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Kevin Ryan

Member since January 2009Contact Kevin

The driving force behind the successful digital advertising firm Motivity Marketing, Inc., Kevin’s current and former client book reads like a "who's who" in big brands: Rolex, State Farm Insurance, Farmers Insurance, Sony, Samsung, Toyota, Panasonic, Aramark and the Hilton Hotels brands. Kevin is widely known as a marketing thought leader and is a popular speaker at events around the globe. He has also appeared on CNN, been featured in The Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, ABC News, The New York Times, Forbes, Advertising Age, and has published hundreds of articles on search and digital marketing in MediaPost, ClickZ, iMedia Connection and other industry publications. He has guest lectured at Columbia University and USC Annenberg and volunteered time with the 4As, IAB, Microsoft Search Advisory Council, SEMPO, and The DMA.

Articles by Kevin All articles by Kevin

  • The TikTok Trap in MediaDailyNews on 04/15/2025

    TikTok is selling dependency as progress. But dependency, by definition, is a liability. Saying a business thrives because of TikTok is like saying alcoholics thrive on alcohol. It's not a healthy relationship - and certainly not sustainable.

  • Up My Smoke in Marketing Daily on 01/18/2024

    The formulaic negativity around the Snoop Dogg and Solo initiative is a load of maliciously foul crap, and emblematic of a sickness that ails the entire industry.

  • Journalism Ruined Journalism in MediaDailyNews on 11/08/2023

    The too cool-for-mainstream press has uncovered the dastardly practice of SEO. In a thought-piece format, 'The Verge' considered all perspectives without bias, and offered real insights into dark arts no one knew existed. I'm kidding; it did none of those things.

  • Mask Upgrade, America in MediaDailyNews on 01/20/2022

    Masks have one purpose and one purpose only: to prevent pathogens from entering and exiting your body. Full stop.

  • Defund Facebook: The Machine Fueling Ad Industry Demand For Change in MediaDailyNews on 08/27/2020

    There is no financial incentive whatsoever to bring this to an end. Ban one and the optimization engine will just shift to the other. Think of it as an emotional machine whack-a-mole.

  • The Reverent Blue Line in Search & Performance Marketing Daily on 06/15/2020

    Search at its core is a series of thoughts in the form of words associated and ranked by social distinctions, popularity and sometimes wholly inaccurate associations. The most recent example of this is a flag.

  • The COV-Ad Pandemic, And How To Avoid It in MediaDailyNews on 04/10/2020

    Advertisers are being forced to change the way they are contributing to the world. My suggestion: Be there in the best way possible.

  • Brand Greta in Marketing Politics Weekly on 10/09/2019

    Greta is everywhere. She's a global phenomenon and inspired people -- if nothing else -- to think more. People are taking to the streets in cities all over the world. Social outrage just went to Warp 9.9.

  • The Apology Marketing Roadmap in Search & Performance Marketing Daily on 12/22/2014

    Make a racist comment? No problem. Post something embarrassing to your company's Twitter feed? That's a net positive. Comment on a celebrity's talent? No one really cares. Call someone out for stealing? No sweat.

  • Napgate: Cannes in MediaDailyNews on 06/30/2014

    The media's love affair with sensationalistic nonsense took a turn for the moronic once again last week and "The Wall Street Journal" took another step toward tabloid status in the process. The journal ran a Page Six-worthy story reporting that Yahoo chief Marissa Mayer arrived late to a Cannes boondoggle week dinner... because she was sleeping.

Comments by Kevin All comments by Kevin

  • Google Ranking Algorithm Secrets Leaked by Laurie Sullivan (MediaDailyNews on 05/28/2024)

    Google uses a variety of signals to determine the importance and relevance of content. This information was neither "leaked" nor "hacked." It wreaks of being purposefully shared by individuals skilled at attracting attention, and many are eagerly consuming it.According to “documents revealed” aka rubbish marketing, thousands of modules and attributes come together to form search results. Wow. Thanks for that nugget. Of course, none of the weighting criteria (the only thing I would find interesting) were revealed. Stop the presses. There's no new information here. The key takeaway remains unchanged: do not rely on third parties to control how the world interprets and translates your brand equity.To recap, this is a non-leak. The ranking factors were known, or at least their effects were, allowing anyone with basic intelligence to manipulate outcomes. The art of optimization is essentially about available resources. Nothing has changed.

  • Will A Real Advertising Conference Please Stand Up And Can the Rest Sit Down? by Jeffrey Lebowski (Online Media Daily on 06/07/2010)

    Dear "Dude" (if you exist); I've been to no less than a dozen iMedia Summits. I've spoken at so many conferences (including MediaPost events) in countries around the world I've lost track. I've even taken a break from being a practitioner to run an event series for a couple of years. I've expressed many an opinion over the years and have always been willing to face the consequences. Here's another one: you've no right to a credible opinion unless you cowboy up and identify yourself. What possible reason could there be for not identifying yourself? Fear of political persecution? Fear of reprisals? I think not. The only logical conclusion is that you (again, if you exist) or the publisher (something of a competitor) have an obvious agenda. This is nothing more than an attempt to dump greywater on perceived competition. Doug Weaver is quite simply one of the best speakers I have ever heard. Doug is one of the few people who has the stones to stand up and tell it like it is. In this instance, the voices in your head may have superseded his. In other words, I think you heard what you wanted to hear. iMedia's credibility as an event series is beyond reproach. As with many events sponsored content is clearly labeled as such. There is no better homage to iMedia than MediaPost's wholesale duplication of the model in the Search Insider Summit. Shame on MediaPost for publishing this nonsensical garbage. -Kevin Ryan p.s. speaking of originality, "The Big Lebowski" is Copyright © 1998 PolyGram Filmed Entertainment Distribution, Inc.

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