Mitch Joel's Blog: Six Pixels of Separation, page 237

Enter The Zeitgeist

Welcome to the spirit of the times.

The TED conference is my personal escape pod. I've been attending that conference since the last one that was held in Monterey (2008). Someone once described it as "gymnastic for the brains." That description always makes me smile, but for those who attend it, they know that it is about so much more. The TED conference affects me at the cellular level. I'm not being overly dramatic. When was the last time that you attended a conference that you thought about on a daily basis? I think about the event, speakers and people I connect with over there on a daily basis. No joke. There is one other event that holds that same, special place in my heart, and it is: Google Zeitgeist. Google Zeitgeist is a private event (only five hundred attendees that are, primarily, Google's best partners). There are no sales pitches and little-to-no hallway chatter about what Google can do to grow your business. Google positions this conference as a "thank you." I'm not sure how it happens, but they are very gracious to invite me to be an attendee. I've been going for years, and I can best describe the content as, "TED with more of a business twist."

Google Zeitgeist happened this week.

I flew to Phoenix (via Chicago) this past Sunday night and stayed until the end of it (Tuesday after lunch). My head is still spinning (and it's not from the 100+ degree weather). I'm always leery of sharing anything about the event in my social channels (granted, I do post some pictures to Facebook and Instagram), because I'm doing my best to be present in the moment. To take notes. To even spend some time alone with my thoughts. To think about what I learned, and how to apply it to the business of Twist Image, to our clients... and to myself. I feel, somewhat, silly even trying to write about it post-event. It's all mush right now, as it stews around and slow cooks between my earholes. Because it's a private/invite-only event, I'm also cautious to share anything online that was supposed to stay "in the room." (afterall, I do want to be invited back ;).

Let's share some Google Zeitgeist.

I subscribe to the Zeitgeist Minds YouTube channel, where they often post the talks from previous events. Just now, I noticed a whole bunch of this week's presentations were already posted online. So, the first thing you should do, is to subscribe to the Google Zeitgeist Minds YouTube Channel. The next thing you should do, is watch the following sessions that really inspired me.

Here's just a little tickle of Google Zeitgeist:

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adam grant

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zeitgeist minds youtube channel

This Ain't No Ice Bucket Challenge. Please Read.

Here's a simple truth about me: I don't like asking you for anything.

I don't. I don't like asking you to share my content. I don't like asking you to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram or whatever. I don't like asking for help, in general. It's a fault. I'm not perfect. With that, I love sharing, helping and making myself as readily available to as many people as possible. I publish this blog, the podcast, my two books (Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete), articles in Harvard Business Review, Huffington Post and Inc. Magazine  and more, because I want people to think differently about their business and their marketing. I don't take for granted the amazing opportunity that social media has brought, in terms of taking an individual's thinking and being able to share it with the world in such an instant and real-time fashion.

Well, I need your help. I'm asking for your help.

I don't know about you, but I've had another crazy year of people that I know and love getting some form of cancer. Many didn't make it, but here's a deeply, personal story: It was beautiful and perfect sunny day on August 25th, 2010. I was flying from Montreal to Toronto for a business pitch. I was happy with life - family, business and community were all going along great. I remember looking out of the plane window into the clear blue horizon and thinking, "life is good. I am very lucky." I was looking forward to landing because I was about to call my best friend to let him know that my family was expecting a new baby. I've known this person for my whole life. I can't remember them not being a part of my life or a friend. He was the first call outside of my immediate family with the good news. He always is. When the flight landed, I received a phone call from him. I was smiling to myself thinking, "this is perfect! He's calling me!"

That's when my world collapsed.

He told me that his beautiful, young daughter, Leah (who was five years old), had cancer... leukemia. How could that be? A few weeks prior she was at my kid's birthday party, laughing, playing... perfect. Now... leukemia? It was - without a question - one of the hardest moments in my life... trying to understand and take in what my best friend was telling me about his daughter... who I would treat as my own daughter in terms of love and care. I went into a tailspin.

It makes no sense.

Leah's courage throughout this nightmare is what pulled everyone through - family and friends. If there were ever a definition for the word "survivor" it is Leah. After a lengthy and hard battle, she is - thankfully - in remission and back home where she belongs: with her family and friends. She is happily in remission.

