BBC’s Interactive Media Player ( iMP ) – Limiting the reach of the Internet

BBC Interactive Media Player ( iMP ) is presently on trial through the UK to around 5,000 beta testers.

iMP is the BBC’s attempt to extend the delivery of its programming beyond that of traditional broadcast utilizing the Internet.

It allows UK residents to schedule, download, record and watch BBC content through a dedicated application the BBC have developed.

The technology which has been in over two years in the making and uses ‘ peer to peer ‘ methods to improve speeds for downloading content ( once the content is downloaded , it is then available for other people to download from you ) in a similar fashion to Napster and Kazaa.

This all sounds great until you dig a little deeper into the BBC’s blog and website.

The first clue that all is not well is contained in the FAQ about the service. In a pr-emptive move in order to justify this cost of development, they cite winning an award for technical innovation from the Royal Television Society - not exactly sure who made these guys my trusted source for what’s hot and not in the technology world.

Digging a little further we find that player through the use of Microsoft’s Digital Rights Management ( DRM ) technology to protect the content will at a stroke prevent users non Windows based technologies access to the content – that’s most MAC’s, Linux and a good proportion of mobile devices.

The BBC’s charter – to us the UK license payer is as follows

• Trust is the foundation of the BBC: we are independent, impartial and honest
• Audiences are at the heart of everything we do
• We take pride in delivering quality and value for money
• Creativity is the lifeblood of our organisation
• We respect each other and celebrate our diversity so that everyone can give their best
• We are one BBC: great things happen when we work together

It also states “ It does not have to serve the interests of advertisers, or produce a return for shareholders

The audience Auntie is obviously not at the heart of everything you do – Implementing Microsoft DRM does not fulfil this brief.

I would also argue it should produce a return for shareholders ( the UK public ) by looking for additional revenue streams to limit the increases we all incur through our license fees.


On the iMP player itself

The BBC is not a software development / technical solutions shop – it provides content and is bloody good at it.

Ashley Highfield, BBC Director of New Media & Technology is quoted as saying in a recent BBC press release "iMP could just be the iTunes for the broadcast industry –“ so Ashley, why not just use iTunes?

Combine this with Microsoft’s roadmap for Longhorn ( Vista as it was known then ) touting additional enhancements to the media space surly the Beeb could have spent our money and it’s resources in working on a solution in partnership ( after all great things happen when we work together right ? ) which fulfilled it’s needs for protecting content and also allowed access for more than a select few.

By taking the responsibility of developing the iplayer to deliver content to the UK population in a secure manner it is undertaking a massive responsibility – it is like the BBC deciding to adopt and actually build Blue Ray devices ( the new high definition DVD format ) without considering HDDVD ( a competing format ).

With no set standards still in place for both PC and mobile computing and the ever changing face of these access methods it is time to ditch this effort and partner with those who make this their job.

In a similar state of readiness is Joost from the makers of Kazza ( sound familiar ) who have just launched their take on TV delivery using the web. I am sure these technology hot shops of innovation and technology would welcome the backing of one of the largest and best content producers in the world.

Data Breach - what are the costs ?

The Ponemon Institute’s annual benchmark study examines the costs organizations incur when responding to data breach incidents resulting in the loss or theft of protected personal information.

It's resent survey encompassed 31 companies who had suffered data breach , the results are not hypothetical – they represent cost estimates for activities resulting from an actual data loss incident

In the report the number of individual records breached ranged from 2,500 records to 263,000, which considering the scale of some recent public admissions ( Bank of America, UPS loss of Citibank data backup and the infamous Choice Point selling of customer information to criminals ) is small fry.

The study concludes the average cost of a data breach to the company involved ( excluding regulatory fines ) is $182 PER RECORD - if you include regulatory fines this number is off the scale ( Choicepoint landed a $15 million penalty).

Personal data being stored and used electronically is increasing - without diligence and control, so are the risks.

Dell IdeaStorm - connecting with customers

Did you know that most Dell customers would like a ' clean ' software install, without Google or AOL being installed.

