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Superbowl Ads 2004…

While last year I blogged the ads, I just did not have the energy this year. I guess having a child will do that to you. 😉 My thought though is that the vast majority of the advertising was a complete waste. Somewhere, are some happy media and creative directors high-fiving each other about getting airplay for the big game. The win for them is that the ratings were extremely high thanks to the game being so close… the bad is that no one will really recall any of the work going back to their regular business as though the crazy expensive ads never ran.

It reminds me of the creative director who once (not that long ago…)told me… sure the client is small and we know TV is not the best thing for them given their small media budget, but this will be great for the Agency’s reel. Then we’ll have some great work to submit for the award shows…

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What Free WiFi Freeloader Problem?

A quick look at how a variety of restaurants and cafes that offer free WiFi deal with the patron who just won’t leave. A pattern seems to be emerging: while the paid-WiFi guys always use this as an argument why no one should offer free WiFi, it seems like just about every place that offer free WiFi says it’s never actually been a problem. Most people come in, use the WiFi for a bit and leave. They also tend to come during off-peak hours, bringing in more business at that time for the establishment. In some cases, places try to cut back on the possibility of free-loading by doing things like turning off the WiFi at peak times – but there’s no evidence that’s needed. As people have said in the past, it’s no fun to be surfing the net if the place is overcrowded with people waiting to get a seat. [Techdirt Corporate Intelligence: Techdirt Wireless]

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Time Warner Cable leans more heavily on voice

The Time Warner unit speeds the rollout of its Net-based phone service because it more urgently needs the “voice piece” of its triple play of offerings designed to fend off gains by satellite companies. [CNET News.com]

I’ve started to notice Cablevision ads on TV (looks like an Ericsson cordless in their spots…) here in NYC but I have yet to see anything from Time Warner, my cable company.

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Monster plans fee-based job networking site

Monster Worldwide next month plans to launch an online community for users of its popular jobs listing site for a fee, but critics question whether the move will be successful. [CNET News.com]

I guess we’ll see how it goes… In my limited experience so far, Monster is a tough one from the job seeker end. Sure they have a crapload of jobs, but many continually resurface as “fresh” and there are just too many multi-level schemers floating around. It would be nice to get some filters going to make it more efficient.

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New Feature … An Ad Banner for Me!

So, if you are just arriving or a regular, you may be noticing a new banner at the top of the page (RSS Readers, will just have to open the link). I’ve added this to both the main index and the individual item index pages since they get the most traffic. I have no idea what this may or may not do (other than generate some spam), but am hopeful that with the traffic I get, perhaps an interested party will be there as well. I’ve noticed some excellent domains in my traffic logs and since these are companies I would definitely consider working for, I’ve put a sign post up to attract some attention. Let the clicks begin!

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But how much will I have to pay for the pleasure…

In the next year, not one, but two shopping magazines will begin publishing what they hope will function as catalogs. [New York Times: Business]

In my mind this is ridiculous. I think these magazines and Lucky for women would be better off as consumer controlled circulation issues. Why do I want to pay for this?? It’s like buying the sharper image catalog at the newsstand. Well Sony does sell their SonyStyle magalog… though I would never choose to buy it. They should be giving it away – or paying us to have it with incentives, like discounts for direct purchase.

This is almost as ridiculous as adding actual commercials to movie pre-screen advertainment. This coming year, we’ll be fortunate enough to pay 10.25 for this opportunity in NYC.

As I’ve ranted previously, if you add commercials to premium content, the price should be reduced. HBO does not run commercials for anything other than what you might also enjoy on the network. We should expect the same at the movie theater where it costs as much for one sitting as it does to have 2 premium cable channels added to your bill each month.

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AT&T and Atlantic Records to test MMC album delivery

Take a cell phone/ multimedia device – the Nokia 3300 which can be expanded through MMC cards and add a pre-packaged MMC card to the mix, but charge $28.95 for the privilege. Don’t forget that unlike a Palm, Pocket PC or Gameboy, this phone uses the same convenient system for changing cards which requires the user to remove the back panel, remove the battery and then wrestle with the chip holder to remove and replace what might already be inside.

Who thought that was a good price?!!?!? Oh that’s right the record label, lords of convenience and early adopters that they are. This is way more than the cost of a CD forgetting of course that you can download your own tracks, either illegally or by purchase and transfer ONCE to a larger card through which you can leave in the unit. Don’t forget you look like you have a Taco on your head when talking directly into the phone without a headset…

You can read more about this in Advertising Age

This is an interesting experiment in stupidity in my humble opinion and based on pricing and lack of convenience is sure to fail. I am prepared to eat some crow on this if someone can prove this is a fantastic success months from now…

We’ll see soon enough. I bet nothing more than a few press releases will happen here. Have to see what happens when AT&T launches their download service in 2004. Should be interesting to see if there are more than just enhanced ring tones after this test.

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A Filter in Time Saves Nine

Tuesday is the biggest day for outgoing E-mail, making Wednesday the biggest day for “NOT” reading E-mail, according to EmailLabs'”Delivery Trends Report,” a quarterly newsletter observation post. [Network Computing]

Delete and ignore are more popular options that unsubscribe… Don’t believe everything you read in your open rates. I’ve personally found that tracking open rates can lead to a much higher read perception, leading to a lower click through response based on “actual” reads.

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Apple gets Marketer of the Year accolade

Advertising Age magazine has named Apple its Marketer of the Year in a special report published this week. “The genius of Apple is that its brand has come to embody a lifestyle,” wrote Alice Z. Cuneo, who said that while Apple remains an underdog in the computer business, the company “resonates with consumers across generations and international boundaries.” [MacCentral]

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Google delivers parcel search

A new feature on the search site lets people type in their package tracking numbers to turn up shipping information directly from FedEx or UPS Web pages. [CNET News.com]

This is very cool – fedex/ups/airborne + tracking number = your search. It’s definitely quicker than going to each site you might have to normally visit.