I just read an Adweek interview with David Verklin, CEO of Carat Americas, discussing the recent merger of Carat USA (traditional media agency) with Carat Fusion (its digital agency). The result is an agency set up to manage both online and offline activities for its clients. While this is “revolutionary” and “trendsetting” in the industry, I have to wonder why it took so long! I appreciate Verklin’s explanation that the marketplace is just now in a place where agencies don’t necessarily need a stand-alone digital shop to be taken seriously. But let’s be honest here….do any of us really think consumers care whether or not a campaign was crafted in a traditional or digital studio? For that matter, does anyone actually believe consumers separate web ads from radio ads from the TV ad they forgot to skip past using their DVR, when all of these ads are for the same brand. Of course not. From a consumer’s point of view, these are all messages for one company regardless of the method of delivery. Which means marketers and their agencies need to make sure that each touchpoint a customer has with a brand reinforces the others — magazine, radio, TV, online, out-of-home, etc. Otherwise, you miss the opportunity to build message synergies, or, even worse, you create confusion.
Archive for July, 2007
TechCrunch9 was a 10!
Well, Dave Hunegnaw (founder & head of business development), Jon Myers (founder & head of user interface/design), Todd Cameron (founder & CEO) and myself spent Friday evening meeting, greeting and mostly being blown away. What can I say?!? TechCrunch 9 was an amazing event!! A big thank you to TechCrunch, Jeanne Logozzo, August Capital, and everyone else involved in putting on such a first-class party. We couldn’t have asked for a better forum to introduce DOmedia to the world. The food, the drinks, the music (courtesy of Pandora, which we all highly recommend!), and the 500+ attendees definitely made for one hell of a Friday night party!
We had a chance to share the DOmedia vision with tech innovators, VCs, members of the press, and a whole host of really interesting people. (Keep an eye out for Todd’s podcast interview with TechCrunch Head Honcho himself, Michael Arrington via TalkCrunch; it should be available soon. ) The best part for us was that once people got a chance to see what we were all about, they were pretty jazzed about it. It was fun going down the stream of imagination with people as they started coming up with their own innovative uses of everyday objects for advertising campaigns. Which is, of course, the backbone of the community section — members sharing cool ideas, best practices and improving the industry as a whole.
We also had a chance to check out the other companies doing their own demos. Todd and I both got ‘streamed, thanks to Chris Yeh and his Ustream network, which gave us a great opportunity to present our concept and answer questions from viewers. “Not Justin” from Justin TV was also there capturing the action, and our own Dave Hunegnaw. I got to give a big shout out to Kyte, and get a sweet orange t-shirt in the process. What can I say….I’m a sucker for cool schwag!
Anyway, check out TechCrunch’s event wrap up for all of the details and see more of our photos on our Flickr page.
DOmedia Hits TechCrunch Meetup 9
With a lot of work, a few haircuts and a new pair of shoes, we’re ready to unveil our alternative media marketplace to the who’s who of the tech world. Journalists, investors, and industry insiders are all here to meet, greet and check out what could be the next great wave in the web 2.0 (possibly 3.0?) world. We have a great story to tell and we can’t wait to get started. Stay tuned for more…
Vespa Offers Free Parking in NYC
I ran across this promotion recently which really captured my attention. Apparently Piaggio Group USA (importers of the iconic scooters you see zipping around town) partnered with select Edison ParkFast garages in the Big Apple to offer free parking to riders of these little eco-sound vehicles for a limited time (you didn’t think “free” was going to last forever, did you?). They took 2 standard size parking spots and converted them into 12 branded scooter-size slots. The creative execution backs the company’s initiative to encourage city officials to expand the amount of scooter-dedicated parking. Of course, the visible branding doesn’t hurt either.
NFL to Use Photographers to Promote Sponsors
AdFreak recently commented on the NFL’s latest rule change requiring sideline still photographers to wear league-supplied vests carrying two of its sponsors’ logos (Reebok and Cannon) on the back. This raises an interesting question for asset owners and advertisers alike ‘€¦ how far does ‘€œownership’€ extend? In this case, who ‘€œowns’€ the photographers’ clothing? The NFL? The Newspapers that employ them? Or…<GASP>… do the photographers themselves actually have a say in the matter?
While the journalists affected argue the issue of bias, there’s also a pretty basic question of money. I may be out of line here, but somehow I don’t think the NFL is sharing their sponsorship revenue with the newspapers or photographers affected. Plus, making matters slightly worse, by requiring these reporters to wear vests emblazoned with the NFL sponsors, the league is effectively eliminating the papers’ or individuals’ right to make their own deals and generate additional revenue streams.
Which brings us back to the original question: exactly how far can an organization go when declaring possession of people, places or things? And then selling them to someone else…
