Just An Online Minute... Live, From Redmond, It's ...

by Tobi Elkin, Mar 26, 2004, 12:00 AM

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Yahoo! CEO Terry Semel, who stood on a Microsoft stage and suggested to customers of MSN who are no doubt, customers of Yahoo!, that it's important to work together toward a common goal "to take greater and greater share of market and voice."

Semel, appearing at the annual MSN Customer Summit, said that network television will continue to be a very important avenue for advertisers, but "it's a shrinking audience." Internet portals like Yahoo!, MSN, America Online's AOL, and many other web publishers are amassing huge audiences. Semel said a change in the buying and selling mentality among advertisers, media buyers and planners is needed in order for more dollars to flow to online media.

"The dynamics of programming are: 'I want what I want, when I want it, and I'm the programmer and I'll decide what stock quotes I want, and I want to hear that song now," Semel told attendees, and "I don't believe we're ever going to go back, for better or worse, the world is moving in this direction."

And now, a few words from Donny: Adman/reality show star/friendofTheDonald/talk-show host/media investor Donny Deutsch urged the marketers in the audience to look at their agencies and determine whether they are truly integrated---like Deutsch.

A few pearls of business wisdom from Donny:

"All great brands have a mortal enemy." (Think the New York Yankees versus the Boston Red Sox)

Deutsch's four pillar culture principle: "You have to have big brains, a big heart, a thick skin, and two-percent off-center."

"Heart equals money."

"All great brands have the monster/underdog duality."

"A constant re-invention of sameness." Madonna is good at it. "The great brands of the world never stray, but are constantly reinventing themselves."

"There's no difference between branding and branding online. It's just a newer math."

The greatest brands of all time: Microsoft, Nike, and Madonna: "To me, what Nike has always been is 'we are the tool to be your best self through athleticism,' and it's the same with Microsoft and technology."

By the way, Donny's writing a book. But isn't everybody?

Scenes from a Summit:

Bullish Ballmer: The Microsoft CEO told more than 500 people gathered at the MSN Customer Summit Thursday that 100 percent of all advertising budgets will be online by 2010 because all marketing will eventually have "characteristics of online marketing."

Ballmer said Microsoft will have an algorithmic search product up and running in the next 12 months: "We will have the best search services in the world bar none." (Sources tell me that a product will be out in the third quarter).

A rueful Ballmer: "It's [Search] probably the thing that I have felt worst about, not making the R&D investment ourselves upfront. This is a case where we didn't do it all."

On rumored talks between Microsoft and America Online: "It's always inappropriate to comment on that kind of a rumor. We do have a very good relationship with Time Warner. We're in a very different place with Time Warner and AOL than we were a year or so ago. It was good to settle the matters we had in front of us. We have a good, friendly healthy competition with AOL. My advice to you would be to not pay attention to them and they will come true."

Mmmmmm.

A bullish Joanne Bradford: MSN's chief media revenue officer projects that 8 percent to 12 percent of every media budget will be allocated to online by 2005."

Wishful thinking?

On a upfront for Internet media: "The upfront for television is a broken model, it wouldn't make sense for us to adopt a broken model," said Greg Stuart, the president-CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau to rousing applause.

Yahoo!'s Semel: "There certain sites (channels) that are in such popular demand that more often than not, people do buy these areas on an advance basis. Individual companies are starting to look ahead and plan certain buys in advance. It's not organized but it's become almost a natural flow in some of the more popular areas."

Next up, on Monday: Bill Gates ...

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