L&S Unscripted

Another edition of notes from my trip to the Interative Advertising Bureau’s MIXX Conference this past fall. 

Ads Are Content

• 55 billion dollars are projected for interactive marketing in 2015; it will be the largest media category in the world.
• Economic value of the internet: 3.1 million US jobs, and $300 billion to the economy. 
• Evolution of banners
  • Banner ads – circa 1995 – when display ads were put on banners.
  • Google changed it with small ads to small groups that it was relevant to. 
  • Now, there are infinite inventory and places to advertise.  Attention is worth more than money.
  • We have learned to tune out banner ads that do not speak directly to us – we need to make ads as content, that match that niche community’s site (no generic banner ads to all sites).
  • Get communities to talk about your product for you.  Example of unique niche community – GeekDad.com – 1 million visits per month.  Great example of a very niche, yet very popular site. So how do you engage deeply with all of these micro-communities?  You can’t reach them all – you need to find a way to get that community to do that for you.
• Embrace digital – your stuff is out there so make a community around it or make it easier for people.
  • Example: Monte Python – They faced a potential loss in DVD sales when some of their episodes starting getting put online by users.  They embraced the fact that their content was already out there, and improved it by uploaded episodes to You Tube, making the episodes HD friendly, and organizing the collection online.  The result?  A renewed interest in the products, and increased DVD sales.