Comments on I, A Bee: The iPad's Threat to Advertising I'm less interest...

I remember setting out in 2002 or so to be a membe...

2010-04-25T19:28:33.778-04:00

I remember setting out in 2002 or so to be a member of every «gated community» there was at the time, following all the Web 2.0 blogs and such. Remember Tribe.net? Corante has not been updated in two years. Gone are the salad days of Clay Shirky.

I never got to backpack Europe, so this was that. It was not long before I lost track, of course.

When my company gave me a BlackBerry -- and me in an ediorial job requiring laser-focused attention in the midst of meatspace anarchy -- I tortured it back by hacking the bejesus out of it as best I could with my poetry major and techie friends.

Now I only tweet one thing: The number of twits I have ignored in the past eight hours.

What I think I resent most is the corollary to your concept: The constant nag to «publicate» my private space in order to generate «content».

Content. Ptui. The contempt for the creative writer implicit in the very notion makes me so mad. I am not a content generator. Lorum ipsum is. Me, I try to write Brazilian badlands troubadour poetry in Portuguese, along with adjective-laden blurbs for the app economy from time to time to keep the cats in chow.

And now, just as they are trying to tell me I need to spend money on a Kindle to read texts I can pick up for peanuts at a yard sale or from used book brokers on various sites, they are trying to tell me that if I miss a twit, I am missing out on life, and that my resume will never be read if it comes as an .ODT file rather than as a Flash gizmo.

My business Web site is little more than html+body+p+/p+/body+/html, and a bit of CSS from some Scandinavian open-sourcer. I am one of those people who think we are still on Web 0.96c3po-dailysnapshot (beta).

I got this way from reading 200 startup press releases a day in the 3 years leading up to 9-11 down in the Silicon Alley.

Note to marketers (with a nod to Grandpa Simpson): I never want to hear the words «revolution», «innovation» or «this magic device» again. «Disruptive» also stinks. Thomist argumentation on the «commons» I can also do without. My next box is going to be a Chinese import from a cheap Brazilian chain store running Debian. I am willing to return to gopher:// if need be.

Anyway, thank you for those deep thoughts, Bee! It sits well alongside Jaron Lanier's «Digital Maoism» in my bibliography. I have been thinking a lot about the real estate metaphor for n-dimensional virtual space lately as well. The astonishingly crooked real estate market in São Paulo, where I live now, is not something you want exercising eminent domain over your inner sanctum.

Don't forget that Apple TV, which loves QuickT...

2010-02-23T18:17:28.960-05:00

Don't forget that Apple TV, which loves QuickTime, could be the next big thing from Cupertino, and that may be part of Apple's struggle with Flash. When ATV matures, it could be a serious competitor that pulls together television, computing, the net, music, movies, books, gaming and more.

A great overview, but I'm surprised at many of...

2010-01-31T20:21:30.514-05:00

A great overview, but I'm surprised at many of the comments. Who knew that so many IAB-blog readers would be against free market economics?

You really ought to cite Jonathan Zittrain here. M...

2010-01-31T09:51:21.493-05:00

You really ought to cite Jonathan Zittrain here. Most of what you say comes from him.

I think all this presupposes that one device canni...

2010-01-29T15:06:33.162-05:00

I think all this presupposes that one device cannibalizes web content consumption from another device. But I don't think that is reality (or if it is, it's not significant).

Will the ipad change this? I don' think it will, but let's assume it does - publishers would take a stand, and likely win out over Apple (or reach a compromise that satisfies both publishers and their advertisers). How? Let's say the ipad is a huge success and drastically changes web content consumption. Suddenly ESPN.com's pageviews (ad inventory) are cut in half b/c consumption has shifted to the ipad. ESPN will cut off access from the ipad, and blame Apple. Consumers will go back to viewing their ESPN content on the web, and will be pissed at Apple (look at cable - when consumers can't get the tennis channel or the nfl network or whatever other channel, they blame the cable company, not the content provider). So Apple would have to make the device ad-friendly for pubs & advertisers, and net-net, there's no real impact on or threat to advertising.

Bob, I really appreciate not just the thoughtfulne...

2010-01-29T12:19:12.497-05:00

Bob, I really appreciate not just the thoughtfulness of your comment but the fact that you're not hiding behind the cloak of anonymity. I want to respond only to one point, because you're indicating it wasn't clear: IAB's mission goes FAR beyond managing supply chain consensus. As it says on our Web site (and in every presentation we make in every venue), "The Interactive Advertising Bureau is dedicated to the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive’s share of total marketing spend, and of our members’ share of total marketing spend." We define our three strategic platforms as "operational effectiveness" (taking cost and complexity out of the supply chain); "accountability" (continually improving upon interactive's ability to target and measure audiences better than any other medium); and "engagement" (using research,training and marketing to showcase interactive media's unique ability to encourage marketer growth by getting the right messages to the right people in the right contexts at the right time).

The mission statement is meant to be taken literally - our activities revolve around the totality of marketing spend, from what's typically considered "above the line" to what's traditionally considered "below the line." I'm on record continually talking about the importance of media companies adding marketing services to their mix of revenue-generating activities, so they can break out of their reliance on display advertising revenues. That said, display advertising remains an enormous part of the marketing-media ecosystem, and still constitutes about 30% of total marketing spend (with the rest going to below-the-line functions like trade promotions, consumer promotions, DR, PR, etc.) And supply chain alignment and simplicity has been core to the utility of display advertising in all media.

That's largely why IAB was founded 15 years ago. And while we're probably still best known for our work in developing industry-consensus standards, guidelines and best practices, our Web site (www.iab.net) will attest to a far broader range of accomplishments in the past year alone, from the historic consensus agreement among IAB and four other national trade associations around cross-industry self-regulatory principles to protect consumer privacy, to the groundbreaking Bain-IAB study "Building Brands Online."

For anyone still reading these comments, the "growth story" will be the focus of our IAB Annual Leadership Meeting in La Costa, Feb. 21-23.

Anyway, I'm really thankful for your thoughtful response. I write these things largely to provoke debate!

I thank you for getting my passion and braincells ...

2010-01-29T11:53:40.355-05:00

I thank you for getting my passion and braincells firing, Randall. I want to give this further thought and write a full response on my own blog next week. But my immediate response is that you're looking at the world of digital marketing through far too narrow of a lens.

First, the reality of economics is that you often have to get some level of privatization for market economics to take hold. Apple has created a great deal of privatization in the music industry and now with the iPhone and apps. This has led to a real, thriving marketplace in which Apple has an incentive and ability to continually improve the user experience. The better it makes iTunes, the more music it sells. Further, consumers like that Apple is protecting them from porn and malware. Many real, thriving businesses and happy consumers have been spawned by Apple's efforts so far.

Google has also privatized the web in a way. It has a search engine that sets rules about the content that it crawls and ranks. Its algorithm treats some content better than others. The result: A fairly well-organized tool that has made consumers' lives much better, and created billions in value for both shareholders and advertisers.

The biggest complaint I have is with your statement of the "rationale underlying the IAB...[is to foster] seamless delivery [of ads] across multiple sites." As a former client-side marketer and current digital ad agency leader I find this mission incredibly narrow.

Marketers want to sell their products and services. Interruptive advertising spread across many digital properties at once is but only one of many ways to achieve this goal. In fact, it is a marketing strategy that is looking worse and worse - both in the online and offline world, and whether standardization exists or not. People pay decreasing attention and trust to the growing number of interruptive advertising that we experience in our lives.

On the other hand, tools like Google and the iPhone are allowing marketers to find and forge meaningful connections with their customers and add value to their lives. Tools like Nike+ or Kraft's iFood app are not "easy" for marketers to execute with the push of a single ad unit. But they are taking marketing to a much higher level both in terms of the impact on customers' lives and the company's bottom lines.

Consumers and marketers will both figure out how to keep winning in new media in the years to come. It won't be easy but we have plenty of incentives to find a way to win. My question, though, is whether the IAB will survive if its only purpose is to ensure that interruptive banner advertising is standardized.

I believe it will be impossible for the advertising tail to wag the device/technology dog, no matter how hard the good people at the IAB and its members work. I would like the IAB re-examine what its members need - and potentially renew itself to become more focused on making digital marketing work - especially in a way that has a positive impact on people's lives.

Standardized banner ads are the absolute least interesting way to win in this exciting digital world. I think the IAB can take the bar much higher by helping us adjust to where the marketplace - and society - wants us to go.

One device does not a privatized internet make. A...

2010-01-29T11:27:23.774-05:00

One device does not a privatized internet make. And especially one that allows one to visit ANY Web site on the planet. Apple will never support the end of net neutrality. It's completely contrary to their culture. Comcast, on the other hand, is fighting tooth and nail to take your open internet away. I cancelled their service when I noticed that.

Calling the App store a walled garden is overreaching when you consider that anyone can write apps for the iPhone or the iPad, or the iPod. Anyone. It's not limited to Apple programmers.

Is the IAB for or against Net Neutrality, by the way? It's not totally clear in this article.

One more thing. I do think your underlying point ...

2010-01-28T23:10:20.252-05:00

One more thing. I do think your underlying point is insightful...actually terrifically insightful...about how the web is evolving into these various walled gardens, or platforms or what not. I just think the implications you draw are off

There is more than one way to solve the complexity...

2010-01-28T22:21:51.918-05:00

There is more than one way to solve the complexity problem, and there is more than one mission for the IAB.

Another vote for the Arnonymous and Anonymous p-o-...

2010-01-28T18:02:11.738-05:00

Another vote for the Arnonymous and Anonymous p-o-v. Interruptive advertising is over. Welcome to the new century. The IAB needs to rethink or move aside.

I am with Anonymous above. I think the IAB has le...

2010-01-28T17:51:39.227-05:00

I am with Anonymous above.

I think the IAB has let the internet turn into the garbage it is. They have chosen to let ad networks flourish and continue to drive down the price of online ads. There is no value is advertising online anymore. No rules or restrictions. Why spend real time creating valuable content when you can hire kids for pennies on the dollar (re: AOL's Seed) to make content for you?

Why spend $30+ CPM on NY Times when you can spend .50 for re targeting, or through an ad network that targets the same users through 100 other crappy blogs.

Time for you to step up Randall and take charge. The IAB, Google and others in this cesspool have created this mess. What did you think would happen?

You are the head of the IAB, no? And the goal of ...

2010-01-28T17:02:24.711-05:00

You are the head of the IAB, no? And the goal of the organization is to in essence help your members -- media and tech companies -- sell more advertising, no?

The overall web -- or cesspool, as Schmitt describes it -- has proven itself a wonderful place for advertising prices to go down ... and then down further, as all eyeballs become commodities. The only beneficiary here was Google.

The only way to differentiate audiences -- and to hold them in a way as to sell advertiisng at a premium is to create or take advantage of these walled gardens.

What am I missing?

Boy, that "no flash" thing has got you a...

2010-01-28T16:47:06.134-05:00

Boy, that "no flash" thing has got you all up in a tizzy doesn't it? I hate to say it, but flash sucks and flash advertising is dead, dead, dead. Time to "think different" and find a new way, or ways, of reaching your audience. Have you heard of a thing called apps?

Terrific overview and strong points, R2, thanks fo...

2010-01-28T15:51:05.478-05:00

Terrific overview and strong points, R2, thanks for sharing the thoughts!