• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, June 16, 2010

Sound scary? Nah, but it may be a necessity, according to Kirk McDonald, president-digital at Time Inc., speaking on the opening panel at OMMA Publish this morning.

McDonald, the only executive to wear a tie on stage so far today, said that faced with the overly abundant supply of online advertising inventory, "I think we have to find ways of reintroducing scarcity."

I'm not sure why, but the room at OMMA Publish did not break out into a standing ovation at McDonald's suggestion. Maybe it's because they were listening carefully to find out how he might suggest the industry actually do that.

McDonald did not offer that point, but he did note, "My audience is different when its on my property," which suggests that McDonald thinks the real scarcity in the marketplace is about contextualization. He may be right, but how do you sell that to Madison Avenue? That's the big money question.

Meanwhile, he just gave another great quote that I'm trying to wrap my mind around: He said the industry needs to, "Re-replace premium in premium." Now that's primo.

Scarcity Cat McDonald