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Revisiting SOBcon07 – Welcome to Chicago for SOBcon08!!!

You remember how much fun it was to be at the successful and outstanding blogger conference last year…don’t you?

I was sitting next to converstations Mike Sansone all day and I learned a ton about community! I got a little tip from Robyn Tippins who I’d known for years online and had never met in person! I met Lorelle VanFossen – one tough cookie who really knows her WordPress. I met other great online friends like Easton Ellsworth and Jason Alba for the first time. I built relationships with people that blossomed into subsequent relationships. Most importantly they are blogger relationships! So many other great stories from wonderful people.

For the 2008 attendees, I’d like to tag you and ask you to write what you hope to achieve from the experience this weekend. For the 2007 attendees, I’d like to tag you and ask you – what foundation did the experience create and how has it impacted you in the following year? If you were an attendee last year and will be attending this year, you will have been tagged twice but one post is OK… 🙂

For me I learned about conversational blogging and learned tons of blog tips and tricks! It was so much fun! This year I hope to continue that journey. I’d also like to learn how time strapped bloggers find or make time to blog when you are ultra busy…my frequency has been down recently for this reason…I look forward to hearing your replies to these issues!

Please take this html link lists and repost the link love to the 2007 folks as well as this year’s people too!
Click on the link, right click, then select all, then copy and paste!
2008 SOBcon Chicago blog link list
2007 SOBcon Chicago blog link list

SOBcon2008 attendees…
Cliff Atkinson
Shashi Bellamkonda
Chris Brogan
Harry Brooks
Anita Bruzzese
Dave Bullock
Mark Carter
Brian Clark
Tom Clifford
Valerie Combs
Chris Cree
Lisa Cree
Thomas Croghan
Donna Cutting
David Dalka
Kevin Dixie
Tim Draayer
Andrew Dubber
Monica Duncan
Easton Ellsworth
Kevin Ferrasci O’Malley
Jonathan Fields
Sarah Filipiak
Mary-Lynn Foster
Annie Galvin Teich
Brian Gardner
Chris Garrett
Jon Gatrell
Phil Gerbyshak
Jared Goralnick
Karen Hanrahan
Joseph Hauckes
Vicky Hennegan
Scot Herrick
John Hong
Stephen Hopson
Robert Hruzek
Timothy Johnson
Sara
Pete Jones
Todd Jordan
Bob “Internet Advertising” Kakoliris
Christine Kane
Kristen King
Jen Knoedl
Stephen Koernig
Bryan Kress
George Krueger
Amy L
Tammy Lenski
James G. Lindberg
Eli Litscher
Rick Mahn
RIP http://www.utterz.com/ Sim Margolis
Michael Martine
Becky McCray
Maria Meadows
Cory Miller
Ann Michael
Dawud Miracle
Debra Moorhead
Matthew Murphy
Paul O’Flaherty
Tim Padar
Jesse Petersen
Melissa Pierce
Wendy Piersall
Sandra Ponce de Leon
J. Erik Potter
Karen Putz
Susan R Quandt
Levy Rivers
Barbara Rozgonyi
Jeff Sable
Sheila Scarborough
Mary Schmidt
Derek Semmler
Maria Sharon
David Sherbow
Steve Sherlock
Brad Shorr
Louise Silberman
Sonia Simone-Rossney
Julien Smith
Stephen Smith
Michael Snell
Derrick Sorles
Terry Starbucker
Liz Strauss
Jon Swanson
Ruth M Sylte
Windsor Tanner
Michelle Vandepas
Lorelle VanFossen
Colleen Wainwright
Denise Wakeman
James D. Walton
Randy Windsor
Joanna Young

