Saturday, July 30, 2005

Big Brands Moving Dollars into Online Advertising

The New York Times reports that I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!, a Unilever brand that has long used traditional advertising, primarily television commercials, to reach its target market of women ages 35 and up. For the spray-bottle version of the spread, the American unit of Unilever is introducing this week a humorous campaign devoid of TV spots.

"Classical advertising is not as effective and efficient as it has been in the past," said Javier Martin, who manages the brand at Unilever United States in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., "so we're looking for more innovative ways to reach our consumers."

The fact that "more and more women are using the Internet" helped persuade the company that Webisodes would be preferable to commercials, Mr. Martin said, as well as the idea that the ads needed to be "engaging and entertaining and interesting enough to be forwarded to friends and family."

Using word-of-mouth marketing for the spray also made sense, he added, because consumers questioned in research sessions say they hear about the spray that way more often than they do other brand varieties like sticks and tubs.

Don't Mess with a Blogger
Information moving at the speed of blog...

I just finished reading chapter 13 of Naked Conversations posted on Shel Israel's blog talking about blogging in a crisis. I then stumbled onto this post on boing-boing about a moving company in Toronto called Quick Boys Movers trying to bully a blogger to remove a comment posted about their moving service.

I just did a search on "Quick Boys Moving" in google and the blog comment is listed #1 AND #2

As Shel puts it:

[B]logs play a fundamental role in the sharing and spreading of information and
they do it with unprecedented speed. Businesses can jump in fast and effectively
control, reduce or eliminate damage.
OR in the case of Quick Boys Movers, they can shoot themselves in the foot.

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Online AdSpend Rose 11% in Q2, to Rise Another 10% in Q3 Says Deutsche Bank Survey


According to an article in MarketerToday:

In a survey of 116 media executives Deutsche Bank determined that Q2 saw an 11% increase in online adspend, due to an influx of online marketers and a "scarcity of premium content" according to a MediaPost article.

More findings, in a convenient list format:

70%: Marketers who expect online ad spending to increase in Q3
66%: Respondents whose clients' spending increased since Q1
48%: Marketers who increased their budgets
12%: Marketers who increased their budgets more than 30%
10%: Predicted increase of budgets for Q3
9%: Increase in prices for premium inventory


Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Contact Information
I was just reading Shel Israel's latest Post, and when I read tip #7 Be accessible, I realized that I had neglected to add my contact information to my blog. And sure enough I had a comment from Hjalmar Gislason over at www.spurl.net saying the same thing.

Well, problem solved, I have posted both my email address and cell phone (to the right)

Thanks to both Shel and Hjalmar for pointing this out.

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Competition Slashing Costs of Broadband

AP reports that the broadband battle is heating up with costs being cut back to between $15 and $20 a month. I FINALLY switched and I LOVE it! Nothing like sitting on the couch and posting to my blog through my wireless network. ahhhh, gotta love it.

Speedline Knowledge Blog Launched

Highly regarded industry experts Gerald Pham-Van-Diep and Joe Belmonte will be writing on various topics related to the electronics industry. According to Rick Short's recent post, Speedline is the third industry blog launched behind Indium and Intertronics.

Excellent work guys!
Two thirds of blog readers don't know what a blog is.
A recent study from BuzzMetrics/Mouthpiece reviled that a majority of blog readers don't know their reading a blog.

David Galbraith has a post on why this is a good thing. He Writes:

This is great news, it spells ubiquity. Memes need a buzzword to catch on, but by now blogs are more than online diaries.

The weblog publishing model, with built in syndication, tracking, real-time search, permanent, item based archiving and linking and easy to use publishing tools is the way everything will eventually be published on the web.

August 6th is the 10th anniversary of the Netscape IPO
I heard the interview with Adam Lashinsky on Marketplace last Tuesday and just stumbled upon this Fortune.com history.

