Monday, November 24, 2008

Direct Marketing spending to outpace traditional ad spend in 2009 (again)

Interesting article from one of my favorite marketing news source - Marketingcharts.com - the Direct Response industry will outpace traditional spend again in 2009. What's more interesting is the breakdown by channel (source: DMA, 2008)
dma-power-direct-marketing-ad-expenditures-vs-total-us-expenditures-2008.png

The overall lead by DM is really caused by Direct Mail (not surprising as branding Direct Mail is notoriously expensive and inefficient) and by new media spending. According to this data, almost 3/4 of online advertising expenditures are still driven by Direct Marketers. Not surprising considering the superior tracking ability. On the flipside - why is the traditional marketing industry still spending about 50% of their budget on TV, magazines, radio and newspapers; all traditional one-way channels?

I would expect a continued shift of traditional AND direct dollars towards online in the next few years and as newspapers and magazines continue to decline, the new media row will only get bigger - lots of room to grow considering that it's still only 13% of total spend!



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Monday, November 10, 2008

We're running out of water - what entrepreneurs are doing

No drinking water, prohibition sign D-P005 acc...Image via WikipediaFascinating article about how entrepreneurs are addressing the looming global water shortages. Addresses storage, distribution, desalination, purification and some other interesting twists.

read more | digg story



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Sunday, November 09, 2008

Flixster is spamming me - how not to do opt-in marketing


This morning when I looked at my gmail, I found about 30 emails from Flixster, a site that I once signed up to in order to test their Facebook Connect implementation. When I signed up, they asked me to import my Gmail contacts, which is fairly common practice right now. Once that was done, the spamming started: they preselected all of my gmail contacts for an "invitation" - consequently, I invited no one. Now it gets worse: although I never authorized this, Flixster remembered my contacts for me (not good practice!) and now sent me these lovely emails suggesting I "might know" these people - of course I do - they're in my gmail address book....
I'm a big fan of the viral loop, the famed viral coefficient and the power of referrals - but please play by the rules, don't abuse the trust that people extend to you and most importantly - don't spam people!

President Elect Obama Victory at Times Square

Last Tuesday night was a wonderful time to be on Times Square. Exuberant people celebrated the victory of Barack Obama. The mood was festive yet peaceful and there was definitely hope in the air. Let's all do our share to make sure the hope becomes reality!




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Thursday, November 06, 2008

Werewolf Bar Mitzvah

Gotta love Tracy Morgan from 30Rock!

My Personal DNA

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