She's lucky, but many, many people are not this lucky.

Now, it's our turn to make a difference. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Canada's Light The Night Walk is a night to pay tribute and bring hope to all those affected by blood cancer. On October 18th, I will be joining thousands of people walking in twilight carrying illuminated balloons to fight this dreaded disease for the fourth year in a row. I'm doing this as a part of Leah's team. I'll be walking with Leah and her family.

I'm asking you to do one thing for me.

I do my best to put out six blog posts and one audio podcast every week. This makes it close to four thousand entries over the years. In a perfect world, I'd prefer to not ask for help (those who know me, personally, can attest that I struggle with asking for help). In all instances, I try to make the ask something that has more value to the person actually taking action. Meaning, I prefer when the value of the ask is balanced not towards the person asking, but to those who participate. I'm confident that over the past decade, I have offered up countless pieces that added value to your work (at least, I hope I have!). This isn't about me raising money. It's about our kids and the randomness and cruelty that is leukemia and because none of us are safe. Leah got leukemia with no family history of the problem. Nothing. Now, Leah (who is in remission) will have to deal with this for the rest of her life. Other families aren't even granted that luxury.

Please help.

I set a goal of $5000 to raise from friends and family. The truth is that I would love to crack the $10,000 mark. I do realize that times are tough and many of us are watching our wallets just a little bit closer than we usually have, but please consider giving something. I know that a lot of you probably took part in the #IceBucketChallenge (as I did). But, you know the saying, "every dollar counts." If over the years, any of my content has struck a chord with you, made you smile, made you see your business world in a different way, I hope that you will consider this ask as the "tip jar" for my thoughts.

If you can find it in your heart to give, please do so right here: Light The Night Walk.

How about a little giver's gain?

As a "thank you," here's what I am offering:

Whoever donates the most money gets me for a one-hour get together. It can be via Skype, phone or in-person (meaning, if you're in Montreal or if I happen to be travelling to wherever it is that you live). It will be a social meeting, but you can feel free to ask me anything. Lunch is on me. I'll also include a signed copy of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete.

Whoever comes in next will get a signed copy of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, plus a business book bundle that will include three great new books that just came out. Namely: Unselling by Scott Stratten and Alison Kramer, How The World Sees You By Sally Hogshead and The Happiness of Pursuit by Chris Guillebeau.

I will also do a random draw and give away five sets of two "special" tickets to The Art Of... event of your choice. This is just the tickets, so you will have to handle travel, accommodations, etc...

Now, it's your turn. Please help out. Please help me spread the good word. Thank you.

My friend - who is Leah's father - wrote the following song and performed it. This should add some more context to my ask...

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alison kramer

blog

blood cancer

business

business book

business book bundle

cancer

chris guillebeau

ctrl alt delete

dream your dream

facebook

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how the world sees you

huffington post

ice bucket challenge

inc magazine

instagram

leah helper

leukemia

light the night

light the night walk

linkedin

marketing

podcast

sally hogshead

scott stratten

six pixels of separation

skype

social media

the art of

the art of leadership

the art of marketing

the happiness of pursuit

the leukemia and lymphoma society of canada

twitter

unselling

How To Make Your Content Move. Think Like Jerry Seinfeld.

After you watch the video at the end of the post, you will think differently about your content. Promise.

Have you had a chance to check out Jerry Seinfeld's wildly successful online series called, Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee? It's great. Let's start there. The premise is simple: Seinfeld chooses a fellow comedian that he admires and he asks them out for a coffee and conversation. In the show, Seinfeld (a car fanatic) chooses a car that best represents his guest, picks them up, they go for a drive and then they extend their conversation over coffee. You not only get some great (and hilarious) moments, but you're able to better understand how these entertainers think, what makes them tick and what they find funny. It's very human. It's very real. People flock to it, not just because it's Seinfeld and another celebrity, but because it's a peek behind the curtain. It's less about what any one celebrity is promoting and much more about their careers and their creative process. Fascinating stuff.

What does this have to do with your content? Everything.

