WWW, Digital Media And Short Attention Spans

Fact. The information at our finger tips is doubling every day because of the internet. Ok, I am making that up. Fact. A lot of the information on the web is useless. Lot of truth to that. Fact. The digital world has created short attention spans. Hey you listening to me? Or you just another Klondike guy. "> And for the love of Paul, George, Ringo and John, the next time you go to a movie shut your frickin phone off! Whatever it is can wait.

How is your social media really working

I must have a facebook page and twitter account. After all it's about engagement. Okay so riddle me this batman. I have a Blackberry playbook with problems. Called helpline only to be given an incident number and someone will be in touch. A month in and bumpkiss. I engaged them on twitter and two months,using hashtags and @, more bumpkiss! Memo to RIM, Rome is burning. Oh I guess you knew that. In reality, I don't need the tablet, I bought an iphone.

A whole lot about nothing

In a Seinfeld episode Kramer finds a Merv Griffin Show set in a dumpster. He sets the pieces up in his apartment creating and hosting his own make belief show. Soon the show becomes stale and he has "to retool". "Rabbit Ears" is a retool. Introducing "85 words". My life is all about 85 words, the length of a radio ad which is what I sell for a living. Advertising observations will continue but like Seinfeld, 85 words is a whole lot about nothing!

The Accountability Gap

The Accountability Gap

Facebook is a social medium not an advertising site

The next time you log on to your facebook site, look at the ads on the right hand side.

"What ads you say?"

Right. But just for fun have a look. Those ads are supposed to be matched to your profile. They are targeting you. In my case, last time I looked, only 1 of the 4 ads listed applied to me as I had been searching online for glasses. The other 3 not even close.

So before you jump all in with your advertising on social media sites and forego your traditional media, remember, Facebook is a social medium not an advertising site.


Tony Mariani

Is Facebook really worth 100 Billion?

The Ad Contrarian is Bob Hoffman, ceo of Hoffman/Lewis advertising in San Francisco and St. Louis. Bob is former ceo of MOJO USA and ex-president and creative director of Allen & Dorward. Bob has created advertising for McDonald's, Toyota, Shell, Nestle, Blue Cross, Chevrolet, Pepsico, Bank of America, Seagrams, and more companies than he cares to remember. Bob is author of the books, The Ad Contrarian, and 101 Contrarian Ideas About Advertising. I would think Bob knows his way around media.

He also writes The Ad Contrarian blog and has latest piece is whether or not Facebook. If you are thinking of shifting money from traditional advertising to Facebook read his take on Farcebook.

Farcebook


Tony Mariani

Have you seen any good QR code uses

QR codes are becoming the new black.

In browsing through a Saturday edition of the Winnipeg Free Press there were 10 ads that contained qr codes.

Using my blackberry messenger scanner I clicked on all 10. First off, I had success scanning only half of them. I couldn't get the others to produce a result even with using a different scanner called I-nigma.

Here is some food for thought for three of those qr codes:

1. For the Ballet featuring the next show, shoot a short video with the the principal dancer or say artistic director discussing the show.

2. To the car dealer, how about a video of happy car buyers or how about a click on the qr code take me to a page and win an oil change with a 40 point inspection all for just leaving my contact information.

3. For the educational facility looking for students, have the qr code take me to a video of the school and what you offer. Or how about a video of students and why they choose your institution to attend.

I have yet to see an ad with a qr code that has done anything more than send me to the main website. I have seen a qr code on a bus board and thought, "what was the marketing manager thinking". But I digress.

Leave the shiny new digital marketing tool off your ad if your website address is in the ad.


Tony Mariani