The Digital Influentials, by Cory Treffiletti

It’s Getting Complicated (Mediapost 6.27.12)

On Facebook they have a relationship status for "it's complicated" and that's what it's starting to feel Ike in the world of online marketing and advertising - its complicated.

These days it's not simply about a message and a medium (in the old days it was).  When I graduated from college, and the world of Internet marketing was just a simple twinkle in our eyes, we were trained to do research, identify a target, learn what they do, craft a message that resonates with them and place that message in a medium where they would be spending their time.  You tried to reduce the clutter by either having category exclusivity, exclusivity during that break, or the old standby of RHP, far forward (for those of you who speak magazine).  In today's world it's simply not that easy – technology is taking over!

The world of marketing is fast becoming a world that overlaps with IT.  More marketers are being forced to become savvy with technology because they have no choice.  The tenure of a CMO in today's world, and certainly over the next ten years, will depend heavily on their ability to understand complex technology and utilize it to their advantage.  There’s technology for managing data, for implementing ad buys, for managing and optimizing creative, and for just about all aspects of the digital marketing landscape.  Over the next 5-10 years that technology is going to become more ubiquitous and an unavoidable element of marketing.  It's going to get even more complicated!

The charge is currently being led by digital through the adoption of the DMP as a standard tool for marketers as well as the solutions that circle around it.  This eco-system will rapidly expand to include toolsets that help with television advertising, print advertising, direct mail, outdoor advertising and everything else under the sun.  TV and direct mail are the natural extensions because they have natural overlap with the digital realm.  TV will become addressable at some point and marketers will login to the programmatic buying systems for each cable operator to manage their allocated buys based on audience targeting and addressable advertising.  The upfront buying season in TV will integrate addressability in some manner as more marketers demand reduced waste in their TV ad budgets.  Direct mail will inevitably be printed on demand, using real time data integrations from digital media and sent out through the traditional postal service using digital payments.  Print placement could likely be managed digitally, with the focus against the digital delivery to tablet versions as well as some futuristic "digital paper" (if you’ve never read about it, look it up).  The business will demand this level of efficiency and addressability as more money gets spent in a targeted fashion and the publishers need to keep up with the placements in real-time through the development of automated systems.  It's no “Minority Report” but it’s certainly in the future.

Marketers need not be intimidated by technology, though.  We’re in the very early innings of the game, and it’s an area where they can get up to bat quickly.  The vendors and partners who have a foothold in this business right now have a huge incentive to educate the marketplace and get things humming along and marketers would be absent-minded if they did not take advantage of that situation.  Additionally, there are ways to partner within your organization and learn from others.  The future of marketing is more and more intertwined with IT.  If Marketing and IT could find the time to work together, things will move along at a rapid pace.

The future of marketing looks like a collection of dashboards and data.  In real time a marketer will be able to log in and gather performance information as well as understand the audience they’re trying to speak to.

Technology will enable you to identify and react to marketplace trends and the effect they have on your marketing messages.  Its going to be a wild, wonderful world for those of you who are willing to start learning about it now.  Of course, it is rather complicated!

What Happened To… Search? (Mediapost 6.20.12)

Remember search?  Search was the darling of the Internet advertising space.  It garnered a huge portion of the ad dollars dedicated to online (~40%) and was dominated by a single player (Google).  Everywhere you turned there was an article written about search.  There was always a new start-up that was trying to use search data, or improve upon search results.  Everyone wanted to be in search.  That feels like a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

Of course these days it’s all about social, video and mobile.  Search is an after-thought because everyone has basically ceded the category to Google and are looking for the next area where they can still grab something of a foothold.  Is that the right strategy? 

If everyone has ceded the business to Google where’s the innovation going to come from?  Search is an enormous piece of the interaction pie.  There are still the areas of social search, video search, mobile search and even search on the dashboard of the car that are up for grabs.  Search on the interface of the next generation TV sets or within the set-top box for Cable TV are also a possibility.  These are areas where search can still emerge as an innovation and where a competitor could feasibly challenge Google.   Where will the next round of innovation come from?

