On a recent podcast I professed my love of the new Dos Equis campaign, noting how it did a great job of developing a message that worked both on TV and Radio.  The online execution I was not as crazy about, check out www.staythirstymyfriends.com to see if you agree.

Now another move that I think may prove to be a study in futility.  A MediaPost article reports that Dos Equis will team up with Jim Rose of the aptly named “The Jim Rose Circus.”  Check out the full article here:  http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.san&s=91406&Nid=47708&p=224900.

Now I confess I have no idea who Jim Rose is, but a circus…really?  How about revamping the web content, a series of webisodes delving more in The Most Interesting Man?  Even a guest appearance on a sitcom would seem to be more beneficial than a traveling circus.  On top of the expense of putting this together the brand is also going to have to pay to promote this thing.  The media campaign will apparently include print, radio, and online.  Perhaps the biggest tragedy here, The Most Interesting Man will be nowhere near this thing.  Now I understand the danger of aligning your brand so strongly with one spokesperson, but it seems like Dos Equis has already adopted that strategy for better or for worse.  Pardon me as the country boy in me comes out for a second, but they may as well ride it till it bucks.

Hey all you loyal fans.  Like the show that Sean and I have put together every week?  (Truth be told Sean is the producer I am just the on-air talent…but a distant second in that category.)  Then vote for AdBastards in this years Podcast Awards:  http://www.podcastawards.com/  I personally feel like we are a shoe in for Religious inspiration, but I leave up to you the loyal listener to decide.

For those that listen to the show regularly you will know that one of my huge concerns about online content is that it can be tough to tell content based on fact and credible sources from personal opinion that can be about as valuable as the mutterings of that crazy person you walked by on the street this morning.

Case in point, I offer up a recent scenario that played out on one of my favorite videogame sites Cheap Ass Gamer (www.cheapassgamer.com).  Recently on the site’s podcast CheapyD and Wombat complained that “major gaming blogs seem to post any and all gaming rumors with little consideration given to the credibility of the source or the plausibility of the story.”

As a test they offered up a contest to their users.  If someone posted a completely unfounded rumor in their forums and it was picked up by another videogame site that user would receive a free game.  Out of this contest two rumors surfaced.  The first was Rock Band receiving Beatles content via download, the other was Xbox changing its name to Xbox Pure.  What happened?  In Cheapy D’s words:

“Somehow, the silly one about the Xbox name change spread through the internets like crazy. Even though; the story makes very little sense and this particular user blog has no other legitimate entries, the photo of this “leaked memo” bears no resemblance to any corporate memo that I’ve ever seen, and the memo is devoid of any corporate letterhead, this source was deemed reliable enough to be posted on many big gaming news sites.”

What ensues is a unique exchange between Cheap Ass Gamer and one of the sites that picked up the story Kotaku.  I encourage you to read all of Cheapy D’s post here http://www.cheapassgamer.com/?f=408, but I will summarize.  Kotaku is told the story is part of a contest and rather than admit it was a little quick on the trigger, it says that Cheap Ass Gamer blew their credibility by having the contest.

What does all of this mean for advertisers.  Well how many brands do you know that are dying to get into the Tabloids?  Exactly, other than an ancient Myan remedy allowing me to pole vault with my manhood not many.  So is user created content and blogs actually slowing the internet from becoming the dominant ad medium for many brands?  While that is a bit of an overstatement, my opinion is that it is having an effect and probably a larger one than we are really aware of.  I will also say I don’t belive Sean shares this belief as much as I, so look forward to healthy debate on upcoming shows.

For those of you out there yelling hypocrisy since I am making this point on a blog.  I refrence Val Kilmer in the immortal role of Doc Holiday, “My hypocrisy only goes so far.”  Ad bastards is an opinion based show…we are sports talk radio if you will.  Now if we ever get to the point of trying to break big news such as Dolly Parton’s death we will make sure Sean is at the funeral to verify she will never be pouring a “cup of ambition” again.

I’ve read plenty of news over the last few months regarding the future of the music industry. It’s interesting to see how many different opinions of how it’s all going to shake out there actually are, and by smart people.