Or that a large proportion of their users / advocates would like to have web cams as standard on their laptops ?

Normally this information comes from focus groups ( which by their very nature are expensive and not able to fully embrace the reach of the web ) or through online surveys - which once marketing lay their hands upon tend to request too much information - hence devaluing the information integrity.

In this case the above are real world examples of what customers, potential customers are saying about Dell products , not in a technology forum divorced from their context of the brand and products , but directly on Dell’s IdeaStorm online community.

Dell’s position has always been to cut out the middle man and work directly with it’s clients – IdeaStorm brings a much needed closeness that the outsourcing of call centres and order processing of past has damaged, this openness to adopting blog’s has in effect made every Dell employee a customer facing employee.

The trick now is to ensure is follows through and executes on the valuable feedback it receives – not by just building a faster horse but by hopefully tipping the balance on decisions that can give it the valuable jump on it’s competition it so desperately needs.

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Bullshit !

Playing this too often in your office ?

I recommend the following application to sniff out those jargon buzzwords from documents -

http://www.fightthebull.com/bullfighter.asp



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It's just like...... It's just like...... a real advert

There is a lot of press at the moment around user generated content and the threat to the traditional media owners and producers.

While there is no question user generated content is on the rise – this example on YouTube reminds us that while it may be possible to create your own promotional video’s , it is sometimes best left to the professionals?


With over 400,000 views on YouTube, listing within Wikipedia and a national TV appearance off the back of this I am waiting to hear back from the store owner Sammy Stephens on the impact on local sales. I'll keep you posted.

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The end of the Savile Row Tailor?

Tailor made jeans which “ offer a fit only beaten by skin “ - The Technology first showcased over a year ago has finally made it into the high-street and could revolutionize the way we buy clothes in the future.

Bodymetrics is a body mapping scanner using light to take over 250 measurements from the body – translating these into a virtual body map which is then used for clothing manufacture.

The system using a large pod , which when entered ( with very little of your dignity left on ! ) uses these light sources to create and map every contour of your body – which the manufactures of the clothing say allows for extremely precise tailoring of clothes which today is a pair of jeans, although the system in Harrods is also being used for mens suits.

After your ‘ scan ‘ hand measurements are taken for the waist and also to sanity check the computers measurements , then fabric and personalization such a monogramming are taken with an expected delivery time of around three weeks.

The high price for the jeans is presently down to the volumes and the still uniqueness of the service– if this were deployed more fully and integrated into the automated manufacturing process costs can only come down – it does represent though now an opportunity to further express the uniqueness we all enjoy from clothing in a expanded manner – with tailor made clothing.

There is no present central store for this scan information - how about an RFID tag with all of this data contained for future shopping excursions - bodymetrics could really expand from there present suit and jean manufacture in many ways with my very personal profile, it offers an exciting prospect for the future of clothes buying.

Road Kill - the place for Toyota popups ?

Following on from a previous article on the subject of contextual advertising (How should online deliver ' the message ' ) it is interesting to see the website streetsblog.org traffic increase because of a poorly targeted campaign.

The site describes itself as a “ daily source for news and information about New York City's burgeoning Livable Streets movement. “ which translates to anything to do with New York – including an interesting section called “ The Weekly Carnage “ .

This section hyperlinks to various road traffic accidents and incidents in the boroughs, from fatalities to drink driving incidents – a place you would not expect to find a popup advert from Toyota.

From a marketing point of view I am sure the media buyers and planners followed the brief to the Nth degree however the context in this case is completely wrong.


For a media type which is has the ability for intelligence to be applied , why are there so many cases where this is still not the case ?

Wikipedia - Wisdom of the crowds ?

Anna Nicole Smith Wikipedia entries were defaced and vandalised after the recent news of her death in a Florida

Hotel room yesterday.

Wikipedia the web largest participatory encyclopaedia - enabled a number of measures including ceasing the ability for anonymous users to edit the entry along with displaying a graphic highlighting the high volumes may result in defacing - in one day alone it received over 250 updates.