The Paley Center For Media hosts some pretty impressive events, and this one is a doozy. Jerry Seinfeld sits down (for over an hour!) to discuss Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee with David Letterman (crazy, right?). You will have to pay close attention, but there are tons of nuggets that are completely transferable to any brand thinking about content marketing and how to tell stories that work and inspire when most people are watching them graze by on their mobile devices. Just Seinfeld's theory on how his show had to "move" in this new world, is worth the price of admission alone. You will be tempted to simply click the play button below and be entertained. Don't do this. Grab a pen and a notebook or fire up your Evernote and take notes. There's gold in here, Jerry, gold!

Jerry Seinfeld And David Letter - The Paley Center for Media.

(also, if you want to hear more about understanding the dynamics of comedy, success and telling better stories, take a listen to my conversation with James Altucher : SPOS #425 - Laughing All The Way To The Bank With James Altucher )

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comedian

comedians in cars getting coffee

content

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creative process

david letterman

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james altucher

jerry seinfeld

mobile

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notebook

online series

online video

the paley center for media

video

Don't Make Me Hate You

Marketers often think they're being smart. Most of the time, we're being very stupid.

When you visit your big box electronics retailer, it's hard to make headway on which TV to buy. Over the years, television manufacturers have - somewhat - overcome this hurdle by covering corners of the TV with a removable sticker. These stickers highlight everything from resolution, to types of cable inputs to other kinds of smart features that the screens have built into them (like Netflix, etc...). This way, it's much easier for the consumer to recognize the subtle nuances between prices and sizes, and what they're getting when faced with a wall of screens that all look similar in size and function. This is smart marketing. It's actually become increasingly better over the years, as most of these stickers have become somewhat standardized to make the shopping process have a little less friction. These floor demos and their stickers are a great example of how television manufacturers have overcome the challenge of mis-informed sales associates coupled with the ability for a consumer to make distinctions between the choices at a glance.

But then, again, marketers can also do some very dumb stuff.

I found myself with an extended flight delay (it happens) and I was waiting in an airport lounge (airline, lounge and location won't be mentioned). With everything happening in the news and a crazier-than-usual travel schedule, I opted to sit in front of the TV airing CNN while checking my email, eating some snacks that I have no business eating, and catching up on how much chaos there is going on in our world today. It seemed to be a fairly new and large-ish flat screen TV that had the feature-riddled sticker still on it. It made me laugh. I wondered why the people who had installed the screen couldn't even be bothered to remove the sticker that is solely used for the purpose of comparing it to others while on a showroom floor. As I approached the screen to remove it (someone has to do it!), it disappeared. I thought I was on Candid Camera. Is this a joke? I went over to the bar, grabbed some more pretzels and water and sat back down in my seat. The sticker reappeared. I had been on the road. I was very tired. I rubbed my eyes. The sticker was still there.

Can you guess what happened next?

It turns out that this TV manufacturer had created a digital version of this "sticker" that appears quite often (every couple of seconds or so) on this, specific, TV. It's obviously there as some kind of promotion/sponsorship with the airline to have frequent travelers marvel at all of the features that this screen possesses. But it doesn't. It's annoying. And, as I got more and more annoyed by this digital sticker - either blocking the full screen experience or continually popping in and out of the regularly scheduled programming - I started to hate this brand. With a passion. Now, let's be honest: I'm a marketing nerd, so these types of silly antics are probably more noticeable to me than the average consumer, but it's still an interruption, it adds friction to the TV viewing experience and... it's simply not good.

The thing about hate.

Hate is a strong word. Most consumers probably wouldn't say that they hate it. It's more subliminal. It's annoying. It festers. It lies there... somewhere... in their back of their brains. We all know that life is full of experiences. Some great. Some bad. Some that last forever. Some that are fleeting. The brand's imperative is to ensure that - with every interaction - they are getting consumers to invest in them (and not divest of them). I'm much more aware of marketing than the average bear. I see moments like this as a great opportunity to engage. No one wants to be in an airport lounge. They're simply there trying to get a break from one hectic moment to another. If you were a brand thinking about marketing within that environment, you may want to think more about the state of the consumer's mindset (and less about what you're trying to scream at them). Brands need to look for ways to add peace, serenity and comfort, instead of intrusion, annoyance and confusion. It's not just airport lounges, either. It's everywhere. From Instagram and Facebook to television ads and beyond.

Don't make me hate you.

