Selfie Drone Magic

Five Hundred Bucks And Falling

If you follow my Twitter or Facebook social media streams (sorry, LinkedIn, I don't hit you with everything), you saw a link to the UK selfie drone story, where there is a kickstarter with six to seven figures of funding and plenty of pre-orders. Fits in the palm of your hand, flies ten feet or so away from the user, controlled via a smartphone.

Sure, this might seem silly and frivolous... but as the selfie stick shows, and the Kickstarter confirms, there's money in it. And if there's money in the v1, how does the v2 manifest?

Well, I think it gets an avatar so it can be personalized. Also, perhaps more capable than just taking selfies. Imagine search and retrieval capabilities, or holographic projection. Sound in the unit could also help to produce intriguing possibilities, and having more than one might make for more interesting footage.

So imagine where it goes in a few steps, or when people who truly want to self-document to a disturbing degree wind up with clouds of selfie drones. Perhaps they'll be part of routine athletic training, used to monitor and improve on traffic conditions. There's a pretty clear use case for security enhancement, a step up from the dash cam footage. Give me a selfie drone that folds and puts away laundry, or loads and unloads the dishwasher, and you've made my waking hours a lot less compulsive.

But I'd like to get beyond the tactical and into the fanciful, if you'll indulge me for a moment. In the young adult trilogy series "His Dark Materials", the conceit is that the world in which it begins is like Earth, but with visible and tactile manifestations of a soul or spirit animal. Also, let's consider the rise of support animals for those who need them, and how a technological manifestation might be, well, less problematic. And how much a smartphone on some level functions as, well, a support animal.

All tech manifests as magic, if you can step back from it long enough to see how it might be perceived to folks with less experience with such things. Whether or not that magic is benevolent or malicious...

Well, you might see a company of angels at your beck and call, and the end to all sorts of bothersome activities. Others might see a hellish swarm of techno flies, turning every moment of the day into one that has active surveillance.

The story is left to the individual.

But the tech? That may be inevitable.

And if you can advertise on them?

One more vote for hellish flies...

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Show Don't Tell

Even If It Doesn't Score High

Here's something they don't tell you in Consulting School (um, there's no such thing as Consulting School, which is part of the problem)...

How do you go about convincing a prospect that you know what you are doing and make a real difference to their project... without, well, sharing all of you insider secrets that would let them just do it without you?

I'll save myself and you some time: you can't. If you've committed enough to pitching for the business, you've also put enough time and research into believing in the integrity of your potential client. (Or, less positively, you just really need the booking. we're not saints here.) In for a penny, in for a pound; don't hold back.

But here's the real key to getting the gig. Put yourself in the position where you can tell the lead everything you know on that day, because in a week, you'll know more and they won't. But in a way that seems, well, not smug.

So don't be coy, if you've got some secret sauce, don't guard the recipe, because none of that stuff stays secret for more than six months, anyway. Optimal practices are a process, not a terminus.

And with that, I'm off to work on something along those lines for the day gig, which is asking me to generate strategies around increasing open rates in marketing and advertising emails for pharma. Something we've got more than just a little experience and insight into, given the sheer numbers of stuff that goes through our pipe, and how much data we've collected and analyzed. (And yeah, I'll link to it when it's up and ready, but that probably won't be for a couple of weeks. And if you want a hint in advance... follow the clocks. Because the clocks lead to money.)

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Feel free to comment, as well as like or share this column, connect with me on LinkedIn, or email me at davidlmountain at gmail dot com, or hit the RFP boxes at top right. RFPs are always free, and we hope to hear from you soon.

Room At The Top: Kevin Durant's Marketing Message

Dub Step

Back when I was in college, I had a beloved constitutional law professor, because one of my undergraduate passions was political science. At the end of the semester, with all course matter taught and an hour left in the presence of a strong intellect, he opened it up for questions of all matters, regardless of merit to the course matter. One of my classmates, who was following the usual progression of political science to pre-law, asked for advice on setting themself up for lucrative employment after college; whether it would be better to intern, clerk, etc. Rather than speak to the specific merits of a particular plan, the professor said something far more important, something that I've kept for decades.

"There's always room at the top."

And then spoke to the student's acumen, which he had noticed over the course of the semester. Also, to the value of the education that had been acquired, and the connections that could be made in this room. But the money quote -- room at the top -- was really the core of the response. Instead of shooting for the minimum to just get a foot in the door, dream bigger. Aim higher. Take bigger chances, and bet on yourself. 

Which brings me to the curious employment decision of one Kevin Durant, the NBA's biggest free agent signing since LeBron James took his talents to South Beach. (Don't worry, we'll get to marketing and advertising soon enough.)

By choosing to exercise his rights as a free agent to leave Oklahoma City for Golden State, Durant joins a team that was a few points away from completing one of the greatest seasons in NBA history. And while many observers are disappointed that Durant didn't return to the Thunder and try again to defeat a club they were up 3-1 on in the Western Conference Finals, from where I sit, he's just choosing to spend his prime years in the presence of an organization that gives him the best chance to have championships on his Hall of Fame resume. Calling someone a heel or an opportunist is the knee-jerk reaction, but if Durant is holding up the trophy next June, that criticism will ring hollow at best. And while others wonder about the ratings problems inherent in a league where it seems like just a few teams have a legitimate shot at the title, I'm not ready to call off the reason next year and just cede the crown to Durant, Stephem Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and company. They've still got to stay healthy, integrate all of those stars, figure out last shot pecking orders, and so on. For every superteam that delivers on their promise, there are many others that fall by the wayside.

Now, back to the marketing and advertising.

Pitching your client's value proposition to the lowest common denominator -- price, usually, but sometimes speed to delivery, or some other very hard and fast metric -- will always have a certain direct marketing appeal, because it cuts right to the quick and has the sense of news and fact. It's also completely defensible if your margins allow it, or you are in a consumer category where there is no other wiggle room.

But conditions like that are, honestly, few and far between. Most of us work on brands and offers that have a mix of strengths and weaknesses that cover a range, and we balance the desire to communicate that complexity with the need to cut through the clutter with a brief message. And in that push/pull, something is lost... and that's usually quality. Especially if it seems like it might cost money.

That's a mistake.

