Steve Rubel reminds Web 2.0 firms of a harsh truth they may not want to face. Nearly every online start-up you can think of is basing their business model on advertising. It's as if your digital budgets are a bottomless pot of money with more than enough to go around for everyone. Ask any of them how they plan to stay solvent and they all fire off the "a-word" - advertising. ...the harsh reality is that there will …
Developing Without A Conscience
Marketers spend too little (if any) time considering the manufacturing process behind the brand. Which is a mistake. Our job is to find the essential truth in the product and reveal it in a powerful way to the public. But what if the truth is horrible? What if the truth is unlawful child labor practices? What if the truth is environmental and community degradation? And so on... Manufactured Landscapes, a feature …
Have Content, Will Travel
Speaking at a conference this week, Beth Comstock, president of NBC Universal Integrated Media, said this a "golden age" of media. "It's a great thing to be a content company in the digital age," she said. "Content is always going to win." She also said media technologies can be considered mainstream once 40% of houses adopt them. That means video-game consoles, just over 40% by her account, are already mainstream …
AOL Puts “The User” In Driver’s Seat
AOL has been busy remaking its brand through a series of new product launches and innovations. Today, the media company announced it will let consumers opt out of behaviorally targeted advertising. “We want to make the opt-out process as simple and transparent as possible,” said Jules Polonetsky, Chief Privacy Officer, AOL. “We urge the industry to join us in ensuring that users who take steps to minimize the data …
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R.I.P., Robert Goulet
Singer Robert Goulet dies in Los Angeles at 73. …
Two Views On Fostering Creativity
"In order to foster creativity we should hire misfits, goad them to fight and pay them to defy convention and undermine the prevailing culture." -Robert Sutton via Lee McEwan "Every morning take Royal Jelly and Omega 3 oil, eat oysters and have a good sex life. Don't care about anything, and never listen to anybody. Be free." -Philippe Starck via Tom Asacker …
Going Out Guide Spreads Its Wings
According to L.A. Times, Tribune- and Gannett-owned Metromix will expand to 40 cities next year. Currently, the media brand serves eight markets—Chicago, NYC, LA, Orlando, Baltimore, South Florida, Connecticut and Hampton Roads, VA. "We need national scale to be able to compete more effectively," Tribune Interactive President Tim Landon said. "In terms of accessing national dollars, you've got to have a good, …
QVC on Viagra
click image to play What is Honeyshed? Andrew Essex, CEO at Droga5 told Adweek last spring, "It's based on the idea that people love brands and don't mind being sold to if it's completely transparent. We like to say honey is the content and the shed is the community." Publicis Groupe's stake in the company is 51 percent. The $20 million venture is being run as a separate entity with its own profit-and-loss …