Stupid Social Efforts - Step Up Brands and Step Up Facebook!

So as I learn more and more about facebook and how to work it to gain value from it as a brand I am noticing some really stupid things going on. 

So here is the deal.  If you want to maximize your investment on facebook you need people to interact.   It is how their algo's work for the news feed and such.  They look at the objects you "create" (a brand's programmed content) and if people interact with the object then it helps every other future object they program as it gets better coverage in the news feed. 

Well that is great but that doesn't mean a brand should do stupid things like this:

 

How on earth does this promote a brand?  This is friggin noise.  What are brands doing and why would facebook allow content like this to be pushed into their platform?   It is creating noise.  It is annoying and doesn't make we want to include the brand in my news feed AT ALL.   

I get that you want to maximize your investment and gain the "earned" impressions but the key is "earned".  If you say silly things you become non relevant.  

Time for brands and facebook to step it up!

Facebook + Ticketmaster = Great

So question....What is one of the most social activities in the world?  Entertainment!  No duh right?   Well facebook and tickmaster seem to be capitalizing on that is a pretty brilliant and simple way.  Consumers can now buy tickets in a way that is informed by the facebook social graph.  

Simple...Elegant...Brilliant!  Way to go Facebook and Ticketmaster!

Check out the link on mashable

Queries Per Second - RTB Complexities

Ramsey McGrory of the Right Media Exchange recently said in an AdExchanger article:

"For example, it's very difficult for a DSP or an agency trading desk to consistently respond to 35,000 QPS (queries per second) no matter the stated SLA (service level agreement) because their infrastructure may not be able to handle that load or they may not have enough data to have a point-of-view on all of the different inventory."

As someone who is tasked with sorting out this issue for a digital media technology supplier this is a VERY real issue.    Sorting out how to do this is not a simple thing.   There are two main issues that make this horribly complex:  Speed and Data Scale.   


So lets take each one seperately and talk about what it means.   The first one "Speed" is quite simple.    Dealing with 35,000 queries per second is quite the computational problem.   You need to evaluate a massively large amount of queries and do so in a way that you respond within 15ms.   The trick or challenge in this whole thing is make sure that you handle the number of queries in a way that deliver upon your brands value proposition to the market effectively.   I can't release how we are cutting this but I can say it required me to pull in resources from wall street and silicon valley.

The next is data scale.    Data scale is a real tricky one.    If you cookie the consumers or base it on profiles you have a pretty implicitly scale issue because you are required to see the use again and the data is prone to issues of decay on the cookie variables.  The trick is to find a slice of data that the brands find as premium for targeting ad environments that supports the brands goals.

All of this is "tres" complicated but none the less a fun problem for a nerd like me.   

I
LOVE
THIS
SHTUFF!     

The main problem I see in this whole equation is that ad agencies are going to struggle to define their position in all of this because they are not primary data owners.   At best the data they have represents aggregates of other peoples data with post click data by chance.  This has a few problems to it...  

1) Aggregate matches take time and massive infrastructure.  Technology infrastructure is not in the agencies DNA.    More so the aggregate game of multiple cookie matches gives nothing more then DR optimization levers.  The need to create their own down past the aggregate becomes absolutely needed.

2) As $$$ continue to flow into the ecosystem the cost of everything rises as its a demand driven market.  The value of the middle men becomes tougher and tougher to justify as the squeeze begins to really hit as demand raises the supply price.  The squeeze means its difficult to justify high technology costs required to invest in problem #1 infrastructure and data.

Developing Consumer Experiences Through Media

So lately I have been using the term "consumer experience" alot in what I do day to day.   In fact it is something that I have not baked into the company I am currently employed at.    So I wanted to take sometime to talk about what a consumer experience could and should be within media and how that is intended to service a brand.   

So lets start with taking the Wikipedia definition of consumer experience (customer experience):


Customer experience (CX) is the sum of all experiences a customer has with a supplier of goods or services, over the duration of their relationship with that supplier. From awareness, discovery, attraction, interaction, purchase, use, cultivation and advocacy. It can also be used to mean an individual experience over one transaction; the distinction is usually clear in context.

