http://www.mediapost.com/publications/ Learn to reach your target wherever and whenever. en-us Copyright 2010 MediaPost Communications http://www.mediapost.com/rss Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:12:11 EST The one thing you can almost always count on at the Oscars is that the documentary film winners are the likeliest to make a political statement that will make everyone uncomfortable and cue the orchestra for an early speech cut-off. But I have to say even I wasn't expecting someone to hold up a sign with a short code in the middle of an acceptance speech. http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=123943Steve Smith <popeyesmith@comcast.net>Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:15:17 ESTI suspect that Facebook and Twitter use (up 347% last year on phones) is just a leading indicator of a tipping point: In important categories of use, the mobile experience is quickly becoming better than the Web experience. There are already four or five things my handheld does better than my desktop....http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=123698Steve Smith <popeyesmith@comcast.net>Thu, 04 Mar 2010 13:30:55 ESTAll I did was click on a mobile banner ad and suddenly I found myself watching a grainy, badly lit video of a doctor from my own town discussing the simplicity of some corrective surgery procedure. http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=123542Steve Smith <popeyesmith@comcast.net>Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:00:51 ESTCan media brands really sell platforms? That seems to be the perennial question (mostly unanswered) to accompany the arrival of every new medium. Is anyone really comparing the recognizable media brands that front carrier decks or the respective app stores on mobile phones? Does anyone in their right mind decide between a BlackBerry and an iPhone because some news and information services are on one but not the other? http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=123196Steve Smith <popeyesmith@comcast.net>Thu, 25 Feb 2010 10:46:02 ESTI'm not sure that Google does itself any favors by releasing some of its "lab" tests into the wild before they have been shaken out. Yesterday the Google Shopper app came onto the Android platform, and I actually had a harder time with it than I did with the Google Goggles experiment that drove me a little batty months ago. http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=123001Steve Smith <popeyesmith@comcast.net>Tue, 23 Feb 2010 13:00:07 ESTNBC is getting hammered from all sides for its handling of the Olympics. While I am not averse to piling on any big media brand when I can, I think the mobile coverage and the brand advertising I have seen on the mobile iterations are at worst mixed. Maybe the wild unevenness of the content and the marketing supporting it is a good barometer of the half-evolved state of brand advertising on mobile. This should be an event where both publisher and marketer put their best foot forward. Instead, the Olympics effort from both content and ad sides is something less than gold-medal. http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=122765Steve Smith <popeyesmith@comcast.net>Thu, 18 Feb 2010 15:02:22 ESTThe Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue is in. I hate when this happens. I am not a men's mag reader, but when media events and mobile tie-ins like the SI bikini bash occur, this particular issue ends up on the coffee table. Let the games begin. "Do you think she's pretty?" asks my partner.http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=122632Steve Smith <popeyesmith@comcast.net>Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:30:25 ESTThe tepid initial sales of the Google phone notwithstanding, this is definitely the year to start watching Android. ComScore reports that Android's share of the smart phone market doubled from 2.5% in September to 5.2% by the end of last year. Other stats I see here and there show that Android's share of mobile Web activity is spiking noticeably. I imagine that much of this sharp growth is coming from Motorola and Verizon's DROID-related campaigns. http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=122342Steve Smith <popeyesmith@comcast.net>Thu, 11 Feb 2010 15:54:17 ESTFor several years now, a number of mobilistas like me have been waiting for that breakthrough Super Sunday when somehow the biggest ad event of the year acknowledges, validates or accelerates in some way the advance of mobile marketing. And every year we seem to be disappointed. http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=122149Steve Smith <popeyesmith@comcast.net>Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:52:42 ESTI really believe that mobile advertising offers marketers a platform for engagement that fixes some of the problems the Web introduced -- namely clutter, diminishing share of voice, lack of user focus, ad invisibility, and a real tie between ad and context. As I argued in my last piece, the sponsorship model and brand integration with content can be enormously effective on mobile and in ways that never really evolved on the Web. And so, as if on cue, our friend from InsightExpress, Joy Liuzzo, sends me a deck this week on the latest benchmark, cross-campaign studies comparing mobile brand effectiveness with online campaigns. http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=121956Steve Smith <popeyesmith@comcast.net>Fri, 05 Feb 2010 11:15:20 EST