Digital media makes The Advertisers Round Table

The Adelaide Advertiser hosts regular Round Table's with industry heavyweights to bring expertise on different topics to their readers. Today they just happened to invite 5 internet & media industry-related people (including yours truly, Via Media CEO Anthony Coles) to the table under the multi-media gaze of their AdelaideNow audio and video production team, (and a couple of work experience bods to boot).

After happy snaps and card swapping, discussions opened on the topic of "will the Internet have any impact on business in SA".

Biting my lip I glanced over to catch newly appointed SA Tourism GM of Marketing, Steve Kernaghan, ease back in his seat and break into a grin.

"The Internet is ALREADY having an impact on business in SA", we all chimed in unison to exclaim.

Steve gave space to a few local lads to lead the charge in response.

Adam Internet CEO Scott Hicks lamented the challenges to their considerable investments in Internet-related infrastructure here in SA in the face of the huge Telstra/ Australian Government conflict-of-interest.

"How can business benefit from our infrastructure (ie - better content), if our playing field isn't world-competitive", cried Scott. "We have the demand. How can we move beyond the infrastructure constraints of a poorly advised Government and cross-ownership confilct?"

My thoughts raced ahead to a Facebook Group, "Help Raise $400M to fund Adam Internet's fibre-optic roll out". More on that later...

SATC's Steve K finally added his weight to the debate with his international perspective, (Steve's new to SA from a Tourism Australia gig in the US).

His experience with mobile internet, Tivo, and direct-to-consumer transaction opportunities presented by the internet were refreshing in this market.

"The internet is the single most important channel in our marketing planning for the year ahead" says Steve.

"Don't jump up and hug him here", says the little guy in my head who stops me doing silly things!!

"But where is all this content going to come from?", asked Business Editor Cameron England insightfully. "Do we have the talent here to produce it?"

"Absolutely", states OMD CEO Gary Jaffer, "we have some of the best talent in the world here in SA".

Er, then why can't I find an experienced digital Account Director or gun Creative Director with web 2.0 campaign experience for my business, I thought?

As conversation progressed, we weaved from technical Internet issues to consumenr and Media issues.

"The role of the media with any advertising campaign is the same", noted KWP! Media Manager Matt Rawnsley. "Each needs to be considered within the context of what it is the client is trying to achieve, and its value evaluated against those objectives".

Quite right I thought, couldn't have put it better myself if I was a media manager with and Ad Agency.

But what if your 'media' is someones Facebook profile, and your ad is a "Had a Top Stay Here" widget promoting some local B&B you stayed at, offering a 'free bowl of soup' to any of your friends if they click on the widget?

Then Me becomes the Media.

Word-Of-Mouth blurs with Direct (Marketing) via the mass media of the Internet. Facebook currently has a Gazzillion* page views per day. (*note - Nielsen NetRatings does not recognise gazzillion as a media planning term).

Creative (Content) has just become a Transaction (Customer).

Where does 'the Media Agency' and the evaluation of relevant 'Paid Media' channels fit into this model?

Lucky I never let that mind rant leak out publicly amongst the group, or I'd have been shipped off in a tight white jacket with long sleeves!

And so on it went for an hour or so. More reality checks from Scott (Hicks) (not the Film director), more international tourism-industry perspective from Steve (Kernaghan) (not the former Carlton and Glenelg great), and more ad-land fundamentals from Gary (Jaffer) and Matt (Rawnsley).

And more Blue Sky from me.

Overall, hosts Meredith (Booth), Cameron (England) and Chris (Russell) were all on-topic and enthusistic with the industry participants at today's Round Table.

Did we find a solution to the growing gap between the have's and the have-nots?

Maybe not.

Did we contribute to combating Climate Change?

Well Rupert's building is very Green, and I did walk to the meeting.

But was I excited to have this topic, (one that I've been beeting my head against a brick wall over for 15 years now), finally reach the Business Section of The Adelaide Advertiser, and have an opportunity to participate in the discourse?

You bet.

Can't wait until it appears in the paper next week.

Oh, but now you already know what happened because of this blog. Doh!

What was that again about the impact that the Internet was going to have on business in SA?

Oh well....let's go to the video...

2.0 the go in Enterprise Knowledge Management-land

There were more cliche's and acronyms than a orthodontists convention at the KM (knowledge management) Australia Conference in Melbourne today.

It seems enterprises (ie - organisations, private and Government), far and wide are looking for ways to integrate these new user-generated tools into their communications.

The KM Australia Conference has been going for 5 years now, and is the largest of its type in the Southern Hemisphere (their speal).

Some good insights from 'the Vignette dude' (Carl Jones) today about the way forward with the big guys. Funny to hear though that 90% of their clients (Fortune 500's), don't start with the simple question of what business are we in?, and what do our clients want from us?.

Just as we try to say to our clients, let's get the strategy right first, then the tools (ie - 2.0 technologies), can be selected on their merit in meeting the organisations goals.

