Check out this long but worthwhile article by Chris Anderson, author of The Long Tail and editor of http://www.wired.com/, on how and why the concept of “free” will fundamentally change the face of the business model, with a shift towards giving away products but making money off upgrades and additional services. The article is from February but we're flagging it again here in the light of Anderson's forthcoming publication of the book "Free" in July.
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/16-03/ff_free?currentPage=1
- Sam
Wednesday 25 March 2009
Tuesday 24 March 2009
Yahoo's Response to Latitude: Fire Eagle
Yahoo may take a beating in the press and on Wall Street at times, but I feel that they have been the most innovative of all the portals over the past 12-18 months. The most recent example of this is Fire Eagle.
They have developed both a Facebook application and a Firefox extension which allows users to broadcast their location. Not only are you able to find your friends that have also joined the service but you can tag locations as well.
These services are fertile ground for advertisers and, in my opinion, is the future of mobile advertising. Here is the post from TechCrunch providing more details:
This morning Yahoo has released a pair of new applications that tap into Fire Eagle, Yahoo’s ambitious geo-location system that allows a wide variety of web services to share your location data (after being granted permission to do so). The new applications include a rich Facebook application called Friends on Fire and a Fire Eagle extension for Firefox that allows users to update their location directly from their browser without having to leave the site they’re viewing.
Of the two, Friends on Fire for Facebook is the more consumer-friendly. The application allows you to pinpoint your current location on a map, as well as view the location of your friends (shared either through the Facebook app or any of the other 70+ supported Fire Eagle services). You can also append notes to any point on the map regardless of your current location (for example, I could tag my favorite restaurants in San Francisco, or point out a park where my friends should meet up later). The bottom of the app offers a listing of your friends’ recent locations and notes, and the app can also optionally syndicate your actions to Facebook’s news feeds.
The Firefox extension works as advertised, offering a handy button at the bottom right corner of your browser that can be used to update your location. Unfortunately, getting it installed is a bit of hassle. Because it is an ‘experimental’ extension, you’ll need to first register with Mozilla. Then you’ll have to enter your Yahoo ID. If you don’t have Mozilla’s Geode location-services extension installed, you’ll need to grab that too. Given all of these hoops, I think the only people who are going to install this extension for now are the people that really want it. But once you’re set up, it works like a charm.
On the development side of things, Fire Eagle has also rolled out a number of new features. The service now supports a new ActionScript library that makes the service more accessible to Flash developers. Fire Eagle has also implemented support for XMPP (used by many instant messaging systems) to offer real-time updating. Finally, the service will soon be able to associate location coordinates with nearby restaurants and locations.
Fire Eagle continues to innovate, but it still faces some challenges, the largest of which is that most people probably don’t have too many friends who are using it quite yet. Geo-location is quickly gaining ground, but until it reaches critical mass the odds of randomly running into a friend for an impromptu get together are so low I doubt many people will take the time to manually update their location. And the fact that some these services are also segmenting their audiences (Google’s new Latitude service doesn’t play nice with Fire Eagle) isn’t helping.
SocialMedia Launches “Word of Mouth” Ads
The concept of OpenID and using a user's social graph to distribute content is starting to gain steam. While I am confused as to why the major portals aren't using this more, companies like SocialMedia are offering advertisers a way of syndicating content and using other people to promote engagement with the brand. See the post below from TechCrunch for more information:
SocialMedia, a company that specializes in advertising across social networks, has released a new form of advertising dubbed the “WOMI”, or Word of Mouth Impression. WOMI campaigns present visitors with ads asking them for some kind of input either though a multiple choice question or using a text field. SocialMedia then uses this input to customize ads which are shown to the user’s friends on the same social network.
For example, if an ad for Star Wars had a call-to-action asking if I was on the Light Side or Dark Side of the Force, it could take my response and then present my friends with an ad that said “Jason is on the Light Side, how about you?”. In turn, their responses are passed on to all of their friends, making this among the first kind of advertising with a viral element. This interaction makes the ads mini-social applications in and of themselves, and have proven to be very successful in trial campaigns.
Research firm Dynamic Logic found that over three months WOMI resulted in increased awareness, favorability, and purchases for the Fortune 500 company running the campaign. In fact, the campaign did so well that it placed among the top 20% of all social media campaigns ever analyzed by the firm, which has been in the business for nine years.
WOMIs are compliant with industry-standard IAB ad sizes, so they can be shown on most sites and social network applications without any customization needed. SocialMedia says that publishers outside of the social networks can also deploy the ads by tapping in vistors’ social graphs using services like Facebook Connect.
SocialMedia, a company that specializes in advertising across social networks, has released a new form of advertising dubbed the “WOMI”, or Word of Mouth Impression. WOMI campaigns present visitors with ads asking them for some kind of input either though a multiple choice question or using a text field. SocialMedia then uses this input to customize ads which are shown to the user’s friends on the same social network.
For example, if an ad for Star Wars had a call-to-action asking if I was on the Light Side or Dark Side of the Force, it could take my response and then present my friends with an ad that said “Jason is on the Light Side, how about you?”. In turn, their responses are passed on to all of their friends, making this among the first kind of advertising with a viral element. This interaction makes the ads mini-social applications in and of themselves, and have proven to be very successful in trial campaigns.
Research firm Dynamic Logic found that over three months WOMI resulted in increased awareness, favorability, and purchases for the Fortune 500 company running the campaign. In fact, the campaign did so well that it placed among the top 20% of all social media campaigns ever analyzed by the firm, which has been in the business for nine years.
