The Digital Dojo

6 Principles for Success in Your Digital Career

2010-07-28T09:51:00.000-07:00

It wasn't easy, but Matt Giarratano and I wrote our first article on iMedia Connection about the 6 principles for success in one's digital career. To summarize, we've been searching for the keys to success ever since we started in this industry. Our endeavors led us to 6 principles that were discovered from our conversations with mentors that have already found success in the digital space. The principles include:

1. Passion

2. Value

3. Intellectual Mastery

4. Fearlessness

5. Relationships

6. Dedication

The key finding, besides identifying these 6 principles, was that in order to be truly successful, you need to adopt these principles as a way of life. Professional success does not equal happiness without personal success. Adopting these 6 principles as a way of life is essential to achieving the success we all strive for.

If you have 2 minutes, you should read the article:

http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/27261.asp

Let us know what you think!

Wowd Opens to the Public!!!

2009-10-20T13:18:00.001-07:00

Over the last 6 months, I've been working with a Silicon Valley start-up called Wowd. I'm happy to announce that they're announcing their public launch today at Web 2.0 in San Francisco. Here's a review of what they do and why it matters:

Wowd is a real-time search engine for discovering what's popular on the web right now.

Like other real-time search engines, Wowd delivers information seconds after it appears on the web. Unlike others, Wowd covers the entire web – any publically available page, from any web site, anywhere, can potentially be included in the Wowd index.

Like reference search engines, Wowd performs indexing and ranking of search results… but it does so in a way that takes into account pages preferred by real users. Wowd does not use crawlers that mindlessly follow links, filling an index with material that real people would never look at. Wowd finds and ranks information according to the preferences and interests of real humans.

Members of the Wowd user community, the "Wowd Crowd", determine web page popularity. Traditional search ranking methods are based on how pages link to each other, and this approach has been thoroughly gamed by web site publishers seeking search engine optimization. People are much better at finding good web pages and avoiding bad ones than computer programs will ever be. So Wowd taps into this human judgment and gives higher ranking to the pages people choose to visit.

Wowd users nominate public pages for inclusion in the index just by visiting them. When a Wowd Crowd member visits a public web page, it is automatically nominated, and the page is immediately added to the index. No explicit voting or manual voting is required.

The Wowd Crowd is surfing the web twenty-four hours a day, automatically nominating new public web pages for inclusion in the index. A new page is made available to all Wowd Crowd members just seconds after only one of them finds it. Thus, Wowd provides a real-time index that spans the entire scope of the human-readable public web.

Wowd delivers search results that real people find interesting. Wowd achieves both comprehensive coverage of the entire web and real-time performance through an innovative, distributed cloud architecture.

Other real-time search engines achieve timeliness at the expense of comprehensiveness. These services typically index just a handful of sites. In contrast, Wowd delivers real-time results from the entire web, including all social media sites, all news sites, all blog sites... in fact, all public sites can be included in the Wowd index, provided they are nominated by a member of the Wowd Crowd.

Wowd delivers popular and timely information in three ways: (1) a real-time Wowd Hot List of popular web pages that updates live before your eyes; (2) ability to search for specific items and sort results according to popularity or freshness; (3) ability search your own previously visited pages, making it extremely easy to find those pages again.

Wowd is a real-time search engine that helps you discover what's popular on the web right now. Wowd's unique approach is to run as a web browser application, eliminating the need to share personal information with centralized servers. Wowd protects your privacy. Wowd does not collect personally identifiable information and does not share your search history or browsing history with anyone, including Wowd, Inc.

In summary, Wowd is a great way to find out what real people are talking about, right now, on the web.

Check out Wowd at www.wowd.com

Amazon - Tips Wanted

2009-10-06T17:35:00.000-07:00

Friend and colleague, Brad Berens, wrote this intriguing blog post and letter to Jeff Bezos of Amazon. I think it's safe to say that Amazon is the king of affiliate marketing, but even Amazon can't track every recommendations because they don't all come through in-bound links. Couldn't creating a tip jar be the way that Amazon attempts to show their gratitude for the recommendations that they cannot track. I think it would help make the digital exchange more personable and shed some positive light on Amazon and their willingness to facilitate this common expression of gratitude. What do you think???