This is often something that the silicon valley advertising/media technology companies systemically forget.   This is something I pride myself on constantly remembering.   So how do I go about making sure that this is something I consistently consider when making media/advertising decisions?   I do so by applying the following filter:

The role of advertising and media is to excite the consumer based on the core value proposition of the brand while being cognizant of what mindset they were in or function they were performing while consuming the individual media channel that the advert ran on. 


So then the goal of a media company is to build rich experiences through media that serve as a functional and/or emotional mechanism to excite the consumer within the constraints of the channel and what they were doing with the channel.   


So the role of the savvy media professional is to understand based on the channel and the intended mindset of the consumer that caused them to consume the individual media channel and align that to the brand based on the goal or objective of the brand...

Fundamentally this is what marketers call "strategy" which the below image depicts well less the fact that they do not call out media research separately from market research.   

So what does all this mean?    Well let's start to think about good and bad consumer experiences by giving some basic examples...


BAD CONSUMER EXPERIENCE DRIVEN BY TECHNOLOGY:


Behavioral targeting is one of those technologies that delivers truly BAD consumer experiences.  Allow me to explain.


A consumer visits a few car blogs and forums.    The consumer has a cookie dropped on them and suddenly they start seeing ads wherever they go on the web through retargeting.   Despite the fact that they have mentally moved on to other things like entertainment, consumption of news and away from the process of researching automotive options.


BAD BAD BAD EXPERIENCE.


This is the trap that most silicon valley data/technology companies get themselves into.  A consumer could be reading an article on a massive 10 car pile up but since they read some automotive sites they are receiving buy a new car message while consuming media on death through automotive.   How on earth does this serve the brand?  From upper funnel to lower funnel this is a terrible way to message a consumer.   Tsk tsk silicon valley.


NOT SO GOOD CONSUMER EXPERIENCE DRIVEN BY CONTENT VERTICALIZATION


Another example of a sub-par consumer experience is when advertisers leverage vertical content networks to drop ads.     For example an advertiser is trying to reach mommies to build advocacy among there new food product that drives value to the consumer through an efficiently priced organic and healthy product.   The advertiser wants to add "Likes" to their facebook brand presence of this product.   So they launch the ad on a vertical mom blogger content network


So why is this not so good....


Well Mommies are not created one the same and more so mommies are arriving on these content locations within the content network for a TON of different reasons.  Reasons ranging from recipe hunting, parenting advice, food advice, deal seeking, etc.. etc.. etc...  Fundamentally they are all in different mindsets.


The questions the advertiser should of asked themselves is what type of mommy are we looking for and what is important to them.   In this example they are value focused and concerned about the ingredients they use to feed their family.   What should of been done is the advertiser looks for places that deliver THAT VALUE to the mommies by finding content areas that are involved in how mommies deliver value for their families through healthy and high quality ingredients.   To create the advocacy the brand was looking for the brand should focus on living in places WHERE THE VALUE ADVOCACY ALREADY EXISTS!


In addition if you want mommies to create advocacy for the brand the brand must advocate the mom's values by distributing MORE INFORMATION on how they can deliver value focused healthy eating options to their family.   Help the consumer based on your value proposition and advocacy nature comes.  Creative execution has a BIG impact.  Mess that up and your media choices are in vain.  

Simple simple simple.

GOOD CONSUMER EXPERIENCE.

So what is a good consumer experience?     Quite simplistically it embodies the following statement:

RIGHT PERSON, RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT AD, RIGHT TIME


In order to do that you need the right placement that aligns to the consumer contextually and represents a mindset that excites the value of the brand/product proposition.    It is a creative execution that helps the consumer in a way that represents value to them based on the mindset they were in. 

This is something that can and is being done at scale in digital technologies when the right technologies are applied to help advertisers understand the content and mindset of the consumer in a way that has scale and is easy to use.   That is what I focus on every day and has become not only a personal mission but now a mission that my company BuzzLogic embodies. 

