TV exposure.

The App itself is pretty cool - I'll embed the video demo below - making full use of the iPhone functionality. For instance, you can control the size of the pizza you want to order by pinching or stretching, or you can have toppings on only half the pizza by tilting the iPhone. Pizza Hut also benefited from winning the unofficial Grand Prix of Apps by being selected by Apple to feature in one of the ubiquitous "There's an App for That" TV ads, which drives massive exposure and an humongous volume of downloads.

“From an income standpoint iPhone customers tend to be more affluent, and they’re in the tech-savvy 18-34-year-old demographic skewing slightly male that we tend to go after online,” [said a spokesman]. “We always saw a steady level of growth with our mobile business via our WAP site, but to be candid it wasn’t the explosive level of growth we’ve seen with the iPhone app."

Mobile is in the process of changing media - more fundamentally than the first digital revolution has - and the next years will continue to demonstrate this again and again and again. That's a pretty good reason to become mobsessed.

Awards ceremony whets appetite for next year already

Steve Barrett — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:38:00 GMT

The Media Week Awards night, which took place at a glitzy ceremony at the Grosvenor House Hotel in Mayfair last Thursday, sometimes begs as many questions as answers.

Will the comedian make himself heard above the raucous crowd? Answer: Frankie Boyle kept the room under control for 15 minutes - no mean feat as several entertainers from previous ceremonies and your humble correspondent can testify.

Where are TalkSport's awards trophies? Answer: a search party has been dispatched after the radio firm celebrated so hard it "misplaced" its Media Brand of the Year, Sales Pitch Niche silver and Sales Pitch Large bronze trophies somewhere in central London.

And what were Manchester City footballers Shaun Wright-Phillips and Wayne Bridge doing at the OK!-sponsored awards after-party less than 72 hours before a match? Answer: who knows, but they were less than impressive in City's 0-0 draw with Birmingham on Sunday.

Some questions answered themselves. Few disagreed with the judges' view it was Mediaedge:cia's turn to be crowned Media Agency of the Year. Chief executive Tom George and his team have transformed WPP's former weakling into a media powerhouse, winning the prestigious Orange account among £130m of new business in the awards period. MEC has kicked off this year in similar style, winning Lloyds and retaining Danone, and will mount a robust defence of its title.

Sales Team of the Year was much closer and it is a tribute to Nick Bampton and Viacom Brand Solutions that it won top sales gong for the second year. Judges were impressed with VBS's entrepreneurial and proactive approach to setbacks, such as the ban on HFSS advertising, which particularly hit Nickelodeon and MTV. This was reflected in its work for Ella's Kitchen, which won Sales Pitch Medium.

TalkSport has turned itself around since some dark days a few years ago and thoroughly deserved its Media Brand of the Year success. WPP's MediaCom also had another good year, winning Grand Prix and Media Idea Large for Mars Galaxy, Media Idea Niche for NatWest "Teens Adapt" and International Campaign for Herbal Essences.

It was a great year, with the winners rising above the recessionary gloom to set the bar extremely high for next October's renewal, which we are already looking forward to.

Lawyers and Social Media

Justin Hunt — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:15:00 GMT

I know some companies are experiencing difficulties with their legal departments when it comes to blogging and using Twitter.

Some legal departments want to see every blog post before it is published and they are worried about the implications of Twitter channels.

Basically they are not comfortable with their company having more open conversations which is the key point of social media.

Legal departments have a role but they should not be able to dictate social media policy. They don't know the best way to speak with a journalist or to speak with a customer. That is not their expertise.

Of course there are regulatory frameworks that companies need to work within and these need to be respected, but having said that, companies must be free to communicate using social media. Otherwise their reputations could be damaged. And there are plenty of examples of lawyers issuing warnings to bloggers which totally backfire because they are too heavy-handed.

This is partly about companies trusting staff to use social media sensibly according to agreed guidelines.

Newspapers are a good model here. Journalists and editors are expected to have a certain knowlege of the law but are free to make their own editorial judgements in terms of what is most likely to appeal to their readerships. Lawyers are not writing the articles. But if and when there is a clear legal issue then the lawyers are brought in to advise.

Now granted not all companies have the role of newspapers. But the communications departments of major companies kind of have the role of newspapers in that they are reaching out to the public. They need guidelines but they need to be free to use their skills to judge which is the best way to approach people. They also need to have the space and support to be able to experiment. Social media is new and people have to be given the opportunity to learn.

