“The only game in town”, we humbly say

We have searched in vain to see if we are navel-gazing and to our delight and surprise found that we are running the only open web marketing event in Canada until 2008. Plexus 2007 is a conference and exhibit format using the Demo model which has taken silicon valley by storm. Anyway if you can correct us we will accept our challengers humbly.

Plexus foresees well over 2,000 attendees

The interest in on-line marketing is approaching its crest i.e. it is as high as it can get. Especially here in Canada. The solutions, platforms and services now available to reach customers are unprecedented  in lowering acquisition and maintenance costs. And becoming more relevant and resonant to each customer.

We are negotiating so many outstanding exhibitors for our Demoplex (who will also present on stage) in all facets of on-line marketing that I am confident no visitor will leave Plexus 2007 without feeling on top of the game. Here are just a few of the category players which we will reveal soon:

1. web analytics,
2. search engines,
3. ad networks,
4. email platforms,
5. marketing survey platforms,
6. sales generation platforms,
7. tons of digital media options,
8. mobile advertising,
9. mobile in all of the above,
10. rich media solutions, platforms, services,
11. social media
12. marketing project management
13. CRM

We will be starting a massive attendance campaign soon which will last 3.5 months using all methods available. That should not be too difficult with the investment we are making in top-rated keynote speakers and authors.

Yes, we are trying to set a record for attendance in Canada for an on-line marketing event. After all, AdTech which is well established in USA pulls in a reported 3,000+ in Chicago and 12,000 in New York. Our numbers are bang on; but, we are aiming higher. 

First results: what our marketing customers want

We conducted an on-line survey of our customers and viewers, marketing execs and agencies, in reference to web marketing and the results were somewhat in line with other larger scale surveys with a few surprises. The question was, “how do you feel about the following subjects scoring 1 as not important and up to 5 as most important”. In order of importance here are the topics ranked from highest to lowest:

Ranked 1st: web analytics

Ranked 2nd:

• Social media marketing

• Search engine marketing

• Advertising on the web

Ranked 3rd: Improving web site content

Ranked 4th:  eMail marketing

Ranked 5th: Rich media in on-line advertising

Ranked 6th: mobile marketing

The disparity between analytics and mobile marketing surprised us but this is still directional data. We are continuing the surveys and will adjust the results as we advance. Bear in mind these are Canadian executives and their vision and needs likely differ from their US counterparts.

As results come, they confirm that our growing line-up of keynote speakers at Plexus 2007: the Web Marketing Conference & Demo is bang-on.

Two more heavy-hitters join Plexus stage!

I am tickled pink that Larry Weber, Chairman, W2Group, Boston. (founder of Weber Shandwick and early player in establishing the web with Tim Berners-Lee) is our keynote on Marketing with Social Media at Plexus 2007. And if that’s not enough, John Vincent, founder and CEO of Eyewonder, Altanta, had quite a chat yesterday when he accepted our keynote spot on Rich Media in digital advertising and publishing. Our line-up of four keynotes cover the four most sought topics by marketing execs and agencies: email marketing, search engine marketing, social media marketing and rich media. We will add a few more headliners on mobile marketing and web analytics. The rest of our stage time will be delegated to the top founders and leaders from emerging, growing and leading marketing/advertising platforms and services who will also be exhibiting at in our Demoplex.

Two high profile keynotes for Plexus 2007

Now that Plexus 2007 is refocused on internet marketing–email, search, networks, streaming media and much more–it seemed fitting to invite Kevin Lee, Chairman of Did-it.com and John Stichweh, Global Digital Marketing Director for Coca-Cola. They are leaders in search and email email marketing and will give our audiences on November 27 and 28 the knowledge they need now to leverage the internet’s deep reach of consumers. Watch for the growing list of top Keynotes and Presenting Demoers at Plexus 2007.

Did Microsoft $6 billion buy cause AvenueA Razorfish to lose clients?

