Jaffe Juice

I'm sitting at Johannesburg International, accessing the Web using a wi-fi connection. That's a milestone in its own right. Here are another 3:

1. Jaffe Juice has just celebrated its 1st year blogday! To be honest, I'm not sure the exact day I took this on with 110% passion and effort, but it's basically one year and I couldn't be more thrilled to have been able to build this conversation and community...
2. Speaking of which, the juice community keeps on growing and there are now over 1000 Feedblitz e-mail subscribers, in addition to the RSS subscribers across the globe. I only switched to Feedburner about a few months ago and so if you're still on the old feed, I would be most appreciative if you would switch to http://feeds.feedburner.com/JaffeJuice
3. Finally, Across the Sound - the New Marketing Podcast just broke 500 listener subscribers. In fact, as of today, we're sitting on 517. That's a huge milestone I think in Podcasting. I think a certain Pete Lerma ClickZ article helped here...thanks Pete!

To all who have read, listened, commented, dissented, subscribed etc....I am nothing without you. Just a voice without a home.

Here's to the Juice, the Sound, the Truth, the Dialogue and most of all...to you!

A couple of things I'd love to write more about but just don't have the time:

• In the discussion over which is more important, the brand or the product, I think they're missing the idea that the product IS the brand and vice versa.  What could possibly sell a product better than the product itself?  Marketing ain't just what goes on in the media, it's part of the user experience. 
• Chocolate isn't just fun to eat, according to a new branding statement by Mars. The company is selling its new Cocoavia chocolate bar as being "heart healthy."  They even have the ultimate celebrity endorsement: science.

--CT

Publicis Group, one of the ad agency major holding companies, recently founded a small consulting service called Denuo, which means "afresh" or "anew" in Latin.  The goal of the agency is to help companies navigate the sometimes murky and choppy waters of the internet and all the things that have popped up there like blogs, search marketing and other such things.  Rubel hates the idea.  Jarvis loves it.  Why the difference of opinion between the two?

Steve thinks that the whole idea smacks of old-world thinking of "marketing to consumers, instead of with them."  Jeff, on the other hand, thinks that anything that strives to make advertisers and the media companies that are dependent on them question established practices is a good thing.  I have to say I agree with Jarvis on this one.

Marketing IS about marketing people talking to customers instead of with them.  Companies talk to people.  People talk with people.  That two-way communication needs to happen on a personal level.  Reality is there's no way a major company can engage in an interactive communication process with its entire consumer base.  You find a few key influencers and engage them in a dialogue.  The key to me is more in the knowing what is being said about you as a company.  That will give you power and allow you to focus your efforts more efficiently. 

A company should be aware that a piece of CGM has been created.  It should be aware of when someone puts up a gripe on their blog, whether it's based on fact or a misconception.  It's then up to them to respond in an appropriate manner to either one of those things.

I don't think Publicis is actually out to "exploit" citizen media or any of these new-fangled communications tools the public has access to.  I do think they're trying to find a way to make advertising folks and media members aware of what's going on out there and advise them on the best practices for existing in such a world.

--CT

In part 2 of his 4 part expanded commentary on reinventing marketing, Bob Liodice hones in on integrated marketing communications.

He asks the following questions, which no doubt are on every marketer’s minds:

1)     What is the right marketing mix to support brand building efforts?

2)     How much should be invested and over what time?

3)     How do you tie the marketing messages together across media?

4)     What are the core measurements?

5)     What is the effectiveness of each medium individually and overall?

To help answer these questions, Liodice calls for a reinvented marketing model based on two fundamental principles:

a)     A completely agnostic approach

b)     A far more disciplined strategic approach

It sounds simple on paper, but in reality this is unbelievably challenging for so many reasons – not the least of which are overarching barriers to integration which are deep-set and firmly ingrained in the cultural and organizational DNA of pretty much most organizations. Organic inertia, resistance (and fear) of change, not to mention bitter political opposition present a formidable challenge to anyone intent on embracing a new way of working.

Furthermore, working together and “playing nicely” are virtually impossible when there is no process in place to facilitate “agnostic” collaboration.