There are some individual communications executives for large companies who are uncomfortable with how lawyers want to respond to posts on blogs and rightly so. Social media is about humanising organisations and treating people like people. The lawyers need to educate themselves about social media; relax a bit and recognise that they need to move with the times. Making communications teams paranoid about everything they write is only going to freeze people up and prevent the possibility of genuine conversations between companies and their stakeholders. Companies need to be more accountable to their stakeholders. They need to break down barriers between themselves and the markets they serve. They can do this through more open conversations.

This does vary from company to company. Some company cultures are more open and empowering, of course.

www.itsopen.co.uk

Twitter Free Zone Please - Just Occasionally!

Mel Carson — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:44:00 GMT

I met an Oscar winner last night. Estelle Parsons, who won best supporting actress in Bonnie and Clyde, was performing in August – Osage County at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle and I was lucky enough to get back stage and shake her hand.

The play was awesome! A company of about 12 actors had 2000 enthralled in a tale of family strife which included some hilarious and very sad moments too.

What it didn’t contain, even though it was a new play, was any mention of sodding Twitter!!!

Now don’t get me wrong.......I love Twitter, and I also love Stephen Fry, but was his banter with a detractor over the weekend really worthy of national news?

Much to celebrate at Media Week Awards

Arif Durrani — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:45:00 GMT

Last night’s Media Week Awards at the Grosvenor proved yet again that no one parties like the media fraternity.

While other ‘big’ awards have been, well, rather less big this year, Media Week’s annual bash was as large and as vibrant as ever, with more than 1,300 attendees representing media owners, agencies and clients.

Of course the main topic for the night was predetermined long ago: Just how bad is the current economic climate?, how much worse will it get?, and when will real growth start to appear?

As one newspaper managing director told me, “everyone’s still talking a good game, and I think that’s important, but behind closed doors we all know any talk of recovery is grossly premature”.

This sentiment supports downgraded ad forecasts by ZenithOptimedia earlier this month, which marked the UK out as one of the world’s biggest fallers this year, after a "worse than expected first half of 2009".

But not even the current climate could deflate the worthy winners last night, with Mediaedge:cia paving the way after winning the industry’s biggest accolade, Media Week’s Agency of The Year.

The WPP agency continues to go from strength-to-strength, growing billings 5% year-on-year at a time when the wider market is battling double-digit declines.

While fierce rivalries within the British media mean very few awards ever go undisputed: the crowning of MEC last night was one of those rare exceptions.

“I suppose if we were going to lose to anyone, it should have been them,” said one runner-up agency head begrudgingly.

“Can’t really argue with that," opined another, "but lets see where they go from here,” which for those who don’t know, is high praise indeed in agency-land.

Comedian Frankie Boyle aptly set the tone for the evening from the off, being suitably funny and offensive, with an added edge of instability.

Of course, not even the best celebrations run entirely smoothly, and when OK!’s after party was gate-crashed by footballer Shaun Wright-Philips and his “crew”, it was definitely time to go home.

Now where's the Pro Plus?

Product placement works if it’s done properly

Steve Barrett — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:38:00 GMT

I saw a very silly film at the cinema last night: the Vince Vaughn vehicle Couples Retreat, based on the premise of four American couples who head off on a "dream" holiday that turns out to be not quite what it seems on the surface.

Silly it may have been, but it was also very entertaining - perfect mindless fare for a midweek evening when a bit of relaxation was called for.

The reason it caught my eye with my Media Week hat on was the blatant product placement within the storyline and as incidental furniture. A Guitar Hero video game segment and a strategically positioned pack of Budweiser beer particularly caught my eye. In fact, it made me and some of my fellow cinemagoers chuckle at the sheer chutzpah of the film-makers in being so blatant about it.

Did I notice it? Definitely. Did I remember the brands? Absolutely. Did it spoil my enjoyment of the film? No.

I can't imagine product placement working in a Bergman-esque movie about the struggle between life, death and love, or a Mike Leigh social realism docu-drama. But, in its place, it is perfectly acceptable and legitimate - as long as it doesn't make a mockery of or overshadow the plot.

For example, I can't see a problem with beer brands appearing in the Rover's Return on Coronation Street. If anything it would make the action more realistic. But it has to be done sensitively and subtly, especially on TV, which is a more intimate environment than a big screen at the cinema.

Video Interview - Andrew Sampson on Stephen Fry & Social Media

Mel Carson — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:38:00 GMT

Last week I was lucky enough to catch up with Andrew Sampson who runs Stephen Fry's website and works with the actor on a host of new media projects.

In this interview he talks about how they started, how they see social media panning out, and gives us the scoop on the upcoming Untied Artist's Network.

Click on the photo to get to the video as I couldn't embed it on this blog.

Would love to get your thoughts on the insight Andrew gives us into working with Britain's favourite Twitterer!