Tags:

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brand

brand experience

business travel

candid camera

cnn

consumer

consumer experience

consumer mindset

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friction

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netflix

promotion

retail. tv

sponsorship. experiential marketing

television

television manufacturer

The Future Of Work

Episode #427 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.

It's not just the marketing of a business that fascinates me. It's everything about the future of work. This includes the actual physical office spaces that we use (and, yes, that could be at home, Starbucks or even in the tallest building of the financial district). How will teams be structured? What will the leaders of the future look like? Is Mark Zuckerberg the prototype of the CEO? It's these same thoughts that consume Jacob Morgan. So much so, that he recently published a business book titled, The Future Of Work - Attract New Talent, Build Better Leaders And Create A Competitive Organization. Jacob also wrote The Collaborative Organization in 2012 and advises many Fortune 1000 businesses on innovation and the future of work. So, if we live in a world where more and more people can start a business in their garage and sell a seven-person startup for billions of dollars, what does the future of work look and feel like? Enjoy the conversation...

You can grab the latest episode of Six Pixels of Separation here (or feel free to subscribe via iTunes): Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast #427.

Tags:

advertising podcast

blog

blogging

brand

business book

business podcast

chess media group

david usher

digital marketing

facebook

google

itunes

jacob morgan

mark zuckerberg

marketing podcast

starbucks

the collaborative organization

the future of work

the future organization

twitter

The Future Of Work

Episode #427 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.

It's not just the marketing of a business that fascinates me. It's everything about the future of work. This includes the actual physical office spaces that we use (and, yes, that could be at home, Starbucks or even in the tallest building of the financial district). How will teams be structured? What will the leaders of the future look like? Is Mark Zuckerberg the prototype of the CEO? It's these same thoughts that consume Jacob Morgan. So much so, that he recently published a business book titled, The Future Of Work - Attract New Talent, Build Better Leaders And Create A Competitive Organization. Jacob also wrote The Collaborative Organization in 2012 and advises many Fortune 1000 businesses on innovation and the future of work. So, if we live in a world where more and more people can start a business in their garage and sell a seven-person startup for billions of dollars, what does the future of work look and feel like? Enjoy the conversation...

You can grab the latest episode of Six Pixels of Separation here (or feel free to subscribe via iTunes): Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast #427.

Tags:

advertising podcast

blog

blogging

brand

business book

business podcast

chess media group

david usher

digital marketing

facebook

google

itunes

jacob morgan

mark zuckerberg

marketing podcast

starbucks

the collaborative organization

the future of work

the future organization

twitter

Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #221

Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?

My friends: Alistair Croll (BitCurrent, Year One Labs, GigaOM, Human 2.0, Solve For Interesting, the author of Complete Web Monitoring, Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks and Lean Analytics), Hugh McGuire (PressBooks, LibriVox, iambik and co-author of Book: A Futurist's Manifesto) and I decided that every week the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person "must see".

Check out these six links that we're recommending to one another:

Neoglyphics Promo . "Now we have a computer on our wrist, and sarcasm and vitriol in our feeds. But it wasn't always this way. Here's a 1995 promotional video for Neoglyphics - a Web design company. Watching this video a friend pointed me at made me remember just how idyllic things were, or maybe I'm just a grumpy old man. The world has changed so much that this is almost satire at this point. Oh, yeah, and if you're 20 you don't remember this. Hey kids! Get off my lawn!" (Alistair for Hugh).

It's Payback Time - Channel 4 . "I was at the BBC this week. Every time I deal with them, I'm amazed at how much good stuff they do. Heck, their iPlayer volume goes to eleven (Really. It does.) Watch this video (which seems pretty timely, all things considered) before reading about it. Did I mention I love the BBC?" (Alistair for Mitch).

Regulate This! A New Freakonomics Radio Podcast - Freakonomics . "The 'sharing economy' ( AirBnB , Lyft , Uber , etc) is butting up against government regulations. Great podcast talking to some of the players from both sides of the argument." (Hugh for Alistair).