Well it’s too soon to tell–the ink is still drying on the aQuantive deal, Microsoft’s biggest acquisition ever. (Have you noticed how organic growth stops when garage entrepreneur’s become behemoths?)

My suspicion is that Razofish will be affected. It’s not wise for any media to buy an agency and vice versa. This is not rare though; WPP for example own media. Nielsen are owned by VNU. Marketers will simply have to set-down ground rules to their media planners in-house or outsourced. Or conflicts of interest will run amuck. With the large consumer packaged goods and auto accounts, the biggest on-line buyers this will buzz around the water cooler. Razorfish’s client lunches budget will balloon. I’ll bet they are sipping apple martinis on Mad Avenue as I key-in.

Did Microsoft account for advertiser losses in its valuation? Will Microsoft spin out the Agency? It would make life easier; but, temperance can prevail.

Rethinking this blog

I have been absent from posting beyond my norm–for 8 days. And I am crestfallen. Sometimes you have to pull away to get perspective. Well, I’ve been rethinking the focus of this blog. My focus at Plexusity is now is about marketing brands with technology and the web.  So I won’t be writing about gadgets or software unless they enable marketers, brands and their customers. I have always run a brand practice or ad agency and I must stick to what I do best. Socrates waxed about this.

What’s more our Plexus 2007 event is totally focused on bringing technologies and the web to the marketing and advertising biz. This too is a refocus.

I do write another blog dedicated to Branding. Running two blogs, 3 websites, umpteen events, writing a book, coaching clients, managing one corporation and running a family. You’d expect I’s say, “running on empty” next. Not a chance!

New VS Old: the trial of the century this July 27

VS

The internet is all about openness, sharing, community. It is the democratization of all voices, the”long tail”.  It’s what it is. I believe in creative rights totally! But the thing is, if Viacom were to win its case now to be heard July 27 ‘07 (NYTimes) it could truly alter the face of the internet. And the tail could be snipped short creating costly barriers to viewers and put power back in the hands of traditional networks for awhile.  Networks are still thinking analog and fighting to maintain a dying model while they figure out a way to dominate on internet turf. This win will buy time while they create a new revenue stream to upshore losses in the old format.

Digital entertainment will be ubiquitous within five to ten years and we will see the rise of production companies who find impetus solely from the internet using BitTorrent styled or compression technologies. The world will move from 20 some broadcast hours to a place where there is no limit on time or choice. Audiences will become exponentially fragmented and advertising will become less intrusive and relevant. No one not even Viacom will be able to stop this reality.

If YouTube get their wrists slapped it will cost them and their users will have to begin opening their wallets, BitTorrent style. Or offer a pre and post-roll advertising model for free access. Don’t we have enough advertising in our lives! In the end, YouTube will remain the leading purveyor of home-grown and perhaps professional shorts (although I don’t feel professional shorts should be placed in an environment replete with content that offends mainstream sensibilitities).

Google are requesting a jury for this epic day. Internet users around the world must be posted for this drama as it unfolds. This signifies that the internet is still young and undefined. It is not just technology advances that define it as we can see; it is also special interests. Democracy is for all. Everyone gets their kick at the cat.

Les Moonves certainly not on the moon! CBS launches its own distribution network today

This just in! It’s called the CBS Interactive Network. The ‘ol networks have been slow to respond to the digital threat but CBS has now grabbed that brass ring. CBS has struck deals with Sling, Comcast, AOL, MSN, CNet, Joost, Bebo, NetVibes, Veoh and more.

CBS Interactive claims it is,  “the most widely distributed professional content provider on the Web.”  And all content will be free, monetized by advertising. No mobile yet but it is open to it.

eBay: Another on-line ad exchange!

A few days ago I announced in Hot New Launches April 2007 that DoubleClick is launching an on-line ad exchange. But three marketers, Philips Electronics, Home Depot and Hewlett-Packard, had already contracted eBay to the tune of $50 million to build a similar exchange. In lock-step the cable networks are digging in their heels and refusing to sell air time to eBay, fearing the permanent reduction of the price earned by human negotiation.

