MIXX and Content Without Borders
Another conference panel: Content Without Borders
New platforms and enabling technologies are making branded content available wherever consumers want to be. Consumers interact with each other online and across their mobile devices by providing a quick new way to share all things digital - including photos, videos, text, Web pages and music - in one simple step. But what’s good for users is challenging for media and advertisers. These panelists share their experience and processes in making smart marketing investments in these areas.
Moderator:
David Kirkpatrick, Senior Editor, Internet and Technology, FORTUNE
Panelists:
Dee deVries Salomon, SVP, Sales and Marketing, CondéNet
Tim Schigel, Chairman/Founder, ShareThis
Richard Williams, Executive Director of Advertising and Digital Media Operations, Verizon Wireless
DK: In two different senses the web is morphing. As the user gets control and you cannot be confident that people will see content where you put it. The PC is becoming the least significant part of the web overall - mobile is where it is going globally. Mobile devices increasing power, eg the iPhone. let you use the web completely functionally on a small device. TV is coming in ways we do not properly understand. So at Verizon…what does that mean for consumers
RW: responsible for all the online stuff. we call it the digital breadcrumb….all screens are interconnected as it derives from content. A digital breadcrumb can follow you from screen to screen. See it on TV, see an ad on email page, then on phone, looking at sports, see ad and there is a click to call. see screens blend, see lines blur
DK: Dee, what do you do and what is your approach
DS: we are online arm from CondeNaste. we have online version of the offline, plus standalone websites, we are a digital company, we think about what consumers want from these experiences. we are a content company by history, but think about how to make the content more usable, how people want to use the content. So we look at how in the websites can they interact with the content, add their own content, share it or activate and move to mobile etc. on epicurious you can download recipes to mobile phone and it turns the shopping list on mobile phone..on concierge you can create a suitcase, a destination to save clippings from websites…a clipping online. and download to phone. with video, you can podcast it (we 100ks downloads/month) and you can embed it. the other aspect is actively distribute, we will be in the online players - Joost, adobe media players. an ongoing initiative with Sony with their set top boxes. the content can live outside the website proper.
DK: Tim, what is Share This. and what does it say about what consumers want.
TS: sharing is big thing online. people belong to lots of communities. but sharing is different across different sites. we combine all of the methods to ’share this’, we give the publisher lots of tools to use to share and then tap into lots of the networks. Make sharing simple and easy.
DK: why drop VC as a career to run a company?
TS: I observed sharing behaviour itself, between publishers and communities to have a sharing community for the web. one of the issues with RSS, content ownership issue can be with RSS. How do I monetise it. I can monetise inside my portal, but not outside with RSS. You need to have 3rd parties that are going to create the economy for this, the sharing activity is part of the infrastructure. Insights from the behaviour about what you share and who you share it with is also great.
DK: the publisher can replace lots of buttons with one
TS: advertisers can come to us and buy shares We are on about 3000 blogs….and release a new version in a few weeks. we provide tracking for free as well - surprising how many publishers do not know how sharing is done. we leant to make it easier than copy and paste and then be able to track it all
DK: look at the hardware. Verizon is the ISP, cellphone and the website. Do the marketers get the connection?
RW: mobile is in early stages, it needs some education. we go an show the live broadcast, the 30′ video, songID etc. capabilities on mobile match the others but far more education needed. it is a very personal device as well. when you talk about marketing to it, through it, it has to be done cautiously. we take a pragmatic approach, a lot of testing, do a lot of education. Portals, telescoping etc look at on the cable etc.
DK: sounds like most marketers don’t get it?
RW: some do, they understand the potential, they are experimenting. Mobile has a couple of aspects - 220m subscribers. Ads go look at all the people I can go after it has the scale. you can run across diff carriers. you can buy across 3 or so companies for the carriers/. Before we launched mobile internet offering,..effectiveness was on par with TV. the potential that could deliver is there.
DK: at conde naste how much do you think about this stuff?