Boy, before Mosaic and Netscape, we had to use text browsers such as lynx (http://home.pacific.net.sg/~kennethkwok/lynx/scrshot.gif) and gopher (http://www.wbglinks.net/pages/history/stuffwbgl/misc/gopher.jpg)

It really is amazing how far we have come in 10 years!
Blog software comparison chart
Excellent comparison of 8 of the top blogging software packages.
Blog software comparison chart

I would add this to spurl, but the site seems to be down :(...
Really Cool Way to organize Social Bookmarks

I was checking out Jeremy Zawodny's Post on a new application to organize del.icio.us bookmarks
del.icio.us direc.tor: Delivering A High-Performance AJAX Web Service Broker :: Johnvey
I've been trying to spurl everything that is interesting and it automatically passes it over to my del.icio.us account.

Very cool, all different kinds of ways to view, sort and search my web links.

Saturday, July 16, 2005


Found a Free Offline reader to Synch with Bloglines.com
I just installed GreatNews. It seems cool and its free.
Bloglines is my main RSS reader, but I was looking for something to download my feeds when I don't have internet connectivity such as on the train down to NYC. Looks like this will work quite nicely.

Friday, July 15, 2005

This is the first time I have ever seen Google crash!
I must use Google 100 times a day (no exaggeration) and this is the very first time I have EVER seen a server error. I just had to take a picture ;-)

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Hand-held Brainstorming Tools
I have never seen these brainstorming tools before.
The reviewers on Amazon LOVE these things!
I'll have to run this by our creative director!


Wednesday, July 13, 2005

PRSA - Presentation on Using RSS in Corporate Communications

I just sat in on a presentation given by Elizabeth Albrycht with APM Communications on RSS for the B2B market. She validated some of our strategies including RSS in online press rooms, and capturing and tracking word of mouth and online buzz. Some other interesting ideas she had for RSS were:

  • Extranets and partner areas
  • Customer relations
  • Resource center and online libraries
  • Event related information

It's great to see all these new ideas for RSS. I will continue to monitor and post other ways to use RSS and XML as a connections tool. If you find anything else let me know!

Hey PR guess what? -- Journalists adore blogs.

MarketingSherpa just published survey results that over 50% of technology journalists surveyed read blogs on a regular basis and surf them for new story ideas. My guess is that others will soon follow.
REI to use Blog software to post content to their website

Interesting story posted on Internet Retailer on how REI is doing a limited rollout of blogging software to post content on the REI website.

Blogging software developed by Seattle e-mail technology
developer What Counts will, in effect, make bloggers out of store personnel who
use the tool to post local events and schedules. While that content will reflect
the personality of REI as a company to the extent that it supports company
values and mission, it's not, at this point, intended as an extended platform
for the personal attitudes of the individual blogger.

"We're using blogging technology, but it really will not be
presented as a blog," says Reynolds. We are not educating the 50 or so users
that they are going to be blogging. We're simply creating a new user interface
that makes it incredibly simple to post content."

This was a topic of discussion in my last 4As IT committee meeting and I poo-poo-ed the idea! Even the Mason Technologist gets it wrong some times ;-). Well, obviously blogging software will never replace robust content management systems, but its an interesting idea.

Actually I suggested doing a similar thing on the bruegger's news page. We have added an RSS 2.0 feed, but why not make the news page a "blog" to post not only press releases, but video and audio news as well as other news items that don't necessarily warrant a full press release. I'll let you know when it goes live.

Podcast Vs. Blogcast
The debate rages on, right now Podcast is winning by a landslide, but blogcast is on the rise... See for yourself -->
Track it with CustomScoop
Track it with Blogpulse

This is a great example of how to use these tools to track word of mouth

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

PR People should read Tim Bray's article on the new PR. With blogs, the word of mouth network is getting more and more efficient. The smart PR firms know this and use it to their advantage.
adCenter Live in France?
I just received a call from a representative at MSN that said MSN adCenter has launched in France today. I tried searching for it, but couldn't come up with any more info other then the original announcement and video and these screen shots from back in March. She is supposed to be sending me some additional information later in the week, so I will post it when I get it... Does anyone have more detail? Let me know...

7/15/05 - Update, looks like I misunderstood what the MSN rep said. She referred me to the March press release which talks about France and Singapore being the test markets. So as of today adCenter is still in beta. I'll keep my ear to the tracks.

