(Image By: Ad Council)

03/07/08

In its quest to dominate the world of advertising as we know it, just what will Google do?  How about hire the longtime head of giant Interpublic Group to juice up its its ad dashboard strategy for buying media? And note that dashboard is not just for online media. A Google exec announced yesterday at the AAAA media conference what had been a top-secret strategy for the above, and also that he’d hired David Bell, 63, now chairman emeritus of Interpublic. According to this Mediapost story, Mr. Bell had “ripped” Google’s strategy at a recent meeting with Eric Schmidt—right in front of The Man Himself! So, a Google ad exec who reports to Schmidt hires him to straighten them out (perhaps at his boss’ suggestion?)

Bell is no rookie. Essentially retired, I think we can assume he didn’t need a job: his last reported total compensation (when he was chairman/CEO) was $$3,289,403. The man has lived and breathed advertising his entire career, rising up from the lowly rank of account executive at a small but influential agency in Minneapolis. (I know because I worked there, my first job out of college. I recall he managed the General Mills Wheaties account—and it appears he definitely learned how to eat his.) Here’s David Bell’s bio.

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12/12/07

Okay, social networks for pets are nothing new (just Google that term). But here’s a cute twist. Are you a dog owner or dog lover? And maybe an art lover, too? I don’t own a dog myself, but one of the coolest new sites I’ve seen lately is Mog-Dog.com, a new online business created right here in the Twin Cites. It was founded by a colleague I used to work with and his wife, and they’re both accomplished graphic designers (which you can tell!) Mod-Dog is not a social network per se, but talk about a way to involve a community, and to do it in such a visual, fun way! Come on, dogs need their own note cards and Christmas cards—didn’t you know that? Okay, okay, their owners need them. But how fun! (And you could always have Fido sign with a paw print.) Not only cards, but you dog lovers can now decorate your pad with a high-quality modern art print of your very own breed.

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12/04/07

UPDATE (12/19/07): One last update on this story, then I’ve had enough. Forbes ran a piece this week entitled How Silicon Valley Says ‘Sorry’—in which it concludes “apologizing pays.” Well, despite the fact that, according to an Edelman PR survey it cites that found technology ranked at the top of a list of “most trusted” industries, ahead of businesses like banking, telecommunications, and healthcare, I still say Facebook waited too long for this apology—and that the firm lost valuable reputation points in doing so.

UPDATE (12/14/07): The Wall Street Journal ran a great commentary piece on this topic.  Here’s how the IAB Smart Brief summarized it: ”Facebook Dustup Shows the Market Works - When Facebook tried to roll out an advertising service that included news feeds of member e-commerce activity, users revolted and the company changed its policy. IAB President-CEO Randall Rothenberg writes in a Wall Street Journal commentary, ‘The Facebook imbroglio is an almost-perfect representation of the power of the Internet to mobilize people to change the Web for the better.’ Rothenberg argues that the Facebook example also makes the case against government regulation of online marketing, since market forces have a self-correcting effect.” And here’s another look at this controversy, this one from the Knowledge@Wharton Marketing site: Who Owns You? Finding a Balance Between Online Privacy and Targeted Advertising.

UPDATE (12/5/07): Zuckerberg Admits to Failure (NY Times)

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ORIGINAL POST (12/4/07): For a company that’s flying so high, you’d sure think they could run their PR better. With the rapidly building negative story about Facebook’s Beacon program for advertisers, the lack of any statement from the company’s chief executive is becoming more and more painfully obvious. Overnight, top blogger Robert Scoble called the company out on this glaring problem, and I totally agree with him. Now is not the time to be silent.

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12/02/07

With the rapid growth of social networking phenom Facebook—and note that this growth is fastest in the 35 and older age group—its impact on the workplace is only becoming more and more apparent. How do you feel about Facebook? Are you using it at work and, in particular, for work—meaning for professional or business-related networking, whether within your own company, or to connect with customers, partners, or colleagues at other companies?  Running a small company, I personally find it a valuable networking tool, especially to stay in touch with my highly dispersed network of contacts.  And I find it so much more enjoyable—okay, FUN!—than alternatives such as LinkedIn, which I’ve used for years.  Yes, the latter is a useful service, but what’s wrong with a little fun in one’s day in the course of staying in touch with colleagues?

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11/21/07

Viral marketing. So many aspire, so few succeed. It’s like humor. The percentage of viral marketing campaigns, like attempts at humor, that actually work—get results—is painfully small. That’s the real joke. But I propose we just kill off the term now and start over.  Herewith, my treatise to call bullshitake (with thanks to Guy K) on two words that have been massively over-served upon us all.  Here are my five reasons:

1) It’s based on a really bad analogy. I mean, I love Steve Jurvetsen, who flogged the term incessantly after his VC firm scored bigtime when Hotmail was sold to Microsoft back in ‘98 or whenever it was. But who wants marketing that’s associated with disease-bearing organisms?  I don’t want to be sneezed on, slobbered on, or otherwise infected, thank you very much.  A decade is enough of this.

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