SOBcon2007 Chicago Attendees:
Sandra Renshaw
Brad Shorr
Timothy Johnson
Tammy Lenski
Muhammad Saleem
Lorelle VanFossen
David Dalka – Mobile Search Marketing Speaker – Chicago GSB MBA
Todd And
John Yedinak
Joe Hauckes
Tim Draayer
Jeremy Geelan
Carolyn Manning
Sheila Scarborough
Steve Farber
Dawud Miracle
Doug Mitchell
Jeff O’Hara
Dave Schoof
Jamy Shiels
Adam Steen
Hannah Steen
Chris Thilk
Barry Zweibel
Eric Bingen
Ellen Moore
Cord Silverstein
Jean-Patrick Smith
James Walton
Sharan Tash
Vernon Lun
Tony Lee
Scott Desgrosseilliers
Mark Murrell
Kammie Kobyleski
Easton Ellsworth
Mark Goodyear
Ann Michael
Kent Blumberg
Ashley Cecil
Robert Hruzek
Sabu N G
Mazur Krystyna
Lisa Gates
Franke James
Chris Brown
Troy Worman
Karen Putz
Jesse Petersen
Andy Brudtkuhl
Lucia Mancuso
Peter Flaschner
Derrick Sorles
Mike Rohde
Thomas Clifford
Rajesh Srivastava
Claire Celsi
Jason Alba
Cristiana Passinato
Sean R.
Alex Shalman
Cristiana Passinato
Brad Spirrison
Ari Garber
Dr. Rob Wolcott
Cheryll Cruz
Sharon Scherer
Jonathan Phillips
Jason Wade
Jill Pullen
Doug Bulleit
Wendy Kinney
Chelsea Vincent
Ayush Agarwal
Paul Mangalik
Premchand Kallan
Xochi Kaplan
Michael Snell
Ella Wilson
James Bergstrom
Raj Majumder
Keith Levenson

SOBcon2007 Business Keynote Speakers:
Andy Sernovitz
Phil Gerbyshak
>Liz Strauss
>Mike Sansone
Drew McLellan
Mike Wagner
Terry Starbucker
Rodney Rumford
>Ben Yoskovitz
Chris Cree
Robyn Tippins
Diego Orjuela
Vernon Lun
Wendy Piersall

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Winners of 11th Annual ad:tech Awards

ad:tech announced the winners of the of the 11th annual ad:tech awards. Congrats to all of the successful winners!

The 2008 Industry Achievers:
Pete Blackshaw (Executive VP, Digital Strategic Services, Nielsen Online) has been an industry leader since co-leading p&g’s interactive marketing efforts. He founded PlanetFeedback.com, coined the term “consumer-generated media,” and co-founded the Word-of-Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA). He also has a forthcoming book, “Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3000”.

Kate Thorp (CEO of Real Girls Media) was named one of the Top 25 Women to Watch by Advertising Age (1998) and a Media All Star by OMMA (2005). She was also inducted into the AAF Hall of Achievement for executives under 40 (2000).

Rich LeFurgy (General Partner of Archer) was recognized by USA Today as “the Johnny Appleseed of Online Advertising” (1998), was inducted into Advertising Age’s Interactive Hall of Fame (2000), and received the IAB’s Lifetime Achievement Award (2004). Rich is the Founding Chairman of the Interactive Advertising Bureau and remains active in the trade association since it’s founding in 1996.

The 2008 Limelight Award Winners:

· Best Banner Ad: WaMu Friendly Banner, Avenue A | Razorfish

· Best Interactive Broadcast Ad: Nissan Rogue Campaign, TBWA\Chiat\Day\Tequila

· Best Large Format or Overlay Ad: Assassin’s Creed Roadblock, AKQA

· Best Next Generation Ad: HEMA Rube Goldberg Viral, CCCP

· Best Use of Rich Media: HP Gwen Stefani Yahoo Paper Dolls, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners

· Best Affiliate Marketing Campaign: Moosejaw – Growth and Profit, Schaaf Consulting

