I had such high hopes for digital advertising. You would think that the digital environment with participatory engagement, democratization of video content and non-linear narrative opportunities would not have us simply repeating the same advertising tactics from print and television – with more commercials to skip with ‘Tivo-like’ tools. But here we are placing commercials within digital content as if it were TV or print. We have such an opportunity and we are blowing it.

We know broadcast quality content costs a lot of money and we we are willing to watch a few commercials for access to that programming, but social networks need to be handled differently. For one thing, most of the content is generated from our friends, families and colleagues not from broadcast networks or publishing houses. That alone justifies a value driven vs. disruptive marketing approach.

One of the issues is that traditional media buyers would like digital to ‘behave’ in the same way that tradional media does. This is a mistake given the fundamental and key difference within digital is the audiences ability to connect, participate, share and influence the direction of the content itself. While traditional buyers focus on the reach that their paid network distribution partners provide, the digital media community evaluate success via engagement and the performance of the content across the network’s owned channels. They know that a view that originated from the social graph has greater value than if it came from a paid referral.

As Facebook launched a new video advertising product, and an expensive one at that, I’m worried about it. With shareholder pressure to increase ad revenue, especially against mobile I’m not sure if I am ready to trade a few messages from family and friends for full-blown commercials. I’m hoping the leadership (Mark) at Facebook have not traded one set of value rules (serving the community) for another (shareholders).

Twitter also extended its ad product with better targeting based upon keyword vs. simple demographic information. That means that if I tweet how much I appreciate good design, I could now be bombarded by brands that are advertising products with good design solutions. It only works if the brand and the marketing partners creating the content of those posts look at it as value ad for the community vs. advertising.

Social marketing is only limited by it’s ability to pollute vs. bringing value to the community. It’s a huge opportunity for all of us with unlimited potential if we as marketers operate with an eye and ear towards being a valued community member vs. a marketer. We have played a part as individuals in creating new platforms and reinventing how we communicate with others. Lets not blow it by inheriting messaging techniques created for another platform.

As publishers of a network you need to now offer programming that is relevant to the current conversation. You need to add to, or better yet, invent a part of the popular culture. These new opportunities usually evolve, as narrative does, through iteration. The process of doing, being a part of and evolving with the conversation allow you to authentically lead and reinvent as a part of a community.

Startups are very good at this, as they learn to iterate via the alpha, beta and launch phase of application development. Get it out there! It may be a bit buggy, but you will see what works and what does not before you spend the whole budget. You also give fans a chance to test and participate in your idea. SocialTV is doing this quite well as ideas for content are launching in raw form way before the next season’s content are.

So, as much as ‘Marketing in the Moment’ seems to be one of the current ‘hot’ trends for communications, lets not forget the bigger picture. The opportunity to directly publish, not advertise, with engaging content that is of the community, not of the brand.

While at SXSW this year, I saw a terrific panel from the team at Oreo about their SuperBowl engagement. This power panel discussed the importance of making the best of moments as they are happening while bringing value and included a fun debate between Bonin Bough, VP of Global Media and Consumer Engagement, Steve Doan, Senior Associate Brand Manager both from Oreo under Mondelez International and the infamous Gary Vaynerchuk, Co-founder, VaynerMedia. Here is a video of the panel if you missed it – it was quite a hoot!

From MIT’s technology lab, how to make a computer from a living cell is worth a read.

Creative Entrepreneurship vs. Marketing
While it is hard to sum up a festival as rich and intricately complex as SXSWi, one thing stood out for me more than anything else this year – the presence of so many marketers and brand folks vs. the excitement of entrepreneurial ideas, content and platforms from previous years. Mind you, all of us who were advocates and supporters of new technology and platform invention from past years all wondered, at the time, when brands and marketers where going to show up and take advantage of the opportunity to build relationships with the digital and social platforms of the future. After all, SXSW is to digital marketing what media relationship building is to PR. But the pendulum seems to have swung the other direction this year. I hope interest and presence of brand marketers continues, but I hope that the entrepreneurial nature of invention returns next year now that we have everyone’s attention.

