Marketing & Strategy Innovation Blog

by: Karl Long

Todd linked to this excellent viral homage to some of the notable viral videos of the last few years. Believe me they list a hell of a lot, but what I found interesting was the number of deliberate commercial “virals” for want of a better word. These are the companies/people that managed to achieve what I believe is quite a feat, to launch a deliberate campaign that “goes viral”.

Continue reading "We Didn’t Start The Viral - Commercial Successes" »

Posted by Futurelab at 11:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Karl Long

At the Forrester Consumer forum David Armano successfully goaded me into doing a podcast, with his promise of creating a logo for me, and the condition that he can be my first guest i acquiesce. His suggestion was to call it “The long and the short of it”, which I kind of like, it plays nicely off my last name, and seems like an appropriate homage to one of my favorite podcasts, American Copywriter. The connection is of course the infamous American Copywriter drinking game which is you take a drink any time someone says “The long and the short of it” amongst other things.

Continue reading "Interactive Agency Blogs and “the long and the short of it” Podcast" »

Posted by Futurelab at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Karl Long

So this is some early experimental thinking here so feel free to poke holes, call bullshit, or add your own take in the comments.

I’m using the term co-creative marketing here as I think it’s a better more holistic term than “viral”. I still think viral is a totally valid tactic, but I don’t think it’s a strategy. Viral in most cases is not much better than a 30 second spot except it’s distribution is cheaper, I guess that’s why marketers and advertisers are so generally comfortable with the concept.

Continue reading "Beyond Viral: 3 ideas for Co-Creative Marketing" »

Posted by Futurelab at 7:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

Continue reading "Digital Marketing's Dirty Little Secret" »

Posted by Futurelab at 9:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: David Armano

I originally wrote the "4 C's of blogging" back in June of 2006.  I expanded upon them in my "Conversation By Design" presentation and most recently referenced them in an interview with Crains.  So I thought it might be a good idea to put together a post with the highlights for what it takes to create a great blog experience (in my opinion). 

Click image to enlarge.

Continue reading "The 4 C's of Blogging" »

Posted by Futurelab at 8:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Guy Kawasaki

My buddies at Avenue A | Razorfish provided me this copy of a study called “Fast Forward: Designing for Constant Change.” It consists of thirteen essays and research that explore how consumers’ digital media habits affect the ways that companies should design user experiences and digital brands. The company wrote the report for marketers who are trying to design more effective online ads and websites in the face of rapid technological change. It is the result of 500 interviews conducted in July, 2007.

Continue reading "“Fast Forward: Designing for Constant Change” Study" »

Posted by Futurelab at 11:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: David Armano

Rob points us to this insightful article in the Globeandmail.  I especially like this excerpt:

"Executives at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia took great pains earlier this year to make certain the company's redesigned website looked flawless before rolling it out to the public.

Continue reading "Why Execs Are Stumbling in a New Media World" »

Posted by Futurelab at 10:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Karl Long

If there was a techmeme for marketing Firebrand would be the most talked about story for sure. Even technorati which famously lumps every blog in the world in the same category is listing Firebrand in it’s top ten searched terms. With Rohit, Jaffe (Firebrand is a client of Jaffe’s Crayon), and Steve Hall weighing in it’s generating a lot of buzz in the Marketing O’Sphere.

Continue reading "Firebrand - Extremely Ambitious Advertising as Content Destination" »

Posted by Futurelab at 10:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: David Jennings

My book is out in the UK. If you buy it from Amazon.co.uk, you'll make me happy. If you can add to the reviews for the book, you'll make me even happier.

Continue reading "Net, Blogs and Rock'n'Roll is published" »

Posted by Futurelab at 9:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Dick Stroud

These images are taken from Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, August 20, 2007. They demonstrate the fact that users almost never look at anything that looks like an advertisement. I implore you to read the article.

Continue reading "Web users ignore things that look like ads" »

Posted by Futurelab at 3:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: John Caddell

No, she wasn't caught partying with Paris Hilton or Lindsay Lohan. She wasn't arrested or sent to rehab.

As described in a front-page article in today's Wall Street Journal (link - $$), musician Marie Digby made simple videos of herself singing cover songs, posted them on YouTube, got millions of views, and parlayed that into gigs on the Carson Daly show, local LA radio, and general buzz as a true YouTube discovery.

Continue reading "What's Wrong with what Mary Digby did" »

Posted by Futurelab at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: David Armano

Many of the senior folks who work at a variety of agencies (design, advertising, PR,—take your pick) are actually digital immigrants vs. digital natives.  This means folks like myself (30-somethings) knew what life was like before the digital revolution.  Digital natives, however have grown up with digital technologies from birth—some have never seen a tape cassette.

