• ONLINE SPIN
    The Not So Distant Future of Interactive
    "I can't help but think that having me up at this dais is akin to having someone from a buggy whip manufacturer speak at an automobile conference in about 1917," said Bob Garfield, one of the keynoters who highlighted the iMedia Summit in sunny Naples, Florida this week. It was a somewhat heady moment for those of us on the receiving end, especially coming from someone with Mr. Garfield's chops. As he continued with his evisceration of most of this year's Super Bowl ads, I looked about the room at the 300 or so in attendance and wondered how many …
  • ONLINE SPIN
    It's About.com Time...
    Remember the Mining Company? Their logo was a little pick-axe, and their value proposition was that, unlike the cold automatons of Yahoo! or Alta Vista, Mining Company had human beings looking at and vetting sites on the Web for inclusion in search results.
  • ONLINE SPIN
    The Ad Industry Could Use Some Therapy
    I think the advertising industry has some issues. Our industry suffers from a number of psychological problems, near the top of which is an inferiority complex on one side and narcissism on the other. Interactive professionals have the inferiority complex whereas TV is too narcissistic. Let me explain. This week, I witnessed a number of agencies and clients at the San Francisco i20 event distill their vision for the future landscapes of advertising into about two hours of content. I listened to very insightful presentations about the future of interactive advertising and marketing, and everyone who spoke agreed that clutter …
  • ONLINE SPIN
    You're Not Fooling Anyone
    While the Super Bowl ads are still fresh in everyone's mind, I wanted to discuss the online component of one of these ad campaigns, specifically McDonald's and their "Lincoln Fry" shtick. The McDonald's ads concerning a french fry that bears a resemblance to the 16th president were cute. I got a good laugh out of them. Viewers were prompted to visit a Web site (lincolnfry.com) and interact with the Lincoln fry phenomenon. They can learn about when the Yahoo! auction will be held for the mysterious fry, download goodies like desktop wallpaper, IM icons, and iron-ons, and visit a blog …
  • ONLINE SPIN
    Not So Super Bowl
    You are probably a bit groggy from watching the Super Bowl last night. What did you think? For the first time in a long time I didn't throw another one of my game-day soirees. I went with friends to a bar at a Chinese restaurant. TVs littered the wall. The waitstaff all wore beads and none other than our beloved Pats sweatshirts. It was a bit odd. It was also the first time I wasn't surrounded by other ad geeks like me. I must say it was strange all around.
  • ONLINE SPIN
    As They Say in D.C., Wait Until Markup
    It was reported in Thursday's MediaPost and elsewhere that the so-called Spyware Bill, which resided in the Senate during the last Congress as House Resolution (HR) 2929 and will likely enter the Senate as Senate Bill (SB) some other number, is not expected to contain any provisions intended to regulate or otherwise restrict the use of cookies as it exits in the House.
  • ONLINE SPIN
    Buying Quality Time
    Last week I was going through the barrage of e-mail newsletters I receive every day when I came across MediaPost's "Real Media Riffs." This particular piece was, ostensibly, about J. Walter Thompson changing the name of the agency, officially, to "JWT." While the reasons for the change are interesting and sublime to the people who made it, a comment made in the context of the announced name change was of more worth.
  • ONLINE SPIN
    Donnie Darko: Successful Entertainment Integration
    This past week I attended the i20 event in Los Angeles and listened to a number of intelligent people, agencies, and entertainment companies primarily discuss the future of digital marketing. One of the topics discussed was how the movie companies are utilizing the Internet to promote and support their films. Being a child of popular entertainment, it is a topic that I find incredibly interesting.
  • ONLINE SPIN
    Don't Lose Sight of the Opportunity
    Don't misunderstand me. I love blogs. There are several I visit everyday, and I've kept one at my personal Web site for quite some time. Please do understand that I'm watching blog mania continue to unfold with the skeptical eye of a media planner who has seen many Internet fads come and go, with many of them influencing advertisers to the point of making bad decisions.
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