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This blogsite has never existed as a money spinner. Sure, I sometimes promote the activities of my various businesses and that can be beneficial, but I have never tried or expected to make a dollar from publishing blog posts.

I’m also a big advocate of inbound marketing and tend to believe the rather funny recent study that found its more likely your will survive a plane crash or win the lottery than click a banner ad. That’s because we don’t go to our favourite websites to look at ads, we go for what that site offers; information, advice, entertainment etc. And its very rare that we are actually served up advertisements that are relevant to us.

Advertisements are pointless and annoying unless they are actually relevant and of service to readers. So that’s why I haven’t included any ads on Media Hunter or even on Urban Insider….until now.

As you’ll (hopefully) see on the right hand side of this site there is an ad. Its not large, its not flashing and popping up to infuriate you, but for many I believe (hope) it is actually relevant.

I recently joined the Influads bloggers network. I have been approached by numerous ad networks over the years but none really seemed right so I declined to participate. To me, Influads seemed different. They claim to be the only ad network actually curated by its publishers. They’re aiming to build a tight network of blogs around different topics and match them with highly relevant advertisers…businesses with services that might actually be relevant to readers of these blogs.

Its only early days but I am fairly happy with the ads that have been served up so far. Online invoicing services, handcrafted online video services and other online tools and services that innovative businesses might be interested in. In fact, I have even been keen on some of the products so far to try for my own business.

Do I think I’ll be sitting on a beach blogging and living off the ad proceeds soon? No. But I am very interested in learning whether blog readers will click on advertisements if they are relevant and whether this is a viable marketing proposition. Being part of the network will tell me because I get to see all the stats.

If Influads is successful it’ll be because of relevance and that could be a strong pointer to the future of web advertising in general.

social media monetization

There seems to be a lot of action this year around finally monetizing the communities and traffic that have grown around major social media networks. From day one, many have wondered where the revenue would come from amongst all the wonderful free services and networks we enjoy online. In 2011 it appears we’ll find out.

The biggest social platform of all, Facebook, has never been in a rush to monetize, preferring to build the base, grow the connections and steadily accumulate data on its members. Sure, over the last few years they have steadily added advertising which is increasingly targeted due to your Facebook “Likes” and activity. Now Facebook have announced that they are jumping on the group buying bandwagon with Facebook Deals. We heard at Social Media Club Sydney this week that Facebook Deals will be launching in Australia in the 2nd quarter of 2011. I believe you’ll start to see a lot more revenue streams appearing on Facebook soon.

Twitter has long been a mystery for many who have wondered how they will generate revenue beyond selling access to their fire-hose of data. But last year “Promoted Tweets” launched and now we are beginning to see evidence of their revenue strategies creep into the platform design as was abundantly clear in their recently bungled iOS upgrade and the infamous “Dickbar” that show trending tweets / hashtags above your tweetstream.

While Twitter’s move towards increased revenue through “paid tweets” is meeting some resistance from the purists, it is inevitable. Brian Solis has demonstrated how Sponsored Tweets can be incredibly successful in his study of the Charlie Sheen Twitter phenomenon. Like it or not, its an indication of what is to come. I suspect that after an initial burst of rather obvious campaigns like this, we will begin to witnessed more subtle and nuanced campaigns that merge social and advertising.

Hubspot in Boston have long been advocates of more nuanced marketing. They are North America’s leading inbound marketing firm and have built a solid business around SEO, social media and lead generation for small to medium business. The Hubspot platform is targeted towards business and organic search rather than paid advertising and is a possible pointer to the future of marketing. Obviously some big players agree because they have just closed a round of funding that raised USD$32 million from Google Ventures, Salesforce.com and Sequoia Capital. To me this is proof that many believe that there is a big future is inbound marketing. Expect to see serious growth around this sector.

Finally, at a much smaller level, this year we are seeing leading bloggers cashing in on their audience and “web fame” with paid newsletter offerings and various other sidelines. They’re pursuing a freemium model of attracting large audience through their blogs and then selling a percentage of that audience on more premium services such as consulting, speaking and newsletters. Chris Brogan is a perfect example of this and you will see much more of it in the future.

Monetization of the social media universe in inevitable. Those who rail against it must realise that these services can’t exist for free forever. However what we can hope for is that the revenue models that are created are more nuanced, relevant and interruptive than those we’ve seen in the past.

…unless you want to learn some extremely innovative ways to reinvent your marketing.

Dentsu is a Japanese advertising agency that has become one of the largest and most successful in the world. That in itself was news to me. But what was more interesting is how Dentsu have pioneered fascinating cross-communication strategies that resonate strongly in the fragmenting world of modern media and digital ubiquity.It’s all been revealed in a new book called The Dentsu Way by Kotaro Sugyama and Tim Andree.

What got my attention in The Dentsu Way is how this agency doesn’t follow the old reach and frequency, interruption model of advertising, but aims to draw consumers out on their own accord. They try to deliver information with which consumers want to be come involved. It has a lot of similarities with inbound marketing in that regard.