Invasion of the Androids - What the Arrival of Android Means for Mobile Advertising

Russell Buckley — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:25:00 GMT

Much mobile advertising news in the last two years or so has been dominated by iPhone and understandably so. Probably more than any other single factor, it's been responsible for marketers and agencies understanding the potential power of the mobile channel for the first time, primarily because they have one themselves. At last, their own personal experience married up with what had been happening on the street for a while.

But iPhone's dominance in the hearts and minds of mobile advertisers might be about to be threatened by a new player in the market - Google's Android.

The iPhone has tight control over their product, from software and hardware design to manufacturing and negotiating distribution. Android has taken a very different approach of developing an Open Source operating system and letting it out into the wild. What that means in practical terms is that they need to persuade other branded phone manufacturers like Motorola or Samsung to integrate their software into a new generation of phones and then allow these partners to control manufacture and distribution. In theory, this approach will enable them to leverage these other giant companies' power and resources to potentially leapfrog other competitors, ranging from iPhone through to Nokia and their Open Source operating system, Symbian. The big disadvantage is that Google pretty much hand over control of the product hardware, meaning that even if their software is Rolls-Royce standard, it still might end up powering a 1975 Ford Cortina. In a market where looks are an important purchase consideration, this could be something of a problem.

What do we know about Android so far? Despite a pretty lacklustre handset range (perhaps we're talking a Mondeo to iPhone's BMW in terms of looks), it's clear that the software is powerful and once cool phones are in production, it's going to have some success. I'm not going to speculate if it's going to be as big as iPhone, but it's already clear that it's going to be an important channel for mobile advertising.

Every month, AdMob (my employer, just to be clear) produces a free Metrics report that we share with anyone who might be interested. You can see the latest copy here, but one of the trends we track is the type of operating systems that we serve our ads in. To be clear about our methodology, we serve about 10 billion ads every month to mobile web publishers and app developers globally. This means that we can't measure market share, but we can track handsets that are used more than they should be, to view mobile web pages and download and use apps. We noticed very early on that iPhone was getting a disproportionate amount of share when measured like this and history is being repeated with Android.

What's also great for mobile advertisers is that Android and iPhone both offer much more creative advertising formats and that their ease of use generally mean more interaction and higher click-through-rates. Consumers are engaging with marketers via the mobile channel in very large numbers and that trend is going to speed up with more Android handsets in the market.

Does the arrival of Andoid complicate things for mobile advertisers? Certainly not if you just want to run ads on the mobile web or in-apps - though inventory in apps might still be a little scarce compared to iPhone. In fact, you wouldn't even notice that Android had been included in your buy, from a purely operational standpoint. The main complication would be if you wish to transfer your iPhone App over the Android platform too - this will require a little adaption by the developer. The numbers of Andoid apps available are still relatively small, certainly compared to the 100,000 iPhone Apps, but then competition to attract downloads is also small, so now might be a good time to make the leap.

Like mobile advertising, Android is here to stay, is going to be growing quickly and will be dominating mobile marketing chatter for a while. Brands who pride themselves on being innovators should be taking a look at it right now.

Agency consortia set their sights on the big COI prize

Steve Barrett — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:35:00 GMT

Battle lines have been drawn for the biggest ever UK media pitch, for the consolidated COI account, and the three shortlisted bids will spend the next two months preparing for a unique clash.

While the account will struggle to hit the £250m the Government communications agency spent in 2008/09, it is still a massive deal, to be fought out by Starcom MediaVest Group and I-Level, pitching as Smile (see what they did there?), a GroupM collaboration called M4C and Aegis Media's Carat, pitching with out-of-home sibling Posterscope.

Omnicom, which handles some COI comms planning through Manning Gottlieb OMD but no media buying, declined to pitch, preferring to concentrate on global accounts. Havas also took a rain check, perhaps deciding it couldn't match the volume buying discounts of its rivals.

Radio Advertising Bureau founder Douglas McArthur, newly appointed chairman of UKOM, helped shape COI agency strategy, convincing it to consolidate buying with one supplier, which seems logical in a converging media landscape.

MediaCom currently handles COI's press, while Carat buys TV and cinema and Posterscope outdoor. Starcom looks after radio and I-Level is digital incumbent.

I-Level spoke to everyone before hooking up with Starcom, which is a double-edged sword for the Publicis agency. It will help Smile leverage I-Level's excellent relationship with the COI, which represents 40% of I-Level's turnover and keeps over 40 people busy. But teaming up with a third party sends out mixed messages about Starcom's in-house resource and fudges the COI's criteria of consolidating buying in one agency.

WPP's M4C brings the other GroupM principals, Mindshare and Mediaedge:cia, into the equation, giving COI the option of choosing which agency it works with in particular areas while retaining group buying muscle.