Wikipedia fundamental principle of utilizing the ‘ wisdom of the crowd ‘ in this instance highlights again the constant threat of unsavoury outcomes for a tool of genuine benefit for the masses, or does it reflect the true nature of the tool

Is this this actually a blatant case of vandalism or a speaking of the truth ?

Why not on Wikipedia ?

The growth of Wikipedia has now meant it is a trusted information source for most people, it represents our first port of call ahead of Google for fact finding - this move now gives certain expectations and responsibilities to the tool by which we do not expect infringements such as those surrounding Anna Nicole to be present.

At the end of the day Wikipedia works because of user participation , the collective and the Wisdom of the crowd - it has to be careful though not to loose this through censorship or putting into place measures by which information ' dictators ' decide on what knowledge should indeed be posted.

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Vista Launch - User generated content, piracy or graffiti

I think you would have to be living on Mars not to have seen the events around Microsoft’s launch of Vista over the past week.

The ' WOW ' tagline promising enhanced and rich user experience, enhanced security along with of course increased reliability and functions – however not everyone shares these ideas as seen in a recent Toronto subway.

Is this an example of expressive art, user generated content ( after all Linux is public domain - how does this differ from users of YouTube using copyrighted soundtracks or video in there ' mash ups ' ) or straight out graffiti. marketing technology

Image courtesy of J. Carlos Navea's blog loconet

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Actions speak louder than words

Behavioural targeting ( BT ) - While sales optimisation fulfils maximising the present , BT assists in ensuring your messages are being played on complimentary areas on the web. By building a profile of the overall user browsing behaviour it is possible to piece together the overall story of the consumer – the web is still a disjointed medium with many who execute via the medium , search based marketing activity pays testimony to peoples efforts to try and join everything together.

Taking for example a potential buyers visit to mother care online, with interest in making car seats would , for example prompt a SUV commercial from ford, obvious right ? ( even better if the precursor to this was last week was indeed site visit to Ford for such a vehicle ).

Building a knowledge or profile from browsing habits is nothing new, indeed this was part of the appeal to advertisers and media alike of the internet – this ability to track and log our habits , interests and movements allow them to target.

In the early days many protested to this being a blatant invasion of privacy , however getting permission in the begining is key.

People will surrender relevant and valuable information about themselves so long as there is a benefit involved in this and future engagements – they also have to trust it will not be passed to third parties, it moves us towards profile based marketing – with us the buyer , storing a central profile containing such items as phone contracts, home and car insurance – items which have a regular renewal cycle. These then are triggered into the correct buying aggregators / bid systems to automatically each year , at the right time , go and seek offers on my behalf.

We have two offers here, the maximisation of the here and now web browser, through BT we as marketers can ensure relevance and context to the more present interest of people, gaining and improved response and user satisfaction, combined with offered information from the buyers ensuring each web engagement is a profitable one ( hopefully leaving more time for the higher value items to be investigated )

A classic example of how not to go about this task would be the recent incident involving AOL , which not only directly impacted the companies reputation and carriers of senior people within the group, but the inference of Google’s business practises came into question.

Google example taken from Guardian :

Gmail is indexed, your searches are indexed, if you have blog – again this is tied back and indexed to you – Google talk and also the ability to show people what music you are playing – therefore activities which are not directly linked to your interactions within the Google realm. This combined with behavioural information from your previous current web engagements makes for an extremely compelling profiling analysis to take place which is completely natural and unbiased in its results.

If users are asked a subset of questions in a structured manner, most will lie in some fashion , or fit the answers to how they think they should be answered – the old adage of actions speak louder than words relay comes into play here.

RFID - the future of shopping

RFID Mobile internet is the future, fixed cable access will no longer exist. This offers a chance for consumer communities to interact more effectively.

Communities which traditionally have been limited to the locations of the connecting devices ( PC fixed to desk ) has meant that opportunities to extend, engage and interact contextually with customers while in situ ( store, street ) have been limited in format and relevance.

RFID now offers us a chance to have extended dialogue to help them ( the consumer ) to make decisions / reinforce brand / offer purchasing options which can be more flexible and relevant based on location. We must be conscious to place the consumer back into the decision cycle , to empower them to make there own choices.