Especially in an era of fragmented attention, sharing premium experiences to a peer group, and time being more important to many people than money, simply stating why your product or service is superior might be enough to separate. If nothing else, it's worth a test cell.

And sure, humor might go viral, and pretty might get you an award or do something for your portfolio... but premium might actually let you sell a a decent margin, and protect the brand for future opportunities.

Room at the top. 

But you've got to be a little brave.

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Feel free to comment, as well as like or share this column, connect with me on LinkedIn, or email me at davidlmountain at gmail dot com, or hit the RFP boxes at top right. RFPs are always free, and we hope to hear from you soon.

Independence From Commerce Day

Does Not Actually Work

Here's a quick fact on what might be the most blown-off day of work in marketing and advertising in 2016: using July 4 iconography in the pursuit of e-commerce is a sub-optimal practice.

And sure, that's very category specific, with people who sell fireworks strongly in the positive camp, and others with summer seasonal gear probably also doing well... but the plain and simple fact is that the flag isn't a universal panacea, and another sign of how Blue and Red State America are, well, two very different places. It's not as if you are advertising an intolerance for multi-culturalism by waving the Red, White and Blue in front of your home or on your car -- that job is much more done by the Confederate Battle Flag, which is such a charged symbol that it's used by white supremacist groups in Europe, who can't get their hands on the Nazi flag any more -- but it's still rarely seen in affluent areas.

And on some level, this is just profoundly sad. There shouldn't be anything divisive about this holiday, given that it combines food, explosions (both amateur and professional), time off work, and booze. That really shouldn't be something that's more or less popular, well, anywhere.

But maybe I'm just looking at the beer bottle half empty. Perhaps the way to look at the lower spends and engagement is that, as Americans, we care more about fellowship and family, and celebrating the holiday properly, than we do about, well, e-commerce. If there was ever a time of the year when getting out of the house and into air conditioning that someone else is paying for was a win, it's also July 4.

That, or maybe the act of blowing stuff up just makes us want to buy fewer things.

Have a safe and happy Fourth, and we'll catch up after the break!

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Feel free to comment, as well as like or share this column, connect with me on LinkedIn, or email me at davidlmountain at gmail dot com, or hit the RFP boxes at top right. RFPs are always free, and we hope to hear from you soon.

Avoid Rubber Necking

Watch For It!

On my way to work this morning, my GPS alerted me of a delay ahead, but didn't tell me to leave the road for another route. Next, I saw a highway sign that asked me to go to the left lane, due to a vehicle fire. Expecting a major problem, the traffic slowed down for a full mile in advance, despite the road never being blocked, because the vehicle in question had burned some time ago, and wasn't even on the road. Just plainly visible for a gawker delay, nothing more.

As we come to the close of Q2 in the U.S. in the worlds of marketing and advertising, I'm struck, as always, by the sound of virtual crickets. But this year is a little ominous. If only for the road signs.

You'd think that, having been in the space this long, I'd just arrange vacation time to coincide with this time. The leading lights in the industry go to the south of France to spend an unconscionable amount of money on awards and connections. The rest of the U.S. closes up shop before the July 4 holiday weekend. Q4, when everyone makes most of their money, is too far away for serious grinding. There's every reason to take the time off and find a beach, roller coaster, mountain range or whatever works for you. And if I didn't have more pressing matters to take care of, and a child who is close enough to college age to make every dime we spend something that gets considered many times over, I'd be off as well.

But this year, there's a little tension in the lapse, because there just seems to be an inordinate amount of uncertainty in the industry about, well, everything. Will the Brexit vote continue to reverberate through the world's markets, sparking employment shifts and lower spends in the UK? No one really knows the severity of the damage, or if it will eventually reverse itself. Of course, it's impossible to discuss Brexit without bringing up the US presidential race, which has a similar or stronger ability to change outlooks. The vacant spot in the Supreme Court and recent major decisions almost seems minor in comparison to that upheaval, along with the rancor in Congress over gun control measures. Every day is a crisis, beyond even the media's need for crisis.

But the crisis in just don't know goes beyond politics. The Rio Olympics is happening in a country in unprecedented chaos, between the Zika epidemic and the political uncertainty following a presidential impeachment. The Islamic State has lost ground in Iraq, which seems to create more appetite for soft targets abroad. Syria continues to be heart-breaking, Russia seems downright provocative, this all somehow ignores North Korea and their missile tests, and so on, and so on.

Getting back to matters that are more directly connected to our world, ad blocking is exploding in popularity. Smartphones have changed every aspect of digital marketing, from responsive coding in email to new rules in optimization and UI. Viewability and fraud remain active fires, publishers continue to struggle to avoid race to the bottom CPMs, and everyone I know who works in digital wonders just how in hell analog maintains their billables.

Realistically, all of this will get kicked down the road, rather than actively settled, during the holiday period. Possibly to clear the decks for some fresh crisis, even. But in a period of both real and ginned up crisis, just being able to keep your head and grind out your work is, just by itself, an increasingly rare skill.

And if that isn't enough to keep your eyes and ears from all the distractions?

Just remember how many of your colleagues are getting left behind from all of the rubber necking...

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Feel free to comment, as well as like or share this column, connect with me on LinkedIn, or email me at davidlmountain at gmail dot com, or hit the RFP boxes at top right. RFPs are always free, and we hope to hear from you soon.

Texit

Back and to the Out

Tonight as I took my dog on his nightly jaunt through the neighborhood (he's the kind of beast that likes to activate all of the dogs in their yards without barking back, because he clearly enjoys instigating), I caught a fair number of backyard cookouts and family get-togethers. I live in an area that's nicely diverse, and as I saw a number of kids running around playing various chase games with various accessories, it really didn't matter what language they were speaking, because every part of it reminded me of my own family events. There's really nothing more heart-warming than seeing generations coming together, with the young buring calories at a ferocious rate, while the older folk chuckle at the shenanigans. Language really doesn't matter.

But as we moved our mile down the road, to blocks that are very different in their demographics, I started to wonder if everyone felt the way I did. And from there, to the fallout from the UK referendum to leave the European Union, and it's continuing impact on world markets, and by inevitable extension, marketing and advertsing circles.

To wit... could something similar happen here?