Clients ultimately have to settle somewhere on a catch-22 spectrum in order to be best placed to strike on the plethora of choices and alternatives. On one hand is the one-stop-shop and on the other is the array of best of breed specialists. The former is fraught with the reality that the 800-pound heavyweights are for the most part jack of all trades, and master of television, radio and print. The latter is encumbered with scalability and complexity issues. When last I check P&G had more agencies than year I’ve been alive. There just aren’t tables big enough to physically fit everyone around…

In chapter 10 of my book, I write about re:thinking the agency, and part of this discussion focuses on integration. You can download the chapter for free by clicking on this link.

On Wednesday, the Associated Press ran a story about how AOL will actually be raising the price for its slower dialup service to meet that of its new broadband pricing that you might have seen on the company's latest ad campaign. The spots, which show "everyday people" going as fast as athletes competing in sporting events, are done that way to represent the level of speed that now these average folks who are AOL dialup users can now get.

Broadband penetration is at a huge high in this country, so much so that Web developers and content creators have pretty much forgotten about people who are dialing in at 56k and below (56k, too, is a marketing thing - you can't go that fast on the phone). If an AOL were able to swing a ton of newbieish broadband users on the 'net, do we expect to see a change in what the consumer content generated will be, or do we think that now all of our parents will get to see Lazy Sunday at the same time that we do?

A while ago during one of the IM conversation Tom Biro and I were having he had what I consider a genius idea. 

See Tom and I have a situation.  Both of us write for AdJab but we also have other blogs and online efforts.  Tom writes TheMediaDrop himself as well as Open the Dialogue for his employer, MWW.  I run Movie Marketing Madness as a personal blog and also Bacon's Blog for Bacon's Information whom I work for.  I also write a column titled Movie Marketing Madness for FilmThreat.com.  So both of us are multi-bloggers. 

The problem we have is one of branding.  How do we alert people to the full range of efforts we're involved in and not neglect one or more of the others?  Tom's idea was simple: We encourage people to search for us.  When you run "Tom Biro" through Google you'll see TMB, AJ and OTD all come up within the top five results.  Do the same for "Chris Thilk" and you get my stuff. 

Tom's point is that quite separate from whatever we might be doing, we are the brand names.  TMD, MMM, these are all just outlets for, essentially, us. This isn't at all to say that we're looking for new jobs - at all - or we actually need to be writing elsewhere. But let's just say that we're both comfortable with, and like being, interviewed on a number of topics, and don't feel like reading all the ProfNet requests out there on the wire? (No, we're not that obnoxious to think we know everything, stop it!) Do we, as probably-somewhere-on-the-C-list bloggers have enough cache that people might think "wow, I thought I remembered Chris Thilk writing about that a few weeks ago..." and yet they might not know where to find out about it?

By writing in multiple locations as Tom and I do, it kind of divvies up your abilities to possibly different audience - which is fine - but it's not necessarily a good thing as fragmented as the Internet can be. Herein lies the concept - do we place advertisements, perhaps in a tongue-in-cheek kind of way, online, perhaps even through a podcast like Joe Jaffe's Across the Sound? It wouldn't be about branding our jobs, or AdJab, or anything else necessarily, just a kind of fun way to say "looking for xyz? Google Chris and/or Tom, and yada yada yada." At the very least, it seemed like a fun experiment, but it's unclear where it would lead.

Needless to say, the opportunity to write here at JJ might be a good jumping point for things like this, and it allows us to pose the question - should bloggers - let's just say mostly the fully freelance ones - "brand" themselves out there? We all know that the sites they run and the words they write create the brand that they are, whether they like it or not (ask most bloggers who've been asked to do a paid gig or guest host how they got there, and the answer would actually be that their brand got them, even if they don't say it). So would marketing yourself by way of a search engine just in a way to, effectively, make yourself famous, work at all? Or is it just a parlor trick?

So NBC has decided that word of mouth is a bad thing.  They've informed YouTube that the site is no longer allowed to make the "Lazy Sunday" skit/music video from Saturday Night Live available for viewing.  That notification comes from the network's legal department.  When the skit debuted in December it was put on YouTube and spread quickly via IM and email and made a lot of people consider watching the show again after giving up on it.

What in the name of all that is goodness is NBC doing?  Lorne Michaels should have kissed the ground YouTube's behind-the-scenes people walked on for the good they did by making the video available on their site.  Lorne, it is never a bad thing when people are talking about your product in a positive way.  Never.  Do anything you can to facilitate that.  Just because the skit is available for $1.99 on iTunes does not mean you need to shut down this grassroots viral effort. 