Carat is TV incumbent and has the digital clout of new chief executive Robert Horler, which may be why it didn't bid as an Aegis consortium that would have brought its Isobar digital arm into the mix.

The prize is enormous for whoever comes out on top and the implications of the COI's decision will undoubtedly send shockwaves throughout media in 2010.

Real Time Search - Time to Get Serious!

Mel Carson — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:38:00 GMT

There’s already been a lot of coverage about the Twitter deals with Bing and Google announced in the last couple of days and waking up this morning the day after Windows 7 launched and Nick Griffin made an arse of himself on Question Time, just goes to show how important these innovations are.

Trending on Twitter 10 minutes ago (writing at 10.06am on Friday 23rd October) were “Windows 7” and “Nick Griffin” as well as “BBC” “#bbcqt” and “Jan Moir”. All the tweets using those keywords are relating to something that’s happened very recently and are in large part conveying some kind of sentiment about different events or news.

Over two years ago Danny Sullivan and other search marketing luminaries attended a conference I’d organised, the after party of which was held on the same night and 100 yards away from where a car bomb had been planted outside a nightclub on the Haymarket.

Luckily it didn’t go off!

The next day Danny wrote an article called the London Car Bombs – The Big Fat Search Failure – in it he complained – quite rightly – that people searching on KWs relating to the previous night’s near miss were getting tired old news/blog results from 2 years before where the bombers had unfortunately been more successful in their mission.

How things have changed.

These new announcements mean we all have access to real-time results from people on the ground and results that have been established over time through solid linking/content criteria.

We now have a choice.

In the last 14 minutes – yes I’m a slow typer – the keywords in Mashable’s post entitled “Apple Fires Back” – about the new Apple ads dissing Windows 7 – have drifted in and now out of the trending topics, demonstrating a hiatus in sharing of that news while the critical mass are still venting on Griffin and Jan Moir’s apology.

This really is a new dawn for not only how we receive and understand information, but also how we disseminate it. Brands need to tap into what's being said about them like never before.

Pro-activity is key now and much more careful thought needs to go into how we include social media into the marketing mix because it’s definitely here to stay!

Channel 4 / YouTube deal confirms Andy Duncan is still in the game

Arif Durrani — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:16:00 GMT

Channel 4’s departing chief executive Andy Duncan has no plans to go quietly at the end of this year, as proved by last week’s announcement of a ground-breaking content tie-up between the broadcaster and YouTube.

By the time Duncan is carrying the last of his belongings from the shiny building in Victoria, internet users should be able to view a selection of ad-funded C4 content, including Skins and Hollyoaks, via Google’s video site for free.

The move could be a significant development towards generating digital revenues for both C4 and YouTube.

The non-exclusive, three year deal allows C4 to keep control of its own advertising sales, and some non-C4 content to boot, while reportedly giving the broadcaster the larger share of revenue.

Martin McNulty from internet marketing agency TrafficBroker agrees the partnership has the potential to be very interesting for C4, noting it "opens the broadcaster up to a much bigger advertising market, that is liquid". He suggests that if traditional content providers can tap into the auction-type ad sales model that has already made adwords a success for Google, it could be a major break through.

Just as significantly, the deal is also the first real sign that exiting Duncan has a list of ‘unfinished business’ concerning commercial partnership which he has every intention of completing.

Last month, he told me he hoped to be able to announce "two or three commercial partnerships" before he steps down as CEO, and refused to rule out a tie-up with BBC Worldwide.

The deal, already dismissed by most as being dead in the water, gained renewed credibility yesterday when Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw called talks between Channel 4 and BBC Worldwide "encouraging."

Whether the BBC is now more minded to play ball or not remains to be seen, but Duncan clearly has a point to prove and his legacy in mind, which could make for an interesting final quarter. Watch this space.

Mary Meeker Talks Up Mobile

Russell Buckley — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:31:00 GMT

If you're not from around these parts, Morgan Stanley's Mary Meeker aka "Queen of the net" is a highly influential securities analyst, who regularly holds forth about the state of the economy and the digital industry. This time, her presentation was as interesting as ever and focused on the mobile web. If you're still a mobile sceptic, make this your must-read publication of your week. It all makes fascinating reading, but the mobile section starts on page 28.
Mary Meeker's Internet Presentation 2009Even if you missed the digital boom, or joined in too late, you must get into mobile now as it's already changing media and advertising and we're only at the beginning.

In the words of Mary herself:

"Mobile related share shifts will create/destroy material shareholder wealth."

So make sure you end up on the right side of the create/destroy equation in the Post PC Era that I've been talking about for some time.