Quote from Masters of illusion: The great management consultancy swindle

But consultants also know that an outrageously unjustified level of self-confidence can add several points to one’s perceived expertise quotient.

The most important of the all-too-human functions of shaman-consultants is to sanctify and communicate opinion. Like ministers of information, consultants condense the message, smooth out the dissonances, unify the rhetoric, and then repeat and amplify it ad nauseam through the client’s rank and file. The chief message to be communicated is that you will be expected to work much harder than you ever have before and your chances of losing your job are infinitely greater than you ever imagined.

So good. Perfectly describes some of the consultants I have come across.

Quote from Harvard Business: Who Are Mass Media’s True Customers? - Peter Merholz - HarvardBusiness.org

If you don’t work in mass media, you might be forgiven if you think that you — the reader, the watcher, the audience member — are the customer. When you work in mass media, you know that readers, watchers, and audience members are really the products, being served up to mass media’s actual customers, the advertisers.

Learning From Craigslist: Who Are Mass Media’s True Customers? - Peter Merholz - HarvardBusiness.org

This is true, but given that the context of this quote is a discussion about Craigslist (specifically, Wired article about it) the big difference is that Craigslist does not make most of its money from advertising, while big media publishers do.

Therefore, at least in theory, Craigslist’s interests are aligned with that of the audience, while big publishers only align their interests with advertisers.

The reality is much more complex, because what advertisers have so far demanded from “mass media” is just a specific audience. Not an advertising product, an audience. And mass media optimized their model mostly around that — coming up with content that attracts a specific audience, leaving the rest of the work to ad agencies who in turn filled out native ad formats for any specific media channel. Those formats include things like 30 second spots on TV, highway billboards or full-page ads in newspapers.

It is VideoEgg’s Troy Young that coined the term “native ad format” (I think), but this really does explain quite a lot. All the other native ad formats work because they are conducive to the context in which that media is being consumed.

With digital media things are more complex in every possible way. People spend little time on any given page. There is no native ad format. There is no established way to reach a specific audience since search engines fragment audiences by keywords, making the groupings less relevant (ex. I can search for “tomato” and land on an auto site, this doesn’t qualify me as an 18-34 male with X income). And so on.

All this means that delivering advertisers the same thing, a specific, hopefully captive (”engaged”) audience, is harder than ever. I guess that’s something the author of this story and I can agree on.

(link via chartreuse, and I oh so wish Tumblr imported posts properly)

Quote from Things Seen and Unseen: Toothpaste and the paradox of choice

Coleman’s mustard made their money from the mustard that stayed on the plate, not the mustard you put on your meat

Things Seen and Unseen: Toothpaste and the paradox of choice

This is an astute metaphor for a lot of other things. The selling party needs to either sell more "stuff" or increase the margin on the existing stuff they sell. Sometimes the first option is easier because the buyer gets a sense of getting value for their money, even if the stuff bought ends up being wasted.

There must be some economic theory that explains and rationalizes this. 

Best display ad dimensions - study by Dynamic Logic

New York, August 20, 2009 – Research released today by Dynamic Logic, the leaders in measuring digital advertising effectiveness, reveals ads that are integrated into the content of the page, such as half banners and rectangles, are the most effective in driving online ad awareness and purchase intent. The research, based on 2,390 online display campaigns that took place over the past three years, is from Dynamic Logic’s MarketNorms® database, the largest in the industry. It found that half banners (234 x 60) and rectangles (180 x 150) were more effective than ads that frame the page such as leaderboards and skyscrapers.

Dynamic Logic Press Room

I can’t help but frown when I see reseach of this sort.

There does not seem to be a definitive conclusion to the study, but basically smaller dimensions around content as well as rich media and video are better.

Here are some of the potential problems here. 

• The data for the study spans over 3 years.  That is a long time in the internet ad world. It’s an even longer time for video.
• The small units mentioned, 234×60 and 180×150, immediately make me think Yahoo Finance with its online brokerage ads. Where else are units like this used? Chances are the data for these guys comes straight from there where there is a definitive skew since that specific context for online brokerage ads is probably the best there is
• Everytime I’ve done quantitative research like this, it always came up that the smaller volume sample has better performance. For example, take a normal bigbox, 300×250.  Comparing the same creative’s CTR for a high volume placement versus a low volume placement will always show that the low volume placement performs better. This is why it is not surprising that this study’s conclusion on small units, rich media and video have "won" — they have the smallest volume compared to, say, bigboxes. 

Quote from FT.com / Media - Hachette chief hits out at e-books

“That cannot last . . . Amazon is not in the business of losing money. So, one day, they are going to come to the publishers and say: ‘we are cutting the price we pay’. If that happens, after paying the authors, there will be nothing left for the publishers.”

FT.com / Media - Hachette chief hits out at e-books

The CEO of Hachette’s book publishing group is worried about the growth of ebooks, Amazon and his own business. 

Reading the quote above I’m trying to understand why there would be any money for the publishers. If Amazon effectively markets and distributes the content, what exactly should publishers be rewarded for? There is no more managing shelf space, logistics, etc.

Personally I’m strongly considering going the ebook route in the next few weeks/months.

AdSense, DoubleClick Exchange coming together

This is a big deal.

A good recap is at AdExchanger. Anxiously awaiting comments by ad networks, but yeah, reach is a commodity, isn’t it.

Edit: just to be clear — it’s a big deal because it helps Google commoditize ad network services. Since Google needs to certify ad networks, and since participating ad networks will have very little leeway as far as data/behaviour are concerned, they will be reduced to creating very little value at much lower margins.

What is to be seen is whether large publishers will actually go for it in remnant inventory.

How Long Does it Take to Build a Technology Empire?

Most successful technology companies aren’t rocket ships.

How Long Does it Take to Build a Technology Empire?

Cool interactive chart, check it out.

Quote by MediaPost Publications Bigger Isn’t Necessarily Better When It Comes To Online Ad Formats 08/20/2009

The study, which was based on 2,390 online display campaigns running over the past three years, found that so-called "half banners" (those measuring 234 x 60) and rectangles (180 x 150) were more effective than ads that frame the page such as high profile leaderboards and skyscrapers.

MediaPost Publications Bigger Isn’t Necessarily Better When It Comes To Online Ad Formats 08/20/2009

So the actual study shows that formats integrated in the content perform better than those that frame the page, top, bottom or left/right of the content. This makes sense.

It doesn’t seem to be a bigger/smaller/OPA format thing as the title of the story in MediaPost implies. 

Quote by I’m Writing a Book. | Inbox Zero

The internet is becoming this thing where it’s just people trying to become successful on the internet by showing other people how to become successful on the internet

I’m Writing a Book. | Inbox Zero

What an amazingly astute description of the phenomenon!

Brian McAndrews on Holding Companies’ ‘People’ Problem - Advertising Age - Digital

Brian McAndrews on Holding Companies’ ‘People’ Problem - Advertising Age - Digital