I like the access these exchanges provide to marketers indeed. Will these auction platforms provide the intuitive thinking media planners and buyers bring to the table? Most media planning is based on numbers, ratings, reach and frequency. Program selection requires more than Nielsen ratings; however, the marketer will be able to choose content on-line. So will these auctions put traditional media negotiations at risk? Will eBay offer a visual plan and buy spreadsheet? Will it be this intelligent?

Air time buys have always been made within a model that includes a number of impressions within a four week period. Ideally, a minimum of three impressions are required to get advertising to the minds of viewers. That means you must buy multiples of three :30s to ensure that you are seen three times e.g. 24 spots and more.  (With audience fragmentation this increases!) There is no doubt as neuroscience proves that repetition can result in message absorption; BUT if the advertising is not engaging emotionally, a higher buy is required. More spots. Frankly, air time is a commodity. The content rules. No auction will ever benefit content, its relevance and resonance. This is the untouchable. TV is still the best device today for quality, intrusive content delivery–and it is now that networks have a morsel of power left to ensure their sustainability.

I don’t think off-line media will soon die. Simply, the players will increasingly adopt on-line media and both will subsidize each other depending on the momentum of this media evolution. No doubt, this is THE industry under siege at the hands of web 2.0.

So for now these exchanges will have to find propulsion through other than cable delivery networks. Will the resistance end here? On-line is hot and will breathe life into these engines. Don’t forget this ad space:  outdoor, radio, print, shelter, transit, mall, elevator, grocery carts, product placement (brand integration), dirigeables, wall graffitti, urinals and forehead tattoos.

HOT NEW LAUNCHES April 2007

1. Ballhype.com: It’s a social, collaborative site for sports fans. They can comment on their favorite teams local to national and rate the comments Digg style. This site is totally dedicated to sports fans with no other aim.

 

2. EMI  launches DRM-free music! That means no anti-copying software. Steve Jobs is putting his and Apple’s name and reputation behind the move. The music in question is said to be of higher quality and now available on iTunes.

 

3. YuMe Networks launches first advertising within downloaded videos on BitTorrent entertainment network! On any device! Add to your lexicon,  air-time “pre-roll”, “mid-roll”, “post-roll”, watermark and more on-line.

 

4. DoubleClick announced today that it is launching an ad exchange. It’s like a cross between Sabre (airline booking software) and eBay. Any advertiser will be able to bid for ad space on this interface.

 

5. Google Desktop for Mac. It’s a Universal application which indexes the contents of your hard drive. The image on the right is the new side bar. Reviews are not half bad.

 

6. The Coop: Mozilla adds social networking into Firefox.

 

7. Sansa Connect: A collaboration between Yahoo!, SanDisk and Zing Systems to launch yet another wireless MP3 player this Friday April 13th for $250 US. 

 

8. MailChannels launches a new spam filtering program that slows email by an additional 8 seconds rather than the former 2 seconds. This cuts down on impatient spammers. It can retrofits into any email infrastructure saving corporations a great deal.

Keep posted daily for more hot launches to this month’s awesome beginning!

MARIE’S PICKS: Top Technology Innovators 2007

The following innovators from the stalwart behemoths to the bootstraped entrepreneurs are worthy of praise–they are changing our future. I am confident I’ve forgotten a few. Sadly, I am not omniscient. It is a live list that I will expand in the same updated post daily, weekly. Your suggestions are welcome. These ideas are actionable, useful and often border on genius. All are worthy of praise whether they make it to the finish line or not. So they are NOT PRIORITIZED. It is a democratic list. Their innovations are recent 2006 and 2007–some are so fundamental yet “new” that I ignored their birth date.