My headline “Do not read this book” is a nod to a famous campaign Dentsu did for a manga publication where their late night TV ads pleaded with viewers not to search for the new title on the internet. Of course everyone then did search and slowly a cat and mouse game played out rewarding those who dug deepest. These fans then spread the word and the buzz and subsequent sales went crazy.

The core of the book explains Dentsu’s Cross-Communication theory and then shows case studies and how you can design your own Cross-Switch strategy. It balances creativity with a data-intensive approach, something that once again should appeal to modern digital agencies.

The Dentsu Way really is a fascinating read and makes a good argument for the merging of traditional advertising agencies with digital (as opposed to the current either or approach) so that a truly integrated approach can run through a campaign.

So whatever you do, don’t buy this book…..I’d rather keep these ideas for myself.

Foursquare for Beer

A few years back I was involved in launching a new brewery and it’s initial beer brands. I had dozens of ambitious ideas about how to do something cool and original but after a while we realised the client had become risk averse and budget deficient. Most of the ideas just fermented, but never bubbled over into reality.

Today, I’ve come across a beer campaign that I wish I was part of. Its great and utilises all of the elements I’d love to have included in our efforts.

Sydney agency Droga5 recently launched a multi-platform strategic rebranding campaign for Cascade Brewery. It includes a quirky TV ad, slightly reminiscent of the one’s I have long admired in the USA for the New Belgium Brewery, an excellent new website and, best of all, an amazingly useful iPhone app.

Cascade Brewer’s Nose, is the quintessential beer-lovers free iPhone app, featuring tasting notes on over 500 Australian and international brews compiled by Tasmanian chef Rodney Dunn of the Agrarian Kitchen.

The application uses GPS technology to help beer-lovers search for their favourite stores, pubs and bars that stock Cascade as well as helping you keep tally of the brews that you’ve tried to date.

It’s like Foursquare for beer. Friends with the app can check out each others beer tallies on Facebook.

The barcode scanning feature allows for prospective beer-buyers to scan a beer and bring up tasting notes to inform their decisions. It even has a feature which suggests brews according to choice of food.

This looks to be a fantastic, well thought-out integrated campaign.

You can download the app here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cascade-the-brewers-nose/id400835714?mt=8

and check out the very slick website here: www.cascadebreweryco.com.au

Or watch the new ad.

And for the record, no they didn’t send me any samples to write this, I just like it (and wish I’d thought of it).

What happens when Don Draper and his misogynistic, philandering Mad Men drink too much whiskey before creative meetings? They make advertising that shocks us now, but was apparently a sign of the times back then. Clearly most of these weren’t written by Peggy Olsen.

This week will be a conference-heavy one for me with plenty of focus on the future.

I’ll be attending the Australasian Media and Broadcasting Congress in Sydney and sitting on two panels.

Panel 1 is to discuss Where is advertising heading? We’ll be looking at what the emergence of new platforms and players means for advertising spends on traditional media, questioning whether brands will continue to advertise en masse and even looking at whether technology such as 3D TV is the future for advertising.

Panel 2 probably has a lot of similar themes for me as we look at Strategies for successfully transitioning to a broadband economy. We’ll discuss what media companies need to do to survive in the changing technological environment, using the online channel to develop content and advertising products that cater to the on-demand media consumer and how media companies will generate revenue online.

The rest of the conference topics focus heavily on the digital age so its going to be fascinating to see what the rest of the industry is thinking.

The Australasian Media and Broadcasting Congress is on 20-22 July 2010 at the Swissotel, Sydney.

In the past five years social media has snowballed to become a dominant force in media and marketing. Here in Australia we now spend more time online,  17.6 hours per week , than with any other media. Astoundingly, Australia leads the world in social media consumption averaging 6 hrs 52mins per person per month.

advertising must adapt to the new social media environment

So it is fair to say that social media is now having a significant impact on how people receive information and how they consume marketing.

Social media finally brings “people” into the marketing equation. Its possible to actually develop real relationships with consumers rather than just broadcast messages to them.

Bob MacDonald, CEO of Procter & Gamble, one of the world’s leading advertisers recently said,

What I would like to have is a one-on-one relationship with seven billion people in the world and be able to customize offerings for those seven billion people. Digital allows that relationship.

Social media signals a major disruption in marketing. Its now time for advertisers to take notice and adjust accordingly.

Longtime Madison Avenue executive Hank Wasiak has posted a great piece on Mashable titled How social media has radically altered advertising which I strongly encourage you to read in full. In it Hank presents his 5 suggestions for a much needed change in the advertising mindset required to embrace the social media world:

1. Lighten Up. Stop lamenting the end of advertising as we know it. Celebrate the emergence of advertising as the consumer wants it and as it was meant to be — the art of one-on-one persuasion.

2. Listen Up. Take Chris Brogan’s advice. Grow bigger ears and become an expert at listening to what people feel. Value response and engagement skills as much as creative abilities.

3. Loosen Up. Get comfortable with giving up control to gain confidence and traction with clients and consumers. Client relationships ought to be rooted in trust, transparency and creative programs that are built on a strong positioning and responsibly deliver what is promised.