Can't wait till tomorrows talk from those Via Media guys on their 2.0 work for DEFEEST...;-)

Get higher open rates with the right welcome

Here's a nice 'back-to-basics' article on email marketing from Lindsey Secord at Premiere Global Services, one of the worlds largest e-marketing technology service providers and one of Via Media's partners. Too many businesses fall into the trap of thinking that email is cheap, and if they have an opt in email list that they might as well blast every message to every person (and think of all those hours saved on segmentation and targeting strategy...)

Lindsey offers a few examples, and a number of tips you can use pretty easily in your own eDM program. Click on the link below for the full article from iMedia Connection, and please sing out if any of it needs translating into (South) Australian.

iMedia Connection: Get higher open rates with the right welcome

Avoiding Facebook Follies

An interesting article by Evan Gerber from Molecular, commenting on the huge disparity between successful brand forays into social networking, and those that miss the mark (even though the brand itself might be a household name). A key tenet of the article is that engagement is vital, more so than the supporting media spend regardless how heavy. It comes back to core strategy - are you jumping into social networking because its the flavour of the day, or because there's a real alignment with your brand strategy? And once you've made that call, how can you give your campaign the best chance (and it's true, some of it comes down to chance) of flying instead of flopping. The full article is worth a read.

iMedia Connection: Avoid these Facebook faux pas

Net users multitasking in front of telly | Australian IT

An article popped up in the Australian IT section yesterday that showed some interesting stats on internet use in Australia and in NZ. Nielsen Online is reporting that 80% of internet users here and across the ditch are engaged in publishing to the web (posting photos, videos, blogging etc) - not just surfing it.

The 'always on' home broadband access also seems to be responsible for a new phenomenon of 'multimedia tasking' - either working or interacting socially online while watching TV. Makes you wonder where their attention goes during the ad breaks...

Click below for the full article.

Net users multitasking in front of telly | Australian IT

Eye Movement Across a Web Site

Check out this article from VirtualHosting.com - its a great resource titled "Scientific Web Design: 23 Actionable Lessons from Eye-Tracking Studies" about how visitors view sites, and makes a fairly complex topic simple in terms of things you can do to maximise performance of your own site. We've listed them below, but go and read the post to get the full picture.

1. Text attracts attention before graphics. Contrary to what you might think, the first thing users look at on a website isn’t the images.
2. Initial eye movement focuses on the upper left corner of the page.
3. Users initially look at the top left and upper portion of the page before moving down and to the right.
4. Readers ignore banners. Surprise?
5. Fancy formatting and fonts are ignored.
6. People generally scan lower portions of the page.
7. Shorter paragraphs perform better than long ones.
8. One-column formats perform better in eye-fixation than multi-column formats.
9. Ads in the top and left portions of a page will receive the most eye fixation.
10. Ads placed next to the best content are seen more often.
11. Text ads were viewed mostly intently of all types tested.
12. Bigger images get more attention.
13. Headings draw the eye.
14. Users spend a lot of time looking at buttons and menus.
15. Lists hold reader attention longer.
16. Large blocks of text are avoided.
17. White space is good.
18. Navigation tools work better when placed at the top of the page.

Many of them are obvious, but its nice seeing the traditional view path 'heat map' translated into an actionable list.

Digital Trends for 2008

Always following the festive season is the rush of hit predictions for the coming year. This one from Advertising Age's Digital publication, by renowned digital industry commentator Steve Rubel. Read it here and at http://adage.com/article.php?article_id=122886

Three Trends That Will Shape Digital in 2008
The Big Picture: Customers, Consumers and Content
By Steve Rubel

Published: January 07, 2008

The new year is when people like to make predictions. However, I find it more valuable to look at the bigger picture -- the trends that will play a role in shaping digital media and marketing over the next 12 months.



MEDIA-ADVERTISER COOPETITION
Conventional wisdom says never compete with your biggest customers. But that's exactly what's happening in the ever-changing dynamic between advertisers and media partners. Thanks to the web, brands are becoming their own media companies, vying for the same constricting field of attention the media long have dominated. This will force the media giants to increasingly become launch pads for advertiser-created content even as they carefully navigate the resulting Chinese-wall issues.


LIVING ROOM 2.0
For many, the living room is no longer the hub of a household. We spend more time today in front of computers tucked away in bedrooms and home offices than we do gathered around a single TV. That said, the living room is slowly undergoing a revival as consumers buy HDTVs. Early adopters are adding Windows Media Center PCs or Mac Minis to their home theaters so they can view photos in glorious hi-def.

Mainstream consumers are not there yet. However, they will join the geeks as the technology gets easier to use and connectivity finds its way into existing devices, including TV, digital cable boxes, TiVo, Xbox 360 and Wii. All of this will make the living room a place where families gather again, particularly as TVs connect to social networks.


CURATORS COLLECT AND CONNECT
During the past 10 years, content has become a commodity. So has data. Information overload makes it difficult for anyone to separate essential air from smog. Search engines don't really help -- it's hard even for them to separate gems from junk.

Enter curators. Brands, media and consumers who relish information will prosper by aggregating mountains of information and distilling those down to their most essential parts.