In a recent survey, 72% of respondents said they  downloaded or listened to podcasts on technology topics on more than one occasion. That’s a very high number, and a sobering one, considering it comes from a Universal McCann survey. Reported by Marketing Vox.

I feel vindicated about the insights into white papers and reports, as I have been encouraging many people to think of podcasts as the better delivery system for content we traditionally dump into PDFs. According to the study, nearly 60% of respondents said information on business or technology topics via white papers would be "more interesting" if they were delivered via podcasts. But not just in B2B marketing. How about internal marketing? I believe that much of the content that gets lost on company intranets would be better used if employees were given the podcast alternative.

Continue reading →

The Madison and Vine excitement has wound down a bit, making room for the Madison Ave and Broadband relationship. I know, broadband is not an ‘address’ but it is something that makes marketing, advertising and end-users’ atwitter with huge expectations. It’s impossible to think of broadband without the on-demand phenomenon. And it’s impossible to mention on-demand without bringing in RSS.

RSS advertising is expected to grow by 129% by 2010 (Mediapost’s report on PQ Media study.) Interest in rich media is on the rise (again) with steady broadband penetration. Denmark, South Korea, and even Iceland have higher penetration than the US, though, reports cNet.

Television has begun moving into broadband country. Consider these:
CBS launched Innertube it’s broadband channel.
ABC has a Video-on-demand section, and is also has broadband plans to work with affiliates
NBC had formed a national broadband company (NBBC) with its affiliates.

No wonder agencies are changing –fast. I wrote about this in Create Magazine’s summer issue that’s just-out.

Broadband is one of those forces that bring about this change, and agencies learn to draw on its values. As outgoing AAAA chairman, Ron Berger stated at the end of his speech, "I think our industry would be better if agencies were as comfortable with change as we like to tell clients they should be."

Continue reading →

The buzz about Yahoo launching Yahoo Go may seem like a surprise, but that’s only because people got used to putting Google and Yahoo into a bucket marked ‘Search,’ as if it were separate from the bucket marked ‘broadcast’ in which ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox were kept.

The ‘leaping content’ theory forces us to empty the buckets into one big tank out of which content, whether it is video or audio, can feed the faucets of our multi-media devices. This is where the phone jack, the cable, and a broadband connection meet. Not to mention the DVR. At least some TV networks have begun to understand that. NBC’s Jeff Zuker, hastily getting out of his bucket, has said so much addressing the need for the linear to have its non-linear counterpart. Disney, too will start the trial run of its downloadable and streaming content. Apparently with interactive ad content.

To get back to the search engine bucket that no longer exists, they (the Yahoos and Googles of this world) are certainly moving into the mobile phone territory, and seem to be laying the groundwork for those in the leaky ‘broadcast’ bucket to move in. Which tells you something about who’s going to be in charge of advertising. Ready for a new bucket called ‘ad engines?’

I listened to a panel discussion last year where someone from Google spoke of always making sure their business model satisfied ‘the trinity of advertiser, publisher and end-user.’ Sounds like what ad agencies should have been doing all along.

Continue reading →