Listed as: Brand Name, Corporation, (description)

1. iphone by Apple (the most robust phone device yet)
2. Qode by Neomedia (Mobile Phone Bar Code Scanner)
3. Zink by same (portable inkless printer for digital devices)
4. Eyejot by same (video sharing thourgh email)
5. PayPerPost by same (Paid consumer blog network for advertisers)
6. Joost formerly Venice Project (richer alternative to YouTube)
7. Lotus Connections  byIBM (Collaboration software)
8. LinkedIn by same (Answers/Experts Low cost procurement of soft expertise)
9. Yah00! 100 brands  by Yahoo! (Media Channels for advertisers)
10. ejamming by same (voip for musicians)
11. Apollo by Adobe (web apps to the desktop)
12. Mobio Networks  by same (mobile mashup platform)
13. Scram by Ceelox (embeds encrypted messages behind images)
14. Sentinel by Iwerx (catches blog content pirates)
15. D’Fusion by Total Immersion (inserts 3D into live video images)
16. Advanced Photonics (No name yet) by Alps Electric / CAPE (holographic image from mobile devices)
17. BitTorrent by same (bandwidth enabling video distribution like no other)
18. Orb Networks by same (allows users to view and create videos on their mobile devices)
19. Sundance Global Short Film Project /Robert Redford (creating short content for mobile devices)
20. Sitemaps by Google, Yahoo and Microsoft (new search protocol by stie maps)
21. Wibree by Nokia (radio technology dual core chip uses so little energy for smallest devices like a watch)
22. Tagworld by same (social network with all-in-one capabilities)
23. RDF and OWL – Semantic Web by Tim Berners-Lee (application-free framework and language that allows data interchange)
24. Videoegg by same (simplifies video capture)
25. iUpload by same (blogging platform that requires no programmer)
26. Xensource by same (moves mutliple virtual servers without friction)
27. Scrybe by same (robust and elegant productivity tool driven by a calendar-perhaps the best)
28. Geni by same (great hosted genealogy app )

I’m off to Mindmatching!

I’m not blogging much over the last few days because I’m off to TO to deliver the first Mindmatching session this year tomorrow! I am pumped because I have really tweaked it. I listened to our corporate customers intensely for the last  year about Mindmatching and think I have figured out how to teach rocket science–so they can actually build one at the end of the day. (The rocket thing is a metaphor).

As some of you may know I am not a geek but I have been managing them since 1996. Yikes! that’s 11 years. My world is brands–how to make them real. Give them meaning. And that begins with understanding the brain and mind of customers. Some folks call this new, hot domain, “neuro-marketing”. I have dubbed my version “Mindmatching”.

It’s a wonder corporations have coasted from the industrial revolution til now without 110% commitment (or even 10%) to understanding the human mind!

I’lll be back on Wednesday–promise.

Plexus 2007 goes Demo

We are so committed to engaging our business audience that we had an awakening. AHA! The Demo format is dynamic and truly engaging. The Demoers of innovative products and solutions, also do a 7 minute bit on stage demoing live on PP or the web. That’s a lot of changing content, but not toe fast for the speedy, time-pressed minds of our biz vistors to grasp the value. If the founders can’t do it in this time, their intended won’t get it. It’s a proven format. One that customers love. And never used before in Canada. So the event is aptly re-titled: Plexus 2007 – The Web Marketing Conference & Demo. The site has already been re-suited. We’re excited.

Yahoo! 100 brands not about mashups!

I posted this verbatim at GigaOm moments ago about the Yahoo! 100 brands launch:

OK let’s not talk about underlying technology (mashups) or whether someone else has aggregated or not. Creating a brand or 100 brands is about resonating with an audience. Yahoo! are learning to leverage their investments in brands to create deeper meaning with a broad range of customers. In the olden days I called it cross-marketing. But it has to resonate personally. So the content must mindmatch the visitor so they will come again and again. It’s not just the unique visitor stats that count; it’s the nubmer of views, etc… It’s all about building deep relationships. Not technology. When you make toast you do not think about the little red wires inside. Yahoo! is making toasts–light ones, gold ones, dark ones. The visitors’ response will tell all. And frankly there is a hunger unparalleled in history for advertising that works–traditional media is not returning history’s results. Yahoo! is smartly rising to the call. And I assure you it is a loud cry. It’s a good thing guys. One of you commented that Vonage was misplaced on the wii page. Huh? An almost pure-play company who provides VOIP. This is a relevant place for Vonage and better than the expensive irrelevant audiences they were reaching with that lobster on TV. Yahoo! indeed.