4. Ladder It Up. Embrace “collabetition.” Resist the urge to say “we can do it all” and openly collaborate with like-minded competitors to add value to an idea or program.

5. Live It Up. Everyone at an agency has to immerse themselves in the “social circles” in which consumers live and move everyday. Observation and understanding have been trumped by participation and engagement.

Hank feels that now it’s time for the advertising industry to embrace these social marketing opportunities with the same enthusiasm it had for the disruptive change of television.

Next month I am going to be a panelist at the 5th Annual Australasian Media & Broadcasting Congress in Sydney as media leaders discuss the industry and its future directions and I really need your help.

Is 3D the future of advertising?

One panel I am really looking forward to is titled The Future of Advertising. I’ll be discussing the big issues with Adam Good from Clemenger, Paddy Douneen from BMF, Marty O’Halloran from DDB Australia & New Zealand, John Sintras from Starcom Worldwide, Matt Whittingham from SingTel Optus and Paul Fisher from IAB Australia.

The initial question coming my way is based on a statement by Oscar-winning producer Jon Landau at the Cannes International Advertising Festival:

“3D is going to be the future of advertising”

Now I have been rather unexcited by the whole 3D thing and have my own opinions about it, but maybe I am way off base. So I’d really like to know what you think. Is 3D going to be the future of advertising? Is it just a fad, hyped by a desperate industry or is it groundbreaking technology that is going to make us love TV all over again and lap up the exciting advertisements that will be leaping off the screen?

I’d love to hear from people within the media and advertising industries. I’d also appreciate feedback from people who have invested in 3D televisions to understand their experiences so far.

All feedback is very welcome. I will compile the answers as part of my response to what I hope becomes a very lively debate at the Media & Broadcasting Congress.

Internet advertising has overtaken press in USA

A PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report issued yesterday in the USA claims that the internet is poised to overtake newspapers as the second largest U.S. advertising medium by revenue behind television.

This is a significant moment in advertising as traditional media have steadily been overtaken by the Internet in less than 20 years. How long until Internet advertising rolls past Television? And here in Australia, how long until the Internet becomes the number two advertising medium?

Here is the story in full from The Australian….

Internet overtakes newspapers for ad revenue

June 16, 2010 12:00AM

THE internet is poised to overtake newspapers as the second largest U.S. advertising medium by revenue behind television, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report issued Tuesday.

The online ad business, excluding mobile ads, is set to expand to $34.4 billion in 2014 from $24.2 billion in 2009, according to PwC’s Global Entertainment and Media Outlook for 2010 to 2014.

Newspapers, meanwhile, continued to suffer from a decline in advertising revenue. According to numbers released by the Newspaper Association of America earlier this year, print advertising revenue dropped 28.6 percent in 2009 to $24.82 billion.

“Although the internet did not fully escape the impact of the recession, its decline in the United States was much less severe than that of other advertising media,” the PwC report noted.

Shifts in consumer behavior, potential for inventory on the internet, and increased broadband penetration in the U.S. were key factors in PwC’s projections, according to David Silverman, a partner at PwC.

In 2005, the broadband penetration in U.S. households was at 34 percent. An estimated 64 percent of households now have a broadband connection.

The study noted that the federal government’s allocation of $7.2 billion of the stimulus plan for the expansion of broadband services, as well as the increased availability of triple-play packages, which bundle internet service with television and telephone service, were catalysts for growth in U.S. broadband access.

The report was particularly bullish on the growth of advertising across interactive media, video and email and predicted that this segment of the market will reach $6.6 billion in 2014 from $4.7 billion in 2009.

Is traditional media and advertising reaching the end of the creative line? In an increasingly cluttered media landscape it seems that nostalgia is being seen as the way to cut through and grasp our remaining collective attention.

Radio has long used the “formative years” approach to appeal to different demographics. This means playing music that was new during the teenage years of the desired audience. The result has been a plethora of classic hits and golden oldies formats.

Now television programmers and advertising agencies are getting in on the act.

This year we have seen the television returns of sci-fi invasion series “V” and the creaking nostalgia-fest “Hey Hey Its Saturday” to slot in alongside the aging series and line-up of ancient stars on the box.

And all of a sudden agencies have decided to go back to the future by digging up old campaigns from yesteryear.

Smith’s Chip have trotted out the lovable Gobbledok from the early 90’s.

Ajax Spray and Wipe have revived the frenzied cleaning career of old soapie star Paula Duncan 22 years after her first spray.

Pantene, clearly cashing in on the Cougar cult, have tapped Rachel Hunter on the shoulder to pimp their shampoo like she did back in 1992.

Is this is a sign that new advertising ideas are struggling to cut it these days? Is nostalgia the last straw for frustrated marketers?

Surely it can’t be long before once again We feel like a Tooheys, or hear John Mellion telling us VB is for a Hard-Earned Thirst and Hoges is resurrected once again to Throw a Shrimp on the Barbie.

It won’t happen overnight…but it will happen.

Hat-tip to Mumbrella for the videos.