DS: we think about distributing content and what will benefit advertisers and use the mechanisms to amplify their messages. eg flip.com, allows advertisers to embed content in an asset library, that girls can use to create work and share it. Media buy can be difficult…new things do not always fit into the media buyers spreadsheet. we do custom programmes with new technology …eg Reddit (RC: she called Reddit a social bookmarking site - mentally I did not have that picture of it all, thinking it closer to Digg than Delicious. Taking another look, I can see what she means, but still would not necessarily call it purely a bookmarking site) Ee can use on our own sites, also give advertisers branded Reddits to get page view velocity. we recently finished a programme for Nike on flip.com…girls could amplify their submissions for content for a winner to China for Women’s Football World Cup. We got lots of submissions, got 7 finalists, we created a Reddit for each, that could be used to view and rate and embed.
DK: Reddit is interesting..it brings the notion of content to democracy.
TS: we want to work with carriers, allow user to configure all the social services they use. things to send to individuals, posting mechanisms, there are collect and organise tools and then there is rate and recommend. they are all part of the sharing function itself. user can plug into the functions that are there favs. On phone or set top, then functionality is reduced. so using share this ion a platform can access all of these on a limited platform
DK: you give people the power to share no matter where it goes. Does Verizon believe PC and cellphone will stay distinct or will it go away.
RW: still have user interaction. 17" to 2" screen a diff experience. horse power will continue, but not ness the ’same’
DK: yesterday I was managing my yahoo mail better on the iphone than on my laptop as the interface was designed so well.
RW: email Ok, but apps, managed apps, they needs lots and lots of storage. Need to get to removable memory. overtime capabilities grow and converge. short term will be different
Audience Questions
Q: How do you manage distribution and advertising?
DS: video it’s simple. content is based upon passion. style - fashion etc. when these video episodes exist outside website…it does not matter where it is, it is a pull medium so people have to choose. You put appropriate ads on it - a fashion video has a fashion type of ad. you will not watch a fashion video without an interesting in fashion, so the ads are targeted. for us it is great, it expands the amount of views you can get on content
DK: with the sharing thing. how does the marketer take advantage so the consumer becomes their agent?
TS: relationships are the best way to get promotion. sharing can influence group activity..relationships?….all part of engagement marketing. big believer, to get trust, you have to give something to them for it, an immediate benefit. make sharing easier ad you provide value and marketers can be involved in the dialog.
DK: are marketers interested?
TS: yes. it’s data that no one else has right now. racing to get things out so we can deliver
Q: are the magazine print things selling online and how do they interface?
DS: at condenet we are the sales division of a certain amount of the magazine websites…(Not all) when a print sales person, when their client wants an integrated programme, they come to us and we work together. We have rated small packages that can be pre-sold by the print as well.
Q: Tim, you talk about shared data. how do you manage that?
TS: out share this button is a piece of code that exists on a web page. what we decide to do and how much is tricky as we do not want to lose trust. we can tag, cookie, aggregate across users. if you sign up, you keep everything you share..we need yo be careful with metrics and tracking individuals
DK: one of biggest questions for advertising - how will it play on mobile
RW: in the US you will start seeing more brands getting more, reaching out to customers. there are so many different objectives and possibilities. as more people become aware then more. Banner to page to enter phone number with tune in message or wallpaper with stuff. get videos as well. it’s measurable, you can measure interactivity and results. the advertiser..mobile Internet it’s all measuring. you do not want to bombard them so they turn off, we do not want that to happen
DS: on epi-togo, at the bottom of recipes, you have an ad for a wine pairing with the recipe. sponsored..it ads benefit. relevant and it fits in the app.
DK: I had an epiphany? was asked the main reason look at phones? The time! and then they see the wallpaper.
Q: mobile..open vs closed platforms. how are you handling controlling environment….vs people wanting the best apps.
RW: on mobile Internet…on-deck and off-deck. on-deck there are deals with, directly to site. click to URL and you can enter in. not a walled garden.
DS: we are open minded we explore ondeck etc.
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POSTED IN: Advertising Agencies, Advertisments, Mobile Marketing
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