The personal professional blog of Pamela Parker -- musings on marketing, advertising, media and technology.
Heading back to my car after grabbing my cup of coffee this morning, something on the sidewalk caught my eye. A child had drawn a picture of a scene featuring an animal of a sort. The caption? “Neopets.”
Talk about media affinity and brand love. Writ large. In chalk.
Further reading: Neopets profile, Viacom acquisition for $160M last summer.
The WSJ has a great interview (sub req) with Bartle Bogle Hegarty’s executive creative director Kevin Roddy, talking about the company’s creation of the “Tea Partay” video for client Smirnoff. Nice work, folks. Amusing creative, if somewhat derivative of other YouTube hits like “Lazy Sunday” and its spin-offs. Great subtle integration of the product throughout, and excellent addition of the URL to the end of the piece.
But then, if you actually go to teapartay.com, what happens? Not a lot. The URL re-directs to the main Smirnoff site, where you have to put in your birth date. That’s fine. But even if you navigate in via teapartay.com, there’s only a small banner at the bottom of the page promising that the opportunity to “Join the Tea Partay” is “coming soon.” Subtle integration of the product into the original video is great, but once someone expresses real interest in the brew, go ahead and put it front and center. Don’t subtly tease it and urge people to come back later. What are the chances of that happening?
This may just be a sign of the continuing disconnect between the traditional agency creating the video (even if it’s distributed on the Web, it’s still pretty darned traditional) and whoever is handling the Web site. It’s also a reminder of the importance of bridging that gap. If you don’t, your results will fall way short of what they could be.
Great post from our ad sales honcho Chas Edwards in response to a New Yorker piece on bloggers, pamphleteers and reporters. My mentors, Jason Chervokas and Tom Watson, have made this case many a time, and now the new dean of my J-school makes it, too.
So, researchers at University College, London, have come up with geographical classifications of the various levels of e- (as in electronic) awareness, and are allowing people to put in their postcodes to see how their area ranks.
I entered in my husband’s old postcode in Scotland and, och, the results were depressing:
The ‘E – unengaged’ are typically groups that do not have access to electronic communications or technologies. Most are too old, too poor or too poorly educated to be able to access them, and instead traditionally rely upon personal contacts they trust for advice. Within this Group there are low levels of literacy and many people do not feel that their life outcomes are much subject to their own decisions. Within this group there is a very low level of ownership of personal computers, very little access to them at work and little ambition to master the skills necessary to take advantage of information technologies. Unsurprisingly, these people have a very low level of using email at any location (home, work and other locations) or participating in other on-line activities.
Members of this Group tend to live in the poorer areas of traditional mining and manufacturing towns and to have conservative social attitudes. A high proportion of the Group is made up of elderly people, many of whom live in social housing or sheltered accommodation.
Type A04 : Mobile’s the limit
This Type has particularly low levels of use of computers and the Internet, knows next to nothing about the technology and has no motivation to do so. They enjoy more traditional modes of communication, but the mobile phone represents the limit of their technical ambition. Many of this Type are female and elderly.
No digital savvy, and no motivation to learn. It probably says more about me that I’m horrified at this. They may be perfectly satisfied with their lot in life.
Here’s the BBCi write-up.
[via PaidContent.org]
WSJ (and maybe others) are reporting (sub req) on Google’s “breakthrough” relationship with MTV. Yeah, it’s interesting, especially because Google, and its existing distribution network, is involved, but is it so original? Not really. Brightcove is doing something similar (with partners like NYTimes Co., Sony and TiVo) and the phenomenon has been around long enough for ClickZ to write a feature about it. (If you’re trying to get a handle on this space, I encourage you to check out that feature.)
So some of it is the usual “gaga for Google” hype, but there’s obviously something real going on in the ad/video syndication space, and the big G becoming a player is significant. I look forward to seeing what comes of it all.
Well, the day has finally come. Yes, there’s been a big build up, but it’s ending with a whimper. I’m here at the subleased office by myself, packing up the last of my stuff (including the famous goose). When I finally shuffle out the door and turn off the lights, it’ll be goodbye to ClickZ after nearly 5 years. And goodbye to daily news reporting about interactive advertising, which I started doing in 1999. (Well, I’ll be blogging, but, still…)
Instead of getting all sentimental, I’ll just keep it short and sweet. In my years at ClickZ I’ve had the opportunity to work with some of the most hard working, talented journalists and columnists (not to mention all-around good people) I’ve ever met. (See their blog here.) It’s been a great experience to be associated with such a strong brand, and such an influential publication, through the years when the interactive advertising industry has seen so much innovation. There were ups, downs, and, now, the resurgence. I’ll miss them, but I’m sure ClickZ, and the team, will be just fine without me. Goodbye!
P.S. I don’t expect this blog to continue the way it’s been going the past few days (with lots of personal and FM-promotional stuff). So, if it’s not to your taste (and even if it is), stick around.