Why Google Rules The World

2008-12-03T14:36:00.000-08:00

Whether you're an active Google user or not, no one can doubt that Google is on pace to take over the world. Their infiltration of online and offline business is scaling beyond imagination. The continuous innovation that comes out of Google is worth of praise. faberNovel does just that in this amazing presentation reviewing "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Google." The presentation talks about where they started, where they're going, how they've gotten to where they are now and how they are going to continue to be a leader of innovative ideas. I'll let Google and faberNovel's presentation speak for itself......

All about Google

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: google business)

Worlds First Music Video In Excel

2008-11-06T16:47:00.000-08:00

For those of you who haven't seen this awesome video that's been circling the web for the last couple weeks, you should check it out. ACDC may be old, but they are still awesome....

McCain Loses Election and 300 Facebook Friends

2008-11-06T13:07:00.000-08:00

If losing a presidential election was not enough, John McCain's Facebook friend count is also sinking like the stock market. This dramatic abandonment could be for a number of reasons:

1. People don't like to be associated with losers
2. People don't like to be friends with old creepy guys on Facebook
3. McCain couldn't figure out social media so he just paid Facebook to pad his stats until the
election was over
4. People really just don't like him

For those of you who still don't see the value of social media check these Facebook stats out. Let's use McCain as an example of when keepin it real goes wrong....

Preliminary data shows an increase of more than 20% in activity on the site on election day vs. last Tuesday (measured by page views).
More than 5.44 million people clicked the “I voted” button on Facebook to tell their friends they voted.
McCain: 625k supporters on Facebook
Obama: 2.5 million supporters - the most popular page on Facebook (no. 2 is Michael Phelps with 1.6 million)
Since 9/5 McCain has added more than 330k fans and Obama has added more than 750k fans.
On Facebook, Obama added more than 18k supporters Sunday night, more than 25k Monday night, and added more than 40k supporters on election day. That is the largest single day of growth we have on record.
McCain lost about 300 Facebook supporters on election day.
Total election-related virtual gifts given: more than 2 million
Shortly after midnight on Nov 4, about 1 million people used the Causes application to simultaneously set their Facebook status with a unified message to remind their friends to vote. This kicked off one of the largest online rallies in history, with currently over 1.5 million people participating and growing quickly. So far, 4.5 million status messages have been posted. It can be seen at www.causes.com/election.
In October, we partnered with Rock the Vote to register more than 50k.
In the days leading up to Nov. 4, we were averaging about 200k wall posts per day related to the election. On election day, wall posts mentioning Obama surged to more than 1.1 million and those mentioning McCain went to 280k. There were more than 2 million total wall posts related to the election on election day.
We also launched an election day event to remind and motivate people to vote. In just two weeks more than 2.4 million people have RSVP’d that they’re coming

Yes We Can

2008-11-05T10:23:00.000-08:00

For the first time in 8 years I felt something that every American should always feel. For the first time I felt pride, hope and faith that our country is in a better place. Despite the incredible difficulties that are upon us, I feel confident that our leaders will steer us in a better direction. Growing up, I watched videos of Martin Luther King and Abraham Lincoln preach the American Dream. Last night, I watched Barack Obama deliver an acceptance speech that made me believe in the very same values and dreams. It is my great pleasure to paint my blog with these touching words of hope and prosperity...

Save the World One MySpace View at a Time

2008-10-29T11:08:00.000-07:00

Do you want to volunteer or donate for a charity or some global cause, but you don't have the time or money? It's ok, now you can contribute by doing nothing but what you already do every day....play around on your social network. All you have to do is go to SocialVibe, a cool new site dedicated to making it easy for people to get involved in social causes without having to dig into their wallets or waste their time on the weekends. All you have to do is insert your favorite brands creative on you MySpace, Facebook, Friendster, etc... profile and continue to socialize with your friends. Every time someone sees your profile, you've contributed to your favorite cause. It's that simple! This platform is a great way to give back and meet other people with the same social interests as you. Check it out....it's quick, easy and good for the world. Even Hayden Panettiere agrees...

