• ONLINE SPIN
    'Ex Machina''s Script For Our Future
    One of the more interesting movies I've watched in the past year has been "Ex Machina," a tightly directed, frighteningly claustrophobic sci-fi thriller that peels back the moral layers of artificial intelligence one by one. In the movie, the source of the robot Ava's intelligence "software" comes from search data. I think "Ex Machina"'s writer/director Alex Garland may have tapped something fundamental with this idea. If the data we willingly give up in return for online functionality provides a blueprint for artificial intelligence and understanding human thought, that's a big deal -- a very big deal.
  • ONLINE SPIN
    Kaila's Internet Reading List
    We are officially inundated with content. Content is coming out of our ears and crawling from the drainpipe and dripping from the ceiling. We don't need more content. We need to know what to read. And although the algorithms may be getting better and better, for now, I still prefer a good old-fashioned recommendation from someone else. Here are a few Web ones from me.
  • ONLINE SPIN
    Cross Screen, Forked Tongue
    The notion of cross-screen media is well-heeled by now. There are different names for it. "People-based" is good, since that would make it "consumer-centric." A "single view of the consumer" works, too. Of course, once you have "it," you have to decide what to do with it: fill reach gaps, or boost cross-device frequency? There are fancy use cases, too: sequencing cross-device, using creative optimization to exploit learning from one device to another, TV sync-ing, reading behavior on one device and responding to that on another. Basically, though, it's about having more choice about when and where to communicate to …
  • ONLINE SPIN
    What Online Marketers Can Learn From Coffee Shops
    Do consumers at this point expect a personalized experience with brands? I don't think they expect it, but I think they're pleasantly surprised when they get one, and they tend to reward the brands that go that extra mile. Building a stronger connection for both sides has a positive impact -- a fact I can confirm by looking at personalization in the offline world of local coffee shops.
  • ONLINE SPIN
    Why Marketers Love Malcolm Gladwell -- & Why They Shouldn't
    Marketers love Malcolm Gladwell. They love his pithy, reductionist approach to popular science: his tendency to sacrifice verity for the sake of a good "just-so" story. And in doing this, what is Malcolm Gladwell but a marketer at heart? No wonder our industry is gaga over him. We love anyone who can oversimplify complexity down to the point where it can be appropriated as yet another marketing "angle."
  • ONLINE SPIN
    When In Rome: Listen To Marketers, Explore Tech, Experiment
    I attended the 10th edition of the Global Festival of Media in Rome last week, and I was fortunate to host the marketer-exclusive sessions that went out under the Brand Learning Program banner. There were no agencies, media owners, tech companies or other non-brand marketing representatives allowed in the room. And that allowed for lots of honest and open discussions.
  • ONLINE SPIN
    Future Sounds: Music's Evolving Role In Advertising
    Of all the art forms, few have the power to stir strong emotions as music. And few have had such an easy and fruitful relationship with advertising.
  • ONLINE SPIN
    Why Don't Most Large Advertisers Treat Marketing As A Core Competency?
    As Peter Drucker taught us, marketing is the distinguishing, unique function of a business. But how come so many advertisers don't seem to make marketing a core competency?
  • ONLINE SPIN
    Is Search Dead?
    Is search dead? Realistically, the answer is no, but I hear fewer and fewer brands talking about search in a way that signals a focus on innovation or growth. Is it possible that search is just like that friend of yours who always shows up when asked, will do whatever he can to help, and is consistently taken for granted? Is search the utility in-fielder for your team?
  • ONLINE SPIN
    Decoupling Our Hunch-Making Mechanism
    Humans are hunch-making machines. We're gloriously good at it. In fact, no one and nothing is better at coming up with a hunch. It's what sets us apart on our planet -- and, thus far, nothing we've invented has proven to be better suited to strike the spark of intuition.
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