• ONLINE SPIN
    Is Online Dating A Household Word?
    I remember a few years ago, my mom whispered the words "online dating." It was her answer to how a friend of ours met her boyfriend. Skip ahead four years. My mother now has several friends that have met significant others online. While she isn't announcing it to the world, she isn't whispering the word anymore, either.
  • ONLINE SPIN
    You Know The Digital Ad Industry Is Desperate For Talent When...
    You know the interactive advertising industry is desperate for talent when you receive an unsolicited pitch from a recruiter inside a major digital agency intended for someone else -- someone who has no business being considered for that position. And when you redirect the pitch, the recruiter asks if you, similarly unqualified for the job, have "any interest in this opportunity."
  • ONLINE SPIN
    PyroMarketing, A Book that You Need to Read
    If you want to understand what the future of marketing could look like and how to be successful at it, I have found the book for you. It is PryoMarketing by Greg Stielstra. I was fortunate to be speaking at the Mountain Travel Symposium last week -- the end-of-year get-together for the ski and mountain travel industry -- and got to hear him speak. It was the first time that I have heard someone truly make sense of what is behind social or word-of- mouth marketing, and present a very practical approach to making these techniques work in the field.
  • ONLINE SPIN
    Grading The Next Wave Of Search
    What's happening in the world of search? The entire buzz as of late has been focused on Google buying out or partnering with everyone on the planet, but what's really going on with that business that started it all? Remember that little tool that we all use at least 10 times per day?
  • ONLINE SPIN
    Forget Innovative; Be Inspiring
    It's not often I'd take the bait and disagree with the director of research at the Oxford Internet Institute (part of OxfordUniversity), but I am feeling bold today. I think the universal "we" all need to take a step back. By "we" I mean the advertisers, the agencies, the researchers, the technologists and the strategists -- all of the proponents of new media, or the Web 2.0 communications revolution. By "we" I mean me, and if you're reading this, I probably mean you, too.
  • ONLINE SPIN
    High-End Brands Do Low-End Job Online
    For those of you who have been reading my columns, you know my mantra is building, stewarding and protecting brands online. That being said, when you think of luxury brands online, what comes to mind? Well, I think of a few beautifully designed Web sites like David Yurman's and Rolex's. However, I can't think of many more.
  • ONLINE SPIN
    Cookies Wildly Overcount Web Visitors
    "Why don't my server-log files match up with the comScore Media Metrix or Netratings stats?" When I worked at Media Metrix in the late '90s, and later at comScore following its acquisition of Media Metrix, I heard that question (and plea) thousands of times. In in the aggressive game of chest-beating over reach and audience, publishers couldn't easily ignore the discrepancies between panel-measurement ratings and their own server-log numbers.
  • ONLINE SPIN
    GOOG/DCLK: Will it Grow the Pie?
    By now, I am sure that you are all tired of reading news, analysis and commentaries on Google's announced intention to buy DoubleClick. Don't worry. This is not going to be yet another "Insider baseball" analysis of the likely winners and losers in the deal. It is not going to be yet another "Kremlinologist-like" analysis of what the deal will mean to the market dynamics among Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, AOL, independent and vertical publishers. Plenty of that commentary has already been written. Plenty more will be written. I would like to focus instead on if the deal will grow our …
  • ONLINE SPIN
    Googlifying The World Of Media Planning And Buying
    Over the last few days there's been a lot of buzz generated (again) by Google deciding to make a move and purchase DoubleClick. Every journalist and pundit has offered his or her take on this action, creating even more hoopla over a company that is already one of the biggest and most profitable companies in the U.S. What I find interesting, however, is that people are focusing their attention on the obvious rather than the repercussions of these various moves on our immediate industry: media planning and buying.
  • ONLINE SPIN
    Web 2.0: Where's The Business Model?
    You can measure the rate of change in an industry by the number of conferences held to address key issues and discuss innovative solutions. In turn you can discern the amount of money at stake by the conference pricing and volume of conference attendance. By these, or any other measurements, Web 2.0 is at the zenith of a rollercoaster ride and VCs have made sure to stuff the cars with cash.
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