Audi Approves This Message

2008-10-29T10:27:00.000-07:00

You have to appreciate when big brands get creative with their digital strategy. Meet The Beckers is a brave new effort by Audi to create a web series promoting their cars. What's interesting is that the episodes aren't showcasing how sleek and stylish their cars are, they're actually mocking the stereotypes of all their competitor’s car owners. Mercedes owners are old rich men with young hot wives, BMW owners are douchebags with Bluetooth ear pieces glued to their face and Lexus owners are yuppie, wimpy family men with children from hell. Wow!!! Sorry if I offended anyone, but this new web series is a hilarious. It's not every day you see such a negative driven campaign; they almost feel like McCain ads. Without actually saying these stereotypes, Audi has done a great job of making entertaining short films to make the Audi driver the cool character. What's even better is that they've gotten responses from fans of their competitors. I can't say that I love the episodes, but I applaud Audi for doing something different, funny and fresh. Check out the first two episodes here.....

No Money? It's Ok, Go Window Shopping On Amazon

2008-10-28T17:16:00.000-07:00

In case Amazon's existing platform hasn't influenced your purchase behavior already, you should check out their new window shopping site that makes it even easier to splurge. Amazon's new site Windowshop utilizes a virtual bookshelf-browsing utility giving users the ability to easily see new and popular book, cd's, dvd's, videogames, etc... This visual browsing tool has become popular with search engines like SearchMe and Viewzi and could become the web's next generation fad. Windowshop's beta phase will allow Amazon to test out the platforms usability and popularity, but from my experience, this new site is an amazing addition to Amazon's stronghold on user-friendly e-commerce. The site allows viewers to see, here, and watch short previews of all the new and hottest titles in a wide variety of categories. Usually, window shopping implies that there's no money to be exchanged; I get the feeling that Amazon has a different plan in mind. Pretty soon they're going to have to change the name to ImpulseShop.com.

An Interview With the Real "Berries and Cream"

2008-10-24T10:54:00.000-07:00

Some of you might remember the amazing "Berries and Cream" Starbust commercial last year that now has over 9 Million views on YouTube. What you may not know is the background story on Jack Ferver (Berries himself) and how he got the priceless role in this commercial. This interview from AdWeek's Tim Nudd brought back some amazing memories:

How did you get the gig? It must have been a bizarre audition.
I have the most amazing commercial agency, CESD. They got me the audition. At the callback I did it at least 10 totally different ways, including crying. But I cry any chance I get anyway.

The Lad is pretty odd. How did he come about?
Well, the writers obviously came up with the Little Lad. Randy Krallman, the director, is a genius and really set everything up in such a perfect way. We all talked about it, and played with different ideas. It was certainly collaborative.

Some people find the ad creepy. Is the Lad evil or just eccentric?
Who are these people? I love it. There was this really great cartoon someone did of the Little Lad where he looks like the spawn of the devil. I live in New York, in the hipster part of Brooklyn, so I see grown men in schoolboy outfits on the subway every day.

What's he doing at the bus station?
Bus stations are time warps. He is not from this time.

What was most challenging thing about the role?
Doing that for over 12 hours in 80-something-degree heat in a wool costume and a wig.

The Lad has great hair and a nice outfit. Did you spend a lot of time getting the look right?
I can't even tell you how long.

Were you pleased with how the ad turned out?
I think it is hilarious. Randy and I have a very similar sense of humor, and I think it turned out well.

How do you balance your artistic work and your commercial work?
I make dance theater work in New York. I just closed a show this summer that went really well, and I have a residency at Dance Theater Workshop in January that will have a full production through Dancespace Project at Saint Mark's Church in April. The fact that I am continually working artistically makes my life better, and in turn keeps my creativity flowing, which is necessary for the fast pace of commercial production. I love shooting commercials. I have been blessed to work with really kind, smart, and conscientious directors, writers, and producers, who have been incredibly good to me and who I regard as friends. It's different from making my own work—I'm fulfilling someone else's vision. It's satisfying in a different way. It also helps sustain me financially.

