When clients visit the Lab, they always want to know:Â But what does social media mean to me? And ultimately, they want what Cuba Gooding Jr.’s character asks of Jerry Maguire.
Brands want to know they can prove their investment on social media platforms is a worthy one. They want to know it will reach wide and far–and will be as effective as television and print campaigns used to be. They want ROI, which means somehow, social media will have to prove it can not only connect people, but draw the dotted line to the cash register. They want to know it won’t backfire (we do our best to show how social media can save the day in a PR nightmare, but we also tell them that all content is viral content, for better or worse).
As new media advocates, it’s hard to know that brands MUST play in this space without being able to give them a pile of case studies and years of hard data to go on that show a direct connection to the purchase funnel. Continue reading “Still think social media is a fad?”
Local is the new hottie and everyone wants to date her! The promise of local (in terms of content and targeted advertising) has long been the promise land for all of us emerging media types. With the growth of broadband and IP related content solutions, the dream of targeting relevant content/ad messaging can become a reality. Semantic solutions are allowing us to learn about users and IP-based data allows us to push down that marketing funnel and deliver the dream of relevant messages. Cable has been playing with DMA and SubDMA targeting for the last few years but has yet to really land the plane. For the larger cable and satellite solutions it’s a numbers game. They need access and affectability in more regions and households to make this a true play and they aren’t there yet.
This month the Lab attended a kind of Facebook marketing boot camp, where members of the Facebook team guided us on best practices for integrating Facebook within brand marketing plans. The opportunity is much larger then capturing a portion of the 250 million Facebook users as customers; it’s also a prospect for new ways to be innovative in our marketing.
My answer to the question of what makes a great marketer is simple: Being a great listener. Yeah, that’s right, listening.
The departure of Ben Silverman from NBC has stirred up a lot of news chatter that this hammers yet another nail in the coffin of the traditional production company. As co-chair of NBC Universal Entertainment, Silverman was responsible for bringing the same 
John Ross recently joined IPG’s Mediabrands to become President of the 
If I had a nickel for everytime someone asked me What is hot right now? I’d be twittering off my yacht in the Côte d’Azur.
Today’s 