Living in the material world…the focus is now on the hardware
Whether we are all fed up of living a virtual life online or not, the entrepreneurial focus this year was on ‘The Internet of Things’. The invention of both new and everyday objects connected to the web in order to help us record and integrate our collective experience and how we interact with the world around us. Dennis Crowley from FourSquare painted a good picture when he talked about how location combined with integrated intelligence with his fitness devices (Nike Fuelband or scale similar to Smart Scale), all work together to give him a larger view of what he really needs to do to stay healthy – too many bar nights in a row compared to his prescheduled gym visits perhaps? Nike’s connected shoe project looks really promising and I have been personally very interested in the flexibility of Twine given it allows consumers to connect any object and customize the hardware and software.

Google Glass
GoogleGlass was the connected device that stole the show. The most anticipated device since Apple got into the music or phone business, GoogleGlass launches an entire category and may change the way we connect to the world in the future. There was a lot of backlash coming out of SXSW around Glass, given how Google is rolling this out. For a company that has been very open, many folks have started to feel that this is very exclusive vs. inclusive – even from the developer side. For a first version, what Google has is pretty amazing. If this is adopted, we may find this embedded into our contact lenses in the future, but for now Google needs to better manage the backlash and be as inclusive as they can be.

The power of Real Time Marketing (marketing in the moment)
Fueled by engagement from the team at Oreo during the SuperBowl, this power panel discussed the importance of making the best of moments as they are happening. Moderated by David Teicher, Associate Editor, Ad Age, included a fun debate between Bonin Bough, VP of Global Media and Consumer Engagement, Mondelez International; Steve Doan, Senior Associate Brand Manager, Oreo (a Mondelez International brand) and the infamous Gary Vaynerchuk, Co-founder, VaynerMedia. Here is a video of the panel if you missed it – it was quite a hoot!

Elon Musk
Elon Musk gave one of the most inspired talks at SXSW. Talked about as the ‘Tony Stark’ of our age, Elon is quite soft spoken and when he is not busy leading development of the world’s most advanced battery operated automobile, Tesla, he is focusing his energy on getting humanity back into the space race. I could not find a video of his full keynote but SaulPaul posted a great rap recap.

Disruptive Platforms and Technology are still important
Despite my grumblings over the de-emphasis of technology innovation this year, SXSW still hosts a fabulous interactive awards ceremony. Rather than just focus on the winners, the entire list of nominees this year are listed here. Definitely worth a browse through.

Vegas baby…
At first I thought I heard it wrong, but rumor had it that because of the increasing size of the conference and the lack of capacity in Austin, the organizers are potentially looking to move the interactive portion to Vegas? The V2V site (V2V short for Visionaries to Vegas), looks like it may be a dry run. I also heard that badge holders of this past festival in Austin may be able to attend for free or get a discount but I did not see that mentioned on the site at all. I don’t know about you, but the idea of separating interactive from music and film, given that content is driving everything these days seems like a mistake to me. Vegas also seems like an odd fit for a conference with a very un-Vegas like culture. What do you think? I am personally bummed out about this, but at least they picked the best hotel - The Cosmopolitan (full disclosure as I worked on the launch).

Grumpy Cat
…and then there was Grumpy Cat – a star of SXSW. If you don’t know who Grumpy Cat is, the CNN report sums it up. Seriously, overall a testament to the power of popular culture.

See you next year or in Vegas baby…

When it comes to building relationships with consumers, social media has become a pivotal component, and we as marketers often talk about how the consumer ultimately is the owner of the brand message within these channels. As I like to say, the ultimate compliment to any brand is to allow the consumer to be the ‘programmer of your network’. When you think about it, no matter how large the marketing budget of the brand, it cannot drown out the voice of the consumer. In other words, your consumer’s voice actually ‘outspends’ your brand – so embrace it.

