Not everyone thought Facebook would make a smooth transition into the mobile world, but boy have they done it and with a degree of dominance that couldn’t have been predicted. Facebook’s mobile advertising now costs seven times more than average. The reason is data; Facebook knows so much about...
The Gap is getting ready for it’s biggest campaign in the “company’s modern history” and it’s worth taking a look at what constitutes a big campaign today by trying to parse out the pieces of their plan to see what they are doing, what and who they are using and why?...
Writing about Facebook isn’t exactly the freshest thing to do right now, but I’ve been searching for someone who can some up the challenge the brand faces in the neatest possible way. It’s taken me some time, but I finally found it thanks to the wonderful piece written by Michael...
It’s one thing for your brand to be socially connected- but just about any brand can play the game by adding Facebook and Twitter accounts, but just owning those accounts is not an act of true transparency, or even proof positive that you really want a connection with your audience. If you want...
When Facebook becomes a public company-it’s obvious that it will be forced to generate ever increasing revenues from its user base. The only way the company can deliver these revenues is by selling more advertising and making more money through user transactions. The advertising issue is key-...
The News of the World saga in the UK is an amazing tale of the tolerance of a public for questionable business ethics. While the polls suggest the public trust business and the media less- they are still unlikely to take action-unless something extreme happens. People are still buying gas at BP and...
AFAR has been one of the most interesting magazine launches of recent years, so I spent some time with Greg Sullivan, the founder, to learn more about their story. Can you tell me your background? Lawyer for three years. Investment banking for a couple of years. Started an arcade game...
When I took a look at the "about" section of a new soccer magazine, The Blizzard, a magazine designed to be downloaded, I was struck by how they defined their reasons for existence. They summed up precisely why magazine publishing has been forever changed and how developments in the web-publishing...
A nice visual from the recent Ofcom UK report on the media industry and consumption of media. This visual looks at the typical daily consumption of media and shows it as a series of peaks and valleys over the course of a typical day.Some observations:1. Social media communication happens all day...
David Fincher just made a movie that tells the story of how one of the world's largest media companies came into being, Facebook. It's a celebration of the rise of geek power. What's interesting here is how the geek has moved from the meek and mild background character that survives only on their...
The pressure on communication agencies is intense, clients are constantly hoping for breakthrough ideas that are powerful enough to transcend the typically narrow media window and make it into popular culture. As agencies work on these ideas they are increasingly looking for ever more promising...
BBH has a new campaign out in the UK for Barclaycard touting ease and convenience of payment, but what struck me most was the URL they use at the end of the spot, where instead of the corporate dot com address, there's a Facebook url. This is a clear sign of the move away from corporate web...
According to Campaign, VW is looking for a social media agency in the UK. This will add another partner to the company's already expansive communications roster, add incremental fees and mean there's more to manage and co-ordinate. In a an environment where budgets and resources are being...
Interesting to see The Atlantic write such a flattering article about The Economist and the current state of the newsweekly business. The discussion revolves around the recent changes and re-designs at Time and Newsweek, who are both hoping to drag their publications to new found success in an...
There's a recent article in Ad Age that talks about the ANA meeting where CMOs vented their frustration with ad agencies over their responsiveness and the increasing opportunity they believe exists with media companies. "Agencies and ad networks came in for some rough treatment at a CMO
roundtable...