NBC just earned the Wanker Move of the Day award from me.

--CT

The prevalance of characters from kids shows who have merchandise with their images on it is leading to an increase in sales of those products. Not only that but there's an ever-growing demand for high-end kid's clothing and other accessories by a group that's been labeled "Yoga Mommies." This group is looking for products that are as much status symbols as they are toys or more practical items. That group is looking for things for their "Hipster Babies", whose outfits and such are designed and intended to reflect thei up-scale tendencies of their parents.

This is more about marketing a lifestyle than marketing a product.  The people behind these products have realized that there are a lot of people who think the right clothes will give their kids the perfect life.  It's every bit as aspirational as those car ads featuring the SUV rolling up a hilltop and navigating muddy paths when the roughest terrain they'll likely face is the speed-bump in the McDonald's drive-thru.

--CT

Based on the success of previous efforts with email marketing campaigns, Land Rover has decided to expand and contine the program.  According to a Land Rover exec, the earlier campaigns generated positive results so they're sticking with it.

I agree that email marketing can be successful, just like television advertising can be successful.  The problems are ones of cost, volume and efficiency.  While email is almost certainly cheaper than buying TV ads they still suffer from the same problem TV ads do, that of it being a wide net to catch a few fish.  See if you can pick out the one word in the following sentence that shows the flawed thinking:

The campaign comprises a series of e-mails targeting both prospective and existing customers.

Give up?  It's "propective."  See I'm a prospective Land Rover buyer.  But, based on my current needs and current income I'm not a likely Land Rover buyer.  So I might be in the group that gets targeted because my name shows up on a list but that doesn't translate to any definitive buying plans.

The best way, I think, to influence future customers is to give current customers a good experience.  In the age where word-of-mouth or word-of-mouse is king a positive peer review will outweigh whatever canned marketing message a company might be sending via email.  Give your current consumer base access to information on products they like and give them an easy way to share that information.  The sales will come.

The Onion has scored a massive scoop: an in-depth and inside the sausage factory interview with Gilllllette (5 x l's for 5 x blades) CEO, James M. Kilts. He's got some fighting words (not for sensitive eyes/ears) about being in it to win it and once you're done with this piece, you'll truly understand the utter brilliance of the Fusion strategy, positioning and breathtaking Super Bowl Spot.

More here.

Via adpulp

Man, you'd think it was enough that I had to work with Chris Thilk over at AdJab all the time, and now I've gotta follow this...

As you've probably heard by now, I'm Tom Biro, and will be carousing with you JJ readers, commenters, lurkers, and other unsavory types while Mr. Jaffe has a blast way beyond the equator from points here in the Northeastern U.S. While he might be missing out on the snowstorms followed by 50-degree days (that's Fahrenheit if you're counting at home), you all won't be missing out on marketing and new media discussions that you've surely come to know and love by hanging out here. Hopefully, we'll be able to whet your collective appetite with our ability to cover such topics on a regular basis, or at least sound like we know what we're talking about.

So feel free to keep us posted on anything you find of interest, and we'll be sure and not burn down the place while Joe's gone. I see how it is, he gets to go ride ostriches with the tourists and pronounce "zebra" as "ZEB-ra," and we get stuck here in the States. But really, we're excited to be here, and hope that you'll have just as good a time as you normally do, even though we don't have books currently running around on best-seller lists.

Ted Striker: concentrate... concentrate... I've got to concentrate... concentrate... concentrate... Hello?... hello... hello... Echo... echo... echo... Pinch hitting for Pedro Borbon... Manny Mota... Mota... Mota...

That's me, pinch hitting for Joe Jaffe while he takes what is likely a much needed break.  For those of you who don't already know me my name is Chris Thilk.  As Joe mentioned both Tom Biro, who I write for/with on AdJab and who is just so unbelievably cooler than me, and l will be doing what I can to run Jaffe Juice into the ground in his absence.

To address something Joe said, I don't think of AdJab and Jaffe Juice as being in competition.  That's the beauty of this whole internet/blog/citizen media thing.  We're not competitors, we're partners.  AdJab, adfreak, AdRants, Jaffe Juice...it's all a community.  We get story ideas, business ideas and just general knowledge from each other.  It's like a neighborhood.  And when a neighbor goes on vacation the least we can do is bring in the mail and make sure the garbage is at the curb when the truck comes.  That's what I'm doing here: taking out the garbage. 