· Best Branding Campaign: eBay – Renew & Rethink, Agency.com

· Best Business-to-Business Campaign: EyeWonder Client Testimonials, EyeWonder

· Best Consumer Campaign: Nokia Jealous Computers, These Days

· Best Direct Response Campaign: Soccer Club Sells Seats with DRC, eStara

· Best Email Marketing Campaign: Sun APAC Re-engagement, Acxiom Digital

· Best Integrated Campaign: Heinz Top This TV Challenge Website, Smith Brothers Agency

· Best Mobile Campaign: Motorola “Say Goodbye”, The Hyperfactory & Ogilvy

· Best Multi-Cultural Campaign: Vivemejor, Media 8 Digital Marketing

· Best Social Media Marketing Campaign: Bamboo on Facebook, Guerilla PR

· Best Word of Mouth Campaign: Elf Yourself, EVB & Toy

· Best Campaign Optimization: Lincoln Educational Services, iCrossing

The 2008 Limelight Award Winners (continued):

· Best Search Engine Optimization Strategy/Campaign: Millennium & Copthorne SEO Campaign,
eMarketingEye (Pvt) Ltd

· Best Search Marketing Strategy/Campaign: HGTV Design Star Marketing Loop, Scripps Networks

· Best Business-to-Business Marketing Web Site: Mullen.com, Mullen

· Best Business-to-Business Transaction Web Site: FurnishedQuarters.com, The Buddy Group

· Best Business-to-Consumer Marketing Web Site: HP Serena Williams Site, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners

· Best Business-to-Consumer Transaction Web Site: Virgin America, ROKKAN

· Best Micro Site: Every journey needs a Journal, T3

· Best User Defined Experience: DesignMyRoom Website, andCulture

· Best of Show: Elf Yourself, EVB & Toy

The 2008 People’s Choice Award Winners:

· Best Banner Ad: Blue Shield of California Headbanger Banner, TAXI, Inc.

· Best Interactive Broadcast Ad: Ubisoft Rayman Video Inventory Ad, AdMission Corporation

· Best Large Format or Overlay Ad: Flight of the Conchords, Deep Focus

· Best Next Generation Ad: Motorola Rockstarizer, Draftfcb

· Best Use of Rich Media: Taco Fu, Blockdot and Draftfcb

· Best Business-to-Consumer Marketing Web Site: Breville Concept to Kitchen, Avenue A | Razorfish

· Best Business-to-Consumer Transaction Web Site: Virgin America, ROKKAN

· Best Business-to-Business Marketing Web Site: Business Breakthrough, Visa

· Best Business-to-Business Transaction Web Site: ADSDAQ Selling Desk, ADSDAQ by ContextWeb

· Best Micro Site: Funship Island, Avenue A | Razorfish

· Best User Defined Experience: Elf Yourself, EVB & Toy

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Net.Finance 2008: Jon Kaplan of Google – YouTube and Financial Services

Before I post about Jon’s interesting session, I’ll note that it’s important that marketers considering using this channel read my post on YouTube Video Optimization as there are many highly unique search engine optimization techniques that can improve your success in this area.

Jon Kaplan’s talk starts here: Youtube was founded at a dinner party in 2005. There was no easy way to share video files.

Online video viewing in the mainstream

Americans stream of 10 billion online views monthly…

Explosion of Content = connection of people + democratization of the tools of production + broadband penetration + falling cost of data storage

Sharing is the new viewing – 150M unique users globally

Demographics: 2/3 of YouTube users are over 35, 37% earn above $75,000

800 content partners attended YouTube Videocracy in February

Four ways to think about marketing in 2008
– Target your audience with video profiling
– Integrate your brand into the user experience – on YouTube and Beyond!
– Leverage your offline assets and ones YouTube is creating
– Think about measurement differently

Video Profiling – Building Tools for Effective Targeting – using traditional demographics in the search by audience features…

YouTube’s Creative Standards – 20 million home page views a day

Animated flash overlay is the current YouTube ad format – NO Pre-rolls are shown
Promote Your Video: Video Search capabilities

Integrate Your Brand into the Experience – HP example

It’s all about interesting content: Turbotax

It’s about all about educational content: Vanguardinvestments brand channels

Launched test of video ads in the 1st Quarter of 2008

E*TRADE – pre-seeded SuperBowl commercials – 2,000,000+ views on Youtube.