One YouTube video of the Starburst ad has more than 6 million views. Did you expect it to be that popular?
I had a feeling it might become this popular when I first read it. It has the kind of offbeat humor that makes something a cult hit. You laugh because you are caught off guard. This happens to us in life. You are driving and pass a van full of nuns and they flick you off. It's shocking but delightful, because it is so refreshing to be shocked in this day and age.

For all of you who aren't familiar with this commercial or the famous "Little Lad Dance," please check it out below....you're life will be better afterwards.

Apple's War on Microsoft Continues

2008-10-24T10:19:00.000-07:00

Is Microsoft ever going to counter Apple's satirical advertising exposing their irresponsible budget allocation towards advertising instead of fixing Vista's problems? It seems that Apple is airing ads without obstruction that mock Microsoft and continue to land blows to the heart of PC owners. It's no wonder that Macs are becoming much more popular; it appears that Apple is always innovating and making their computers more user friendly while Microsoft is always trying to fix problems with their products and cover them up with lame advertising. These videos are a just a continuation of a post I made earlier this week. I can't wait to see what's next.....

Political Marketing Back to the People

2008-10-23T14:28:00.000-07:00

In the wake of one of the most important presidential elections I wonder how McCain and Obama are going to snatch the last undecided votes. McCain has criticized Obama on his excessive advertising spending while Obama complains about all the negative driven ads that McCain runs. Which strategy will win? Who cares?

The real marketing battle is happening outside of the two delegates ad budgets. What's interesting is what everyone else is saying and doing. Between Obama Girl, Tina Faye as Governor Palin, Sarah Silverman and The Great Schlep and other celebrities getting politically involved, this election has gone beyond any traditional political marketing strategy and been brought back to grassroots influence. With the power of the web fueling the most talked about elections in history, I'm seeing the best action come from the people themselves. Who would have guessed that YouTube would become such a powerful political tool. Check out some of these popular political videos....

Microsoft's Vista an Easy Target for Apple

2008-10-21T10:18:00.000-07:00

In addition to Vista's incessant functionality and compatibility problems, they're getting slammed on the advertising front. Their short-lived attempt at a humorous campaign with Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld was bombarded with negative press and question marks. People didn't understand the humor and blasted Microsoft for their poor attempt to be clever. After all is said and done, what's actually funny is that Microsoft paid Jerry Seinfeld $10 Million for his appearance in these short ads.

What their campaign opened the doors for was nothing less than another "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" ad from Apple poking fun at Microsoft for their $10+ Million strike out. I hope Microsoft has a rebuttle to keep this war alive, but Apple wins the battle once again. Check it out....

How to Choose the Ad Network For You

2008-07-31T10:42:00.000-07:00

For the past year, industry events have been plagued by an over abundance of ad networks trying to “break through the clutter.” However, we’re continually bombarded by the same underwhelming messages of transparency, reach, breadth and quality without any idea of what questions to ask to differentiate all the networks against each other. It’s a well known fact that media planners are far too busy to dedicate the time necessary to research each of the ad networks and determine which one’s will actually add value to their brand’s campaigns. Therefore, how can we expect an under-experienced media planner to know which of the 400 ad networks is the best source to buy from?

The answer to my question is in an amazing whitepaper that Robert Tas (CEO of Sportgenic) wrote last week identifying the major attributes of the ad network environment, and key questions that media planners need to be thinking about when deciding which network to buy from. The whitepaper is a simple to understand, in-depth analysis of ad networks, and how each type of network can add value to a media campaign.

The most intriguing part of the whitepaper is the checklist of questions for the media planner to ask sales reps that come to pitch them. The checklist is designed to help the media planner determine the true value of the ad network pitching them. It’s so incredibly difficult to differentiate between competing ad networks that unless you're a veteran of the digital space, you need this checklist to guide you to what you need to know.

It’s nice to see that Sportgenic, a vertical ad network focused on sport enthusiasts, can step back and write whitepaper that is truly helpful to the media planners that they’re pitching. It’s not every day that you see a company offer a tool like this without a ton of self promotion. Thank you Mr. Tas for your leadership and selfless assistance in understanding this often impossible world of ad networks.