Coupons for irrelevant products and offers will only go the same way as paper based handouts and variants as each shop due to the cost of deployment ( a simple change to the till system internally will allow for new messages to be sent from there transponders ) will result in a overflow of information to which my genuine offers and interests will be lost. Shopping spam.RFID to enhance the shopping experience – CD picked up , Video starts playing. Device in pocket communicates to the item , then adds to my personal shopper list for research later , discount offer , research etc.

Shopping

The store – the stores layout and offer of goods can be dynamically changed. Using video and projectors for signage you could in theory move products from front to back store with ease, electronic shelf pricing would alter, local video displays could show relevant promotion material to the consumer.

Shopping trolley screens – RFID / LCD enabledResearch shows that 80% of decisions are subconscious once the customer is within the store ( confirm this is across store type and value ) which lends RFID enabled shopping trolleys to make recommendations on complimenting items , download shopping lists to the screen based on the user ID to ensure no more forgotten items. The trolley is also then able to interact with the store itself, items on shelf special offers.

Other ideas - allowing for expansion of instore services – once at the checkout dry cleaning department alerted to have items ready, valet parking to pre-position vehicle ( airport – gold card embedded ) RFID in the car dealer – tag the car, follow it’s progress through the garage from valet, to the ramp to being ready via the web. SMS to the customer saying your car is ready for pickup and collection.Loyalty card – the card is not smart , rather the shop is. All data captured and collected.

If I pickup pair of football boots it can associated my position in proximity to the items, these shows my interest and pattern in store. Stores spend vast amounts of viewing shoppers behaviours instore, why not RFID shopping trolleys to perform this function, must be a way of tying in the store card to identify the subject , then monitor and offer promotions based on there behaviour instore.

Complimentary is the key.

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Tagging - Trust Networks

Tagging – extending WOMA

Walking down the street, I find an interesting point of interest or product I like the look of, or even better have a great lunch time meal at a roadside café which to be honest I was not considering ……. How can I share my experience with similar people before I reach the pub tonight ? Stand there like a nutter preaching to passers by - probably not.

Some ideas could be as simple as the restaurant owner having all the comment cards in a strategic place for my viewing , a simple indication of the number of cards left of display can give me an initial indication of what delights or disaster await inside.

Taking this one step further, lets make it more contextual. Those cards need to be split into groups, gender, age, live in the area , regular visitor the list could be endless and adds context and makes the recommendation relevant to me.

This concept has been around for a while with location based marketing still trying to find a place in the marketers hearts. Issues surrounding privacy, spamming users are just the beginning of what could be one of the greatest opportunities this decade. GPS car navigation has revolutionized not only the journey on which you punch in, but also allows you a freedom of showing you what you do not know, the nearest gas station or restaurant helps calm the nerves and allows us to concentrate on the job of playing eye spy and driving the car - while we know in the background our best interests are being taken care of.

Location Based marketing though has some interesting tangents which should be explored. Rather than the straight ‘ here is a coupon ‘ for a discount in the shop you are approaching , similar to the annoying flyers being handed out on Oxford street every day, context is being added through the use of profiles and personal recommendation from similar like minded people.

This is where tagging comes in, the chance for people via their devices to share there views, tag favourite products and stores gives an exciting opportunity to extend the WOMA concept to people ( a rating scheme could be used to help rate the reviewers ) it gives back the spontaneity to the whole consuming experience ( planning which restaurant before a shopping trip may not be viable, however upon arrival viewing other peoples tags would allow for a choice to be made. ) The ability to create personal bookmarks which would be placed on a web server, it would give the location which is useful, a link into shopping services could then direct offers to the user when they login, or alternatively relevant shop offers could be delivered to the device while the prospective is in the vicinity ( or offers from competitors )

Quiet simply it works by tagging through your mobile phone a location, then adding some form of comment ‘ Excellent pasta ‘ to the tag. This is then appended to your location details and stored on a central website. Images and audio can also be added.
Shortly after your tag, another like minded person or friend ( you could save the tag as either public or to your buddies list ) will receive an alert that a tag exists, upon viewing they see your comments, picture and any voice recordings you may have made , along with your profile and rating ( a similar system to e-bay could be used to help regulate the users of the system ) and encourage genuine positive WOM experiences. They can then take up the referral , or possible voucher which could be distributed by the place in question, leaving there own feedback to compliment the tags already there.