American Express sponsored fashion week

YouTube Global Gathering

Metrics – the social side of YouTube
– Users can rate videos
– User can comment on videos
– User can add videos to their list of favorites
– User can share videos with friends
– Users can subscribe to their favorite channel

New metrics will accompany this, Google Trends data – admitted that this drives need for Adwords campaigns. Discussed other metrics in terms about how the video was measured and then closed with questions.

Audience question: Should YouTube provide statistics for videos with completed views or the average time of engagement with viewers so that more accurate measures of engagement could be provided?

Answer: That’s a good question. Said several things about exploration of new areas. Did not say yes we’ll add it or no we’ll never do that. It will be interesting to revisit this issue at some point.

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Net.Finance 2008 – Retail Mobile Banking at Wells Fargo: Eskander Matta, Senior Vice President, Internet Services

Mobile phone penetration in the US is now 95%+ and data plan penetration is now 50%+

Modalities:                             Usage   Capable phones
Texting                                        50%     100%
Mobile Browser,                         25%      >60%
Downloadable Application        17%      >60%

Application download cons are pretty significant – carrier control, downloading, device management, etc

Browser cons – sign-on, complex navigation, lack of awareness

SMS text message cons – Simplistic UI, Security, Plain Text

Distributing services in the mobile ecosystem requires a highly complex series of relationships.

Wells Fargo and external research shows that there is adoption interest.

Most frequent uses presently: checking balances, fund transfers and activity monitoring

Browser usage presently 2.5 times per week, 66% active users (last three months)

Text banking – 83% of all mobile banking enrollees are including the text banking service. Sending 19 text messages a month overall, becoming more engaged with the accounts overall.

Mobile Contactless Pilot with Visa…

Mobile delivers strategically – when, where, why and how?

What is the potential value?
Customer retention, reducing servicing costs by controlling call center calls, reduced risk and fraud, customer acquisition and usage revenue (P2P, Panic Play, Mobile Contactless, etc)

Security order: SMS, Browser, Application

Mobile customers slant towards a desirable demographic overall due to the very fact they are heavy mobile users.

Future state is for SMS, application and browser to be ubiquitous and the three will be tightly integrated.

Well Fargo is trying to build usage of the channel, not charging for the service at this time. Getting techno-savvy users so servicing has been minimal.

Reaction: I’m highly impressed with the full deployment of SMS, Browser and Application download models as they will be fully able to determine which best meets customer needs based on actual usage data. I chatted up Eskander afterwards and he’s a joy to speak to.

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How To Triple Your Current Adsense Income – Max Davis

If you’ve got some free time and some sales skills, Max’s post shows you a long-term alternative to Adsense. Most people don’t have the time or the skills to do the direct selling he suggests, but I love the creativity and analysis of the facts. Top notch. Bravo!

His post gives an all too rare but welcome dose of independent thought – more people need to be educated and make independent choices about Internet advertising. The world does not necessarily revolve around Adsense.

He is after all giving a glimpse the future of Internet advertising. One where the publisher is respected, given a fairer share as a true partner and rewarded with greater relevancy of ads on their site.

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Why Earth Hour Was Lame

Wow, we turn off some lights for an hour in some giant empty office buildings in downtown Chicago (which should be the case every night) and people lose their minds.

If people were truly energy conscious, wouldn’t they want these lights to be off in these empty buildings every night, all night? Wouldn’t that do something actually meaningful? Have we gotten to the point where the American media is so incapable of independent thought that a completely meaningless story like this gets way too much attention? It appears so.

It’ll be a real story when all of these empty office buildings have these lights completely turned off in the middle of the night, every night.

Why isn’t this the focus? It should be. 

Others are even more critical of the event.