Develop rich experiences that excite consumers based on what they were trying to do and how that aligns to a brand.   This is my filter and this is my mission.   This is what I will spend my career in media/advertising doing.

Simple, elegant and totally focused on leveraging data and technology to power consumer insights and market research in a way that delivers value to both brand and consumer.

Google Plus Looses Traction with Consumers

It is all the news today...Google+ lost Unique Users and Engagement on site went down. 

The funniest article is on tech crunch which now re-branded Google+ and Google-

http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/27/google-minus/






So a couple observations from myself using Google+...

• The UI is a sad attempt at ripping off the facebook UI
• Circles might help me organize my circle but complicate my life when I already got myself setup on a ubiquitous social network that has achieved mass consumer adoption

So how does google save this?   They can leverage their own network to drive free traffic to Google+ but who cares?   I am on facebook already.  I don't get Google+ and I don't think many people will.  I praise Google for trying to fight off facebook but that battle was lost a few years ago.

Here is my bet.... Google+ fails...

So with social out of google's hands and noone using seach on mobile what's their future?   Times be a changing y0.   Times be a changing

Facebook TV - YAY!

A recent article on AdWeek indicates what I thought was going to occur with Facebook.  They are going to go after TV.   I mean this makes total sense.   The thing that is the most social thing in this world is entertainment and video programming is quite simply that.   This is really exciting.   I know google is chasing google+ which just seems to be "eh" to me in my mind from a consumer experience perspective especially when the value you give when you can socialize your entertainment options is so much cooler.   Lets see what happens but I am VERY excited to see this direction coming from Facebook.

The interesting thing to think about is how google is going to compete with Facebook when they are making such strategic moves like this.   I mean google effectively is plumbing and facebook is becoming more and more a destination for a better human experience.  Time will tell but the times they be a changing!

Who does google buy to be a destination as well?   Hmmm.   Where did that Tim Armstrong guy go anyway.... hehehe

Pervasive Nature of Digital Media Technologies - #POPE - Pope Benedict Sends First Tweet

This article is amazing for me to read.    Pope Benedict sent his first tweet on 6/28!   How cool is that.   I mean it makes you step back and realize how pervasive digitally enabled technologies have now become.   When you think of the Catholic church I think it is safe to say that you really don't think of the words "digitally savvy" but hopefully this is changing!   I am a firm believer that the only way the church is going got continue to keep its constituants is through advertising and digital media.   I look forward to what this brings!

The coolest thing about it is I think it is safe to say that social media has become pervasive human plumbing when things like this start happening.  :)

PS I hope their isnt a popegate and he learns from my disgraced NY senator.
PSS I am totally following the pope now!   hahahahha

Google's Schmidt Admits Ignoring Social Was A Mistake

I have posted quite alot about how google is going to become increasingly threatened by the position facebook has carved out.   Well....apparently so is Dr Eric Schmidt google's ex CEO.   Schmidt is a smart dude but I do think we can all agree that he missed the boat on this one and has allowed a serious competitor to arise.   Lesson learned google but what now?  Here is a link to the wired article

Microsoft Deepens Partnership with Facebook - Google Watch Out!

I read an article this morning on PCMAG saying Microsoft BING (LOS LINKS!!!!) has added a facebook like button to its platform.   So let me make a prediction here.  +1 by google goes nowhere because they dont play nice and BING games some share of search in the next few months due to this enhancement.  Go Microsoft.   Nice move.    Microsoft now has search data on facebook, like data on content and other such goodies.   Something bigger is behind this relationship but time will tell the truth on that one.

Digital Video Upfronts and the Elusive GRP

So this years upfront result news should include a lot about budgets being shifted to a digital platform through online video as a part of the news.  From speaking to people around the industry who run accounts it seems that people are shifting a noticable portion of video impressions from a television vehicle to display based vehicle through the wild wooly internets (intentional misspelling folks). 