The Rise and Fall of the Biggest Pot Dealer in New York City History - The New York Times . "This is an incredible story, more so for Montrealers who can appreciate better the kinds of characters here: Jimmy Cournoyer (as the New York Times, helpfully, notes, 'pronounced koorn-WAH-yay'), the Laval man in the middle, Mohawk smugglers in tiny boats,  a Laval gangster (on probation for killing another driver in a drunk driving accident in his Porsche) who gets a job driving an elderly lady to her medical appointments (while rebuilding his smuggling operation), mixed martial arts, lingerie models, Leonard DiCaprio, snowmobiles filled with pounds of pot and piles of cash, encrypted Blackberries, and a pissed-off ex-girlfriend who walks into a police station to unravel the whole thing... Breaking Bad, eat your heart out (and please: someone make a great television series based on this story)." (Hugh for Mitch).

Management intuition for the next 50 years - McKinsey & Company . "The next 50 years... how about the next five? We live in a world where the iPad didn't exist four years ago and now we're into wearables, connected devices and so much more. If you think that the last five years were crazy, just wait and see what the next five years will deliver. We're experiencing some major shifts in how a business must act. This is a long read, but it's a great read. It's a little academic, but the point is clear: the stuff that I wrote about in CTRL ALT Delete is real... and it is fundamental to getting businesses to understand a very different future, when it comes to product development and revenues. For some, a piece like this is going to freak them out. For others, it's a nice little peek into where the true opportunities are for those in business... or for those thinking that now may seem like the perfect time to do a startup. Special thanks to Deb Hinton for pointing this one out to me." (Mitch for Alistair).

Why Indie Bookstores Are on the Rise Again - Inc. Magazine . "Well, isn't this interesting. It turns out that when the big book retailers went public, it forced them to be innovative, high-growth and chase Amazon . Could that have done them in? This is strange. We all figured that these big book store chains were set to destroy the independent book stores. Maybe we were all wrong. It looks like the massive dinosaurs are becoming extinct and this is paving way for a new type of species. Welcome to the age of growth for independent book sellers?" (Mitch for Hugh).

Feel free to share these links and add your picks on Twitter, Facebook, in the comments below or wherever you play.

Tags:

airbnb

alistair croll

amazon

bbc

bitcurrent

blackberry

book a futurists manifesto

breaking bad

channel 4

complete web monitoring

deb hinton

freakonomics

gigaom

hugh mcguire

human 20

iambik

inc magazine

ipad

jimmy cournoyer

lean analytics

leonardo dicaprio

librivox

link bait

link exchange

link sharing

lyft

managing bandwidth

mckinsey

media hacks

neoglyphics

porchse

pressbooks

social media

solve for interesting

the new york times

uber

year one labs

History Predicted It... We're All Cyberpunks Now

How much of you is technology... how much of you is human?

No idea how this came across my radar, but - like you - I often find myself (late at night) deep down in the YouTube rabbit hole. There you are watching something that somebody sent you for work, and the next thing you know, it's three in the morning and you're watching things like this. Cyberpunk was originally coined in 1983. It was a term for individuals who were using technology to build their own world... on their own rules. Much of the output was seen as illegal and - if you were paying attention to Apple's recent announcements - you could easily see just how accurate this underground, indie and self-governed group of individuals were when thinking about our future and how much technology would be a part of us.

If you want to take a few steps back to see how far we have come...

This is a five-part, one hour documentary that looked to uncover the cyberpunk movement. What it is... what they were doing... why they were doing it... and what they hoped to get out of it. What seemed like a group of wild marauders, now feels more like a group of architects, designers and artists who were fighting to build our present state. Strangely enough, what they're speaking about in this documentary doesn't seem so far fetched in today's context (you could even argue that's a mild version of where we are at). In fact, we have moved things along at a much quicker clip than these cyberpunks could have ever imagined. What they were attempting to do has now - to certain degree - become a part of how we function as a society. When people scoff at robotics, artificial intelligence and the power of data, they may want to spend an hour watching this documentary, and thinking about how it wasn't all that long ago when everything that we're doing today seemed so strange, foreign and unlikely to happen.

Here it is: a documentary on Cyberpunk (and a lesson that everyone interested in business, marketing and innovation must watch)...

Tags:

apple

architects

artificial intelligence

artist

big data

business

cyberpunk

cyberpunk movement

data

designer

documentary

innovation

internet culture

marketing

robotics

technology

youtube

youtube rabbit hole

Native Advertising Is Everybody's Problem

Have you jumped on board the native advertising train yet?