If you think about it, the United States really is more fragile than we might care to admit, and might not make sense from a shared values experience. The people of Seattle have much more in common with the people of Vancouver than they do with, say, Miami. Miami's denizens probably don't care all that much about what happens in Maine, and outside of tourism experiences, none of the above probably thinks all that much about, say, Los Angeles or Hawaii. And none of those folks think very often about the northern plains, and vice versa.

Something more to this, even with all of the uncertainty in this year's contest; all of these places are increasingly likely to always vote in the same direction in general Presidential elections. Similarly, cities tend to always vote differently than rural areas, regardless of the state they are located. So what's to stop Balkanization from going world-wide, even if it's not so likely in a country that, all things considered, really isn't under the same level of stress and uncertainty as the countries in Europe? Especially if the immediate fallout from the UK vote leads to, say, Scotland and London both trying to re-enter the EU on their own?

In the U.S., there's the historical precedent of intense warfare, let alone the interconnected nature and shared language and currency of the States. We also have a shared military, currency, language, electrical grid and so on. Patriotism isn't felt more or less strongly by different groups and regions, even if you might not see the same percentage of flags on cars or turnout at Fourth of July events.

But maybe that changes. Especially if the vote continues to polarize, and the nature of technology, communication and trade continues to add stress and uncertainty to the future earning power of various groups. Maybe the social belief systems and nature of shared values continues to erode, especially as we make uneven progress on social issues, a trend from religious to secular, and we all spend an increasing amount of time on the coarse-inspiring Internet,

I'm sure that, would such a bill come to public voting and debate, it would fail, and the U.S. would remain a single nation. But I'm less sure that if that vote were to keep coming up, that the rate to remain would always stay the same.

Because that's kind of the problem with taking your country "back". It doesn't always sit well with those who were, in their opinion, taking it forward.

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Feel free to comment, as well as like or share this column, connect with me on LinkedIn, or email me at davidlmountain at gmail dot com, or hit the RFP boxes at top right. RFPs are always free, and we hope to hear from you soon.

Banner Blindness

Seen, Unseen, And Still Billed

This week, I was on a seminar that discussed the state of the nation in Banner Land, that troubled world of digital display advertising where viewability, ad fraud and getting what you paid for is far from assured.

And there was good news! Viewability is up, all the way to nearly half of the banners sold. Fraud is as low as 3%, or as high as 37%, which is in no way indicative of a massive problem that no one really has a handle on. And the fact that this might be the easiest and most prevalent way for criminals to operate, with opportunity all over the world, means that the presenter said, and I am quoting, "fraud will not disappear overnight." Good thing I was sitting down for that.

Now, none of this is especially new or novel, and the plain and simple fact of the matter is that Web ads still matter and still work, because when you A/B test search and email results without them, the banner audience shows a lift, assuming that the ads are, well, seen. But with the Internet Advertising Bureau still holding on to the plainly absurd standard of 50% pixels shown for just one second as a viewable ad, and viewability billing treating 70% as 100%...

Well, just what part of this should convince anyone that there's real improvement afoot? Or that if you aren't currently in the banner business, that it's one that you really should prioritize, moving forward?

Here's the crux of the problem for me. You've got an unloved ad unit that has never really worked for the consumer, especially in mobile, which is where the majority of traffic is going these days (and that trend isn't stopping). To get the same results as previous, you have to constantly scale up, which technology will easily allow you to do... but only at the cost of oversight, because no one has the time to monitor the untold number of Web sites that get in the mix for programmatic and retargeting campaigns.

So where we get to is an ad unit that can only work for brands with low concerns or market standing, for billing that has to be either so low that it can survive the low viewability, or in contracts that only pay off on rare events. It's just a perfect blueprint, honestly, for fraud.

And a few more points of viewability, or a greater focus on fraud, or a little more give back for the banners that were never seen, and honestly, should never be part of any billing moment?

Isn't really changing much...

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Feel free to comment, as well as like or share this column, connect with me on LinkedIn, or email me at davidlmountain at gmail dot com, or hit the RFP boxes at top right. RFPs are always free, and we hope to hear from you soon.

The Internet Of (Consequential) Things

For about 10 hours a week, I play one of the most boring video games ever. That game is measured by the gauges in my hybrid hatchback, which tells me how I'm doing with my efforts to go farther on a tank of gas. The game has no great prize or winner; just moments of small victory when the rates go up, and I've taken to dialing back the air conditioning, taking corners at drifting speed, and using the cruise control more and more on highways to better my score. (Mostly while driving alone.)

All of this has likely made me a safer driver, since I'm more attentive. That's all to the good, since driving might be the only activity that I engage in that could cause me serious injury. (Wondering how we're going to get this into marketing and advertising? Don't worry, it's coming.)

Currently, this habit  has very limited impact on anything beyond, well, how much I pay for gas. I don't have an IoT device on my car, so my habits aren't communicated to my insurance company. Even if they were (Progressive has a device), driving isn't in a feedback loop with your credit rating. But I do have a smartphone in my pocket, and a toll booth transponder on the windshield, so it's not as if these activities couldn't be tracked. The potential for this exists, and so does the infrastructure. It's just the last mile of consumer acceptance that needs to be navigated. Which is were marketing and advertising comes in. (See? We got here eventually. Just took the scenic route.)

This is, However, a pretty serious last mile. If the way you drive is tracked and monitored in a way that cuts your insurance payments, many consumers will accept it as a benefit. But there's a stick that comes with that carrot, and it's this: what if you could get traffic tickets without ever having a conversation with a police officer?

Well, you can already. Just drive through an automated toll booth without a transponder. But for things like speeding, failing to come to a full stop on signals, and so on... this all seems like a new and significant tax burden. And how these devices and convenience have consequences.

Now, let's go further, into the realm of wearables.

Currently, individuals self-report their habits to their insurance companies and healthcare providers, with points like their smoking habits, alcohol consumption, fitness, diet and sleeping all subject to personal bias and inaccuracy. We all know that we should be completely honest about these habits to receive the best care, but when honestly might cost you more in premiums, it's easy to shade those points. And in a time of increasing pressure on employment and rising health care premiums, the occasional cigar or other choice coming back to bite you in the workplace is a serious point.