I hope you enjoy, and thanks to Joe for inviting me to fill in here.  I can only assume the email was sent after he received some sort of severe head trauma but I'll take it.

--Chris Thilk

(stream of consciousness follows) Much ado about blogging this week with a New York Magazine article that goes underneath the covers to reveal what makes the blogosphere tick and the sinister underbelly of the elitist bourgeoisie (not really, but I am trying to use the word, "underbelly" as often as I can during the month of February)

I haven't read it yet...and I'm not sure I will get to it. It's all quite boring and even juvenile to me. I'm so disinterested with the whole debate about A-listers, blogger have and have-nots. I don't need Jaffe Juice to be considered anything other than a trusted and respected resource with high value content.

Steve Rubel reminds us the following:

1) There are bloggers that can come out of nowhere and join the so-called elite group of top-ranked bloggers. Look at TechCrunch. It is rapidly rising up the charts.

2) A blogger with two readers can become a reader with thousands in an instant and then fall back down to zero and then back to thousands again two months from now - or never again. Does that mean he/she is unimportant? Not.

3) Finally, this so-called A-list changes constantly.

I would also add another 2 points.

4) One person's A-lister is another person's Geek Patrol. It's all relative...

5) ...and besides, let everyone enjoy their 15-seconds, 15-minutes or 15-posts of fame. It's called first mover advantage and in every medium known to man or woman, there are typically a few larger publishing organization that monopolize the presses and ad rates...

...wait a second, isn't that exactly what the blogosphere isn't supposed to be? Could it be that the blogosphere is not that different to the rest of the world? Could it be that the podosphere will ultimately emulate the blogosphere, which in turn mimicked the periodical world, in which New York magazine lives? Is the circle finally complete?

Perhaps and perhaps not. Gawker rules in its domain. But will it control the world? Or at least the blogosphere? The tyranny of line extension and diversification teaches us to be exceptionally good at a finite and focused amount of competancies and to avoid losing focus from that which powers us to be differentiated and coveted.

Every blogger deserves their celeb status and let them revel in it (for it may indeed prove to be fleeting) To be sure, during this time they will be excessively targeted in attempts to depose, discredit and criticize them. That's just the nature of the beast, the conversation and the access.

All I can say is pity the fool (thanks Mr T) that underestimates the blogosphere in general - the A, B, C - Z list inclusive.

The articles will come and the articles will go, but the blogosphere will continue to grow...and above all, the entire community itself will prevail as an A-list unto itself.

PS The same thread will play itself out in the podosphere in weeks, months and years to come. Like Yogi said, "deja vu all over again"

PPS To any blogger looking to move up the rankings, grow their audience and climb the list, I would just say....be true to yourself; focus on your content and be patient. Stay the course. Who knows...you might be on the cover of New York magazine one day; or you might purchase a copy of New York magazine one day; or you might use a copy of New York magazine to wipe your ass because you've run out of $100 bills.

Via adland, this post about a brand new media agency that has popped up to better serve our obese ad budgets. They're called RooFShout and their mission in life is to help you rise above the clutter...at least until you hit the Penthouse.

"...I figure there's a lot of blank roofs and a lot of advertising that could go on the roofs," waxes RooFShout's man with a plan, Colin Fitz-Gerald.

Piers Fawkes and myself discussed this phenomenon at length on ATS #19. While I do think there are opportunities (some signficant) in the roofvertising space, they will be exceptions rather than the norm. Furthermore, from a scaleability perspective, gazing out your aircraft window isn't going to cut it...Google Maps/Earth is going to play an important role, but the million $$$ question will lie in how often (as in recency) these maps are updated.

In the case of the wonderful Fiat campaign for example, a bunch of Fiats and a Ferrari were buried underneath the snow in Torino. Only problem was that when I searched...the ground looked very green.

I'm not the first blogger to have another blogger step in for them when they're out for an extended period of time...but I do think this particular blog swap is - if nothing else - original.

Ad Jab Messrs, Tom Biro and Chris Thilk (who have overdosed on Jaffe Juice way too often for comfort), will be using and abusing the editorial conch in my absence.