Continue reading "Questions For The Agency Executive" »

Posted by Futurelab at 11:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Josh Hawkins

Last week, Phil Leigh, host of the video blog "Digital Media Thought Leaders," posted a two part interview I did on broadband media distribution and marketing. In the interview, I touch on a number of strategies I believe are necessary for content owners to run a successful broadband video business and for marketers to take advantage of the fast-changing and self-selecting consumer media behavior. 

Continue reading "Blended Distribution Strategies & New Marketing Opportunities" »

Posted by Futurelab at 9:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Dick Stroud

This is an age-neutral blog posting about a couple of bits of research I have just read about the dynamics of Web advertising.

The first research study is from the University of Kentucky's School of Journalism and Telecommunications and claims that just seeing an ad on a Web page can be remembered and doesn't rely on the ad being clicked. The full article is on the Technology Review web site.

Continue reading "Web ads – what are they for?" »

Posted by Futurelab at 9:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Karl Long

Also check out their introduction to wikis. Reminds me of the wonderful series of posts on Lifehacker called UltraNewb that are basic lifehacks for the non-nerds.

Continue reading "Brilliant Video On Social Bookmarking Even Your Mother Will Understand" »

Posted by Futurelab at 5:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: David Wigder

Paid search continues to grow and is now considered by most marketers to be a core component of their online marketing tool kits.  This continued growth is not surprising, however, as it is hard to beat search as a marketing channel for both its efficiency and effectiveness.

Continue reading "Search Is Paramount in the Emerging Green Category" »

Posted by Futurelab at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Alain Thys

This week, two events caught my attention which are not that significant on their own, yet in combination made me think.  First there was CBS Corp’s Chief Exec who complained that his viewers were not ‘helping the networks’ when it comes to pretending they actually watch the advertisements.

Continue reading "TV Producers Need a Business Model to Go Online" »

Posted by Futurelab at 8:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

By: Stefan Kolle 

A Youtube user spotted a testrun of the new in-video advertising system Google/Youtube are apparently testing. The good news - it seems un-intrusive and user-friendly. It avoids the problem that many pre-roll ads have - if you watch a couple of videos in a row, you get the same ad over and over again, which can get pretty annoying - and therefore totally counterproductive for the advertiser.

Watch the video below. 

Continue reading "First look at Google/Youtube advertising" »

Posted by Stefan Kolle at 12:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

This quote comes from a fantastic article about Wikipedia in the NYT a few days back.
www.nytimes.com/2007/07/01/magazine/01WIKIPEDIA-t.html?ei...

Continue reading "wikipedia accounts for 1 in 200 page views" »

Posted by Futurelab at 8:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Yann Gourvennec

Newsatseven is a new service which compiles and delivers news to you, direct from the Web and automatically generates a youtube news show with an Avatar (named Alyx Vance).

Continue reading "News at seven on Harry Potter" »

Posted by Futurelab at 12:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Jon Miller

According to MarketingSherpa’s Business Technology Marketing Benchmark Guide 2007-08, 80% of decision makers who made a technology purchase believe that they found the vendor – as opposed to the vendor targeting them.

Continue reading "80% of Your New Customers Think They Found You" »

Posted by Futurelab at 1:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Ilya Vedrashko

Some time ago, I posted a general overview of ad formats in Joost. This was before the company announced the product's formal launch last Tuesday carrying some 30 advertisers who'd signed up for the three-months trial. I thought I'd pop in and see who's doing what.

Continue reading "More Details on Joost Advertising" »

Posted by Futurelab at 6:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: David Armano

Doing a little housekeeping and I've updated my visuals in a single slideshow.  Every 4 months or so, I'll update the slideshow and re-post here.  Gotta love slideshare.

Continue reading "Visual Library" »

Posted by Futurelab at 8:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Sebastian Campion

AddArt is a subversive Firefox add-on currently being developed by the American artist Steve Lampert.

The concept is inspired by the popular Adblock add-on which removes ads from web pages. The main difference between the two is that AddArt will not just block ads, it will replace them with new images - images created by artists. So, the more ads you surf, the more art you'll get!

Continue reading "AddArt" »

Posted by Futurelab at 1:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Ilya Vedrashko 

Have run into a couple of articles discussing the advertising side of Joost, an upcoming video delivery service from the makers of Skype and Kazaa. (From their site: "Joost uses secure peer-to-peer technology to stream programmes to your computer.

