Category Archives: Marketing

Reduce Spend, Increase Reach? Wait, This Can’t Be Right…

P&G eliminated 20% of their most ineffective spend and generated 10% more reach, according to this article in AdWeek. Wait, that doesn’t fit the narrative about digital media. It’s all supposed to be about good, cheap media, reaching the right … Continue reading →

Aside | Posted on Monday, 5 March 2018 5:27 pm by | Tagged , , ,

Virtue Signaling and Fake Marketers

“Marketing has changed forever” is the gospel according to the fake marketers. Wrote Malcolm Auld in his brilliant article yesterday. Since we’re in the era of fake news, fake traffic, fake impressions, fake agencies, and fake presidents, let’s call out … Continue reading →

Aside | Posted on Thursday, 22 February 2018 8:12 am by | Tagged , ,

Humans

How many humans are in each segment of your category buyers? And how many humans are in each audience at each publisher? You need to know the answers to both questions for your campaigns to be successful. Not cookies. Not … Continue reading →

Aside | Posted on Monday, 19 February 2018 11:34 am by | Tagged ,

Name Those Ads

It’s been two days since the Super Bowl. Quick, and without thinking too hard, write down: The ads you saw on the Super Bowl on Sunday The digital ads you saw this morning as you read the news with coffee … Continue reading →

Aside | Posted on Tuesday, 6 February 2018 8:52 am by | Tagged , , ,

Hallelujah! Millennials Are Dead. Here Comes Generation Z

Just when I was about to open a vein over the incessant furor about how Millennials are different, unique and in need of such nonsense as influencer marketing, they’re dead. Here comes Gen Z (sheesh–will somebody brand the next round … Continue reading →

Aside | Posted on Tuesday, 30 January 2018 7:01 am by | Tagged , , ,

Be The Solution

Posted on Monday, 29 January 2018 9:16 am by

We get the advertising we deserve. As marketers, we’ve put our skepticism on hold. And we’ve been taken. Programmatic buying, content marketing, influencer marketing, and native advertising are just a few of the fallacies the advertising ecosystem has foisted on … Continue reading →

Posted in Communications, digital marketing, Education, Marketing, Philosophy | Tagged , , ,

The Root of Digital Advertising B.S.

Posted on Thursday, 25 January 2018 9:41 am by

For years, Bob Hoffman has been writing about the delusion held by advertisers that people want to interact with us or our ads. I was an early adopter of that now-disproven fantasy. I bought in back in ’89-’90 when I … Continue reading →

Posted in Analysis, Data, digital marketing, fraud, Marketing, Tactics | Tagged , , ,

No Real Marketer Wants Their Budget Increased…

…properly-trained marketers focus on improving business performance. A bigger marketing budget might be a second order effect.

Aside | Posted on Wednesday, 24 January 2018 7:10 am by | Tagged , ,

Publisher Advice From a Buyer

Posted on Friday, 12 January 2018 8:31 am by

Dr. Augustine Fou wrote a brilliant article yesterday, Five Unintended Consequences, Counter-intuitive Outcomes that Publishers May Not Have Thought Of,  that got me thinking about the advice I’d give publishers as a buyer. Here they are: Remove all the tracking widgets … Continue reading →

Posted in Branding, Data, digital marketing, Marketing, Media, Strategy | Tagged , , , , , ,

Mad Men Was Better

Posted on Wednesday, 10 January 2018 9:15 am by

You used to pay your ad agency a 15% commission back in the day. You groused about the high fees, the bad or non-existent data about campaign performance and wondered why you had to pay for those fancy Madison Ave … Continue reading →

Posted in Branding, Communications, digital marketing, Marketing, Media | Tagged , , , , ,