Category Archives: Rants

First Mile Problems

I was recently interviewed by Tim Furey, CEO of MarketBridge, on The Last Mile Podcast. Among our discussion of SAC, CAC, LTV, ROI, other three-letter acronyms, we also spent time on “first mile” marketing problems. As a practicing performance/direct response … Continue reading

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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

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The Finish Line in the Race to the Bottom

Last night, I was doing some analysis of a premium publisher’s site. I encountered RPM optimization in all its glory. And it made me sad and sick. The malvertising at left attempts to: Hijack browser settings Encourage installation of a … Continue reading

Posted in Data, digital marketing, Media, Privacy, Rants, Security, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Fake News Root Cause: Digital Advertisers

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

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One word that seems to have been banished from business is “vendor.” It has been replaced by the kinder, everybody-gets-a-medal term “partner.” I hear this all the time in pitches to my clients. “We want to partner with you to … Continue reading

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Publish The Denominator, Google.

You might have seen Google patting itself on the back today for taking down 1.7 billion ads–2X last year’s total!–that violated the company’s policies. The problem, like most digital media hype and nonsense, is that they didn’t bother to publish … Continue reading

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Pokémon Go: This Year’s Ice Bucket Challenge

Starting roughly, oh, today, marketers and ad agencies will be asked to “do the same thing as Pokémon Go.” Continue reading

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Trident Gum: Paying Peanuts and Getting Monkeys?

Think your advertising copy is lousy? It could be worse. You could work for Mondelez. I was standing in line at Walmart–hoping that nobody I knew would notice me there–when I looked up and saw this POP display right over … Continue reading

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Four Easy Articles to Improve Your Testing Today!

I’ve seen a few examples lately where the word “test” was bandied about when no such thing took place. One of my recent favorites was this article by the MD of a digital trading desk who claimed to be testing … Continue reading

Posted in Analysis, Direct Response, Education, Marketing, Rants | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Improve Your Content Marketing With One Simple Trick

How do you know if your content marketing is any good? Well, if you’re using the term “content marketing” to describe what you’re publishing, it’s a good sign it probably stinks. If the generic “content” is the best you can … Continue reading

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