It's kind of cool insofar that AdJab and Jaffe Juice could be seen as "competitive" (just like AdRants, but that didn't stop Steve and I co-hosting Across the Sound , now did it?), but in reality I think exemplifies the collaborative culture (and the currency of links) of the blogosphere and citizen journalism in general.

Anyway, hope you enjoy the houseguests. If they happen to get out of control, throw any raucous parties and whip out the weed, then they're obviously doing their jobs :)

I'll be periodically checking in from Internet Cafes in beautiful Cape Town, most likely juiced on Red Bull or Espresso at some ungodly hour.

Later...

Your daily immune boost:

1) Appetizer: NYTimes article on the Maestro, Bob G and the health of the 30-second spot (I have 22 years to work on my cover story piece)

2) Entree: Really nice campaign for Pharmaca (an expanding chain of "Integrative Pharmacies") called Cubicle Cooties (a real hopeful message to any client that big budget and big ideas are not one and the same)

3) Dessert: More on Verizon Wireless' John Stratton - his 8 points towards advertising and agency health/wellness (consider replacing "Life long and prosper" with a V for V-cast)

It's not rocket science, it's just common sense. In the midst of the perfect storm, the eye in which calm, clarity and resonance prevails is in the one true differentiator that we still have some ability to influence, mould and nurture: CREATIVITY.

Here is a commentary piece from Randall Rothenberg, reporting back from the World Economic Forum. In his article, he offers up 6 takeaways:

1. (my words) The democratization of content creation and distribution - in other words, anyone can be creative (at a fraction of the cost!)
2. (in Rubel's words) "we, the media" - in other words, individuals control their media
3. Whatever creativity is, its essence is more important in marketing and media now than ever.
4. Mobile social networking is the next big thing
5. The “long tail” is making vast new forms of business possible. To this end, I would ask you to consider the concept of "the long tail of advertising"
6. The physical world still matters -- especially as a validator

Rothenberg cites BBDO Worldwide President-CEO, Andrew Robertson who says:

Robertson noted that the Meow Mix Co. now makes $1.2 million per year selling cellphone ring tones. He told the crowd, “My dream is that that’s how we’ll get paid.”

Assuming the BBDO's are capable of coming up with a different result from a different work product, through a different process and a different way to work, his dream might very well come true.

They're now officially a print and OOH shop (huh?) I guess that's kind of good news.

Here are 3 examples of some really terrific work from them for FEDEX and AQUAFINA (it's bubble wrap in case it isn't clear)

Via AdBlather and Adverblog

Congrats to Amanda and Rocket Boom. TRM Corporation was the winner of RB's eBay ad auction at a bargain $40,000 for...

For the highest bidder, we will create five original, fifteen second (minimum) - one minute (maximum) post-roll commercials that will span five days of programming, Monday-Friday, March 6 through March 10, 2006. Each day that week a different commercial that we create for your company will be played at the conclusion of the Rocketboom episode.

It's momentous and unprecedented...both in terms of the act itself, but also in terms of the production component, which is agency-free.

Hmmm....Across the Sound Ad Auction on eBay. Reserve price = 2 x Yankee Tickets.

The Upfront and the Super Bowl are the undisputed beacons/proxies of TV advertising's relative health. I vaguely recall predicting that the shark had been jumped for TV in 2005 (the upfront was flat) and Super Bowl XL.

However, at $2.5 or $2.6 million for a 30-second spot this year, I was proven wrong (which doesn't make me wrong, it just makes people more desperate)

Fear not, I might have been on the 'er, money after all.

This week's Ad Age (look out for the article online or purchase a copy) airs the dirty laundry that this year's XL shrunk in the wash and was in fact inbetween sizes M and L.

• The reality is that discounts ran up to 40% and a number of spots were snapped up the actual weekend of the Super Bowl.
• In addition, the family-affair of Disney and ESPN (the parent and sibling companies of ABC) accounted for 3 1/2 minutes of commercials, making them the second largest advertiser on the day.
• 5 spots (compared to 1 from last year) repurposed existing creative

The net net(work) was that the $2.5-6 tag was in fact closer to around $2.3-4, with some bargain basement pricing in the region of $1 million. That puts XL on a par with XXXIV.com

Consider the likely scenario of a Bud-less (as in less, as opposed to none) Super Bowl next year. I don't know about you, but it might be time for a couple of premature Hail Mary's from the old Network playbook...