That's why, in a recent survey of workers in the UK, "free" wearables provided by an employer were seen as a non-starter, because the data would be used against the individual. It's also why, despite decades of "cyber slacking" at the job, many employers turn a blind eye to on the clock usage of social media or viewing non-work Web sites, so long as the usage doesn't become disruptive.

Selling the benefits of the IoT was never going to be that easy. After all, it's new tech, and as such, has a high barrier to entry for bleeding edge technology. But when it's served with a side of fear -- inevitably stoked by mass media -- that's going to be a real challenge.

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Feel free to comment, as well as like or share this column, connect with me on LinkedIn, or email me at davidlmountain at gmail dot com, or hit the RFP boxes at top right. RFPs are always free, and we hope to hear from you soon.

What's Deserved

Such as a champion...

Tonight in Oakland, the Cleveland Cavaliers snapped a 52-year drought among professional sports teams in that city, by completing a 3-1 comeback against Golden State, who had the best regular season record in NBA history.

And I was struck, in the post-game comments, over the use of the word "deserved", as in how the fans of that city deserved a championship.

Now, perhaps I'm just being a little too doctrinaire on definitions here, and if you are going for splitting linguistic hairs from post-game athletes, you are probably going to be very disappointed routinely.

But fans don't actually deserve championships.

Being a good fan doesn't mean that you get to have a title passed down to you in equal allotments, because that's not how the game works. The good people of Cleveland may have been overdue for some good fortune, in that they were close a number of times, but that's far from deserving something.

It's kind of like how companies don't deserve good marketing or advertising, or business success. Hard work isn't enough; neither is a good product. Timing, strategy, personnel, an effective story in the marketplace... all are essential. But unlike sports, you can have more than one ultimate winner.

Oh, and one final point about this?

If the only time that you can be happy about your team is when they win a championship... you probably shouldn't be watching sports.

The Warriors made history this year, played beautiful basketball, and came within a couple of plays of repeating as NBA champions. Their fans might be disappointed tonight, and may be for some time to come, but in terms of memories, amazing play and entertainment, they got more than just about any team's fans ever.

And that Game Seven?

An utterly amazing game. One that neither team deserved to lose.

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Feel free to comment, as well as like or share this column, connect with me on LinkedIn, or email me at davidlmountain at gmail dot com, or hit the RFP boxes at top right. RFPs are always free, and we hope to hear from you soon.

That Which Cannot Continue

Herb Me

This week at my day job and on my social feeds, I've been struck by the following.

> The possibility, however remote, that something might actually change in the realm of gun control in this country following a massacre. It's certainly not how you'd bet, but there's actually some hope now that people who aren't allowed to fly also won't be allowed to buy weapons of mass murder. Baby steps.

> News from California that voters will have a referendum on the ballot that would make big money domination of political advertising difficult through a punitive tax on placements. And it's hard to see how a law like that wouldn't pass at the ballot box, honestly.

> News from Philadelphia of a vice-level tax on full calorie and diet sodas, with the revenue set to aid a wide range of programs, but most especially education.

Now, all of these points go against heavily moneyed interests to the cause of inertia. The NRA has steadfastly refused any movement on any number of laws, as they've more or less made the tactical decision to oppose any possibility of less coverage. They've been successful in getting more, not less, with state and local changes that have contributed, frankly, to a massive increase in sales. And a despair that anything can change.

In re California, the feeling in many political circles has been that money will rule, with only the tsunami of social media and outsider candidates causing a brief respite, albeit in ways that hardly seemed like progress. A punitive tax, while an obvious target for legal challenge, could be wildly popular, and California is a leading indicator on any number of trends.

Finally, the soda tax. It's not so much what it represents -- soda has been losing market share for decades now, as people look for more healthy choices -- but how it could open the floodgates to all manner of other punitive measures. Sin taxes have been in place for adult pleasures for decades, but if we extend to soda, fast food, junk food... well, it's not exactly the social change that some may dream of. But if we get healthier as a nation and planet, maybe the ends justify the means. More importantly, a great problem for the nation, in re obesity issues and rising rates of diabetes, might lessen.

Gun deaths, political ads and obesity. Terrible problems, seemingly unsolvable, now all in the cross hairs of possible change. Hope springs eternal, right?

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Feel free to comment, as well as like or share this column, connect with me on LinkedIn, or email me at davidlmountain at gmail dot com, or hit the RFP boxes at top right. RFPs are always free, and we hope to hear from you soon.

Fun With Twitter Data

Probably Not Actually Failing

OK, I have odd ideas of fun. But still, have you seen the Nielsen review of the 2015-16 TV season's most tweeted moments? It's a pretty great view into what people are talking about, and when, and should be required reading for anyone in marketing and advertising.

The most telling point to me is how much live sports drives Twitter, and how NFL football drives live sports. The Super Bowl got nearly as many tweets as the rest of the top 10 events, with six of the top ten events also being, well, football. This also came with the game being something of a snore this year, though it's a compelling point to wonder if a competitive game makes for more or less Tweets. I know from my own experience that my Twitter use will increase when the game is out of hand, because the telecast just isn't occupying my attention as much.

We've also got to assume that as the world continues to move from laptop to mobile (and to a lesser extent, tablet), that these counts still have some way to go. Whether that's on Twitter or not is another matter, as social media networks seem to have a shelf life, and Twitter's growth has been slowing year over year. Still, I'd have to guess we're at least 2-3 years away from a peak usage, given the growth in non-U.S. traffic, and Twitter's increasing use of emoji and non-typed content, along with longer Tweets. (Note how much capacity for growth seems to occur from greater Twittering about, say, soccer.)

There's also the possibility that we're missing a major factor in this set of data, which is the lack of the NBA Finals. The data runs from August 31, 2015 to May 29, 2016, or a period of time that almost perfectly excludes the June finals. Especially with the interest shown in this year's teams and top players, and the controversy involving suspensions. If my theory holds true to non-competitive games provoking more usage, this year's NBA Finals in particular may be through the roof. Or whether the US Presidential campaign also turns into an event push for Twitter. (So far, that seems more like a Facebook experience, which also seems to be a demographic phenomenon.)