WOMIs are compliant with industry-standard IAB ad sizes, so they can be shown on most sites and social network applications without any customization needed. SocialMedia says that publishers outside of the social networks can also deploy the ads by tapping in vistors’ social graphs using services like Facebook Connect.
Dapper: Using live updates in banner ads for re-targeting
I have previously written about this company and their ability to deliver targeted messages. For some time, I have discussed how clients can save production costs by starting to leverage RSS Feeds within banner ads. The ability to update content on the fly combined with knowledge of what the user has done in the past is very compelling.
Here is today's article from MediaPost about the announcement. Check out the YouTube video for a demo.
Dapper is expected to announce today the launch of Behavioral Remessaging, which retargets audiences on other sites with live offers from marketers whose Web site they have recently visited or whose ads they have recently seen.
This will enable advertisers to reach out to prior visitors to their sites with offers updated to reflect current market conditions such as changing prices or new product features or entirely new offers, said Dapper Marketing Head Paul Knegten.
"It not only reminds visitors that they had seen an earlier ad or offer of interest, but that the offer still stands or perhaps has gotten even more attractive," Knegten said. "Since we can create a limitless number of ads from one creative, audiences could see the exact same ad on another site or a different offer from the same marketer -- down to the exact product the visitor was looking at on the marketer's Web site."
The "remesagged" ad is served based on cookies stored in the user's computer from the previous viewing, and since Dapper doesn't control the media directly, cannot offer an opt-out. "But users can most certainly delete their cookies to prevent being remessaged," Knegten said.
Dapper differs from other retargeting by enabling marketers to have greater flexibility with follow-up offers, he said. Ads are created dynamically without any client IT involvement by drawing on creative elements pulled from a marketer's own Web site, from product inventory data, or any kind of informational database.
Dapper differs from other retargeting by enabling marketers to have greater flexibility with follow-up offers, he said. Ads are created dynamically without any client IT involvement by drawing on creative elements pulled from a marketer's own Web site, from product inventory data, or any kind of informational database.
For example, an airline could show you the actual flight you were looking at with updated pricing and availability, or an automaker could show you a feature you hadn't explored on your visit to his site, Knegten said. The company has created a video to explain the process, which it is sharing with clients. It is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXr18h6tqUQ
Dapper has tested the technology with "a major retail shopping comparison site" that Knegten declined to name. "The results were that when we showed the product the consumer was looking at, the ad performed (CTR-wise) 800% better than when we showed a generic (top 10) product," Knegten said. "We have several clients in the pipe that will likely be launching in April or May."
Dapper was founded by Eran Shir and Jon Aizen in late 2005, and has received $6 million in funding from Accel Partners. The company has offices in San Francisco and New York.
Friday 20 March 2009
Google’s StreetView has arrived
After a year in the making, Google has just launched its new mapping application, Street View service.
StreetView, which was launched in the UK yesterday, allows users to access 360-degree real-life views of 25 UK cities through their computers and mobile phones. Users click on the small yellow man icon when they visit Google Maps to activate the Street View service. Street View UK was the reason behind the odd sighting over the past year on UK streets of even odder Google branded cars complete with recording equipment on their roofs.
In terms of privacy issues, Google insists it will be removing photos it deems breach privacy issues or that display inappropriate content. Human faces and car number plates are blurred, while people who object to themselves or their homes being featured can raise their issue by submitting an online form.
Street View first launched in Sydney, Australia, with San Francisco and Paris quickly following suit.
It will be interesting to see how this new offering of real-life images has an impact on brands' advertising activities; will we see more emerging media trials, such as Augmented Reality and will there be an impact on search, for example.
- SamTuesday 10 March 2009
YouTube Pulls Music Videos in Royalty Fees Dispute
Google-owned YouTube yesterday began to block UK users’ access to some of the world’s most popular music videos on its site after failing to reach a settlement with the PRS for Music, the umbrella company representing UK composers and publishers.
The video sharing site and the music industry body have been in negotiations for several months to renew their contract allowing the PRS for Music to collect royalities on behalf of musicians. They collect fees each time a song is played or performed.
In a bold move, YouTube began a music video blackout on its site after blaming the PRS’ unrealistic increase in fees. Both sides have laid the blame in each others’ court, with the PRS hitting back by claiming the unexpected move by YouTube comes in the midst of ongoing renegotiations, with the main sufferers being the consumers and musicians themselves.
Whatever the genuine reasons, it’s a radical step by the US video sharing site, who are removing the videos by their own decision, not due to demands made by the PRS or the music publishers or songwriters they represent. Far more typically content removal is demanded by the content creators or owners, not the publishers.
- Sam
The video sharing site and the music industry body have been in negotiations for several months to renew their contract allowing the PRS for Music to collect royalities on behalf of musicians. They collect fees each time a song is played or performed.
In a bold move, YouTube began a music video blackout on its site after blaming the PRS’ unrealistic increase in fees. Both sides have laid the blame in each others’ court, with the PRS hitting back by claiming the unexpected move by YouTube comes in the midst of ongoing renegotiations, with the main sufferers being the consumers and musicians themselves.
Whatever the genuine reasons, it’s a radical step by the US video sharing site, who are removing the videos by their own decision, not due to demands made by the PRS or the music publishers or songwriters they represent. Far more typically content removal is demanded by the content creators or owners, not the publishers.
- Sam
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