Users to Online Ad Industry: Leave Us Alone!
By dave_pasternack | March 31, 2008
TNS Global and TrustE jointly released a study today demonstrating that the majority of Web surfers are unhappy with the idea that advertisers will be using their browsing histories to serve targeted ads against. Even when survery repondents were given a scenario wherein no PII information was disclosed, most (54 percent) didn’t approve of the practice. As the report noted, “these statistics indicate a high level of discomfort with the idea of tracking, despite industry reassurances that the information is entirely anonymous.”
Some in the industry are greeting this as a bombshell. I greet it with a yawn. Users have been suspicious of every intrusive move made by corporations since the dawn of online computing (remember the great Prodigy STAGE.DAT cache fiasco of 1991? The Doubleclick/Abacus merger of 1999, which was aborted only after a withering firestorm of criticism? ) Online companies, including some of the biggest, have been caught with their pants down on privacy again and again. The industry has been fighting a reactive, in-denial battle against reasonable self-regulation for so long that it would be funny, if it weren’t now staring down the shotgun barrel of legislation from politicians like Richard Brodsky. If this industry really wants to gain the trust of users, why don’t we explain better what things like BT actually do (few respondents were familar with the term “behavioral targeting) and leave the decision about whether to opt-in to it to the users?
Topics: I'm Mad as Hell and I'm Not Clicking on It Anymore | No Comments »
Toxic Buzzword of the Week: “Alternative Media”
By dave_pasternack | March 27, 2008
One of the great ironies of the number-driven online ad biz is that nobody can agree on the numbers. How much click fraud is there? Nobody can agree. How much must marketers spend to achieve a given goal? Well - it depends. Is Google being affected by a secular economic downturn? Who knows (even Google’s CEO doesn’t seem to know). This industry can’t even agree on the definition of a click without launching a 5-year study group to confer on the program. If the government worked this way we’d be in deep trouble (actually, the government DOES work this way, but that’s a whole other issue).
Now it turns out we can’t even agree on what to call this crazy business. Is it “online media?” “Performance-driven media?” “Interactive Media?” “New Media?” Well, according to AdAge.com’s Jonathan Lemonnier, we’re all in the “Alternative Media” business. Well, thanks, Jonathan - that really clarifies things for us, and in return we proudly award you our Toxic Buzzword Award for this week.
Topics: Toxic Buzzword of the Week | 2 Comments »
Ridiculous Statement of the Week: Jill Whelan on SEOs Committing Crimes Against Clients
By dave_pasternack | March 27, 2008
SearchEngineLand.com’s Jill Whelan won our “Ridiculous Statement of the Week” award when she wrote the following absurd nugget in a rambling defense of the SEM industry’s complete failure to propose and implement meaningful codes of conduct for SEOers:
“One would think the threat of jail time or a court-ordered breach of contract settlement would be deterrent enough from committing crimes against clients.”
Yes, Jill, there are laws on the books, and perhaps these laws alone might deter a few SEOers from stealing from their clients. But deterrence is based not so much on the severity of any sentence but on the certainty that one will get caught. Lots of businesses that get scammed by contractors don’t prosecute, and lots of civil lawsuits get settled quietly because nobody wants to be admit being “taken.” We as an industry need to do a lot more to bring the bad guys to heel. And standards - enforceable ones - are a good baby step toward cleaning up this industry once and for all.
Topics: Ridiculous Statement of the Week, SEO, Search Engine Marketing, Shady Marketing Tactics | No Comments »
Amazing Marketing News: SEO Isn’t Quite Dead (Yet)!
By dave_pasternack | March 25, 2008
I made the mistake of opening my e-mail this morning to read an article by Sarah Holoubek entitled “The Return of SEO.” While it wasn’t the worst example of pro-SEO boosterism that I’ve seen, it contained enough misunderstandings about the objective health of the SEO industry to warrant a response.
Ms. Houlebek (quoting the SEMPO 2007 State of the Market Survey) notes that while most marketers (89 percent) engage in SEO, “the majority of SEO spending in 2008 will be in-house.” In other words, most of those highly touted SEO agencies with $500 per hour “SEO rockstars” are going to be missing out on this business. She also notes that only 40 percent of marketers are happy with their SEO firms (which is why they’re fleeing from these agencies in droves). This is a very damning statistic: if doctors or lawyers had the same satisfaction rank, we’d call them incompetent cranks, but that doesn’t seem to bother Ms. Houlebek. Frankly, the only reason we’re seeing such a strong movement toward in-house SEO teams is that marketers have decided that the “professional SEOers” can’t be trusted.
The SEO industry is on life support and despite Ms. Houlebek’s characterization of the in-house search director job as “the new brass ring in search,” it’s more likely a temp job that might pay OK for awhile but will soon be obsolesced as the search engines finally close the door on search engine spam.
Topics: SEO, Search Engine Marketing, Shady Marketing Tactics | No Comments »
Old Media is Revolting (and New Media is Disgusting)
By dave_pasternack | March 24, 2008
Who put the librarians and the statisticians in charge of advertising? Who said that publishers funding expensive content should be forced to supply this same content to low-balling ad networks that commodify their premium inventory? Well, nobody — and it seems that the big publishers are finally lining up behind an approach that will take back their space from the stingy statisticians.
I’m talking about ESPN, which has decided that it would rather not sell its inventory than get reamed for a nickle on the dollar. I’m talking about other big Web publishers that have had enough, and decided to form an alliance that will shut out the low-ballers. As we all know, these are terrible times for Old Media and it’s plain that unless something is done to return control, they’re finished. Sure, this approach has been tried before (remember the New Century Network) but the pressures — both cyclical and secular — on Old Media are reaching a true pain point. A revolt is long overdue and this could get real ugly. If 100 or so of these publishers got together and banned the engines it could mean real trouble, and I’d bet that 2008 is the year that we see this battle joined.