When I asked Jon to guest co-host this week's show, I had no idea that it would literally be 2 days after "Life takes Visa" launched. So it's a sort of a scoop and I hope you'll enjoy it.

Shownotes and links on Across the Sound.

Subscribe at iTunes or any other RSS reader/aggregator or Podcatcher.

CBS EVP and CRO (Chief Research Officer), David Poltrack: "Short answer:yes, more than ever"

jaffe window-cleaner, tea-gentleman and CCBSO (chief counter BS officer), Joseph Jaffe: "Slightly longer answer: yes, more than ever. But just not advertising"

Note: The CCBSO title is not aimed at David, and the similarity of CBS acronyms is purely coincidental (kinda)

Back to the question of the day, "Are people still watching TV?" I concur with DP that they are. And the DVR people are watching even more. I also agree that in this era of fragmentation, the brand leaders are favorably positioned compared to their counterparts. That's good news for CBS and the networks, as well as the established cable brands like ESPN for example. (But it certainly does not imply "race over" - think of it as a marathon and we've just entered the halfway mark. So often, the pacesetters fade from contention...)

Poltrack says "content is king." Content is King. Now more than ever. Poltrack is 3 for 3, but it is also this assertion that may very well prove him to be completely wrong...

The past few years have seen the USA's, F/X's, Bravo's and premium channels like the HBO's clean up at the Award Shows. Sopranos, SATC, Monk, The Shield, The Closer etc are winning the hearts of consumers, not Ghost Whisperer, Joey or that other series with the dude from Ed (name escapes me and evidently millions of others)

What the hell happened to Threshold and why did CBS summarily dismiss this promising series? It wasn't because of CONTENT; it was because of ratings...

And while we're at it, should we talk about Arrested Development or Sports Night?

Or even the Book of Daniel, which wasn't cancelled for content reasons, but rather for "extraneous" pressures being applied...

The reality is that the question, "are people still watching TV?" is totally irrelevant. The real questions are more likely:

• What are people watching (on) TV?
• How are people watching TV?
• Why are people watching TV?
• Where are they watching TV?
• On which devices are they watching TV?

By "what", I also refer to consumer generated content (RocketBoom for example), as well as DVD's and Gaming

By "how", I also refer to time-, place- and format-shifting

By "why", I also refer to the fact that there used to be no alternatives. TV was the only game in town. No more....

By "where", I also refer to watching TV at work, and on the road (mobile)

By "on which devices", I also refer to "on which devices" (PSP, iPod etc)

And then there's IPTV or the reality of a broadband powered consumption experience, in which case the question would be, "Is it even TV that people are watching?"

The MediaPost article closes with the following gem: "Clearly, most people feel DVR is something they can live without." Ouch. But he's right, isn't he? Although I'm guessing people once said that about....the TV itself.

I find television very educational. Every time someone switches it on I go into another room and read a good book. Groucho Marx

It is a medium of entertainment which permits millions of people to listen to the same joke at the same time, and yet remain lonesome. TS Eliot

Television: a medium. So called because it is neither rare nor well done. Ernie Kovacs

Diatribe Epilogue: Let's not forget that advertising revenues (same publication/same day: networks have put the quarterly Network Revenue Report on "hiatus"; Q4 revenue numbers have been supressed) are also reflecting that advertisers are not watching TV, but instead focusing their attention on "alternatives" to watching TV.

Let's focus on the solution...instead of trying to pad and diminish the magnitude of the problem, shall we? TV is important. Content is critical. Advertising that supports/endorses that content on that TV however, is anything on the continuum of irrelevant to not as viable (nor effective) as it once was.

End quote.

It's less than a week since the Super Bowl and after 425 healthy responses, here are the topline results, with the following caveats (or excuses...hehe):

1) This was conducted through Jaffe Juice, which makes the respondents an advertising oriented audienced. This is likely to skew the results favorably, compared to conducting the same poll with a non-advertising crowd (more about that later...)