There are few words more buzzworthy these days than "native advertising" (that's a lie... "big data" is probably worse). Yesterday morning, I moderated a panel discussion at Content Marketing World in Cleveland titled, The Hottest Term in Content Marketing: The Opportunities in Native Advertising. It was a very fast-paced panel featuring Doug Kessler (Velocity Partners) Brant McLean (Director of Brand Partnerships, Tumblr), Stacy Martinet (Chief Marketing Officer, Mashable) and David Spiegel (VP of Brand Strategy & Social Publishing, Buzzfeed). I was asked to moderate this session, because back in February 2013, I wrote an article for the Harvard Business Review titled, We Need a Better Definition of "Native Advertising". In my mind, I figured that this panel discussion would clear the air, and bring everyone - brands, agencies and media players - on to the same page.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

None of the panelists could agree upon a set definition for native advertising. In fact, most of the panelists felt like it's simply a buzzword. Like we have moved on from social media to content marketing to native advertising in a snap, and all that we are really doing is polishing the advertising turd... as it were. The best description for native advertising that I could come up with - after spending a few hours post panel discussion thinking about it - is this: native advertising is content that is paid for by a brand and published on one, specific, site... the same site that created the content in conjunction with the brand. That's basically it. As sad as that may seem. No standards. No rules. Anything goes. It's every brand for themselves. Still, there is an enthusiasm for the advertising opportunity. That by bringing together the brand and the publisher, the results can be pretty amazing. Don't believe me? Check out what Buzzfeed and Purina pulled off with Dear Kitten:

And you thought the Internet was nothing but cat videos ;)

There's a bigger question here, of course (there always is): do brands still need agencies if they're going to partner with the publishers and work together - hand in hand - on the output? For a long while, agencies acted as the outsourced marketing department for brands. This was done, because businesses either couldn't afford their own, or didn't feel the need to have the center of excellence within the organization. Over the years, things have shifted. Most brands now have much more sophisticated marketing departments working in conjunction with their respective agencies. As native advertising continues to gain momentum, companies like Buzzfeed, Facebook, Tumblr, Mashable and many others are getting into the creative strategy and services business. Earlier in the week, I also had the chance to be in-conversation with Buzzfeed founder, Jonah Peretti, at a private marketing function. Having him describe to this audience of CMOs the production, editorial and creative offerings that Buzzfeed provides to brands as part of their services, made me realize that now - more than ever - the dynamics of what gets marketing to the consumer is more complex than ever before. Peretti - and the panel at Content Marketing World - all agreed that agencies still play a critical role in making things happen, but they also acknowledged that the relationships are getting more complicated and fuzzy as brands, agencies and publishers have tremendous crossover and overlap in terms of services and offerings.

It's complicated.

It's not just the bizarre love triangle of brands, agencies and publishers that exists. As a brand, when you're playing in the native advertising space, you are spending a whole lot of time, energy and attention on one, specific, publisher trying to figure out what works. Most of the major players on the panel agreed that native advertising is not a silver bullet, but rather much more like an iterative process of trying to figure out what might work for a specific audience, and how to tweak something when a piece of content doesn't connect. From the brand's perspective, it's not just the struggle in getting something like this funded and off the ground, but it's also a struggle to figure out who should own this process. Is it the brand, the media company, the advertising agency, the digital marketing agency, the PR agency or the production companies who should be leading these types of initiatives? It would be easy (and obvious) for me to raise my hand and request that all such initiatives be driven by the digital marketing agency, but let's face it: if something is working and gaining traction, everyone is going to make a run at it. In a world like ours, every company is looking for new sources of income and something unique to hang their hat on. So, what's a brand to do? Two weeks ago, I published a post titled, A Twitch In Time, that was less about Amazon's billion dollar acquisition of Twitch and much more about a potentially new way for brands to think. Most brands are looking to build newsrooms as a place to tell more human and real stories. Maybe the opportunity is for brands to not just think about creating and publishing content, but more about how to become their own media network. If brands build their own broadcasting networks, these types of infrastructures will require a bunch of new services and offerings that could bring better client-agency-publisher integration along with it.