Siri is probably the only truly innovative competitor to traditional search and Apple is aggressively going to try and put Siri on all your devices, as well as into the dashboard of your car.  Siri could become a Trojan horse for Apple to get into non-native Apple devices if they play their cards right, creating apps that allow you to voice control the navigation and search within any device that functions off an operating system.  If that happens, what will the impact be on search advertising?

We could feasibly be entering into a stage of search where audio ads make a stand.  Imagine a future with voice-activated search when an advertiser can insert spoken word messaging into the interaction between Siri and the consumer.  The same goes for any of the voice-operated interaction systems in your car.  From Audi to Ford (who is partnered with Microsoft), most manufacturers have some kind of voice-activated solution, and every mobile device is coming equipped with one as well.  When you ask your device to search for a route through navigation and the temperature is over 90 degrees, why can’t the device suggest a place for some lemonade or an iced coffee?  Traditional search results will still have paid ads inserted into them, but for voice-activated search why can’t we expect a future with short 5-second voice activated ads?

Search is not a forgone conclusion, unless we treat it as such.  The area of search is still ripe for innovation and Google can’t do it all.  If I were a budding entrepreneur, search is still an area where I might pay some attention, but I would start my “search” on devices that are decidedly non-PC related.  Mobile and connected devices such as cars are an interesting place, as is the interface with my set-top box.  It’s not dissimilar to inserting ads in radio, or spoken word recommendations.  The “native advertising” model seems to be gaining steam these days and maybe the future of search is tied directly into it?

To answer my own question, “what happened to search”?  Nothing happened as of late, and that creates an opportunity.  Search is ripe for innovation, and whether it comes from Google or somewhere else remains to be seen. 

What are you seeing in this all-important area of the web?

 

Social Media: 70% Hype, 30% Business Opportunity (Mediapost 6.13.12)

The last few weeks have confirmed it for me– social media is about 70% hype, and 30% business .    What I mean by that is the majority of conversations surrounding social media center on behavior that creates page views but very little actual value to a brand marketer, and therefore little impact on the business of the Internet.

Lets deconstruct my statement for a bit…

The Facebook IPO confirms the space is slightly overvalued.  I’m not saying by any means there’s no value here, because there is, but I’m saying the waters have gotten frothy and we need a few more years of growth and maturity before we can deem a company like Facebook the future of the Internet eco-system.  Right now Facebook feels a little like the Lebron James of the industry; lots of strength, plays an amazing game during the first three quarters, but has trouble finishing and closing out the competition when it matters the most (IPO and brand budgets).   Facebook needs to garner more consistent ad dollars from large brand marketers for something with impact, and when the dollars going to Facebook come from TV or (just imagine) search, then we can deem them the future.

Pinterest and SocialCam are omnipresent, but they’re not true vehicles for marketing.   They both create oodles of page views and they’re growing like weeds, with more and more people testing ways to spend time there, but they’re not yet proving to be sticky platforms that can keep users coming back after the initial glow fades away.  I’ve been on Pinterest for well over 2 years, and I stopped visiting regularly after about 3 months.  The same goes for SocialCam – I visited them a bunch for 2 weeks, became frustrated by the spammy nature of their interactions with me, and have since leveled off.  In both cases my life would still seem very complete if I never visited either one again.

Business models come and go while page views continue to increase.  Each week we are treated to another pundit proclaiming the future of the web is social, and while I agree the future of the web does integrate social because of the page views and data created by those interactions, I would maintain the focus should be paid against mobile rather than social.  Social is about content, but mobile is a delivery platform.  Its possible to say in 3 years the shift for content could go back to some third party publisher who creates unique-to-web , exclusive content and less about person-to-person interaction.  The fact remains the content will be delivered increasingly to mobile devices and not just your PC, whatever the content actually is.  Social is a gateway in many cases.  It’s a gateway to surfacing fun, entertaining or valuable content, so many of the social media impressions being generated simply drive traffic to quality third-party content.  Is it possible that some other method of surfacing that content will arise?  I think so.

