With all the hype on the newest technologies and latest apps, behind the scenes the three major search engines continue to battle each other with M&A, new product offerings and advanced technologies of their own.  Google’s new indexing technology Caffeine allows the platform to index new web pages faster than ever before.  More and more smart phones are driving consumers to Google search elevating revenue behind their bread and butter – paid search text links.  So much more to come here – for more detail, read MediaPost’s write up here:  MediaPost & Google

The Stanley Cup was awarded late tonight.  The sacrifice needed to win this coveted trophy is almost beyond measure.  I’m a hockey player and have been in love with the game my entire life.  I think about the game all the time and play as often as I can.  To take the ice – the feeling – it’s liberating.  You forget any problem, breathe deep and your lungs fill with the cold icy air.  The puck drops and you go at it.  It’s easy to understand the meaning of team when you play hockey.  The team means everything.  Watching the playoffs this year, you can see the anticipation, the desire and certainly you can see in a champion’s eyes – the will to win!

Congratulations to the Chicago Blackhawks!

Hulu has done well at commanding a decent CPM and really strong “big name” advertisers.  While not profitable yet, media professionals are seeing Hulu as a nice extension to television, putting all video in one category (either TV, Online, or Mobile).  Sight, Sound and Motion builds brand.  Regardless of the forum, video is huge to communicate brand attributes.  Six months ago, Vevo launched and cut deals with major networks including Google to provide a monthly unique impression total of more than 44 million.  Not too shabby.  They have also signed huge advertisers.  Their model (at least for now) is to provide subtle marketing – one advertiser per short play video and some corresponding banner units.  They offer their video content for free and make money from marketing dollars. 

ABC’s model is different in that they will make money from consumers through a sub base – even if it is low cost.  I don’t think it will work.  Consumers have been trained to gain content online for zippo.  I don’t think they will pay to watch ABC vids.  Even with the consumer sub, ABC would play “fewer” commercials. Not a good combo.  If they are going to charge a sub, they need to eliminate commercials.  The two won’t mix well.  While Hulu is moving to a pay for model, I’m not sure that will work well either.  They are doing so as they try hard to figure out how to turn Hulu profitable.
 
Time will tell – to me, it seems the sub strategy has been tested before and it fails quickly.  The model that seems to get results is as follows:  High quality content, high quality video, massive unique impression totals and one advertiser for maximum ownership and the least amount of annoyance to the consumer possible. 

Link:  MediaPost ABC

This is crowd sourcing in a small way, implemented by the FDA through an unusual approach. Always known as being overloaded and understaffed, the FDA has established the “Bad Ad Program” in which it has asked medical professionals to review and report back to the FDA via anonymous email address, any marketing material that is not complaint with fair balance or suggested for use through off-label marketing as established by the FDA. 

The FDA has been in the news a ton lately with tremendous scrutiny on an Ann Taylor blog nailing them for incentivize customers to write about a brand, they have issued severe warning letters to many pharma companies for improper marketing and now again with this HCP enabled review committee.  What’s next for the FDA – time will tell.  As partners to all of our pharma clients, we MUST ensure all of our media and creative efforts are fully compliant.

Read up here:  FDA Deputizes Doctors

I’ve been traveling quite a bit over the last few weeks.  Typically, I’m a loyal Continental Airlines customer.  Recently, I decided to try Virgin America to experience something different and I must say – WOW – what a difference.  Their customer service is second to none and they just go out of their way to make their passengers happy.  Every single interaction with this airline has been shockingly different (in a good way).  Their in flight entertainment, their willingness to accommodate every request and their friendly “go the extra mile” team really makes a difference. 

During this trip, I discovered there is a reality TV series on the CW entitled “Fly Girls”.  It must be bad, but I just might give it a shot.  Flying the red eye back tonight – I’ve got plenty of time to do so.  Why did I blog about this? It’s refreshing to see a company think about their customer.  Travel sucks.  They work hard to make a difference when it comes to customer interaction.  I like to feel special.  It helps make the travel experience much different and all of this does make a difference when I think about my next purchase.  I travel a lot.  Now because of my experience with Virgin America, they will be top of the list. 

When the love affair ends, I’ll let you know.

“You’re going to reap what you sow, whether that is happiness and joy, or terror and misery. It’s your choice. Before you take an action ask yourself if you’re willing to be on the receiving end of the consequences, because someday you will be.”

Erin Pavilina

I love this quote – I think about it often.  It’s a re-post from one of my fav blogs.  It helps me make decisions and guides me through certain circumstances.  Consider it the next time you feel challenged and in need of guidance.

Preparing today for an AdClub event in which I’ll be participating in a discussion on metrics and insight.  As I prep, I’ve been reflecting on the incredible progress we’ve all made as it pertains to data accountability.  One thing is true – it seems that innovation is always pushing the conversation to new level.  As we talk to our clients about new digital marketing tactics / vehicles such as 4Square, the changes to FaceBook coming out of the F8 conference on the west coast and the iPad and iAd, it seems metric sources are becoming more variable.  It will take a keen focus in 2010 to connect the dots to reveal the true story behind the data.  More to come …

As 2010 started, a new practice has been put into play by many pharmaceutical companies. They began to utilize digital technologies and their own pharma brand web site to communicate with the physician more efficiently. The question is, just how effective is the communication? As the recession begins to reverse and the economy comes back, many industries are looking for new, smarter ways of doing business. Many pharmaceutical firms reduced their rep force dramatically last year and worked hard to elevate their web presence to ensure they had a digital connection to the physician.

We know through the examination of countless studies how web enabled today’s medical professionals are. This seems like a logical step. New firms are beginning to web cast information sessions on pipeline / clinical trial information and continue to embrace this new culture.

To read more from an earlier AdAge story, click here: http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=101841

As more studies become available, e-details may grow exponentially as 2010 comes to a close and 2011 starts a new.

Unlike the rest of my coworkers, I’m not an not a hardcode Pandora user, though I do like the product.  From an advertising standpoint, I think their homepage skins are a really nice touch and whenever a brand  places a strong execution, I need to see it.  The other day Yahoo ran their own homepage skin and it was interesting to see the direction they took.  I think the idea of incorporating the Pandora “thumb up/thumb down” was a nice touch, but of the two I would have surely chosen thumbs up. What brand wants to be connected with thumbs down?  Additionally, the copy seems off, asking the user to search for more songs on a band they just skipped.  Lastly, I think there should have been emphasis on music videos as this is a core difference to what Pandora offers.

What do you think?

Not to be outdone in the iPhone apps department, Yahoo! is getting onboard with a few additional apps of their own.  Yahoo!’s recently launched Sketch-A-Search and Yahoo! Search App take Google’s Mobile App to the next level.

The Sketch-A-Search allows users to quickly find restaurants (other categories to launch on an ongoing basis) simply by drawing a circle around the general area on a map.  This comes in handy when you have neither the zip code nor the name of the area where you’re searching.  Once an area of the map is identified, a list of restaurants appears on the screen; by clicking on a restaurant one can read reviews, see pictures, prices and can even narrow down by type of cuisine, ambience and/or rating.  It’s fun to play with too.

The Yahoo! Search App offers “a fast and beautiful experience that integrates voice search, embedded maps, and information from Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo! Movies, Yahoo! News, and other sources that appears directly in the results.”

Read more…