Where this becomes truly intriguing is how it monetizes from a marketing and advertising standpoint. Social media use could be seen as something along the lines of live + DVR traffic, with greater broadcast spends justified by the apparent use. Broadcasts without a Twitter tail could also be seen as a softer spend, with easier to negotiate levels. Or, at least, this is how I'd spin it if I were negotiating for a client. Whether it's a successful tactic or not is another matter.

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Feel free to comment, as well as like or share this column, connect with me on LinkedIn, or email me at davidlmountain at gmail dot com, or hit the RFP boxes at top right. RFPs are always free, and we hope to hear from you soon.

Guns: A Disaster-Proof Industry

Once More Without Feeling

I might lose some business from this, but so be it. Sometimes, you've got to be willing to walk away from money.

Besides, how likely is it that gun manufacturers or the National Rifle Association actually need marketing and advertising assistance, really?

Yesterday's news from Orlando, where an armed gunman was able to kill 50 people in a gay nightclub with a handgun and an assault rifle in the most deadly shooting in American history, is all over the news as I sat to write tonight's column. This kind of event happens so routinely in this nation now that we've got all of the reactions down cold -- demands for gun control that will never go into effect, demands for increased carry liberties in the naive hope that non-maniacs will somehow limit the death toll through exceptional marksmanship in chaos -- and a well-known cycle of thoughts and prayers, debate that goes nowhere, and soon enough, another tragedy. The idea that we'd be able, as a country, to do anything about this after 50 adults died in Orlando, when we weren't able to do anything after 26 were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary, 20 of them children, is ludicrous.

So, to bring this around to a marketing and advertising perspective... is there a single industry, ever, where disasters improve the bottom line of the industry and lobbying efforts of the companies who seem, well, at least tangentially responsible?

Gun sales have gone through the roof during the presidency of Barack Obama, who has, whether you think this is a coincidence or act of heroism from the NRA, seized no guns from no one. Sales spike after every massacre, because the belief among the true believers is always that this will be the one that sparks a legislative or executive order, but honestly, gun buyers should just relax and avoid the rush. We see people dead from these kinds of events all the time now. No reason to ever rush to the gun store.

It's also hard to imagine that this would be a defensible hobby or lifestyle choice if it were, well, novel. Imagine if guns were a new invention, and not mentioned in the Constitution, how successful they'd be as an industry. Vaping technology, frankly, seems more highly regulated. Despite the dramatic differences in death counts.

We also can, frankly, dispatch with any comparison to the relative regulation of automobiles (frequent testing, technology upgrades to prevent tragedies, strong administrative oversight through state department of motor vehicles and police enforcement) to guns (loopholes all over, objections to simple counts from the Center for Disease Control, "smart gun" tech blocked at an industry level, background checks more or less stalled in Congress despite strong majority approval, even from NRA members), That hasn't mattered up to now, so why would things be different with another few dozen dead? Better to focus on the motives of the killer, which will easily distract with fear of a religious or ethnic minority. Because the fact that the tools are always the same is somehow not relevant.

So, to sum up. Disasters increase your bottom line in the short term. No disaster ever increases your risk of long-term sales. The rate of disasters is ever-rising, and the answer for every disaster at the individual level is to buy your product. With social media fervent that makes your target (sorry) demographic always have a sense of urgency to buy.

What an incredible business, selling guns. With no end to the good times!

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Feel free to comment, as well as like or share this column, connect with me on LinkedIn, or email me at davidlmountain at gmail dot com, or hit the RFP boxes at top right. RFPs are always free, and we hope to hear from you soon.

The Future Of The Inbox: Five Upcoming Changes

Flood Coming

Email marketing is one of my favorite things, because it's got incredible advantages over other formats of marketing and advertising. Instead of worrying about whether you've got share of mind due to the world of multiple screens, you've got the same direct marketing metrics that you've had for, well, decades. You also get a get out of jail free card from fraud and viewability statistics, and don't need to worry about DVR skipping, massively expensive creative costs, or rendering issues at different sizes, assuming you've managed concur responsive coding. It may be the only form of advertising and marketing, especially on the digital side, where the world has gotten better in the last five years.

But that doesn't mean that the field is immune from change, or won't have to deal with new challenges in the next few years. Here's where we see the field going.

1) Dayparting will become machine driven. If you only ever read transaction email from e-commerce outside of business hours (because you work in an open office and don't want to be unprofessional as to be reading your personal email on someone else's dime)... well, the transaction email provider, if possible, should only want to send that email to you in the evening. And if the situations were reversed, so should the dayparting. 

Some marketers will hate this, because it will be another moment of automation over a professional service, and if that kind of thing happens enough, you're out of a job. But it's just too much of an engagement rise to be anything but ubiquitous later. 

2) Responsive coding will go away, because email will project. Just this last week, email went holographic thanks to Microsoft, who debuted a virtual reality goggle set that allowed the reader to experience 3-D and video in email. But who wants to walk around with goggles, really? A far more shovel-ready product is the idea that mobile phablets will just be able to show email in screen sizes that aren't limited to the mobile screen size. This already exists in some robot phones in Japan.

3) Subject lines will become verbal. As audio-assist tech (aka, your smartphone being able to handle your voice) becomes better and better, the in-box will become a matter of conversation, more than reading, because your list will have the option to have Siri read your emails. As you might guess, this is going to hit broader e-commerce plays harder and faster.

4) Creative will match other channels from dynamic elements. If you've seen a banner and gotten a coupon code, a follow-up email will need to pull in that code... or you've given up the ghost of knowing the actual credit for which part of your marketing and advertising mix generated the actual business. It would also help to match optimal offer, and help to optimize around this point. (If you hate paying for shipping but don't trust or react well to percentage off copy, your follow up email needs to have the first offer. It's just that simple, and can only work as automated elements.

5) Metrics will evolve. Opens, clicks, bounce and unsub rate are all well and good, and fantastic compared to what other marketers have to work with... but a live eROI is far more potent, and currently way too hard to determine. Heat map tracking to determine how long your creative is being viewed and where would also be a great step forward, along with a sense of how much scrolling happens to get a sense of how deep you can go before it's just you talking to your compliance team. 