How do you get bloggers to write about you?
Crispin Porter + Bogusky figured it out - cash in on the poker craise and mix in their client Victoria Secret and you have Pink Panty Poker. Hmmmm, they say they are targeting 18-24 women...
Blogpulse
Alright, everyone liked the customscoop.com graphs so much, that I figured I would post one from blogpulse as well. Let's stick with Tom and Nicole just for comparison sake:

The cool thing about blogpulse is that you can click on the graph to see the actual posts for that day. The other cool thing is you can graph 1, 2 3 or 6 months.

This looks like a great way to see if your message is getting out there.

Scoble has recently republished his Corporate Weblog Manifesto (originally posted in 2003). As we venture forth into the world of Blogging, it might be a good idea to review his thoughts.

I figured I would post the first 3 here, but the full post is at: http://radio.weblogs.com/0001011/2003/02/26.html

1) Tell the truth. The whole truth. Nothing but the truth. If your competitor has a product that's better than yours, link to it. You might as well. We'll find it anyway.

2) Post fast on good news or bad. Someone say something bad about your product? Link to it -- before the second or third site does -- and answer its claims as best you can. Same if something good comes out about you. It's all about building long-term trust. The trick to building trust is to show up! If people are saying things about your product and you don't answer them, that distrust builds. Plus, if people are saying good things about your product, why not help Google find those pages as well?

3) Use a human voice. Don't get corporate lawyers and PR professionals to cleanse your speech. We can tell, believe me. Plus, you'll be too slow. If you're the last one to post, the joke is on you!

Monday, July 11, 2005

Free Flow of Info

Friends and co-workers have been forwarding me interesting articles - all with the same theme: The way that we collect and disseminate information is rapidly changing.

1. The way that people gather their information is rapidly changing. A recent study by BIGResearch shows that 18 to 24 year olds are spending more and more time reading blogs, IM, IPODs and other new media outlets.

2. Everyone in the world has an outlet now and their own voice. Information is now being disseminated now through camera phones, mobile blogs and remote audio recorders. The way news and information is reportred is changing. The coverate of the 7/7 London bombing shows that more than ever before, citizen journalists provided some of the best coverage.

3. RSS is an evolutionary step.

In 1996 we simply browsed for information (html)
In 2002 - search for information (yahoo and google)
2006 - subscribe to information (RSS)
Browse->Search->Subscribe

I watched an online channel 9 video from the Internet Explorer 7 team. They show how RSS is going to be used for more then blogs, podcasts and vblogs. One example the demonstrated was a new way to synchronize your schedule using RSS and information in icalander format. This means that any schedule program will be able to share information and have it updated immediately - Lotus Notes, Exchange, GroupWise - They all will be able to share information! Very cool stuff.

The time of personalized information management is upon us. We will use computers to automatically search, organize and present information in the way that we choose. RSS is the tool that enables this.

Friday, July 08, 2005

Who Gets More Ink? - See For Yourselves!

I found this cool website called customscoop.com. If you want to know who's getting more press -- good or bad -- this service was made for you. They search 21,000+ online sources (newspapers, magazines, blogs, trade press, press releases, and more) from 107 countries in 18 languages.

I was having all kinds of fun playing with their online custom report generator. It gives you a snapshot of how many times your terms were in the media. Try it yourself - create your own custom trend report!

Looks like Bewitched was a flop…

First Brand Trial Blog Post - Check it out at: http://www.mason23.com/blog

OK, so the design template isn't done, BUT we have gotten the ball rolling with Harry's first ever post to the Mason Brand Trial blog. Mason Inc has decided to start blogging on our area of expertise in creating trail. We will be blogging our ideas and also soliciting input from the marketing community. The goal is to make the Brand Trial blog a valuable resource for marketers all over the globe.

Congrats to all for getting this off the ground! I look forward to reading all the cool stuff.
Robin Dindayal has found a whitepaper from Market Sentinel called Search is Brand.

This is a very interesting perspective and is a strong case for companies to blog, RSS enable their sites and make sure they appear in the major search engines through both organic search engine optimization and pay-per-click advertising. Good stuff!