To see the whitepaper click HERE
To read an article of the whitepaper click HERE
To go to Sportgenic's website click HERE

One More Designated Driver

2008-06-22T22:41:00.000-07:00

Today I was struck with the terrible news that a member of my clients team had been killed in a drunk driving accident over the weekend. Whenever you hear such horrible news you're often at a loss of words and paralyzed with denial. In today post, I vow not to be silent. There isn't anything I can do to make the situation better, but hopefully this video will make someone out there think twice before they get behind the wheel drunk.

To Steve's family and all of the people at FreeWheel, I'm sorry for your loss and my prayers are with you.

Football Fans Unite

2008-06-19T23:53:00.000-07:00

No matter what your hobby, passion or obscure obsession is, there's definitely a social network centered around it. Today I stumbled upon a social networking site that is perfect for me. I'm a huge football (soccer) fan and spend a good portion of my day obsessing about it. As a matter of fact, I was doing just that when I ran into Footbo, a new social networking site that is 100% dedicated to the WORLD of football.

I knew I loved this site when I read their description: "Whether you're an armchair fan, someone who sleeps, eats, drinks, breathes and dreams football or an amateur player - Footbo is here to provide a place where fans can meet and interact with peers and rivals; receive personalized updates and match information; share knowledge, media and content; and express opinions and emotions. After all, it’s football that makes the world go round!"

Whether or not football makes the world go round, I couldn't ask for anything more out of this site. Instead of getting the latest football news from the inept commentating of Eric Wynalda and John Harkes, I read the daily news from leagues and tournament around the world. I can also read the opinions of various league specialists; for once, the range of opinions actually hold some merit. Footbo allows me to engage in social experience with the people who love football as much as I do.

I was extremely happy to have stumbled upon Footbo, but I kept asking myself why I hadn't found it sooner. Afterall, football is the #1 sport in the world with more people tuning in for the World Cup than the Olympics. Footbo could possibly be the only place in the world where people in the U.S. can get along with a football fan from Iraq. With that being said, I think Footbo really encompasses what a social networking site is supposed to be all about: Bringing people from different parts of the world together to share an environment of similar interest.

Luckily for football fans, the game never stops. Right now we get to chat about the European Championships in Austria and Switzerland. In a couple months we get to talk about the Olympics in China. Shortly after that, we get to debate about Chelseas's new coach Luiz Felipe Scolari and the beginning of the new English Premier League season. For those of us who live in the U.S., we can continue to debate over the quality of the MLS and argue whether or not David Beckham is going to make an impact in America.

All in all, there's something special about sharing a passion with people who live in all different parts of the world irregardless of the politics that keep us publically separated. Social networking sites don't always have to apeal to an international audience, but footbo has done an amazing job of making that happen. Good bye football fan Facebook app. Hello Footbo!

The "Engagement" Network

2008-06-12T10:37:00.000-07:00

As ad networks continue to be criticized for their lack of quality, they'll need to combat this generalization in order to stay afloat. I've seen a number of ways that ad networks attempt to portray quality in the mid-long tail, but in the last couple weeks I've noticed many networks turning to "engagement" as their quality measurement. I've gotten used to hearing aspects like transparency, reach, targetability and time spent as value propositions, but engagement is new to me.

First, I think it's necessary to define engagement. Today, I read an article published in Adotas that defined engagement rather nicely: "the communication between a brand and its customer, a brand and its potential customer or between two customers. Put simply, for engagement to happen, there must be some back and forth between folks. A comment on a photo or blog post, the sharing of a widget ad, the submission of a photo or video into a contest or the emailing of a coupon to a friend are all great examples of engagement in advertising."

Through all my discussions with ad networks, I've found one in particular that truly captures the essence of engagement. Kontera, an in-text ad network, who has developed an innovative in-text technology called ContentLink that truly brings engagement into online advertising. Since Kontera received funding from Sequoia Capital in 2006, they've been able take their contextual targeting technology to the forefront of the in-text world.

