Monday, March 29, 2010

How Adam Carolla Became a Podcast Superstar


In just over a year, Carolla, 45, has used this same improvisational approach to lift podcasting from the realm of amateur audio and video blogging to an increasingly professional medium with real revenue potential. His daily talk show was an immediate hit -- more than 50 million downloads in its first year -- and was named iTunes's best audio podcast of 2009.

By aggregating a devoted audience and then experimenting with new ways of interacting with it, Carolla is both taking advantage of an opportunity and creating one. Analysts at eMarketer predict that U.S. podcast listenership will approach 38 million by 2013, more than double 2008's audience. Meanwhile, traditional media has mostly used podcasting to repurpose preexisting TV and radio content -- the same mistake newspapers and magazines made with the Web, opening the door to outsiders.

CLICK HERE for the article at Fast Company

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Major League Soccer's slick new video service debuts in Seattle


Tonight's Sounders game is an especially big opener for Major League Soccer, which is using the Seattle game to debut new online services for fans, including a high-def streaming video service.

Not coincidentally, a lot of the services are based on technology from Microsoft, which is a major sponsor of the league and the Sounders.

U.S. soccer fans on average are more technologically inclined than the general public, and the league is counting on new digital services to keep growing its popularity, said Chris Schlosser, MLS director of digital strategy.

Schlosser, a former product planner in Microsoft's MSN group, led the development of entirely new Web sites for the league and individual teams that are also debuting at today's game.

"It's one of the most significant investments our [league] ownership group has ever made,'' he said. "They clearly see our fan base is digital and the future growth of our league is driven by continued growth in the digital space."

The new online video service, called MatchDay Live, will stream up to three games at once and provide digital video recorder-like features, including pause, rewind and "instant replay."

"This really changes the experience for the MLS," said Chris Wagner, executive vice president of NeuLion, a New York-based company that built the player for MLS.


CLICK HERE for the entire post from The Seattle Times

Saturday, March 06, 2010

The end of the AD MEN as seen on MAD MEN


Why advertising has changed forever and will never go back to the way is was.

VANCOUVER – As a young boy I was introduced to the ad business because my Father worked in advertising. It was a fun and dynamic world that was full of exciting characters, creative people, energy and money.

I grew up in a neighborhood were most of my friends parents were doctors, lawyers and other professionals. We all had nice homes, two nice cars, stay-at-home moms and lived a great life full of swimming pools, backyard BBQ’s and vacations. My father was NOT a doctor or lawyer, he was in advertising.

The AD MEN of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s were wild characters. They drove the best cars, ate in the best restaurants, hung out with the sports celebrities and enjoyed Martini’s with agency buyers and direct clients until the order was booked. Often, business wasn’t even discussed during these infamous lunches and the contract renewals just flowed like the wine and fine food.

I always knew when one of my Father’s fellow ‘peddlers’ would show up by the flashy cars they drove, the swagger in their walk and the way they spoke.

This ‘elite’ group of well paid advertising wizards truly did help their customers sell more products and increase sales. They played a key role in the success of so many of the brands we now know today.

When I followed in the footsteps of my Father and entered the ad game myself, my expectations were to continue the exciting life that had I had been exposed to. After 25 years in the business myself, I can say that it's been very good to me too. I’ve earned large sums of money, owned expensive cars, traveled and tasted what life looks like from a private suite at an NHL hockey game and court-side seats at an NBA game. The life of the AD MEN in the 80’s and 90’s was still pretty sweet.

Enter the dot.com boom of 1998 and the bust of 2001

My guess is the first wave of the dot com boom at the end of the century was the beginning of the end for life as we know it in the typical ad world.

First, technology and specifically the internet started getting traction and although most of the business models had not taken hold, we knew as a society that this ‘connectivity’ thing was going to change the way people and brands interact with each other. When the ‘dot bomb’ hit in April 2001, it really was the start of what we see today as a major shift in the old style of advertising and marketing brands, products and services.

2010 marks the end of the AD BIZ as we know it.

Fast forward to 2010 and we might as well say that the old model of advertising is over and the AD MEN as depicted in MAD MEN wouldn’t stand a chance in today’s world.

The idea that a brand can create a cute positioning line, advertise it on TV and increase market share is still possible, it’s just more complicated now. The number of ways that a consumer is able to connect with a product is growing and the flow of information is no longer one-way. In fact it is no longer just two-way as consumers communicate with each other using blogs and Wiki’s.

The AD MEN of today better have a more open attitude about how traditional media and new media will work together to create advertising that is relevant and effective. The successful AD MEN of 2010 will convince advertisers to keep a percentage of their budgets in traditional, larger reach mediums like TV while encouraging them to ramp up online, social media and mobile marketing initiatives. Make no mistake, this is an exciting time to be in advertising. The AD MEN that recognize and embrace the new way of communicating with customers will succeed and continue to play a role in the success of their advertisers.

Mitch Drew

Mitch Drew is a television advertising salesperson in Vancouver. He is an active blogger, writer and social media expert.

This article was inspired by a conversation about the book.

Googled: The End of the World as We Know It by Ken Auletta

mitchdrewmedia@gmail.com

Thursday, March 04, 2010

'Faces Of Social Media' Unveiled: Knowledge Networks, MediaPost Partner On Category Specific Research


To help marketers, agencies and publishers understand how social media is influencing consumer brand perception and purchasing decisions, Knowledge Networks has teamed with MediaPost Communications Inc., the publisher of Online Media Daily and the parent of the Center for Media Research, to launch the "Faces of Social Media," a new, long-term tracking study providing a consumer-centric view of social media's affect on 30 key product categories.

CLICK HERE for the story from MediaPost