The single best thing about email marketing is that it's always been data-driven; creative has always benefited from a Darwinian model of optimal work wins, rather than succumb to noise about branding elements. As we continue to move from appointment media to always-on, from controlled platform to catch as you can, the field will adapt. It always has.

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Feel free to comment, as well as like or share this column, connect with me on LinkedIn, or email me at davidlmountain at gmail dot com, or hit the RFP boxes at top right. RFPs are always free, and we hope to hear from you soon.

The Virtue Of An Indirect Path

The Scenic Route

As a quasi-soft science, marketing and advertising attracts a fair number of people who come to the discipline later in their career. This isn't a field where you get a certificate to practice, or have to endure a residency or apprenticeship. It is something that many just learn by doing, with the caveat that bad marketing is frequently better than no marketing.

This means that there is, well, a lot of bad marketing out there, but also no shortage of different ideas. From a direct marketing standpoint, that's all to the good; the worst result in any test is no difference between creatives. The challenge is to fold the merits from these other backgrounds into the field.

Which is where I get to defend my own peculiar career path.

As a teenager, I was utterly convinced that I was going to be a journalist, and in particular, a sports writer. It was what I thought about all the time, from reading histories of various leagues to delving deep into statistical nerdery. Sports are how I got through math classes, because my brain well and truly hated most math classes, which might come as something of a shock to lots of people in my network. I developed the ability to prepare for the questions that I needed to ask, never lacked for the courage to ask said questions, and have a single-task focus that helped my subjects to open up, more often than not, and give me workable quotes.

So I went to a school (Syracuse) that was known for journalism, and focused on the field -- newspapers -- that held the most appeal to me. (The broadcast guys and girls were always a little too pretty for comfort, frankly.) As a hedge because there's something a little off-putting about old men asking young athletes questions about playing games, and because Syracuse insists that you try a lot of classes before you lock into your major, I developed an interest in political science, because that meant I could go from sports to politics later in life. That turned into a second major, because of good circumstances, and a desire to make my resume more impressive. I raced through school fast, doubled up on degrees, and then cast my resume to the winds, ready to work anywhere in America that needed a fresh sports writer.

Luckily, this didn't work. At all. Partly due to poor timing, partly due to poor networking, but mostly because starting salaries in journalism wouldn't have been high enough to pay for my student loans, let alone for the transportation that I'd need to do the job in the first place.

So instead of a direct path into that field, I did a lot of temp jobs. Used my speed typing and detail skills to work in law offices, which paid better than journalism and let me use public transportation, bicycles and feet. Stayed active in journalism by doing free-lance work for music magazines. Got the music bug and recorded my own stuff, then helped a friend start a trade conference, which finally led to a job in marketing for one of the event's sponsors... six years after getting my degree.

My first job in marketing taught me more than any job in the field that I've had before or since, and I owe that employer a ton... but they received terrific value as well. Political science meant that I was skilled at boiling down decisions to the legal minimums, and to hear the other side before making a case for either option. Journalism meant that I'd dig into details that others missed, and not just take things at face value. And my sports nerdery made me able to dig into numbers that other marketers would run away from, and invent my own derivatives from those, because that's kind of what sports nerds do.

Had I just gone to business school instead of journalism, maybe I have a similar or more lucrative career... but honestly, I don't think the choice would have prepared me better. By coming in through a different door, I bring other aspects to the table, and that perspective helps to create a personal brand.

Because at the end of the day, there's no single path to a career in marketing and advertising, and maybe not even a preferred one. You can learn the basics in a class or in the field, but since the nature of the work isn't set and forget, where you start is far from where you finish.

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Feel free to comment, as well as like or share this column, connect with me on LinkedIn, or email me at davidlmountain at gmail dot com, or hit the RFP boxes at top right. RFPs are always free, and we hope to hear from you soon.

Muhammad Ali: The End Of Fear

Preach

A quick few words about the passing of one of the most important people of the past one hundred years. Not just for marketers and advertisers!

When I was a kid, not to put too fine a point on it... Muhammad Ali was widely loathed, especially in my social circle. I won't repeat the words used to describe him, but Uppity might have been the least charged among them, with all kinds of other indignities hurled his way.

The only thing that kept the haters at bay was the fact that (a) Ali kept winning, and (b) the only guys to beat him, even in his failing years, were also African-Americans. Rooting for the likes of George Foreman, Leon Spinks or Larry Holmes was all just rooting for anyone on the Not Ali ticket.

So, what was it that people hated about the guy?

It really wasn't his stand against the war in Vietnam. Working classes of every race hated that war early and often, since only their sons got chosen to serve, and the long-term "vision" of a curtailed political system was rarely a big deal. Nor was it the points for which Ali could be pilloried; his cruelty in the ring to outmatched opponents in his peak days, his occasional political missteps, his general tendency towards outrage, his defense of a sport that gave him riches, but also helped to rob him of his intellect.

Rather, this.

Before Ali, there were controversial black athletes. Sonny Liston, the man he beat to be champion the first time, was a figure of considerable distaste for White America. Besides, every pioneer tends to wind up with arrows on their back and stomach.

Ali took that controversy to an entirely different level, because he didn't believe in false humility about his opinion of his opponent's competence. So instead of keeping his head down and reciting cliches, he took public discourse into realms that were not seen before. By doing this, Ali gave the biggest possible green light to competent African-Americans of all stripes that always following someone else's rules, regardless of the merit of these rules, was for rubes.

Because of one guy, being himself, refusing to be afraid.

This, to me, is the legacy of Ali, and why he was important.

Without Ali, maybe we don't get Mandela, Prince, Obama, and so many others.

Greatness isn't just what you do. It's what you inspire.

And very few people have ever inspired more greatness than Muhammad Ali.

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Feel free to comment, as well as like or share this column, connect with me on LinkedIn, or email me at davidlmountain at gmail dot com, or hit the RFP boxes at top right. RFPs are always free, and we hope to hear from you soon.

Tech Vs. Ethics

Let's Shake

One of my recurring concerns is how technology seems to be outpacing personal ethics. Mapping the human genome is amazing, but it could easily lead to the creation of eugenics-driven conformities. Genetic modifications of food could lead to massive benefit to humanity, or unforeseen miseries. Transplants and medical developments are amazing, but if decisions are driven purely by economics, abuse seems like it would be rife. In our lifetimes, we've seen tech end employment in any number of fields, and communications breakthroughs speed a "race to the bottom" in billables for previously lucrative trades. And so on.

