Author Archives: markpilip

Decent Direct Mail

Posted on Tuesday, 13 June 2017 7:20 am by markpilip

Every once in a while you get direct response that’s properly targeted. It restores my faith in humanity, even if the direct mail piece isn’t technically the best I’ve ever seen. Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Direct Response, Marketing, Media | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Decent Direct Mail

I was reading “Mythbusting Digital Ad Fraud” by Dr. Augustine Fou this morning and this quote struck me: “Do you think humans really spend 30 mins a day ON AVERAGE watching videos on mobile? They may, but there is an … Continue reading →

Posted on Tuesday, 6 June 2017 7:18 am by markpilip | Comments Off on Occam’s Bots

Imagine this: A set of large screens in your corporate lobby running, in real time and randomly, the actual digital ads you are running on the pages the ads are being displayed on. A viewer would also be able to stop … Continue reading →

Posted on Wednesday, 31 May 2017 11:59 am by markpilip | Comments Off on A Thought Experiment: Lobby Ads

A Loyalty Program Retort: British Airways

Posted on Wednesday, 31 May 2017 9:20 am by markpilip

“When you pass the football, three things can happen. Two of them are bad.” This quote has been attributed to Woody Hayes–probably incorrectly–Darrell Royal, Chuck Mills, and several other famous football coaches. It’s stuck with me over the years, particularly … Continue reading →

Posted in Communications, Customer Care | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on A Loyalty Program Retort: British Airways

Why are digital marketing vendors so obsessed with automating the processes involved in advertising? Continue reading →

Posted on Monday, 22 May 2017 12:25 pm by markpilip | Comments Off on Automation and Digital Marketing

Why Are We Eliminating The Human?

Posted on Tuesday, 16 May 2017 9:57 am by markpilip

David Byrne wrote an eloquent piece yesterday, in which he said: “Our random accidents and odd behaviors are fun—they make life enjoyable. I’m wondering what we’re left with when there are fewer and fewer human interactions. Remove humans from the … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Why Are We Eliminating The Human?

Working with ad exchanges? Do these things. Continue reading →

Posted on Thursday, 11 May 2017 9:00 am by markpilip | Comments Off on Ad Exchange Rules of Thumb

Fake News Root Cause: Digital Advertisers

Posted on Wednesday, 10 May 2017 9:32 am by markpilip

Somewhere in our rush to use digital media, we got obsessed with reach and the size of audiences (the magic word again) and impressions. We got taken for a ride by the ad tech industry hucksters, who built an almost-perfect money-making machine on top of fake inventory created on phony websites. Continue reading →

Posted in fraud, Leadership, Marketing, Philosophy, Rants | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Fake News Root Cause: Digital Advertisers

You still have to build something worth talking about for people to talk about it. Continue reading →

Posted on Wednesday, 3 May 2017 7:41 am by markpilip | Comments Off on Now, Nobody Will Read About It

When you’re looking to reduce your ad fraud rates, always: Pick the vendor that detects the most fraud Check every impression (not a sample) for fraud Look for brokered traffic (it’s garbage) Assume fraud is worse than you think Don’t be … Continue reading →

Posted on Tuesday, 2 May 2017 7:36 am by markpilip | Comments Off on Assume Fraud Is Worse