This begs the question: is the future less about native advertising and much more about brands becoming a network with their own studio?   

Tags:

advertising

agency integration

amazon

big data

brand

brand newsroom

brand partnership

brand strategy

brand studio

brant mclean

broadcasting network

buzzfeed

chief marketing officer

cmo

content marketing

content marketing world

creative strategy

david spiegel

dear kitten

digital marketing

digital marketing agency

doug kessler

facebook

harvard business review

jonah peretti

marketing agency

marketing department

mashable

media

media network

native advertising

production company

purina

social media

social publishing

stacy martinet

tumblr

twitch

velocity partners

When TV Becomes An Accessory To YouTube

Everyone is talking about video.

Have you noticed how on Facebook, some videos in your newsfeed start on their own now? You don't have to click on them. They just start. For some, this is very upsetting and disruptive to the Facebook experience. If this is you, step aside. You're in the minority (and yes, I say this with full acknowledgement that if you're spending money on mobile data, this newly added features can be both draining and expensive. If this is causing you pain, please do this). Facebook is capturing consumer's attention, and this is a peek into just how powerful online video's growth continues to mature... and just how big of a business this is (and will continue to be) for marketers.

It's bigger (and more important) than you think.

MediaPost ran three separate news items in the past few days that hint at the ever-evolving landscape of online video:

Facebook Rivals YouTube, Tops 1 Billion Videos Per Day . That's a steep climb, and this sudden growth can be directly attributed to the auto-play function. From the article: "From May to July, Facebook said video views have surged 50%, with more than 65% of the total taking place on mobile. That underscores the broader shift the social network has seen from desktop to mobile use in the last couple of years, with mobile now also accounting for the bulk (62%) of ad revenue. After introducing auto-play video earlier this year, Facebook noted in a blog post today that the feature has led people to discover 'significantly more content' as a result. And when advertisers designate video views as the objective of their campaigns, that step translates into up to a 60% decrease in cost-per-view for video ads, the company said."

YouTube Revenue To Hit $1.13 Billion From Video Advertising This Year . To this day, most media pundits still see Google as a one trick pony (search advertising). Seeing over a billion dollars roll in from video advertising in one year on YouTube points to something very interesting: Google dominates search advertising (which it does). Google suddenly starts a strong contender in the video advertising space (which is, exactly, what this is starting to look like). Think about Facebook and Instagram, and what they will have to do to build a similar engine of advertising. From the article: "Google's YouTube will generate an estimated $1.13 billion in revenue from video advertising this year - up 39% from last year, per research firm eMarketer . Although its market share will not substantially increase, the revenue from ads that run on the site - excluding banners, search and other ads, alongside traffic and content acquisition costs - will grow... The numbers suggest that YouTube fails to monetize the majority of its traffic, per eMarketer." Imagine the model here. Over one billion dollars in revenue - which is nearly forty percent more than last year - and they fail to monetize the vast majority of these video. A lot of that has to do with video length and consumer engagement, but we are starting to see a marketplace for longer videos, as YouTube channels become more popular and as more and more consumers are starting to watch YouTube on their connected TVs, mobile devices, etc...

Mobile Video Audience Nears 115 Million . This is - without question - the most significant component to online video's growth and continued success. From the article: "The U.S. audience watching video on smartphones in the second quarter grew to 114.4 million - up 18% from 97 million in the year-earlier period, according to the latest Nielsen cross-platform report. The amount of time spent viewing video on phones increased as well to an average of one hour, 41 minutes a month in the quarter, from 1:09 a year ago.

Still, that figure is dwarfed by the average time Americans spent watching traditional TV, at 142:38 per month, down slightly from 146:37 a year ago. Mobile also lags the desktop Internet as a video platform, where people spent 10:35 watching video, up from 6:28 a year ago. However, the mobile video audience is catching up to the 145.5 million on the Web, which is down from 150 million a year ago." Don't frown. This is massive and it's also indicative of just how long (and wide) of a runway mobile video still has to go. Think about cheaper mobile data (it's coming). Think about faster network speeds (it's coming). Think about more and more connected devices (it's coming, too). This is a massive audience already at 115 million, but it's still minor compared to TV. How long do you think that will last?

Can you smell the opportunity?

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