Topics: I'm Mad as Hell and I'm Not Clicking on It Anymore, Old vs. New Media | No Comments »
Search Within Search: More Costs For Those Paying Google’s Bills
By dave_pasternack | March 24, 2008
The New York Times’ Saul Hansell wrote a good article on Google’s “Search Within Search,” a new (and largely unwelcome) feature which invites users to inspect information on Google SERPs instead of burrowing into the target site itself. The result is that users will spend more time on Google and at the same time be exposed to more competing advertisements likely to derail them from their original destination. According to the article, several large e-tailers (including Amazon.com) have already complained that the searches that Google defeat the purpose of their own internal search routines, which in Amazon’s case are highly personalized. Others, including Best Buy, seem to have no problem at all with it.
Google is walking a tightrope on this one. Sure, only a small percentage of user traffic may be diverted to competitor’s sites via PPC ads on secondary SERPs, but this traffic may be highly profitable. Brand owners seeking to stem the loss of this traffic must now reserve space on the secondary SERP, which adds costs to their marketing campaigns. Search Within Search might benefit a few low-end e-tailers with crude internal search implementations, but effectively penalizes sophisiticated e-tailers who should be rewarded, not penalized, for investing in their own services. Longer-term, wouldn’t it be nice if Google occasionally asked the marketers who pay its bills if new features hurt or help them before it springs something like this on them?
Topics: I'm Mad as Hell and I'm Not Clicking on It Anymore, Search Engine Marketing | No Comments »
Hal Riney R.I.P.
By dave_pasternack | March 22, 2008
Hal Riney, one of America’s great ad men, has passed on. Riney’s career was long and illustrious, and he created many memorable campaigns (including Gallo’s Bartles & James), but his work for Ronald Reagan is certainly the best remembered, particularly for two 1984 campaign spots (”Morning in America” and “The Bear;” see below). Some might quibble with Riney’s politics but there is no question that these spots are among the best examples of the power of creative advertising ever seen. Riney was a giant and his work will long be studied by students of effective persuasion.
Morning in America (1984)
The Bear (1984)
Topics: Giants of Advertising | No Comments »
Online Ad Targeting: Doomed and Not to Be Mourned
By dave_pasternack | March 21, 2008
As reported in the New York Times, New York assemblyman Richard L. Brodsky has introduced a bill to outlaw certain online ad targeting practices, including the sharing of data between 3rd parties, without affirmative consent from the targeted users.
After the Times story ran, Brodsky’s phone began ringing continuously, as panicky online marketers began calling (presumably from the offices of Google, Yahoo, Tacoda, Right Media and others who’ve bet the farm on targeting). If the bill goes through (and I bet it will), the value of many of these companies will be vastly reduced, along with plenty of other players in the BT and ad network business.
Brodsky should be saluted for taking aim at an industry whose tracking activities have too much potential harm to the public to be addressed by self-regulation. We’ve seen what can happen when data-mining companies sell their data or leak it. We also know full well that the entire online industry is filled with shady characters who will only be deterred by a strong law that’s vigorously enforced.
Should the world mourn the death of online targeting, BT, and all the other shady data-mining crap? No way. Targeting and data mining have for too long been regarded as a panacea that can singlehandedly save display advertising. Nobody even knows whether they really work (after all, targeting past user behavior is a very poor indicator of future behavior. Why would I want to target visitors to a camera site with camera ads if my target has already bought a camera?)
In the past 12 years, the Online Advertising Complex has tried virtually every trick in the book to make display advertising work. None of it has, and the value of display advertising continues to drop. The only thing that’s worked is search, and search only works because users self-disclose their intent when they make a query. This is a fundamentally different process with a much lower potential for abuse.
Targeting, data-mining, data-commingling, and other shady tactics are being unmasked, and it’s very clear that the industry (including the IAB, which senselessly opposes Brodsky’s law) has been caught with its pants down. The industry response has been pathetic and the self-regulation advocates are being exposed as self-interested and narrow-minded. This industry has long needed a shake-up and it’s now upon us. Let’s quit the whining, stop the spying, and focus on creating compelling advertising that works.
Topics: Shady Marketing Tactics | No Comments »
SES NY: Is the Search Party Over?
By dave_pasternack | March 20, 2008
I spent a few hours at SES NY this week but had to leave because it was so damned depressing. Floor traffic was down, there was plenty of unrented exhibition space, and even the vendors seemed tired, bored, and irritable. I don’t know what’s ailing SES, but it’s clear that there are too many search-related trade shows, and they often clash on the calendar. There’s a disconnect between the interests of the conference industry and the interests of the vendors and the attendees that support it. I’d hate to make the prediction that search-oriented conferences are on the road to extinction but this fatal, greed-driven conflict may cause SES to soon join COMDEX in the pantheon of doomed computer industry confabs.
Topics: Search Engine Marketing | No Comments »
Toxic Buzzword of the Week: “Socialommerce”
By dave_pasternack | March 19, 2008
In a March 20th SearchEngineWatch.com column, a fellow named Eric Qualman has coined what has to be one of the worst industry buzzwords in many years. “Socialommerce.” I read Qualman’s article and he almost makes some sense, because recommendations do count for a lot when it comes to purchasing certain types of goods. But his scenario about an in-market prospect for a new car is absurd (anybody with a brain would begin with objective product reviews, not random comments on Facebook), and his new buzzword is truly evil. Let’s hope this is the first and last time we ever hear about “Socialommerce.”
Topics: Toxic Buzzword of the Week | No Comments »
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