• ONLINE SPIN
    What If There's A Downturn?
    I spent some time this week at the AlwaysOn conference in New York City, which focuses on technology start-ups and venture capital with Silicon Valley lenses. The mood of the conference was very positive and upbeat, as you might expect given the strong tailwinds that this industry sector has had for the past couple of years. In spite of all of the optimism, one issue popped up several times in sessions related to the advertising marketplace or to the financing and mergers and acquisition environments: "What if there's an economic downturn?"
  • ONLINE SPIN
    Automation Of Media Buying Through Ad Exchanges: Good Idea!
    Over the last month I've stated more than once that I feel ad exchanges are increasing in their importance, so I felt this week I'd spend a little more time explaining just why I see them as useful
  • ONLINE SPIN
    The Perfect Sponsored Widget
    A widget got passed around the office the other day, and productivity came to screeching halt. I got hooked on this travel widget for probably upwards of 20 minutes over the course of the day yesterday. This is a perfect example of creating compelling content that people will choose to interact with and share, which is in line with your brand. But here's where everything isn't all good for the travel blog. After 20 minutes of my complete and undivided attention being delivered to their app, I had no idea who hd sponsored the widget.
  • ONLINE SPIN
    The Strike, Again
    A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the writers' strike. Most of my colleagues already had. I tried to avoid it but couldn't. I tried to stay unbiased, which for me is hard to do. I have an opinion, and a strong one at that. So I ask the parties that be, can we get to a resolution and quick? It's boring as hell in my family room.
  • ONLINE SPIN
    Move Over, Seth Godin, Einstein's Here
    I read my fair share of business books and marketing punditry. In the trendy stable are works by authors Seth Godin, Guy Kawasaki, James Surowiecki, Don Tapscott and Malcom Gladwell. On the more academic side are the likes of authors Gerald Zaltman, Clotaire Rapaille and Steven D. Levitt. All these guys are great, really. They've taught me a lot and informed my outlook. But none of them compare to Albert Einstein....
  • ONLINE SPIN
    CPMs Headed Up?
    Are online media CPMs headed up or down? The question is on a lot of people's minds these days. We will certainly see ad rates go up this year for certain types of inventory, but I suspect that we are also going to see ad rates go down for a lot of other types of inventory.
  • ONLINE SPIN
    Is This The Year of The Un-Agency?
    After reading all the articles and editorials over the last four weeks about various groups touted as the "Agency of the Year" by various publishers, I find myself asking this question: Will 2008 see the first time that the Agency of the Year is not an agency?
  • ONLINE SPIN
    Measuring A Social Network Campaign
    Last week in "Media Metric Hypocrisy" I discussed the misalignment of critical metrics considered across various media (television vs. print vs. online). The obvious problem for advertisers and agencies being that it is difficult to compare advertising ROI across media when the metrics differ so widely. The irony of last week's Spin is that this week, actually probably while you are reading this Spin, I will be moderating a panel the topic of which is "Measuring Branded Communities to Optimize Your Advertising Investment" at the Digital Media Measurement and Pricing Summit.
  • ONLINE SPIN
    The Dish On Superbowl Ads
    It's that time of year again -- everyone is talking about football. Now that we're getting ready for the big game, I thought I'd get up to speed on who's advertising during the NFL's Super Bowl XLII.
  • ONLINE SPIN
    Can Big Companies Act Small?
    Chris Wall, vice chairman-creative at ad agency giant Ogilvy, New York, recently said: "For small shops, the challenge is how to scale. Big brands do big things.... It is easier for us to get small than for somebody small to get big." Wall said that in context of what Ad Age described as retrofitting "a hulking beast of a company to compete in an increasingly media-neutral world, in which lean one- or two-office shops are beating their bigger brethren." Beyond this Ogilvy example, is it really easier for big companies to get small than for small to get big?
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