Continue reading "Joost's Advertising Model" »

Posted by Futurelab at 8:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Karl Long

In an recent article on MarketingVox with the headline “Advertisers Line up at YouTube Killer’s Door” they talk about how big advertisers are all getting behind a video site being planned by NBC.

Continue reading "Big Advertisers Insanity - The Upfront For A Theoretical YouTube Killer" »

Posted by Futurelab at 9:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Joel Makower

Thanks in large part to Al Gore, climate movies are the new black.

There are two out this week with a distinctly business focus -- both making the case that proactive corporate climate initiatives can be a boon for the economy, the environment, and for company competitiveness.

Continue reading "The Corporate Climate Revolution Will Be Televised" »

Posted by Futurelab at 3:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Jon Miller

Content is critical for lead nurturing. Whether it is a case study, new research on some aspect of your industry, a how-to guide, or a whitepaper, content is what makes your lead nurturing programs work – and lead nurturing is what helps marketing drive more revenue to sales.

Continue reading "The YouTube Approach to Lead Nurturing" »

Posted by Futurelab at 4:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Ilya Vedrashko

Wired ran a story yesterday by Dave Demerjian on the future of ad technologies. I've got a chance to share a few thoughts for the article (ad robots and such), but naturally not everything we talked about found its way into the print. Here are a couple of questions that have come up that I thought I'd share. (image credit)

Continue reading "The Tom Sawyer Effect of Ad Widgets" »

Posted by Futurelab at 12:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Alain Thys

When looking at part 1 and part 2 of the unveiling of Sony Home for the PS3, I was dazzled by what I can only describe as a cool combo of an über-interface to the Sony media-world and a hi-res version of Second Life for my living room TV.  Even my wife started saying she wanted a PS3.

Continue reading "Sony Home ... Why can't I make my own stuff?" »

Posted by Futurelab at 10:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Roger Dooley

One of the hottest marketing techniques in the last year has been viral video - create a clever enough video segment, and with minimal promotion it can reach a Super Bowl ad-sized audience for a tiny-fraction of the cost.

Continue reading "Viral Video and Neuromarketing" »

Posted by Futurelab at 10:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Alain Thys

Exactly a year ago this blog went "live" and we just wanted to thank everyone who's been part of making it something much more successful than we ever thought it would be.  Today, we've got about 25,000 regular readers, over 1,400 posts, and more importantly, our base of daily feedburner subscribers keeps growing by the week (currently at 2,500).

Continue reading "Happy Birthday Futurelab Blog" »

Posted by Futurelab at 10:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Lynette Webb

I’ve got iPods on the brain today. Here’s another quote from the same article (and book).

“The iPod is only the most recent, and most compelling, advance in a movement of portable cocooning that's been underway for decades. In 1974, sociologist Raymond Williams used the term "mobile privatization" to describe the phenomenon of people forming technological bubbles around themselves. Click image to enlarge.

Continue reading "ipod is most recent advance in portable cocooning" »

Posted by Futurelab at 12:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: David Polinchock

Wasting part of the day today while waiting for a package to arrive and came across this video. You have to watch it all the way through to get the punch line. Anyone know if Crispin did it?  Click here to watch video.

Continue reading "Is this a real Burger King Commercial?" »

Posted by Futurelab at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Lynette Webb

And one final quote from the same article that I couldn’t resist. I was reminded of this last weekend when listening to Jonathan Ross on radio 2… he was talking about how nowadays he seldom listens to the end of any song, he’s always fast-forwarding to the next. I’m the same and I guess it’s fairly common. The only bad thing is that iTunes hasn’t quite caught up with that behaviour yet.

Click image to enlarge.

Continue reading "ipod scroll has made us a skipforward generation" »

Posted by Futurelab at 1:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Lynette Webb

No need to say much about this. It’s a bit tongue in cheek, but I’ve had this quote sitting round for a while and today I stumbled across the perfect image for it. It’s a reminder of just how fast things like the iPod have spread.

Click image to enlarge.

Continue reading "no-one would have believed ipod more popular than beer" »

Posted by Futurelab at 12:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

By: Ilya Vedrashko

Have run into a couple of articles discussing the advertising side of Joost, an upcoming video delivery service from the makers of Skype and Kazaa. (From their site: "Joost uses secure peer-to-peer technology to stream programmes to your computer. Unlike other TV and video-based web applications, it does not require users to download any files to their computers or browse through complicated websites.")

Continue reading "Joost's Advertising Model" »

Posted by Futurelab at 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend