Sunday, August 03, 2008

Advertising Age Hopelessly Stuck in the Past

I've had it with AdAge.com. Don't get me wrong - they've got great content and are always exploring trends and issues in the advertising and marketing world in the way that few other publications can or do.

But for all of the space they give to digital marketing, it's clear that they just don't get it. I suppose I can't fault them; they're a publisher that, like every other publisher these days, is concerned about revenue. But as they try to protect their position and demonstrate effectiveness to their supporters, I think AdAge is missing the bigger picture.

And just to show that I'm not using my blog to mount a snarky complaint, I'll offer some free constructive criticism in this note to AdAge:

Dear Advertising Age,

You've been the mainstay of the advertising and marketing industry for a long time - nearly 80 years, in fact. Crain Communications (which interestingly is headquartered near my new home base in Michigan) has a vast empire of publications that are respected across the globe.

But you need to loosen the reins on AdAge. Here are three ways you could make it a little more tolerable.

RSS feeds
You employ RSS feeds on your web site - bravo! But you know what? I don't find them of much use because the feeds are only partial; if I want to read the full article, I'm forced to click through to your site. Yes, I realize that this is because you want me to pay attention to all of the banner ads and interruptions you place in my way while I'm there.

But you know what? As someone who is savvy enough to use RSS feeds, I'm also savvy enough to ignore your annoying advertising - or even better - I employ a Firefox add-on that blocks them. If you just give me the option to consume your content the way I want, I guarantee I'll be a more interested / loyal reader.

Online Video
I found a pulled TV commercial that I wanted to see on your site - just a short 30-second spot, nothing more. But before I could watch it, you forced me to watch a 15-second spot about some advertiser of yours (I can't remember who) that was pitching targeted video ads. I, someone who despises pre-roll advertising, was being targeted with a pre-roll ad about targeted video. Are you getting the irony here?

Lose the video advertising. It shows a lack of respect for your readers.

Secondly, your sharing features suck. I can grab a link or send someone an email (presumably of the link), but I can't embed your video. Which is incredibly short-sighted on your part, especially since you'd think your pre-roll advertisers would want to be seen elsewhere! Give me a chance to share your content with other people who might be interested.

Power 150
Finally, this is more of a personal suggestion. If you really cared about the digital space, you'd embrace that list of the Power 150 marketing bloggers that you acquired from Todd Andrlik. A good way to start is to give the top 150 bloggers a free subscription to Advertising Age. You've already got your badge sitting on most of their blogs - free advertising - why not show us that you appreciate our service to your publication by giving us a free subscription? It's not that difficult.

It's 2008, people - get with the program. If we've learned anything, it's that you'll have more to gain by giving something away. AdAge stands stuck in the era that is more concerned with the control of its content, and as a result is stingy with its willingness to let content be free.

And it's evident from every page I see on your site, where the top links above the article are "print" "buy reprints" and "email," that you're not as concerned with current techniques. These functions are important, no doubt, but they're as antiquated as pop-up ads. Oh, and your registration process for commenting on a blog post is laughable.

AdAge, please do us all a favor and open up a little. You might find us more willing to open up to you.

Sincerely,
Scott Monty

Photo credit: Simon Davison

Labels: AdAge, Advertising, big media, Marketing, social media

Posted by Scott Monty at 8:48 AM

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Monday, September 10, 2007

Ad Age Hates Innovation

You have to wonder about the ability of the marketing profession to move forward when a mainstream medium such as Advertising Age seems dead-set against it.

Here are just three examples:

Even though they're embracing new media by offering RSS feeds, you can't read the entire posts in your feedreader. Ad Age makes you visit their site for the full content. Yes, they probably want the traffic so they can support the site with (ahem) ads, but you know what? You can run ads in feeds too, guys.
Today Jonah Bloom decided that he'd call out a small company and rant against it. In this case, he was talking about my company's recent announcement. I couldn't find any instance of him berating any other small companies, but then again, I got tired of scrolling through the archives since the Adages blog doesn't have tags.
Finally (and this one's a doozy), Mark Simon gives us his take on trends by recommending that CMOs Ditch the Lunatic Web Content Crazes in the CMO Strategy column. He particularly calls out Twitter as nothing more than a personal update application; it's clear he hasn't spent any time on it or developed a network. As the very astute Karl Long puts it:

Even more ironic this is under “CMO Strategy”, yep this is exactly the kind of advice you need if you’re a CMO, ignore new things, don’t experiment, don’t participate and your world will be simpler, safer and easier to understand.

Maybe the folks over at Ad Age don't think this whole Internet thing is going to catch on.

Labels: AdAge, Advertising, big media, Karl Long, Marketing, trends

Posted by Scott Monty at 9:26 PM

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Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Where Does the Time Go?

Happy Birthday, Social Media Blog! I can't believe it's been a year - almost to the minute, as I look at the clock - since I started this little project. And to think that I had the foresight (?) to choose the bland but very distinctive title "The Social Media Marketing Blog."

A lot has happened in a year - a new job, being asked to co-author a book, being ranked one of the top 150 marketing blogs - in some ways it feels like I just started last month, but in other ways, so much has changed that I feel like it's been much longer than a year.

What's kept me going when the times were rough was the knowledge that I've had the support of fellow writers and marketers out there. Your comments and email have been an inspiration and I thank you for participating in the conversation here.

My only hope is that I can continue to create and discover content that resonates with you. If I'm failing you in that regard, please tell me. If I'm succeeding at it, I wouldn't mind hearing from you, either.

Labels: AdAge, age of conversation, blogs, conversation, crayon, news, social media

Posted by Scott Monty at 12:17 AM

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Monday, August 06, 2007

We Have Entered the Advertising Age

Welcome to readers who have reached this site via the AdAge Power 150 List. I'm proud to be part of the top 150 marketing blogs in the English-speaking world and will do my best to continue to give you the valued posts that have gotten ranked as high as I have.

For those of you who are new to all of this, I'm Scott Monty and I write about where marketing is headed (or in some cases should be headed) in this digital age, including blogs, podcasts, customer service, public relations, virutal worlds, consumer-generated content and other cutting edge developments that are constantly changing the face of marketing.

By day, I work for crayon, a conversational marketing company, where I hold the title of Consiglieri. It sounds daunting, but really, I'm just like you. Only I order hits on my enemies. Oh, and in case you haven't caught on yet, I also have a dry sense of humor.

Take a look around, try not to break anything, and enjoy yourself. And if you run into any trouble, let me know.

Labels: AdAge, Advertising, Marketing, news, PR, social media

Posted by Scott Monty at 11:37 PM

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