Media Week

With the news that Yahoo and MSN are back courting each other, I thought it relevant to talk about the (not so) recent MSN advertising summit. Actually, the fact I can talk about it at all is something to be celebrated. All too often entry to these events is dependent upon donning a pair of NDA handcuffs. MS did consider this, but then removed the requirement in a gesture of openness. Hopefully others will follow suit.

Convergent (and synchronised) consumption means that digital advertising, through different forms, is becoming both ubiquitous and fragmented at the same time. Think: mobile, display, TV, video, search, gaming, etc... With people jumping between digital mediums at an ever increasing rate, it’s becoming increasingly important to integrate the advertising media.

Channel integration has been an industry buzzword for a long time, but I would say the evidence suggests it’s falling far short of what the technology is capable of.  Media is better when it’s tailored, and failing to recognise you have a heterogeneous audience and deliver targeted, integrated messaging is opportunity and budget wasted.

The issue probably lies with the level of technical and resource requirement to build an all-encompassing media delivery system that delivers targeted messaging across all channels.

Historically, this has meant changing the agency structure and building the media strategy around the messaging delivery technology (usually the adserver), which is fraught with complexities. However, it looks as though MS may be about to make things a lot simpler.

When it launches, the new Microsoft advertising platform looks as though it will allow users to buy media across different channels and target that media dependent upon individual’s activity. For example, only showing car-insurance display ads to people who had Binged ‘car insurance’. (That’s Binged not binged, although I can’t get enough of searching for ‘car insurance’, as readers will know.)

At the moment, it just looks like search and display, but the hire of Ashley Highfield (of iplayer fame) and the recent launch of MS long-form streaming video (not to mention windows mobile and the Xbox) seem to be a strong indication that the MS ad platform will eventually offer complete and easy channel integration.

You have a lot in common with the octopus. You may not know this, but you see things the same. I don’t mean from a personal perspective (although the octopus may like strictly come dancing as much as the next human), but from a physiological perspective. Let me explain: the human and octopus eyes bear more than a passing resemblance. Both have a lens, a variable aperture, and a fovea. This is a textbook example of convergent evolution. Both animals have evolved to the same design because this is the best structure to solve the animals need to see its surroundings.

I came across another example of convergent evolution recently whilst attending the IPA’s Digital Innovation day. Roughly speaking, the day consisted of speed dating event, with some healthy debate and presentations thrown in for good measure. The purpose was to showcase some of the good work going on in the UK’s academic institutes and start a dialogue between media agencies with the desired outcome being some sort of synergy and joint project work.

What I found absolutely stunning, was how virtually the same technologies were being developed within the universities and digital media. With often the biggest difference being the name. One such example is behavioural targeting and computational persuasive technologies. Both consist of delivering personalised messaging to encourage a particular behaviour – whether it be stop smoking, or to choose a particular provider for your car insurance renewal.

The UK is purported to have the world’s most advanced digital economy, and there are reasons for and against that argument. Broadband penetration and bandwidth is a big part of the drive to keep that top spot, but technology and innovation should be given equal emphasis.

Coming up with ideas is one thing, but what is more important is that the great ideas get turned into commercial products. Judging from what I saw, media agencies can perform pivotal a role in facilitating this.

Well done to the IPA for having the foresight to set up such an event!