People Are Put Off by Advertising

This a quote from a recent health care marketing report by the Economic and Social Research Council. Advertisers are having two very different responses though.

On the one hand, NBC is testing viewers brains to see if ads can still register even when TV viewers fast-forward past them.

NBC is testing hearts and minds in its quest to track the habits of today's elusive media consumer. The network last week received the results of its first dip into the world of neurophysiology—examining brain waves, galvanic skin response and eye movement of TV viewers. NBC used an episode of "Heroes" to find out what viewers comprehend of ads when they fast-forward past them on DVRs.

And Business 2.0 reports that Ogilvy and Yahoo both are using cookies and math to track online behavior and change the content of what is displayed to us in real time.

Red isn't working on a particular banner? The background will be blue the next time you see it - and the software will even swap the ad copy. No one's happier about that than advertisers: Optimized ads perform 15 to 30 percent better than their standard-issue counterparts. "We've reached a point of instantaneous feedback," Hendra says. That's forced the business to become brutally Darwinian.

Meanwhile Toby at Diva Marketing Blog covered the ESRC Report on healthcare marketing that I quoted in the title of this post.

One thing that really put people off was advertising, so people clicked off drug company websites straight away. Generally, the medical information on drug company sites is very accurate but people question the authors' motivation and agenda. The issue of impartiality is quite crucial in building trust.

In the latter report, they did find positive results from people reading trusted friends and blogs.

It's my opinion that people are done with being tracked, tricked, tempted, and targeted into buying stuff they don't want or need. They are more curious than ever, however, about learning new things that will help them live happier and healthier lives. What side are you on? The "trick ‘em til they drop" or the "here's my experience"? Which one gets your money and your love?

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Jeff Pulver Walks My Talk

Jeff Pulver has issued open invitations to videobloggers to attend his Video on the Net Conference in San Jose, CA as his guest.

Video on the Net

He's actually putting money to bridge one of the many "digital divides" - in this case between the large media and IT companies who have revenues in the hundreds of thousands per employee and the small independent content producers whose work is fueling the likes of YouTube, blip.tv, and Podtech.

The bottom line is that the cost to attend is normally around $2K. The fact that Jeff realizes we independent producers don't have the big budgets, yet values our contributions and is making room for us to be there, is quite huge. It's a shift in thinking, that it's not just about the money. It's also about the conversations, and Jeff is bringing these two normally disparate groups together.

We don't normally travel in the same circles, but we'll be able to schmooze together at VON. Historically we might have had little in common, but now our futures are closely entwined as IPTV aka video on the internet changes our world.

I also had a great meeting today with Dick Jones who is leading the iptv innovations at Hawaiian Tel. Part of our conversation boiled down to the discrepancy between the [excessively?] high programming fees charged by channels like ESPN at one end and the expectation that shows like Beach Walks with Rox can be had for free on the other end. We're working to bridge this gap too.

So mahalo nui to both of you gentlemen for inviting us to the table. And especially to Chris Brogan who is really helping make these ideas a reality. Chris is one fine messenger.

von chrisbrogan jeffpulver beachwalks

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Finding the Right Fit with Your Web Developer

I would have thought after 10 years of the web becoming a legitimate business tool that by now it would be reasonably easy for web developers and clients to find each other and make happy ever after. Turns out it may actually be getting harder.

I read a short post on Matt Mullenweg's blog today titled Disconnect. It's so short, I'll quote the whole piece:

One thing I've found in the past year is there is sometimes a huge disconnect between people who make noise on blogs, or might have impressive blogs themselves, and productivity in the real world. It's unfortunate, because it makes it that much harder to find good folks.

I really do feel for clients who get suckered in by a sales pitch. With Web 2.0, the web is both an increasingly technical place as well increasingly extrovert place. I must admit I also have tried to engage aka sell people into getting involved in the web more proactively with their businesses. But blogging is an opportunity to actually tell your truth, warts and roses all.

I've learned that no matter how much potential I see, it's really irrelevant if the client isn't interested. I've learned that no matter how brilliant I think we may be, plenty of people don't want state of the art, they just want average.

So I am using this blog, my public speaking, and our show Beach Walks with Rox to put forth my opinions as well as my enthusiasm, to own my bias, to show the downsides as well as the upsides of working with us, or other developers. To help people find the right fit, considering price, skill, attitude, creativity, friendliness, etc. As you all know, someone may be very smart, but a PITA to work with, and vice versa - really nice but somewhat incompetent at the end of the day.

People preach a lot of rules. "You have to have a web site." "You have to update it regularly." While I agree you can benefit from doing those things, I also don't believe in pressuring people.

I'd rather tell people, "The web, especially Web 2.0, is not for everyone." I'd rather "make ‘em beg" than force feed ‘em medicine for an condition that to them, is asymptomatic. I'd rather attract people to us who really want to leverage our extensive skill set than proselytize those who are not yet believers. This goes against many tenets of basic selling. And my little monkey mind frequently tries to convince me that if I only were a better salesperson, I could convert more of the masses.

Why? I hate it when people come to my door pushing their religion. That's really the same thing as people pushing their top 10 ways to be a success. What's the solution? More discussion and more research. The better we get to know each other, the easier it is to grok who's on the same page as you are.

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