Kontera's technology is unmatched by competing in-text providers. Some of the relevancy features include:

Editorial analysis based on principles of computational linguistics in a way that mimics human intent: Which means that the technology actually reads the page and can tell the difference between Apple Computers and Apple Juice.

Enables real-time analysis of static or dynamic content: Which means that when content on publisher pages change so will the relevant ad.

The process is self learning and optimizing based off real time consumer behavior data analytics: Which means that the technology will recognize which keywords on what sites consumers are responding well to.

This kind of relevancy in targeting brings the consumer a level of engagement that they aren't unaccustomed to experiencing. Now a consumer can be reading about tax preparation and opt into an ad from HR Block. What's special about in-text advertising, is that the user must scroll over the underlined link in order to receive the ad. This means that readers must actually want to see the ad in order for it to be served. In addition to serving consumers contextually relevant ads, Kontera's Hybrid product will also aggregate other articles from within the publisher's site, or across the web, to give the consumer other relevant content that they might be intersted in.

This Hybrid product acts as a user and publisher benefiting engagement tool. Publishers have the opportunity to capitalize on additional revenue, increase page views, and become THE source for quality editorial content. On the other hand, consumers can now read what they want, be served additional editorial content that is relevant to what they want to read about, receive advertising that pertains to what they're engaged in and lastly, decide whether or not they want to scroll over the underlined keywords to receive all this relevant content.

The article in Adotas defines engagement as "A communication between a brand and its customer." Kontera is the facilitator of the conversation that readers wants to have with the brand. If I was a media planner buying for Iron Man (the movie), I'd want my 30 second video trailer, website, movie ticket link and theatre locator to pop up every time Robert Downy Jr.'s name shows up on popular publisher sites.

With Kontera's products and services, engagement is not an added bonus, it's their business.

Love and Heartbreak on Facebook

2008-05-27T23:07:00.000-07:00

Relationships can start and stop in very interesting ways. A couple years back, Sex and the City had an episode about being dumbed via Post-it note that I've always thought was the worst possible way to breakup. What could possibly be worse than leaving a Post-it? Facebook!!! Yes, Facebook has become the official source for updating one's relationship status. Thanks to the social power of the News Feed, everyone in your network is notified when your relationship status has changed. Unfortunately, you might be the last person in your social network to find out that your boyfriend or girlfriend has changed their status to single.

In my opinion, the Facebook breakup takes the Post-it breakup to the next level of embarrassment. It's the same concept, accept the Facebook status is being posted for all of your friends, family and acquaintances to see, not just you.

If you know of, or can think of a worse way to find out that your significant other has a sudden change of heart, please send me your comments. I'd love to hear worse breakup stories and scenarios.

For more public opinion on the topic you should check out this article from ABC News.

Funny Commercial of the Day

2008-04-30T22:57:00.000-07:00

This commercial comes from the local San Francisco creative agency, Hub Strategy. This funny commercial for Slingbox won Hub the 2008 Best of Show Addy Award. Well deserved!

Thank You Nike For Your Creative Brilliance

2008-04-30T09:42:00.000-07:00

As an avid soccer fan and former professional player, I've never seen a video capture the true essence of a soccer player better. The vantage point is one of a kind and spot on. Guy Ritchie and Nike should win awards for this masterpiece. The only thing that would have made it better is if it was made around Chelsea and not Arsenal.

How Small Is Too Small?

2008-04-29T22:31:00.000-07:00

When the commercials came out for the new MacBook Air I was excited to see how consumers would react. Because I'm bigger than the Average Joe, I tend to like bigger gadgets. For instance, I'd never buy a iPod Nano when there's a 160 gig iPod Classic that's much bigger and better. Regardless, I've noticed that everytime Apple has introduced a new gadget, they follow it up with periodic releases of the same gadget in smaller and smaller sizes. Apparently, "Mini" is not small enough. With Apples newest release of the MacBook Air, I struggled to accept that it's more important to be able to slide your laptop in a manila folder than leave it on your desk like us normal folk.

Luckily, for all the big people out there, this mini syndrome hasn't gone unnoticed. Please enjoy this MacBook Air ad parody that's entertained almost a million viewers on YouTube.