The great thing with the system can be integration into formal recommendation portals such as Timeout, FHM and the like – with the social network playing the part of advocate or with the alert being as descriptive or succinct as you need ( a simple staring system could be displayed for speed )
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Demonstrated through http://socialight.com

Happy Birthday - from Amazon

Why does'nt Amazon have a click button when you select ' gift item ' - to add this to a personal calender

They already ( or will know ) the shipping address details of the recipient - they could market these people in one instance with a simple money offer voucher each year, or simply send you an reminder of the anniversary with some gift options......

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New channel - old business rules

With a whole raft of offerings out there in the DVD rental space ( which will show significant growth until broadband delivery gains the two R's of reliability and reach ) you would think that providers of the service would look for more than just price to differentiate themselves, especially for long term customer loyality and the ability to use the vehicle to enter in dialouge of futher products and services...... Not Tesco and their partnership with Video Island.

Recently the Royal mail took it upon themselves to loose a returned DVD - having to wait 4 days before I could report the problem ( which begs the argument with the rental model and costs associted to them in terms of turn around ) I was informed that I needed to complete a paper form ( which could take upto 10 days to be delivered ) to report the loss. In the mean time my account is effectivly frozen and a charge of £20 applied to this while we resolve this matter.

Services like this are built on trust - one strike and your out rules should not apply. Why also use old methods for resolving customer issues, my choice to go online already indicates how I wish to conduct business.

One word equity

Saatchi talks on key characteristics of words – one word equity , this being more and more important as search takes a greater role within the buyers process.

So what do you get when you type the word ' search ' into google.

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When your friends become spammers

Spam – Unqualified , Intrusive , Irrelevant, To frequent and normally incorrectly timed. These are some of the identifiers we associate with spam, an all too often topic in the press for the past 5 years.

More and more we are seeing word of mouth playing an important role with social networks such as MySpace connecting like minded communities together, reviews and recommendations being part of most web buying experiences adding value and a genuine non marketing voice which evidently people value.

The question is though, when do these helpful reviews, comments and feedback start becoming spam.

In the Dynamics of Viral Marketing this and the investigation of propagation of recommendations is reviewed. Using a sample size of over 4 million people with over half a million recommendations for products in the popular DVD / Music arena being tracked, it provides insight into the fascinating world of word of mouth.

Within their studies they find recommendation chains do not grow very large ( we have a greater impact with our friends than others within the same community ) highlighting the long tail of products outside the top positions making up significant percentage of sales ( Amazon having between 20 – 40 % of sales falling outside of it’s top 100,000 books ).

Interestingly as more recommendations between two similar individuals the likely hood of these being actioned upon actually decreases, therefore exhibiting the characteristics of Spam.

Some figures from the report –

• DVD’s reach a recommendation saturation point at 10 incoming referrals , with this figure changing as these two people start exchanging more recommendations the numbers drops to 5.
  This reinforcing the findings of people can become a spammer if they send too many recommendations within the community group.
• Figures differ for the ticket value and type of item ( fiction books VS technical manuals ) in terms of influence the recommendation has, therefore a person who recommends only a few products in the correct categories will be a respected peer within the community.
• 100 products amount for only 11.4% of all sales, top 1000 products amount for 27% of total sales through recommendation system.
• Some products such as fiction books only require one recommendation, further recommendations have no influence and therefore become spam.
• Providing excessive incentives for people to recommend products can weaken the credibility of community they are trying to strengthen.