Now being a 21st century digital boy I of course applaud this idea but I do have some pretty big concerns.   Why you ask?  Well an online impression is NO way like a television impression.  In fact its ability to obtain and achieve attention in a way that is sticky and something that the consumer remembers is what I am calling into question.   

Allow me to explain.   Lets start by understanding the GRP which is the common currency for television video markets.   A GRP is quite simple %reach X frequency.  So this should be attainable in digital video right?  WRONG.   Lets use as an example television buying the UK vs the US and how it is planned differently.   In the US we generally apply a 3+ or 4+ frequency when we are doing our planning in media.   However in the UK the general frequency used in planning is a 1+ frequency.  The agencies/brands have sets of tools based on syndicate research that inform them this is the optimal level in order to achieve their brands goals against the audience.    

The question to ask in order to uncover the whole issue is what makes the frequencies different per market?   Quite simply the answer is clutter and universe avails.  In other words less ads in the UK available as the total # of avails.  

So how does that inform me about the issues in digital?   Well the total # of avails are for starters unknown as they are constraint to the consumer pathway.  In addition the fact that the publishers themselves are unclear on the distribution of avails due to the fact that the publishers are shipping out a ton to remnant supply channels.  

Quite simply no constraint universe no ability to control clutter.  How could you prove this?  Look at the adstock decay of a given TV impression for a digital impression.   I havent done the study myself but I would be curious to see the results.  Has anyone done this?  I can not find any results of a study yet there are dollars flowing left and right.

These facts by themselves are deal breakers on an impression to impression level or even allowing GRP to be the currency here.    I am not even touching on the fact that the "experience" of the video on television is most likely a far more receptive platform for brand influence than on the web.   This will change over time as tv will become more functional (active engagement) and tablets/computers will become more entertainment oriented (passive engagement).  But for now this media nerd thinks impression swapping on tv and digital with the expectation that it is a 1to1 swap is the wrong approach for any marketers. 

Strange Ad Execution - Digital Out of Home Out of Place

So JFK airport in NYC is an airport I know all too well.   I am in and out of that airport about 40x a year...The life of a lonely man (Leo said it so well)   There is an out of home placement near gate 12 in the american airlines terminal that has a pretty cool touch screen functionality to it.  I have seen it used for games for Target as well as a couple of other cute executions.   People always stop and interact and as a lonely man I giggle to myself and appreciate the work we all do. 

But today I saw that go a little a stray with an execution that didn't make much sense to me.   It was for the Blackberry Playbook.   A beautiful new touch screen tablet that really takes multitasking to a whole new level.  It's actually a great product!  However the ad execution was off.   Allow me to explain why...

The digital out of home ad placement has really basic touch screen capabilities.  Far less than the Blackberry playbook.  Yet the creative unit was trying to show people how the blackberry playbook was cool by showing off it's functionality.   This was completely lost on this out of home.  The touch screen nature of the ad placement made the experience feel clunky when you thought of touch screen tablet.   Quite simply the out of home's touch was not as cool as the blackberry playbook's touch yet was used to showcase the blackberry playbook's touch capabilities. 

I love creative and new executions and how media has become a creative outlet with units like this guiding how far we can push the digital experience into the world of 3d.  This execution for blackberry was just off and not the best execution to show off the product or engage the consumer. 

Long live creativity but not at the cost of showcasing the product in a worse way than other less creative vehicles.

Just a thought!

Oh and bless Leo Burnett for coining the phrase "the lonely man"... words i live by :)

Facebook Extending Facebook Ads to Other Websites - Google Beware

I read an article today on IncomeTricks.com that Facebook is extending its ad program to other sites.    The google facebook battle is now not intellectual....Its official.    Lets watch and see folks!

Link to article on IncomeTricks

Google Instant

So I have to commend Shiv Singh form GoingSocialNow for calling out google instant as hella annoying.   I must say it feels like the character from South Park Tweek.  It is spastic and makes me want to go and bing someone.     I am curious what other people think but i am for sure not liking the consumer experience of google instant.     I understand the functional benefit of "lookaheads" in a text search box online but not when it makes the page twitch like a meth addict.