2) The questions were Multiple Choice, again favorably skewing the results. If they had been open ended (such as what was Diet Pepsi's URL?) and I had had a staff of 100 well trained chimpanzees (on loan from CareerBuilder), I might have been able to tag and collate a bit better

3) The majority of responses came in on average 3 days after the event...again most likely favorably spiking the results

4) I was kind (more on that later...but ditto on results)

5) It was fun (ditto ditto)

With that said, I'm going to give the relative percentages, but also assign the standard US grading system of A (90%+), B (80-89%), C (70-79%), D (60-69%) and F (0-59%) I hope you'll agree that a report card of C's or worse is clearly not good for business...

Final points...don't forget to take the "intermediate" test. I'm waiting for at least 100 responses before sharing those results. For those of you with marketing/advertising blogs, please share the post and survey link); For those who have more consumer focused links, here are 2 new links for the easy and intermediate surveys. It will be very interesting and telling to see how well a predominently consumer-centric audience fares, 1 week+ after the event

Coke is sponsoring 6 "promising, university-level journalism students – from Austria, Canada, China, Germany, Italy and the United States" to blog, flick and pod the Winter Olympic Games.

Torino Conversations is what I would a brand enabling act, and it's not dissimilar from J&J sponsoring Heather and Jonelle's foray in podcasting.

It's another smart way of communicating global without chest beating.

Via MicroPersuasion

btw: Coke is a jaffe, LLC client.

I'm heading South (as in Africa) for a couple of weeks of R 'n R and I'm thinking of reaching out to a few prestigious and trusted smartpantses to fill in for me while I'm gone. You likey?

Alternatively, I could close up shop and hang up a "Gone Fishing" sign.

USA Today piece talks about uptick in visits to websites of Super Bowl advertisers. Nice work asking the tough questions...perhaps next time, you can ask why so few advertisers actually displayed their URL's and fewer still spend any time/effort overtly driving traffic there...

Quote and Commentary:

Quote:  Few saw more bounce than FedEx, whose ad featured a caveman trying to send a prehistoric package. Traffic to the area of fedex.com where the company offers its ads was up 13,000% for the period from the game's end to 2 p.m. Monday, vs. the period last week, says Carla Boyd, a spokeswoman.

Commentary: Surprisingly people don't tend to visit FEDEX on a Sunday, hence the giant spike in visits off a low base

Quote: Sharpie, frankly says it didn't do a good job directing viewers to its site...the reference to the website was just a small, visual image. "It was something we didn't think much about," President Rory Leyden says. "We underestimated the number of people who would visit the website"

Commentary: ...but the decision to advertise retractable markers on media's center stage is frankly one we wholeheartedly stand by

Quote: (ESPN), which ran two ads, had more than a million additional viewers at its website in the 15 hours following the game, vs. the same period on a normal Sunday to Monday, says John Kosner, senior vice president for new media.

Commentary: Gee, do you think it was perhaps due to the fact the SUPER BOWL was going on at the same time and that people were checking scores, stats, news etc?

Quote: (Aleve), which aired one ad staring Leonard Nimoy (Star Trek's Mr. Spock), had a 101% increase in Web traffic between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m., vs. the same day a year ago, says Trish McKernan, spokeswoman at Bayer Health Care.

Commentary: Someone has a migraine, and it's not me.

Honorable omission from this piece: Diet Pepsi - can you say, downandtroubly.com?

Verizon Wireless' CMO, John Stratton, could very well be my favorite person in the world. At this week's Madison + Vine conference, he kicks agencies' asses (and I hope publishers were included as well) into gear with a call to new marketing.

“Major money is going to be in motion in the next decade and yet no one really understands exactly where it will and or even if it will land, or just disappear altogether”

"(Marketers) need more than an audience. They need an audience that cares about what they have to say. They need their message to be relevant to the audience they are saying it to.”

That would be consistent with my REACH CONNECT EFFECT methodology.

John, assuming this is not just rhetoric, you've earned a free book and lunch. Contact me and let's talk.

Rob Walch, host of Podcast411 estimates that at least 1/5th of podcasters never make it beyond the 10th show. The term "podfading" (which didn't exist in WikiPedia until I created it just now I meant the entry in WikiPedia, not the term itself...but in any event, see below under "update" for an update) has been coined to describe this premature burnout.

Podfading can occur for a number of reasons, including: frustration with limited audience size/lack of growth, time required to prepare/produce and even the pressures of success.