There's no doubt that we live in amazing and challenging times. And where that relates to marketing and advertising comes around to something that rarely seems like an area of innovation, but still is: list segmentation. Specifically, redlining, and how the last mile of connectivity is going to make some amazing and troubling things possible.

First, a mild history lesson. Redlining was a racist practice in which minority borrowers were prevented from moving into communities through the denial of loans... but while it's obvious that decisions based on skin color are wrong, decisions based on income, assets and credit records happen all the time. And how that relates in the digital age is something that's eventually going to hit the public eye. But let's take it from the theoretical and make it easier to understand.

On a personal level, I've contributed to political campaigns before, and I've also recently been in the market for a new car. Both of these activities are in my online cookie record, and also have offline assets, through the use of a credit card and providing offline contact information. In both cases, I've been the subject of remarketing and retargeing campaigns, and had my info sold and rented for lead generation and dunning efforts. Absolutely ordinary stuff. I'm guessing you've had the same experience.

But let's dig deeper. For the car shopping, I arranged for test drives for my wife of a half dozen different models. If one of those car companies had been exceptionally aggressive in their pursuit of our business, they could have bought out all available advertising inventory, to the point where the only automotive ads were from one advertiser. It's a simple matter of overbidding in an real-time bidding environment. So far, the advertising environment has been too varied, and the adtech too much about scale to make this too obvious... but this kind of lockout work gets easier in a Google / Facebook centric ad environment, which has been where the market has been moving for the past few years, anyway.

Now, imagine how my advertising mix might look when it's personalized not just on my laptop, smartphone and tabled, but also on 30-second spots on broadcast and cable. (For the record, Adobe already claims to sell this capability.) Lockout gets easier here, and starts to end the idea of guaranteed reach and openings for competing brands. Only the big money brands would ever be willing and able to go the extra cost mile for their leads, and while this seems a little odd, it's not unprecedented, especially when you compare it to paid search listings.

So in this scenario, I'm only seeing ads for a single car brand, rather than the half dozen that were in my consideration set. And while that might seem a little Orwellian, but it's still just a purchase, and I can still make a different purchase based on follow-up emails or our own memory from the test drives. But I'm less likely to go that way, because advertising is effective. And so is the lack thereof.

Now, let's go beyond a purchase, and into something that might matter more for the republic. The tools for a political campaign are the same ones you'd use in e-commerce. There's also no reason why the organizations that agree with my views wouldn't want to control my ad mix. Perhaps I'd be less apt to donate my time and money in a setting where the only ads I ever see are for the opponent, and everything starts to seem like a fait accompli. Or I'm less likely to donate again, assuming that I haven't hit my limit yet, because there's no evidence that my candidate is making any ad spends at all with my money.

Perhaps all of this isn't as potent as it used to be, with social media taking over so much of our media mix, and personal technology seeming less prone to lockout. But again, ads in a dominant social media mix are even easier to fix.

I don't mean to cast this all in an ominous light. As a marketing and advertising pro, nothing makes my job easier than being able to tailor my creative and messaging to a highly relevant audience, and calling out benefits that matter more to an "expert" list has been my sweet spot as a pro for a very long time.

But just because the tools are powerful, doesn't mean they have to be used for, well, good. Or evil.

Amazing and challenging times, indeed.

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Feel free to comment, as well as like or share this column, connect with me on LinkedIn, or email me at davidlmountain at gmail dot com, or hit the RFP boxes at top right. RFPs are always free, and we hope to hear from you soon.

Five Ways To Lead... Without Title

Pay It Forward

In my current gig, I don't have direct reports. (Not a complaint; just where we are as a company.) No one has to do what I tell them, and most folks that I work with have much more experience in the field. And yet, I feel like I have a great deal of sway in my role, and can make a real impact in a wide range of factors.

At the risk of this sounding like a humble brag, how does this happen?

1) Positioning. By bringing in experience from outside of the field, I've been able to predict which campaigns are going to work, and which ones are going to tank... not through my ability to See The Future, but by being able to extrapolate from the relevant past.

2) Timing. If life in an office is somewhat analogous to a game of poker, then my contributions are more like the player who doesn't play that many hands, but does bet big when the cards are running in my favor. I choose my battles more, instead of having to contest every pot. It also makes for a far more effective outcome on the decisions that I feel more strongly about, since I'm collecting favors for future payoff.

3) Standing. I try to ground my opinions in precedent and optimal practice. The only way you get those points is to do the homework of looking through data for clues, and read a great deal of outside work to keep inspiring the new findings. (There may be a method to this whole "no direct reports" thing, in other words.)

4) Deflection. The numbers that I run could generate all kinds of self-aggrandizing points like what happens when the subject line is something I wrote, what the campaigns were generating before my hire date, and how other aspects of what we do drive more engagement and value. But that's not how I do my business, because it would be, well, unseemly. I'd rather teach my colleagues and clients my practices and techniques than be "magic"... because that sort of thing just isolates you, and makes it clear in the long term that you care more about your career than your employer. Take care of the latter, and the former will take care of itself.

5) Perspective. We cut our trending work all the way down to 24 yearly periods (i.e., every 15 days), and it's easy to try and make bigger deals out of outliers and possible trends, or to try to take the short cut with game-changing "big" moves. But that's not how the world works, or at least, how it's worked for the past three decades in the space, at the places where I've worked. Instead, you do better by building your case for optimal practices, brick by brick, flight by flight, case by case. Especially with anything that has elements of direct marketing, moonshot development moments are rare, and should be given exceptional scrutiny for mitigating circumstances.

That's because true growth isn't generally found in single shot moments of transcendent wisdom, but in the 90% of life that is just showing up. And having the right habits to help ensure that you aren't getting in the way of growth.

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Feel free to comment, as well as like or share this column, connect with me on LinkedIn, or email me at davidlmountain at gmail dot com, or hit the RFP boxes at top right. RFPs are always free, and we hope to hear from you soon.