Have a look at Yahoo!’s wii media brand.

Anderson & Kawasaki frown on Google ad revenue

Seems getting a payment from Google Adsense is not what you’d imagine. And even if you are a top world blogger the revenues are so small that I quote Chris Anderson (of Long Tail fame), “Don’t give up your day job”. When a prolific web 2.0 thinker and serial entrepreneur like Guy Kawasaki warrants (according to Google) revenues as low as $200 + per month for his blog  with an average of 6,200 page views per day…the revenue is inane. That is simply discouraging to all bloggers seeking revenue. There are now several paid advertising networks like PayPerPost that render far greater revenues for your blogging time.  And Guy has moved his ad management from Google Adsense to Federated Media.

Time is money. That will never change. The internet is no longer about pennies. The value of a page view is high compared to traditional media and far greater in value than set by Adsense at less that 1 cent per view. Remember we are talking about viewers who actively come to your site or blog–not intrusively interrupted by an unrequested message. This is where the gold is. Everyone is asleep at the wheel on this. Guy Kawasaki’s blog: High, high value. Top 100 blogs too. Top 1,000. Top 10,000. And then there are the niches who don’t make the top but have an unshakable following. I’ve been in the ad biz all my adult life and I stake my livelihood on it.

The industry needs to rethink! The distributors need to take a smaller cut and compensate quality content producers for their real value. There’s not a moment to waste here. If left unchecked,  the outcome will be the attrition of quality blogs. The Kitty Liner magazine (parody-dont’ go looking for the URL) and The New Yorker are not at the same page price. Value must be reflected. Time for a market correction. Now.

Broadband approaching mainstream in Venice

The Venice Project, another creation by the founder of Skype, Janus Friis, is in beta. It’s the long-awaited internet TV beginning to sprout! Although systems require gobs of ram (512mb) and good video memory (48MB) and 600 mhz of speed, most PCs can now easily accomodate. The interface is nice and crisp and allows you select channels, programs, etc… with ease. Does this spell the end of the top box? Apple is delivering its own this January (last I heard). If so, Yahoo! (no pun). I once heard the word streaming is outdated–”internet TV” is indeed the cool new term. And it’s getting more real and real close.

For advertisers, this spells a new medium, targeted and affordable. Since Venice is aimed at delivering free TV, advertising is how it will monetize itself and compensate the content producers. 

Question is, how will service providers kick-up their offerings to accomodate internet TV? This is surely a satellite TV killer which bundles unwanted offerings at a high cost.  Now customers can customize their their programming selections with ease.  That’s authentic  one-to-one marketing offering brand relevance  to advertisers as never before. We are in for a luxurious gondola ride in Venice.

Two also-rans follow first-mover PayPerPost

LoudLaunch and ReviewMe launch on the heels of the world’s first consumer paid blog network, PayPerPost (see my earlier post on PPP). Neither of these two newbies seem to have any blogs within them but Review Me is quick to criticize PayPerPost for not demanding that its bloggers publish that they are participants in a paid network. Point taken but readers aren’t stupid. Read further about social psychology. There are a lot of consumers out there and a lot of vertical and universal topics to cover. So again there’s plenty of room in the sandbox. I can see a payment war for bloggers in the near future–because getting good content is a challenge.  Indeed, the bottom line is the quality of the blogs and their posts. The number of views will be important to attract those ad dollars–that does not include web crawlers, aggregators and internal views. I mean real unadulterated views. Those analytics will be important. When you turn consumers into columnists the authenticity is powerful but TV viewers are already showing signs of reality fatigue. Perhaps blogs are truly the birth of real reality. Networks moderators will have to tread carefully–because subtle, commercially controlled content, are cues that can be sensed by viewers. You won’t always read the audience from comments. In social psychology, consumers are driven to “those more like themselves”. So these networks must know the audience for each of their networks well and populate them in kind. Therein is the value for advertisers. It gets closer to one-to-one marketing,  until now an almost impossible dream. In this dream, PayPerPost is ahead of the game and will iron out any kinks.