But this goes beyond marketing. We have always spoken in context of marketing and brand influence, but we have yet to realize that the conversation actually allows the consumer to influence the development of the product itself. I am convinced that this is just the beginning. Pepsico made the fatal mistake of announcing that the ingredient that is being removed from Gatorade, brominated vegetable oil, which is actually banned as a food ingredient in Japan and the European Union, will actually remain in some of its other large brands like Mountain Dew – I cannot wait until the fans get hold of that one! Studies suggest possible side effects include neurological disorders and altered thyroid hormones.

Here’s the deal, we all have much more information at our fingertips these days. Brand owners in both the product and marketing departments need to stop talking down to their consumers and embrace them as true partners. Realize that the consumer has a stake and interest in the development and evolution of product and not just the message.

Now lets see if we can create something meaningful together.
Link to the complete article in the New York Times: PepsiCo Will Halt Use of Additive in Gatorade

The PR list covers some interesting observations about LinkedIn, the power of advocacy, the reputable return of the seasoned journalist, importance of mobile, visual storytelling and PR finally winning the battle to best manage social media.

On the Advertising side, look forward to additional thoughts on mobile, the evolution of the dreaded banner ad, big data and the newly coined “Native Advertising”.
Both are short and succinct and worth a read-through.

Would love your thoughts…

In this weekends NYTimes article, Google’s Crystal Ball, Seth Stephens-Davidowitz analyzes Google search data to see what folks are searching for by state, as it relates to each candidate. Comparing this to numbers from the last election, especially with a focus on the swing states, may show the accuracy of how search data could predict which way people are leaning based upon things such as sentiment analysis. Simply fascinating.

The Daily introduced a real-time, agree/disagree ‘dial’ to poll Democrats and Republican’s in real time, and it was fantastic to participate in and to watch in last week’s debate. If you did not try it in the last debate and you own an iPad, Android or Kindle Tablet, download The Daily and try it tonight. I found it absolutely fascinating to watch people’s reactions to the arguments in real-time. I was especially fascinated by the fact that the Republican audience was completely unified in their position, while the Democrats were often not as unified around the same issue – a weakness for Obama and the Democratic party, but solid proof that The Democrats are not as polarized, easier to work with and more open to listen to the issues. It was even more scary to watch how folks are swayed by popular opinion in real-time vs. making their own decisions based upon the facts. We know and accept that this is how it works, but usually after much debate, research and discussion followed up by the usual sensationalized coverage by the media – not instantaneously by following your fellow man. An eye opener for sure.

While many of us may view these tools as toys to keep us entertained before, during and after a debate, unlike the debate itself, this may be how elections are won and lost in the future.

How many of us have texted our friends while watching a broadcast show, a live presidential speech or a sporting event? What about the chatter around those Super Bowl commercials? With Social TV, the opportunities to connect with others outside of our direct social networks around things we love are endless. The ability for our clients to do the same, in real-time, is there. I could even see the re-imagining of the commercial as a real-time call to action to engage. Simply connecting with a larger audience around the breaks within major events such as the Super Bowl or The Oscars brings endless opportunities, especially if curated around carefully promoted search terms and hashtags.

Forrester’s report proves how fan’s of a brand online are much more powerful when influencing consideration and purchase.

Facebook is also testing a Want button plugin. While the ‘Like’ button measures a fan who most likely owns a brand in some way, ‘Want’ clearly defines the desire to own – clearly a powerful data-set to own.

…and Facebook is not the only one. Foursquare enables us to ‘check into’ locations that offer us deals while Pinterest allows is to curate what we are most passionate about. I can see a time where our Pinterest pins actually lead to a link to purchase, and a time when we all get a piece of the sale if the referral came from our post or link…the ultimate affiliate sales model all driven by social commerce.

The Fancy is already starting to do this. “Each time a user clicks to share an item they’ve “fancy’d,” they receive a URL with a unique referral code. If someone makes a purchase using that link, they’ll receive 2% of the sale price 30 days after that item has shipped”. See Mashable’s post.