When Live Sports Fail

Not Excited

Tonight as I settled in to watch my sporting jones of choice -- NBA playoff basketball -- I was hoping for a close game. Instead, for the second straight game in the Western Conference Finals, in a matchup that I've been anticipating all year, I got a boring blowout, and in all likelihood, the end of all drama in that series. Which comes on the heels of earlier best of seven series that only lasted five and six games, and also didn't deliver much in the way of drama. True, the Eastern Conference has had a few Game Sevens, and also looks like it might provide more excitement now that the Finals has become surprisingly competitive, but I'm not going to mince words. The thing that I've been looking forward to the most looks like a dud. (Note to Oklahoma City Thunder fans: I don't have a problem with your club, and I'm sure you are over the moon right now with their performance. I just want games that aren't blowouts. If your laundry wasn't involved, you'd want the same.)

Of course, the NBA playoffs have been cherries and cream compared to the tragedy that happened at the middle jewel in horse racing's Triple Crown last weekend, where a horse had to be euthanized on the track in a preliminary race, and ye gads, I'm not sure how you go on after something that sad. Which also comes on the heels of an extremely dull Super Bowl, with a lack of scoring or fourth quarter interest, beyond the fevered prayers of people with various bets. Oh, and if you want to continue the tale of woe, the myriad miseries befalling Brazil these days are really not casting a positive light for the upcoming Olympics.

Let's roll this back into marketing and advertising now.

If sports were like other forms of entertainment media that was advertising or directly supported -- say, a run of anticipated TV shows, a string of tentpole / franchise movies, or concert festivals from big name recording artists -- that had a similar run of failure, there would be autopsies. Diminished upfront sessions. Tortured moratoriums into What's Wrong With X These Days, and how Kids These Days just had no eye for quality, or put up with substandard product because they knew no better. There would be savage teardowns of the talent, networks, media companies, hype machines, with much sniffing over how it's all going to Hell In A Handbasket (the official conveyance to Hell for lo these many years, which always seems odd to me, since travel by handbasket is never discussed in any other context)...

But sports? Bullet proof. If the Western Conference Finals in the NBA are a snooze and Thunder walk, well, wow, the Finals are must-see, either to determine if they are going to fall apart or continue their run. Horse racing will continue with the Belmont, since death at the track hasn't stopped racing for centuries, and aren't going to stop now. There will be a Super Bowl in February unless an asteroid ends all life on Earth, and an Olympics in four years no matter how badly the Rio Games go. Dull games, one can argue, are necessary, otherwise we'd not celebrate the exciting ones so much; if there were all exciting, none would be.

Which is why the cost drivers for sports placements and sponsorships are so alien to the rest of your media buying plan, and why so much of our media (hello, tightening political races! Surely the media companies' incredibly vested interest in a close race for maximum bidding for ad spots would never compromise the nature of coverage!) seems to be Nothing But Sports now.

It's bullet -- and boredom -- proof.

And probably rollback-proof, too.

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Feel free to comment, as well as like or share this column, connect with me on LinkedIn, or email me at davidlmountain at gmail dot com, or hit the RFP boxes at top right. RFPs are always free, and we hope to hear from you soon.

Giving In To Creepy

Stalk Me

It's been nearly 15 years since "Minority Report", a dystopian sci-fi movie (is there any other kind?) that showed what personalized ads might look like on a biometric and personalized level. Well, if there were no boundaries to personal privacy, frequency control, and advertising was tied into a police state, rather than something that was tied to efficiency. Of course, you might already think we're in that dystopia, depending on your mood, and how often you wear tin foil on your head. But I digress.

As someone who has worked in adtech for most of my adult life, I can't tell you how much head shaking meh that movie has generated. Every time that automated technology has taken a tentative step forward -- adding first person names to email, dynamic elements in banners for e-commerce retargeting, swapping out ads in real-time bidding for more relevant work, upping the ante on offers to reactivate lapsed leads, and so on, and so on -- someone has inevitably brought up "Minority Report." Because adtech workers are still also consumers, and acutely aware of marketing in their own lives.

But the weird part of personalized adtech is how much we give a pass to other aspects of technology that are, well, far creepier than a more relevant banner. Every time you use a transponder in your car rather than interact with a person in a highway toll booth -- and the latter option is becoming nearly impossible, even if you'd like to take more time out of your day to be in the tourists only line -- you are giving up your exact location to an outside agency. The smartphone in your pocket could honestly double as an electronic ankle bracelet for people on parole. Depending on the age of your car, that's more tracking, and frequently it activates to alert you about service.

We have the tech to ensure that cars can't start unless the user can prove they are not inebriated, and if that tech becomes cheap enough, maybe it will be mandatory. That technology is racing the arrival of automated driving, which, given the public safety issues, might eventually lead to actually driving as a prohibited offense. (On the plus side, now everyone who wants to drink can. And we've also got a dramatically better world for the handicapped.) Something similar can be said about the transfer from analog to digital in medical records. And if you'd like to think negatively about any of that, to a world where everyone has to obey the speed limit at all times, has their medical information or credit history used against them in a linked buyer's profile, or has their food intake controlled (too many cheeseburgers this week, you're cut off), you can. The tech isn't good or bad; it just is.

The difference, of course, it that seeing the benefits of invasive tech advertising requires you to, well, work in advertising. Cut down on my time and costs at toll booths, and I'll let you monitor me. Smartphones are so useful, people get panicky if they are deprived of them for even a few minutes. No one wants to be misdiagnosed, or for their doctor to lack information. But no one believes that advertising has a similar benefit, or that the system would break if they somehow got their content without it.

But here's the thing... advertising actually *does* make your world better. It enables the production of expensive and beloved content, from high-end journalism to exceptional television, and if you want to live in a world where citizen journalists and user generated content take your media consumption from "Better Call Saul" and the New York Times to YouTube "stars" and whoever wants to write for free for the Huffington Post...

well, I'm sorry, but I'm not with you on the swap.

Because that's what at risk if cord-cutting and ad blockers achieve critical mass. An expansive and expensive increase on the audiences that remain, with a dramatically worse user experience.

So... who else is willing to put up with a little creepy?

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Feel free to comment, as well as like or share this column, connect with me on LinkedIn, or email me at davidlmountain at gmail dot com, or hit the RFP boxes at top right. RFPs are always free, and we hope to hear from you soon.