Mobile feels like the Kevin Durant of the business.  Its been around a couple of years, its been winning a scoring title on the down low (if we consider the volume of press and acquisitions in the mobile space as “the score” without too much mainstream fanfare) but people still consider it to young to win the title.  We all know it’s only a matter of time, but how far away is that time?  Mobile may not win the majority of ad dollars for a number of years, but I think its closer than social is (and I think Kevin Durant will win the title this year). 

Social is not going away, and I agree the future is tightly interwoven with social media, but right now its about page views and connections that can feed other tools like display and mobile.   Social is a tool or a resource that feeds the development and delivery of content online, and if I were Facebook, Pinterest or Socialcam that’s where I would be focusing my efforts.  How can my platform fundamentally inform or change the ways that people interact with content from the web.

Just think – you and I may not be friends, but there’s a good chance you found this article through social media.  We may not have a personal interaction, but social surfaced this content to you.  How can you use that information?

 

The Age of The Algorithm Is About More Than Ads (Mediapost 6.6.12)

Lots has been written about the advent of the “math men” in advertising, but with the events of the last 2 weeks I think it makes sense to talk about the algorithms of social media and how they should be applied to more than just advertising, but also to content delivery and the overall experience of the consumer.

Social media is a hot topic, ranging from Facebook-bashing as a result of the flopping IPO or the exalted nature of companies like ViTrue and Buddy Media being acquired by Oracle and Salesforce, respectively.   The debate rages over whether social is a valuable tool for advertisers and marketers, but it’s a silly argument because it’s obvious what the answer is – its very important, but we don’t yet know how to handle it!

The acquisition of companies like ViTrue and Buddy Media signal the market that owning and building a “broadcast” model for messaging within social media is important, and the integration of these tools into larger companies like Oracle and Salesforce can lead you to envision a future that is self-service and fully integrated into other efforts.   If we agree that the maintenance of these platforms can be self-service or automated in some fashion, that leads me to believe we’re freeing up our time for social analytics and the evaluation of the quality and quantity of traffic in social, as well as of the complex behaviors and what they mean for messaging.  Those behaviors can become predictable, and with predictability comes an algorithm for how advertisers can spur activity in their target base.  Of course, you need to know how that message will be delivered in order to anticipate success!

I think social media is still maturing as a vehicle, and it’s clear we’re in the early stages of understanding how to harness its power.  The manifestation of that algorithm is not banners, nor is it message seeding.  It is in some way informing all of your customer interactions with intent and behavioral information that is extracted from social media.  Knowing what a potential customer is doing this weekend, knowing what they did last weekend, and understanding their motivations and desires can help you craft an experience that will drive acquisition.   This concept has broad implications for new product development outside of advertising.  Human beings each have unique lives, however the components that make up their lives are similar and with similar elements, organized in unique patterns, you can build an algorithm to read, understand and apply it to your needs.

I can foresee a future where the media experience on your television set, or on your tablet or computer, will be tailored to you as an individual based on your social algorithm.  For example, you turn on the TV and the home screen is dynamically generated in a Flipboard-esque appearance, but with sizing and placement of the content and icons based on your social algorithm.  I can see a browser that changes its appearance based on what you do inside of it.  The surfacing of content that meets your immediate desires will lead you to see marketing and advertising messages that align with those inputs, and they’ll be more integrated into the content than they currently are. 