SMS - dead and buried..... not

Mobile Life survey conducted by YouGov, raises some statistics, which fail to surprise and demonstrates their proliferation :

Of 16,500 adults surveyed

• 14% have two or more phones they use regularly
• On average they make 2.8 calls per day, with an average of 3.6 text messages
• Using data from the mobile data association , during the month of July 3.5 billion text were sent - which equates to 50 text messages per day for every woman, man and child for Great Britain
• 70% replace their phones every 18 months , choosing function as the most important decider
• 64% would be happy to use the phone to pay for small items , such as bus and tube tickets – at present 20% of people pay the London congestion charge in this way.
• An overwhelming majority of people cannot survive a day without their mobile phone
  

And finally , only 14% of those surveyed would turn there phone off during sex…….

Change

Back in the day

In our college days research was conducted in the library , spend hours researching and cross referencing and actually ended up understanding more about the surrounding information than the specific facts we initially wanted.

Nowadays with search the honing process of finding the answer immediately gives us a great ‘ veneer ‘ to our understanding , and in most case fulfils the need to hand – however it gave depth context and relevance. With brands no longer being able to live and breath on the fact they add value and are trusted because they are recognised , data and understanding are becoming more important again.

Time stealing

In effect these will be the person at the library, performing the research and ultimately providing the potential buyer with a simple decision – product A fits your requirements – brand name will come a second place in this. Photo’s – no digital cameras, no selecting which were your favourite shots, 24 shots and one may have been brilliant.


This though gives rise to the technology effect of time stealing, as now we have much more information, catalogue your photo’s , learn the software and buy a computer just to facilitate the photo album which we would have previously been happy with. In search of perfection may take away the ‘ feeling ‘ which old albums evoke.

Appreciation for the finer things – with over 1,000 songs in your pocket the argument goes how can you become intimate with music anymore, with the choice and availability along with illegal methods for obtaining and copying music ( previously to steal you would have had to physically been present, technology removes the accountability from a physiological point of view ) will the future generation tune into the finer points of artist works, or is this symptomatic of the fact we are all now content producers and the quality is no longer there for us to ponder and appreciate – for everyone Honda Cog, there are a thousand Crazy Frogs.


I always found my favourite albums were the ones I listened to over and over , I came to spend time with them and appreciate over time.

Media fragmentation

Myth

We have in theory only added on more medium to all of this in the past 10 years – the net. TV, Radio, WOM, Outdoor, Cinema have all existed. Just like the Internet bubble is again now growing ( with a harder , tougher shell ) convergence is coming back...... this time though it is the meida which is converging

Demographics

If we take the continuation of the single person household le person ( by 2010 this will represent the largest household type ) and the choice now being channel based rather than time based only from the broadcast days - I believe contributes more realistically as to why we no longer get 20 million people viewing Coronation Street - rather than the fact 50 more channels exist ( also take into consideration Ethnic population grows 54% compared with 4% for the UK – again is Yorkshire life in a public house really what people from differing backgrounds interested in. )

Certain events such as the World Cup produce that the correct content gives you the numbers – the event requires it be worthwhile.

Immediacy adds relevance

Elections are on the wane in terms of turnout however people through the use of Blogs are showing they still wish to be engaged in the democratic process, express their views and contribute through demonstrations , so why the poor turn out ? - the format of the ballot is alien to a large proportion of the population. The thought of having to ‘ schedule ‘ your support and be attending the voting booth, of using a medium such as mail which requires the most simple boundary of a stamp – why not move voting online – see the results rocket the other way.

People today are watching more television albeit over a more diversely spread set of channels, without the use of technology you are of course going to spend more money trying to reach this ‘ dislocated ‘ group of people

In the past 3 basic channels ( with shorter viewing windows – I recall broadcast finishing at 11 pm – I’m not exactly old either ! ) and 15 TV companies in the UK alone. This condensation of viewable time funnelled people in – the funnel is now wider , however technology will act as the lasso brining it all together.
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Convergence

If we took their individual programming schedules of those 15 regions , combined with ‘ viewable time ‘ , then we mapped the programming we would indeed see the view that would be regarded as ‘ fragmented ‘ in the true sense of the word.

The adage from David Ogilvy about which part advertising does not work is born from this.