Consumer blog adverts: The “long tail” gets longer

The world’s first and new consumer generated advertising network, PayPerPost reported in August 2006 that it has signed up over 500 online advertisers in its first five weeks of operation. In fact one 30 year old mother of three pulled in $1,000 in seven weeks. Essentially, the blogger posts about products (with approval by PayPerPost). I don’t know yet if that includes vitriol or if it is all sugar and spice i.e. moderated beyond the spirit of the blog. The company, will have to be careful about authenticity in these blogs–allow rants and the blogger to meander aimlessly.  Seems they do. Otherwise, the blogger will lose the readership and street cred. Great care is needed here. The company just raised $3 million in VC money. Now they can afford to demo at our big Web 2.0 Conference and Demoplex, Plexus 2007, (ya it’s a plug–but this post is all about that) . CEO of PayPerPost, Ted Murphy says, “In the past, online advertising was all about leveraging big media buys with repetitive advertisements and messaging created by a company. We have successfully demonstrated to our online advertisers that smaller investments in unique, consumer generated advertising can provide far greater value.” Rings true. One advertiser, Teri Fritts, founder of AliceAccents.com waxes about PPP, “I love the way that individual bloggers actually review my products and post their own opinions online with relevant keyword text hyperlinks to my product pages. PayPerPost.com advertising, either positive or negative, is far more valuable than an anonymous hyperlink to my store with little or no explanation.” Small and mid-sized businesses are the smart advertisers here –but it won’t be long before PPP becomes mainstream.

Web behemoths on feeding frenzy

Google is rumored to be courting YouTube (not yet profitable but it does broadcast a reported 100 million videos each day) for $1.6 billion as we speak. No doubt this will be its biggest acquisition yet. But don’t reach for the Rolaids yet because Rupert Murdoch, Yahoo, Viacom and Microsoft, also have their eyes on YouTube. By all accounts, Google seems ahead of the race. Until 2006 Google was on a steady diet of smaller start-ups that provide turn-key features to Google’s various tools. But the YouTube ten-course meal is a good one. For Google who has had some difficulty with building communities via video sharing, YouTube will prove useful. And for YouTube, tormented by claims of intellectual property, Google could be its salvation. It will be interesting to see how Google integrates this complex platform and content into its own, never mind the difficulties of merging itself. Google’s steady diet could slow its innovation especially when we hear Sergey Brin repeatedly admonishing his organization to not develop any new products but rather, improve on the products they have. This in the same year staff functioned within a culture of innovation, where 20% of their salaried time was freed to start something new. Slowing innovation… True to the nature of a corporate behemoth.

Yahoo’s appetite is no less sizeable as it negotiates to buy Facebook, a social networking site, for over $1 billion. The feasting has undoubtedly been fueled by Rupert Murdoch’s acquisition of MySpace (a rivalling social network of sorts to Facebook) for $580 million. It is now valued at $2 billion.The conglomerates want to buy before this type of valuation escalation uhh… escalates! Gosh this sounds more and more like the bubble of the recent past: sky-high valuations on unmonetized properties. For social networks only advertising will provide revenue and unlike the bubble there is now a keen and mature interest by advertisers since audiences (especially youngs ones) have grown up on new media and are virtually absent in traditional media ratings. I just can’t understand why traditional media are never at the bargaining table. It will be their undoing. Is Rupert Murdoch the only player with neurons firing?