Ad Fed Blog

With Google’s recent foray into video, the focus of Internet punditry has shifted (slightly) away from plain-vanilla text ads to a more engaging format (if done properly) — video.

Check out these links for your daily dose of Internet advertising ideas:

• Charting the future of Internet TV (iMedia)
• Killer Ads (Newsweek)
• MediaMaze: Navigating User-generating (iMedia)

Have fun - leave a comment and let me know what you think: will agencies actually create engaging content (like some of the examples above) or try and recreate TV ads for the Web?

If you’ve recently driven over the bridge from Mt. Pleasant towards downtown Charleston, you know what I’m talking about.

If you’re advertising a condo or development, wouldn’t it be a good idea to actually show the actual condos instead of some generic stock photo of two people staring at each other??? That gets my vote as biggest waste of money. Anyone know how much that location costs?

The only saving grace was the fact it tries to drive prospects to a unique landing page. It’s too bad their site doesn’t work with FireFox, though. Might want to fix that — and your billboard while you’re at it.

Earlier this week details emerged about Yahoo!’s plan to reincarnate “The Runner,” a failed reality TV concept from 2001, in a new Web/TV combo approach.

Of course, with Yahoo! being involved, the focus wil be engaging online “viewers” before, during, and after the show.
Not to be outdone, CBS announced they will begin airing “micro-episodes” of ‘The Courier,’ which will be 40-second to one minute long and run during commercial breaks of some prime-time shows. If you miss it, you can have the pleasure of watching it on your cell phone or their Web site.

If you take the time to read the WSJ.com article, it brings up some good questions about the latest scramble of the tech titans to create their own content (or partner with someone else who has it) in an attempt to help the networks find their lost viewers.
Just remember that everyone is in trial mode with these efforts — the long-term viability of watching prime-time TV on your cell phone or 17-inch computer monitor remains to be seen.

What do you think? Will you take the time to follow a show online after watching it on TV?

In case you’ve received some spammy-looking emails from info@adfed.com, we apologize. It seems to be a problem with our hosted account and we have contacted them to help troubleshoot.

In the meantime, we’ve deleted the info@adfed.com email address to head off the problem.

If you receive any emails from info@adfed.com, please do not open them! It’s not from us…

Is the typical agency model dead? David Smith certainly thinks so.

As founder and creative director of The Republik, a “performance-based agency” based in Chapel Hill, NC, David’s team is focused on changing the advertising agency business model as we know it.

Join us on January 19th to hear David speak about the state of the current advertising business model, and what their agency is doing to change it.

For more info on The Republik, visit their Web site, or better yet, just show up on Thursday, January 19, at the American Theatre on King Street. It’s only $15 for non-members, and free for AdFed members. Learn more about joining AdFed.
I’m interested to hear how much success they’ve had in getting other agencies to follow their lead. Until the leadership on the client side really starts demanding accountability — instead of choosing agencies based on how *funny* their commercials are or how flashy their Web site is — it’s going to be a while before the current model dies. Kudos to David’s team for taking the first step towards accountability.

More on accountability in advertising:

• For the Web
  The Interactive Advertising Bureau’s Standards and Guidelines
• Search Engine Marketing
  Pay-Per-Call: A New Avenue for Search Marketers
• Magazine Publishers of America
  A Guide to Measuring ROI and ROO Across Media (PDF) (Web site)

See you on January 19th!

Just a friendly reminder that all ADDY entries are due Jaunuary 11th, which means you only have six days left to enter.

To help you out, here are 5 easy steps for entering Ad Fed of Charleston’s 2006 ADDY competition:

Step 1: Review rules, guidelines and categories online at www.addycompetition.com… you’ll find everything you need in the “ADDY_Rules_Guidelines_05-06.pdf”

Step 2: Register & complete your entries online at http://www.addycompetition.com

Step 3: PRINT your completed manifest (summary)

Step 4: Secure each entry in its own envelope … no mounting to black boards this year, no Beta tapes! See page 6 of “ADDY_Rules_Guidelines_05-06.pdf” http://www.addycompetition.com/ for entry submission guidelines

Step 5: Wednesday, January 11, from 2-6pm, bring your entries, manifest and payment (check, MC, Visa) to:

REDUX Contemporary Art Center
136 St. Philip Street, Downtown Charleston

Questions? Email Richard Gee - richard@geecreative.com or Tina Garrett - tgarrett@gsgd.com

Entry Fees
Student - $40
AdFed Members: Single entry - $45 Campaign - $55
Non-member: Single entry - $60 Campaign - $70

Save the Date
Saturday, February 25
ADDY AWARDS at Lowndes Grove

See you there!

2004-2005 saw the mergers of a few wireless giants: Sprint/Nextel, Cingular/AT&T Wireless, and most recently, SBC Communications/AT&T. And unless you paid close attention, you probably didn’t hear much about the nitty-gritty: integrating their sales forces, technology platforms, why they paid $41 billion, and all the other details of these mega-mergers (especially executive compensation - you really don’t want to know about that).

However, what you did see were marketing campaigns trumpeting the *benefits* of these newly combined companies. Most prominent (to me) was how each company approached the creation of their new logos.

Sprint/Nextel
Approach: Keep Sprint’s logo but update it in yellow. They’ve also been using the tagline “together with Nextel” for a while, but I haven’t seen it in the last few commercials.
Cingular/AT&T Wireless
Approach: Cingular kept their logo but added a little of the AT&T blue. No mention of AT&T wireless anymore.
SBC Communications/AT&T
Approach: Keep the AT&T logo, but update it slightly — very, very, slightly.

Of these three logos, it seems the SBC/AT&T version is drawing the most fire. Why? It’s not new.

In their defense, why mess with such an established brand image? It takes a really long time (and money) to establish and position a brand in the consumers mind, so I can understand why they were hesitant in making sweeping changes. For more on that, check out Design Observer.

Want a different take? Make sure to read the Logo Doctors article on Business Week Online’s wonderful Innovation Channel.

This is a test of the Ad Fed Blog!