Across the Sound barely made it as well, almost crashing and burning at show #13. I can certainly vouch for the time required. I also want to add 3 other reasons:

1) A stern admonishing of LISTENERS of podcasts for being WAY TOO CRITICAL and impatient with podcasters. Some of the criticism of ATS has been brutal and it's been difficult at times to continue undettered.

2) Lack of support on the MARKETING/SPONSORSHIP side. Marketers/sponsors have got to step up and put their money where their consumers' loyal/passionate mouths are. There's way too much watching from the sidelines right now. The investment it would take is way less than the spare change that gets lost in the linings of marketing budget clothing (clunky metaphor but you get the picture)

3) Need for better education - there is definitely progress being made here and Podshow is doing a pretty good job, but more is needed. Dave Jackson's School of Podcasting is one such resource (it is premium, yet affordable) and there are books like Podcasting for Dummies. That said, there is a chasm that needs crossing for DIY entry-level podcasters and those who really want to ramp up and take this seriously. Take podcasting interviews for example, which I would image are going to play an increasing role in show formats. I STILL cannot find a viable solution/alternative to recording Skype conversations other than HotRecorder (or an alternative to Skype!) You would think this would have been addressed by Skype or Castblaster by now.

Update: Apparently, my podfader entry into Wikipedia is about to be deleted. The reason given is "self-confessed neologism" Hmmm....not sure I know what that even means...

Update - 4.23pm: OK, time to declare war on Wikipedia...my entry on podfading has been deleted. Anyone care to join my battle?

Update - 7.58pm: Apologies to Scott Fletcher for any confusion over who invented the term. It was of course (as per the Wired article) he

There's been more senior movement in the interactive agencies over the past few months than the Supreme Court.

Pahade, Gerber, Everett-Thorp and now Agency.com's Scales (for "strategic reasons" - as in I'm not going to be TBWA's bastard stepchild any longer or there's got to be more to life than search) In both the cases of AKQA and Acom, MediaPost had awarded the agencies with creative accolades. 

This is supposed to be the time for the Interactive Agencies to step up and lead, given the acute lack of leadership and mass confusion in the market right now.

All I can say to the holding co management is "lock up your leadership" and if you're interested in hiring me, I'll be auctioning off my brain, cell by cell (as in rows x columns) on eBay. Currently there are a million cells on offer, however that number may reduce depending on how much single-malt scotch I consume.

Hot on the heels of the Stones being censored by ABC during the Halftime show is this SHOCKER...

Did you perhaps wonder why so few spots had a URL at the end of the ad? I heard through a source (and this is unsubstantiated and unconfirmed, so it could be crap, but it could also be the truth) that ABC visited all the URL's of the submitted spots beforehand and if ABC determined the sites to have "racey" content, they essentially did not allow the spots to air unless the URL's were taken off (read: banned)

I'm going to see if good old Bob Parsons has a POV on this...but I will say that if there is ANY truth to this, can you say, "makegood?" This blatant disregard for their client's ROI/bottom line (i.e. need to demonstrate value/efficacy), coupled with the network's arrogance and grandiose self-importance has got to stop. And while we're at it, how could the brands/their agencies allow this and submit to the pressure?

If someone from the network would like to clear things up and issue an official statement on the matter, please send it to me and I will gladly publish it and update this post. By the same token, if a brand marketer or their agency is prepared to validate this assertion (even off the record), please feel free to do so...

The responses are rolling in fast and furious...already over 100 so I'm just going to keep them coming and report back to you later this week, and via ATS#20.

For the most part you've done fairly well. Before I publish, any thoughts on what an acceptable Grade (%) should be amongst advertising professionals and enthusiasts?

That said, I'm going to play a little harder now. Here's the second survey, which is aimed at the intermediates amongst us. See if you do as well and NO CHEATING :)

OK, Super Bowl XL is a thing of the past...but the $2.5million question is what about the ads themselves? Fleeting from our memories by the day or capable of standing the test of time?

Take the survey and test your memory from the big game. DON'T CHEAT - you're not being wire-tapped, monitored and there are no prizes except the ability for me to report back to you what stuck and what stank!

Here's the link to the survey. After I collect 100 responses, I'll stop the clock and report back.

I have enough responses in the first survey. Take this second survey instead, which is aimed at the intermediates amongst us. See if you do as well and NO CHEATING :)

Have fun!