This leads me to what I consider to be the most important prediction for the age of algorithmic advertising; its not just about the advertising, its about the content delivery.  The delivery of content in a format that is tailored to the user will allow for new ad opportunities and integration and these will be radically different and more effective than what we see today.  Our problem today is we are financing innovation almost solely in the area of ad delivery when we should also be focusing on using the data and information for crafting new models of content delivery.  Don’t just focus on the advertising, but plan for the experience around it!

I know this sounds like a pipedream, or at the least a very uphill battle, and truth be told it is.  To recreate the wheel when the old wheel is working just fine is an onerous and very unforgiving task, but companies like Microsoft and Apple have done it very successfully and maybe they will again, or someone else will do it for them!   Google is certainly in a position to do something like this; reinvent the way we see the web and digital media experiences.  It won’t happen overnight, but the ecosystem of companies that are out there and who are working together, certainly can make it happen!  Maybe you know a company or companies that can make this happen?  Who are they?

 

It’s Time To Get Creative (Mediapost 5.30.12)

Lets get creative for a minute.   I think it’s safe to say the banner is not the end product of display-based web advertising, but what will it be?  What will web advertising evolve to become?

As an industry we’ve been complaining about banners for 18 years – pretty much since they first launched.  Unfortunately, we still haven’t come up with a better alternative, so maybe this is as good as it gets?

If we look at the high-level statistics, online display ads are not performing well, but when you peel back the onion and specifically extract the data regarding long-tail, CPC or CPA based media buying and the ads associated with those campaigns, the numbers really aren’t that bad.  On premium websites you can get high recall numbers, high interaction rates and high engagement rates.  When you apply some creativity to the solution you get high levels of response!

Of course, we as an industry still want to compare ourselves to TV.

TV is a different medium and needs to be held to a different set of metrics.  The screen is larger, the audience is more focused, and they are passive.  The Internet audience interacts more, on a smaller screen, and they are assertive so you cannot easily dissuade them from their intended purpose, but you can certainly tap into that assertiveness with a message that maintains relevancy.  TV also has one dominant placement for messaging, whereas the web is an open environment where any publisher can do anything they want on their site.

What brought me to this discussion is I feel as though my web experience is starting to deteriorate as more companies are experimenting with more invasive, and in many cases annoying, new ad opportunities.   I’ve been witness lately to pop under’s and sliders making a resurgence, and sliders specifically become annoying as they slow the load times for the pages where they’re located and have a serious effect on my user experience.  Pop-under’s are something I can live with in limited frequency, but they seem to be happening more often as of late!

I’ve always been a fan of innovation, but to be honest I don’t foresee a new ad model taking hold unless the web undergoes a full-scale redesign of the way it delivers content.  Fifteen years ago I predicted the web would become a more dynamic, video-based environment but I’ve since retracted that prediction.  Video will continue to be integrated, but it’s not the right delivery mechanism for the majority of content.  People like pictures and they like reading.  The web is a text and image based medium, with video sprinkled throughout.  It’s not the inverse, with video leading the way.    Especially as the web gets accessed more from mobile devices and the merits of flash vs. html5 continue to be debated.  On a small mobile screen, text and images load faster and provide more content in a more digestible fashion. 

App-based companies like Flipboard, News 360 and ShowYou (though video-focused) are finding news ways to deliver content in an engaging manner, and they offer a glimpse into what a redesigned web could look like.   With these new ideas comes opportunities for new ad placements, but that would have to come in tandem with new standards being adopted by the industry and developed to by advertisers. These days the single largest challenge facing the development of a new ad model lies in getting the advertisers to develop for it.  Almost every advertiser builds 160x600, 728x90 and 300x250 and that’s it – because they’re the most widely accepted formats and optimization requires reach and frequency.

Soooo… it sounds like we’re stuck with these standard display units for a number of years to come.  It’s time to get creative – how can you, as a marketer, do more in that space?  Take it as a challenge – how can you do more with the same, or less, than your competition?  How can you create synergy between your display and your other ad formats across channel?  If you can answer those questions, then your ads can become even more effective. 

How are you driving creativity?