All of the apocalyptic headlines screaming at me that the world is falling apart remind me of the hype of Y2K. But while that stunt ended up being little more than an innocuous exercise in hysterical fear mongering, this crisis de jour isn’t just exponentially more historic, it will prove to be a catalyst that increases the value of premium content. (more…)

It’s advertising week in New York, which means all sorts of banter about how to narrow the gap between Silicon Alley and Madison Ave. The traditional media mindset of reach and frequency doesn’t always mesh with the engagement value that digital platforms are built to offer. But any smart ad man knows that engagement is what builds brands.

I’ve kvetched recently about how I think the world would be a better place if display ads, which are all about scale, were coded out of existence and replaced by contextual ads, which are all about engagement. I stand by that statement, especially now that I’ve seen the nirvana of contextual, rich media advertising.

Check out this Youtube clip for the new Nintendo Wii game, Wario Land. You have to watch it all the way through. I’ll wait. (more…)

I’ve been asked recently where I find the images I use for my posts. The answer is that I usually just do an image search for some variation of the phrase “bizarre image.”

But that may all be about to change.

Back in June a friend contacted me and asked for my thoughts on how Getty Images might leverage its massive image library into an online content play.

What do you do with with a catalog of over 15 million professional photographs in a world that is increasingly digital?

Turns out the answer is you partner with Life Magazine and form a joint venture digital company called See Your World and offer ad-supported access to premium images online. (more…)

That’s the tagline of James Gunn’s new web series, PG Porn, which I’m proud to announce Safran Digital produced in association with the Gunn brothers’ Good Boys Production and sold to Spike. The debut episode, Nailing Your Wife, starring Nathan Fillion (Dr. Horrible, Serenity, Firefly, Slither) and Aria Giovanni, will air as an online exclusive on spike.com on October 8th.

Here’s James and Aria talking about the series:

Remember the Youtube video where the kids were jumping, parkour style, into their jeans? I blogged about it back in May. It started off as an unbranded viral video. Within a week the video had hit 1M views, had developed a minor cult of spoof responses, and was picked up by Good Morning America, where it was outed as being a paid advertisement for “a certain denim company.” The video, as it lives online, still has zero Levi’s branding.

Last night, during Monday Night Football on ESPN, I saw the same video repurposed as a branded, fifteen second spot. It’s the first time I’ve seen content, created for the web as an underground viral video migrate upstream to on-air. Clearly, Levi’s test marketed the content on the web and in success, after amassing an audience of several million views matched with positive comments, decided the spot was broadcast worthy.

Kudos to Levi’s for pushing this innovative ad campaign forward.

The apocalypse is upon us. It’s abundantly clear.

Not only did Tom Brady blow out his ACL essentially killing my fantasy football season, but the Wall Street Journal, my fish wrap of choice, has stumbled its way into the most egregiously bizarre and disturbing instance of product placement that I’ve ever seen. (more…)

This oft-attributed quote to Mark Twain might sum up how the online display ad industry feels about Jessica Vascellaro’s article in today’s Wall Street Journal, Gap Widens in Online Advertising, but the display ad industry is wrong.

Traditional, non rich-media display ads are an archaic media product that should be designed and coded out of the standard web user interface.

If the market has its way, the above suggestion may end up being less Draconian and more Darwinian. (more…)