The other night, I was playing RockBand with some folks from work, and I realized that one opinion above the others may be right. I think the nerds/gamers/slackers are going to save music. Here’s why:

One strong opinion is that record companies are going to have to move past the MP3 and the CD as their tangible asset. I couldn’t agree more, but when it comes to music, the only thing next was video, and that’s been done on DVDs (quite successfully) for years now. So that wasn’t anything new. I think RockBand/Guitar Hero solve that problem.

I remember just how much fun I was having, rocking out with my friends to tunes that I may or may not have been interested in had I been in a different environment. Why was I having fun? Because these music games are interactive, immersive, and addicting.

Songs are being sold for $1.99 over the PSN and Xbox Live Platforms. It’s basically the track plus some code that sits on top of the framework. Probably an additional $50,000 in development per track. Selling these tracks at double the price of iTunes, the lables are able to make more money, the artist get’s more money, and the consumer ultimately wins.

Interactivity is the future of the record industry, whether it’s in games like these, or other technological advances that make it easier and more satisfying to enjoy music.

Found a great post on Techipedia where a slew of “social media” experts give their two cents about how they define social media. I found it interesting that, while some answers checked the normal boxes, some didn’t. My favorite reponse is from Muhammad Saleem, a “social media maven”. He says,

“A good social media marketer isn’t really a ‘marketer’. He/She is a connector (and is good at social networking), a maven (and is a thought leader and ‘information specialist’ or information resource), and a salesperson that can persuade an eskimo to buy ice. He has to not only be an information resource but be an active participant in the various social web communities that he claims proficiency in.

A good social media marketer is one who can start a conversation that people want to participate in.”

I like this definition because it transcends the traditional role of “social media” in to something more than someone who sits behind their computer. He’s saying that a successful social media marker will be a person that actually is social, and not just from behind an avatar.

I think that’s something that gets left out of the headlines these days (and rightly so), but is absolutely critical when doing any kind of advertising campaign. “Does it sell?” Why would you give a sales job to an introverted free-thinker?

It is insane to me to think that I now have the ability to update this blog from my iPhone. I will, however, refrain from doing so as much as possible, as the content is bound to be crap.

That is all…

Sean

In an early episode, the topic of “everything is marketing” came up. I mentioned a gas station that I stop at every time we make our trip down to Corpus Christi - BuckEees. We stop there for the sole reason that their bathrooms are spectacular.

I finally got some pictures of the bathroom.

Pretty nice, huh?

Sean

Well, our intern just left for good. I’m kind of sad, to be honest. I’m not sure who we’re going to pick on, get to do our dirty work, and generally abuse and harrass.

However, I’m starting to slowly realize that in this business, you don’t really ever say goodbye. It’s usually Friday a vendor is working for AOL, and on Monday it’s Specific Media.

I’m almost positive that we’ll meet again, because the advertising world, even on a national scale, is so small. You see it all the time when you go to conferences…the same people are congregating together in the same spots, talking about all the times they shared a previous conferences while they were doing the same thing.

You sometimes hear about those folks that “fell out of it,” and it’s always said with such a dire tone. “Yeah, he’s not in the business anymore…”

Eh, not sure where I was going with this, but I did want to formally say goodbye to our media intern Lindsay, who will no doubt make a great media planner one day.

Sean

We’ve got the new episode of the AdBastards podcast up for download.

Direct Link to the Show!

This episode, we talk about monetizing all these free services, including Twitter, Myspace, Facebook, etc. The conversation then turns to the Valueclick vs. Tacoda lawsuit around a behavioral targeting patent. We finish off with some very random comments on the Performics purchase.

As always, feel free to leave a comment below, or shoot us an email at adbastards@gmail.com.

Sean

Interesting article on MediaPost today reporting that ValueClick is suing Tacoda for allegedly infringing two patents on behavioral targeting platforms.
Link: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.san&s=87909&Nid=45708&p=224900

Scott Barlow, vice president and general counsel at ValueClick says,”We feel that we have a patent on the general principles of behavioral targeting, and that’s what we’re enforcing.”

Can you really patent BT? What would the ramifications be to the online ad industry if ValueClick holds that patent? Will discuss all that on the next AdBastards.

Joseph