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Changing faces

Edwards1_3Broadcasting pioneer Ralph Edwards, host of the once-popular 1950’s “This Is Your Life” television show, died Wednesday. Edwards was also once the host of “Truth or Consequences,” the first commercial show for NBC. Edwards said, “A ten-second commercial on the program cost $9.”

Ralph Edwards represents a face of television–and how it has changed. His syrupy-sweet “This Is Your Life,” held viewers spell-bound hearing life stories unfold in the space of 30 minutes. It was respectful, plodding and dripped with sincerity.

Just like TV today…  uh-huh, right.

Whether media reflects us or we reflect it, changes in both since Ralph Edwards first visited our living rooms is undeniable. And yet, so many times are the practices of that era are carried forward into this one as if by habit. Tds_stewart_m4

There’s a new face reflecting our times from TV screens: it’s one part cynical and two parts savvy. Ralph Edwards’ “This Is Your Life” has been replaced by the E-Channel’s endless loop of slimy exposés. News is no longer sacred, but grist for sharp social commentary paraded as comedy. You may not like it, or even “get” it. But, this is the market we’re living and working in.

This isn’t a call to arms. It’s a wake-up call. In the nine miles I drive between home and office, I’m assaulted by a stream of ad-speak encrusted messages no doubt zoning out listeners quicker than an HR department slide show. Yours doesn’t have to be one of them.

Be your ad and take a hard look in the mirror. Do you reflect what your customers care about most? Are you speaking their language? Is your message genuine and credible? Unless you can absolutely say yes* to all three questions, perhaps it’s time to do some face changing of your own.

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It’s happening again…

Nestled beneath my ’66 Oldsmobile Delta 88’s dashboard hung a marvel of technology granting me access to broadcasts mere mortal AM radios couldn’t. It was a brave new static-free world called FM.

My FM adapter is early evidence of what is obvious to all who know me: I am an early adopter.

Live long enough and you’ll see history repeat itself–and so it is with my XM Radio. When I got another cool little adapter allowing my now merely mortal FM radio to receive broadcasts from space, I thought I was out front. And, like my FM adapter, I paid good money for that gadget.

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Last night, I received a broadcast email with amazing offers and about spit out my decafe latte… There, right next to the free picture phone (paid good money for mine) was FREE satellite radio. FREE!

Well that’s just fine. I reccon it won’t be long until my XM Radio adapter will wind up in a box along with my FM Adapter, record player, 8-Track Player, Cassette Recorder, VCR and analog television…

And in case you’re wondering why you can now buy a DVD player at the grocery store for $29 (like I did last week), you better read this.

 

[Originally published 12 Nov 2005]

The arrows and the land

Pioneers get the arrows, settlers get the land. I’ve heard it many times, but it only recently dawned on me: pioneers must not be in it for the land. They’re in it for adventure: cutting a new trail, opening fresh territories, pushing at boundaries.

So it goes with Podcasting. Since being created recently, the number of available podcasts has ballooned into the thousands; some are good, most are… unlistenable. And yet, the pioneers are driving where no bandwidth has gone before.

Settlers have now begun arriving in this brave new world. Audible, the audio book people, have announced a tool which, beginning next month, can track how many people actually listen to podcasts. Until now a download count was the only available metric–and that’s plenty for pioneers. Settlers, on the other hand, need more finite accountability.

Audible’s tool will enable tighter measurability, attachment of
advertising and can prevent the downloaded show from being forwarded to
another user. With the tools, “you can build a bona fide rate card” for advertising, says Foy Sperring, Audible’s senior vice president for strategic alliances.

Rate cards? We don’t need no steenkin’ rate cards, the pioneers shout back over the rumble of thundering hooves carrying them hooting with laughter into the next valley of innovation, leaving us behind in their dust to settle the land of podcasting.

If you haven’t given thought to how a podcast can enhance and extend the relationship-building power of your web presence, better hurry up. The next thing settlers tend to do is build fences…

 

[Originally published 11 Nov 2005]

The age of SISOMO

No rules. No formulae. No best practices. It’s a new world and no one has a clue.

That’s the take Saatchi & Saatchi CEO Kevin Roberts puts forth in a presentation made in his keynote address to Ad:Tech. He sees us living in an age of screens where SIght, SOund and MOtion (SISOMO) have converged to create a new advertising landscape; “good stories well told, emotion, humor and music–in other words, sisomo.” (See an excerpt of his presentation here.)

While he packages it nicely, what Roberts sees as new are timeless principles in a shiny new wrapper. Calling for making emotional connection in advertising is about as edgy as me telling my 3 year-old to “use your words.” (instead of sounds and pointing)

He makes an important: we’ve moved from permission marketing to attraction marketing. ASKING consumers to please give us their time (permission marketing) is a quaint notion rooted in an era when we HAD time to give. In the compressed age we’re living in, ATTRACTING consumer attention means giving them a more appealing idea capable of preempting the one they have now.

Here’s a hint: the idea they’ll find more appealing is not about you.

 

[Originally published 10 Nov 2005]

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