Scrap heap challenge

Today they ( the broadcasters – a term which is due for the scrap heap really soon ) have in effect flipped the TV schedule onto one side , and built depth into each of the previous vertical sectors – spawning specialist channel – the depth we see today.

Convergence a word pulled from the scrap heap however describes technologies job into consolidating all of these outlets of content back into one channel.

The thin slice

You say fragmented and divided, I say organised and concentrated.

Marketers’ can no longer thin slice, they need to enter into a meaningful dialogue in order to capture both peoples attention and imagination.

Take a look at http://www.pandora.com for the future of how our personal media consumption can deliver both specific relevant content, while interjecting ‘ something new and surprising ‘ through a little thought and technology.

Technology Marriage - Back from Divorce

Media and new technology have been co-existing in a ' uncomfortable ' relationship for the past 5 years. A sort of arranged marriage if you like which offered promise and excitement through the prospect, but never really delivered on these wedding vows.

The main issue all along has been consumer acceptance , the technology has , so far not actually delivered what consumers actually wanted. This year see's the marriage start to blossom with promise , Sky+ continues its growth , mobile finally has a working delivery for TV through handsets and BT/ NTL and Sky's push into broadband gives us hope that on-demand may start making inroads and become the ' de-facto ' delivery for programming.

Programme schedules will be flipped on their side as consumers finally let their viewing habits be merged with profiles to lasso all the diverged delivery methods into one personalised channel. Think about it , the devilvery channels are fragmenting while the media is converging - TV is not dead, just it's role is changing much in the same way Radio and press assumed different roles over the years.

Audience sessions for MSN and Google in the 70 million for the UK in one week ( compared to the Sun newspaper equating to 50 ) with the prospect of the traditional radio and broadcast traffic being squirted to users through these various pipes , I say convergence is starting to ring the church bells.

How should online deliver ' the message '

With video becoming more and more prevalent through the web questions are starting to be raised as to how best deliver advertising messages to people in a medium , which is very different from TV. The argument goes that online people are actively engaging, they are in a non passive mode therefore delivering adverts such a as a 30 second spot will not be as effective ( inefficient as it may be ) as through traditional broadcast means. CNET and Google are starting to deliver video which is either inter dispersed with adverts , or are ‘ topped and tailed ‘ with adverts – however is the is really the most effective way of engaging the customer – does this represent real value for money for advertisers and how much thought actually goes into ensuring messages are compatible with the content on screen.

A recent article in the Media Guardian highlighted the issue with broadcast , highlighting a plight which online suffers from – wrongly

It outlines the recent events surrounding the final demise of Sadaam Hussein , the build up and events of his hanging being then interrupted by a ‘ cheery advert to by a sofa “ – a prime example of “jarring and a bit insensitive “.

Along with giving other examples of McDonalds adverts being run next to childhood obesity in the press, they make the interesting point as the demarcation of adverts becomes more blurred due to shorter and shorter messages being squeezed in between programming - that we are not given enough time to make the shift between entertainment and promotion.
This coupled with the increase in content driven promotion, such as the recent Audi TV channel and the fact that most TV productions now carry forms of in program sponsorship and branding – is it not true that we no longer truly realise when we are / are not being advertised – the entire viewing experience now is one long advert.

How best to approach this for the web - “contextually targeted, demo-targeted, frequency capped and combined with a companion piece”

Bradley Werner’s comments (http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/13112.asp ) above he highlights one of the keys lies in the context. I would argue though simple segmentation to decide on what type of adverts to display does not go far enough ( even though this would be a great start , advertisers have to realise that simply picking high volume traffic sites may not be the best route ) .

More time and effort should be spent on analysing empirical browsing habits from the session. From this you could determine both the context and also the frequency and type of advertisements to display – varying from banner adverts which are functional and could be displayed as a shopping cart after the programming or indeed adding promotional content to the piece (which could vary in terms of message and length) knowing or at least having a good indication, that the content piece is valuable enough in this instance to attach such messages for this particular person. In essence building a profile and then deciding upon what could be tolerated and be useful to the viewer.

From a supposed interactive medium we should expect and deliver a more meaningful dialogue.


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