If You Need Me I'll Be In Bali Playing Golf

2008-03-26T23:10:00.000-07:00

Welcome to World Golf Tour, one of Battery Ventures most recent and exciting newly funded companies. Today at work, I logged on and played at the Bali Hai Golf Club while I sat at my phone listening to another misable sales call. I've seen pool, chess, sudoku and even scrabble, but is high quality online golf the next casual game? World Golf Tour has taken computer games to the next level to offer the most photo realistic golf experience for its users. The game developers have put the time in to capture every ounce of the course with their high quality photography to give the users the most realistic and enriching golf experience. Now, people can play the most renowned courses in the world from the comfort of their homes or offices.

You might be asking yourself how this game is any different from the high quality games we see on Playstation and XBOX. This is where the Digital Sensei bows to the people who developed this amazing idea, because they've made this entire game a branded experience. Players can buy the exact outfit that they have when the go golfing in real life. They can buy the clothes, accesories and even the clubs. You can enter PGA sponsored golf tournaments to win real prizes. At every opportunity to make the game more realistic, they have. Even the actual real time weather at each live course plays a role in the courses of the game.

You'd think that people would be pissed to have to pay for the newest and coolest digital equipment, but what an amazine opportunity to completely customize your digital golfer the way you want. What an amazing way to REALLY connect with the golf enthusiasts personal style and preferences. What a way for Taylor Made to connect with an engaged golfer who wants their digital player to be equiped with the best new equipment. What a way for Cadillac to sponsor the 18th hole of the PGA Charity Golf Tournament. What a way for golfers and wanna be golfers to enjoy what they love from the comfort of wherever they wanna be. World Golf Tour is an amazing new game and marketing vehicle that I hope spawns into a variety of different sports. I urge you to endulge, but beware, it's addicting!!! Click here to check them out.

Battle at Kruger: Ad Networks vs The Powerhouses

2008-03-25T13:33:00.000-07:00

Some of you may have seen YouTube's "Best Eye Witness" Award Winning Video, "Battle At Kruger." This heroic video shows a poor baby Buffalo's struggle to survive an attach from two of Africa's most powerful predators; the Lion and Crocodile. Oddly enough, this battle ends with a convincing victory for the Buffalo because of the power of strenght in numbers.

At the completion of this incredible video, I sat there applauding the audacity that this herd of Buffalo had to challenge two of the most lethal animals in Africa. Then all of a sudden, it dawned on me that this concept of strength in numbers is the same strategy that Ad Networks use to combat the powerhouses of the Ad World.

Let's use the obvisous example of Kid's Marketing. As an Advertiser, I know that if I was doing the buy for a brand like Matel, I'd immediately reach out to the people at Disney and Nickelodeon. This is the obvious route knowing that they have an established and credible network of properties that reach children of all ages. However, that's precisely where every other Marketer is trying to reach this audience. Is there another source that has just as much power?

Let's take a look at GoFish, a very intriguing Kid's Ad Network that I've been lucky enough to learn about just recently, and that has some of the most popular kid's websites in their repertoire. Some of these sites include Miniclip, Piczo, WeeWorld and Whyville. Like the Buffalo, GoFish cannot compete with just one of their sites against Disney and Nick. However, when you combine all of the sites in the network, GoFish accounts for a monthly reach of 18.2 Million uniques, which is just behind Nick's 25.4 Million and Disney's 27.5 Million. Suddenly, we find that the Buffalo, although modest and sometimes unnoticed, can also fight with the most powerful of all.

I don't know about you, but when I watched this video I found myself routing for the Buffalo. This is what I like to call the case of the underdog. Although it may be odd to relate a Kid's Ad Network to an battle of animals at a watering hole in Africa, I think the same underdog priciples apply with GoFish. They're a true underdog in the sense that they work that much harder to compete with the powerhouses of Nick and Disney. Their impressive reach and customized solutions for advertisers are truly worthy of admiration and placement alongside the likes of Nick and Disney. At the very least, they're worth of a mention in The Digital Dojo as a company that embodies the characteristics of an innovative and well managed Digital Corporation. If you'd like to check them out you can click here.