Check out his post at: Blogs, Search Engines and Brand Awareness

Thursday, July 07, 2005


Feedreader - Totally Free RSS / ATOM Newsreader / Aggregator:
This is cool, here is a small free fully customizable RSS reader that we can use for our feed reader list project. We can offer a download the OPML list OR the OPML list embedded in this application! This will Make it really easy for our clients, prospects and media contacts if they already have a preferred RSS reader then they can download the OPML list, but if they don't have a reader yet, no problem, you can download ours.

Simple: Feedreader's functionality is focused on the main task - reading and organizing RSS feeds and offering seamless user experience.
Lightweight: One of the main goals of Feedreader architecture is to keep its footprint small. Say goodbye to bloat: installation file is under 1.5MB.
Free: And we mean free, no caveats here. Feedreader is licensed under GPL and its source is available for download.
Customizable: Build on it, tailor it to your needs or even re-brand it for your customers. "
Stupid Lawsuit Department
Man Charged With Stealing Wi-Fi Signal

OK, this is just dumb anyway you look at it.

1. The guy with the wireless router should turn on basic encryption. It's simple and it keeps out the common riff-raff. Just about every wireless router on the planet has WEP or WPA built in. Use it!

2. The guy "stealing" the bandwidth was dumb for sitting in his car to snatch a signal. Go to Bruegger's or the local library for FREE access!

3. The police were dumb for actually arresting the guy. Come on!

Thoughts? Post em...
I read Robert Scoble's post today on how he is having his son Patrick record his own podcasts as a punishment for downloading inappropriate material. I think this is really a cool way to use this as a "teaching moment". His son gets to learn about how to record and post a podcast of his own but in the process he is clear on the fact that his dad does not approve of his listening to those podcasts.

When I saw his post , it immediately reminded me of my dad would discipline me when I was a kid. He would make me read "positive thinking" books from such authors as Norman Vincent Peale and Robert Schuler and then write a report on what I read. He made his point, but used it as a teaching moment and to be honest, I really did learn a lot!

Way to go Robert! Not only are you teaching your son, but all of us in the process as well. I look forward to the next installment and have added your Son's feed to my bloglines account.

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Here is a quick little article on Search Engine Marketing and the Corporate Blog:
SEM and the Corporate Blog

According to a Backbone Media case study (pdf), several blogs published by corporations produced the following strategic benefits:

  • Public relations: Corporate blogs provide another way to publish content and ideas, get information to customers quickly, and receive customer feedback.
  • Sales generation: With transparency heightened, corporate blogs can establish industry-specific thought leadership, build online user communities, and increase sales.
  • SEM: Blogs can boost search engine positioning, increase link popularity, and readily allow for RSS syndication. All these add up to increased site traffic.

Sunday, July 03, 2005

Yahoo gets into the Social Bookmark arena called MyWeb 2.0. They took Google's lead and released it as a beta. Check it out at http://myweb2.search.yahoo.com/. The word is social bookmarks will be a way to help cut through some of the search engine optimization spam techniques. This is a big announcement for the future of social bookmarking. It will be interesting to see how Furl, Spurl and del.icio.us

I am going to continue using www.spurl.net to save my bookmarks. I like the interface and the unobtrusive buttons it adds to my browser. I also like how it works with both IE and Firefox and the fact that it shares my bookmarks with del.icio.us. But I am going to keep a close eye on how MyWeb 2.0 evolves.

Saturday, July 02, 2005

Social Bookmarks

Social bookmarks are a great way to store and sort your websites. What makes them "social"? These sites enable the ability to let you see the links that others have collected, as well as showing you who else has bookmarked a specific site. You can also view the links collected by others, and subscribe to the links of people whose lists you find interesting.

Spurl.net looks really cool. I am currently using spurl to help my wife with her research project finding online resources for RenzulliLearning.com. Check out my public bookmarks at: http://www.spurl.net/discover/user/jcnork/

Another popular social bookmark site is del.icio.us. Spurl allows me to share my bookmarks with del.icio.us. You can see how they show shared links here: http://del.icio.us/jcnork.

Of course you can subscribe to an RSS feed for these sites. This is cool!