Ad Agencies report online video advertising better than TV. Words are being eaten in this sea change.

There is a sea change in the way that Advertising is changing.

Most Ad Agencies are struggling in their mindset to cope with the switch to digital and trying to recover the reputational damage caused to themselves, by themselves, in early attempts to rubbish it.

It is ironic for me to watch Ad Agencies now claiming to embrace digital, having had years embroiled in debating it with them. Like leopards, they now know where the money is and are desperate to be seen as evangelists, with consequential dire attempts to negate their previous claims of it being, a waste of money. It will be hard to erase their histories on Google though.

Thanks to Mashable today however, they now report that "Advertising executives" admit that the tide of advertising has changed and that online video ads are taking the lead http://mashable.com/2013/05/28/online-videos-tv-advertising/

75% of them said that online video ads are more effective than TV Ads - a drum that Streamabout has been banging for some time. Only 17% said they were "less effective".

The report produced by the reliable 'emarketeer' showed that online video was even more effective than display ads (print ads) and better for direct response. Which it is.

Video views grew by 23% this year - far greater than the declining audience on TV and it will continue to bury traditional TV broadcasters despite their claims. They know it.

Spend on online video is estimated to grow at 40%, outstripping all other media. Except of course, media that embraces online video like newspaper publishers.

It's a sea change alright.
It is, wakey wakey time too.

Google's driver less cars. They're being allowed in US States. And so Google release a video of one. Driven by a blind man.

You'll probably have heard by now, about Google's new project for driverless cars. They've now been licensed in Nevada, California and Florida although are not expected to be under general manufacture for 2/3 years. But only, 2 or 3 years.

Google syndicated a video recently (below) of how a driverless car works and to prove the point, they sat a blind man in the driving seat.

 The argument is of course that driverless cars (like airplanes) will be safer and indeed that they'll improve traffic congestion (intersections for example, will work far more efficiently).

They also have clear benefits for those who couldn't normally drive like blind or disabled and indeed poor drivers who really shouldn't. They've better fuel usage, better distance control, better parking (being able to identify a spot easier), the ability to react quicker and so on. Presumably too, they've overcome texting whilst driving, mobile calls when driving and drink driving? If the car is in control, the driver is unimportant and more so, you can call the car to come and pick you up at the office. (Or the pub). An end to Taxis?

Amazing stuff which we all just have to get used to but one of the big hold-ups is the threat to the manufacturer that if something goes wrong, they'll get badly sued. But we'll see.

What's also amazing is that racing cars can become driverless. This video shows how but imagine 14 Formula One drivers watching their cars go around Monte Carlo with just joysticks in their hand. Not the same but an awful lot safer.

We'll get used to this. Airplanes too on fly-by-wire with the pilot monitoring the flight from the ground (like US drones). The fact that they're now being licensed to operate in several US states will open the manufacturing opportunity real quick. 

This is not a dream but something we will all see in our lifetime. In fact, within 5 years.

And the next talk is to bring them into the air. It's the quickest way to get from A to B after all and avoids traffic. 

Amazing, amazing, that technology is. 

Ireland. The Tax Haven. And are lies being told?

Today Apple is in the US dock about tax avoidance through Ireland, referred to as a "tax haven", which it clearly is. And lies are being told.

Channel 4 are reporting that the Irish government have done special tax deals with multinationals below the 12.5% corporate tax rate. 

Reuters tonight, via The Irish Independent, reports that 

"According to the congressional report, Ireland had also agreed a special 2pc rate for Apple's Irish taxable profits instead of the normal 12.5pc."
http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/apple-pays-tax-rate-of-less-than-2pc-in-ireland-29285246.html

The Prime Minister Enda Kenny denies this. So too Eamon Gilmore his deputy. RTE News tonight said Revenue have also confirmed that there's "no special deals". 

They'd better be truthful because it looks like they're not. There's too many reports that a special low rate deal was done with multinationals. And if The Prime Minister has misled the House tonight, by saying no deal was done, there will be trouble. 

Because someone here is wrong by definition. The US Congress or The Irish Government.

Where the Irish politicans "dodge" in words may be, by saying that the 12.5% rates does apply on profits "generated in Ireland only".

But that's a dodge. Authoritative sources say a deal was done, they're saying it wasn't. 

Either way too, those profits are deliberately manipulated downwards through licence fees paid offshore by multinationals to places like Bermuda. And we facilitate that.

Secondly, if a profit is brought into Ireland, it's either Irish revenue or it's not. If it's not, as the Government will say, then the tax should have been paid elsewhere - and it hasn't been. 

Because clearly, multinationals are paying even less than 12.5% Irish tax haven rate - nearer 1% - without prosecution in Ireland so if deals aren't done, why then are they not pursued?

And clearly too, if they were paying the 12.5% tax on what we're told is their "Irish revenue", then Ireland would not be in a financial mess. 

US Tax for Apple according to the well regarded Channel 4 News, is 35%. But by transferring their profits to Ireland, they avoid paying that. 

Apple Operations International, between 2009-12, put 30 billion into Ireland as income...but paid no tax on it. No 12.5%.

Apple Sales International similarly transferred a further 22 billion profits to Ireland in 2011 but paid only 10 million in taxes (so not 12.5% either).  

US Senator John McCain today said Apple's 3 Irish operations hold 60% of the companies profits. He also said they negotiated (with the Irish government) a rate of less than 2%.

Now either he's wrong with everyone else - or Enda Kenny has lied. Did Apple do a deal Enda or not?

If Apple alone had paid 12.5% on their "Irish income", this country would not have a budget deficit.

I do get a bit tired blogging about multinational tax "avoidance" and the role of Ireland in facilitating it.

You can search some of my previous tax blogs mainly from last year.

And of course, this week we saw Google defend a regime that their sales are not in the UK, but in Ireland. Here's what I said about them on December 3rd

"Google, with a staff in the UK of 1,300 books most of its revenue to surprise, surprise, Ireland. So it earns money in the UK but funnels it through Ireland. That's Ireland's great tax regime I mean that attracts companies like these in the first place. Actually Google's "Irish" revenue is recorded as 12.4 billion. How ridiculous is that? Gross profit in Ireland in 2011 was recorded at 9 billion!! It's truly ridiculous."

And everytime I blog about tax, I take a hit. Irish people think you're being disloyal, unpatriotic and generally live in fear of google/facebook/zynga/dropbox/microsoft and others, jobs.

What's so wrong about all of this is that the Irish government pursues its own citizens for tax through the courts and cause undue hardship. But they let big corporations (and I was the CEO of one), avoid tax.

Shameful.

This is a dreadful charade and furthermore, if there is lying going on (and I believe there is), it will cause the collapse of the Irish government.

If you're interested here are my previous blogs to search in the search bar:

January 3rd Blog. Facebook and the cayman islands via Ireland. And Zynga.

Google 

Microsoft

Dropbox

Starbucks

The biggest Advertising breakthrough since it started - YouTube Video now allows you to click and buy.

Google's YouTube have just announced that they've started to E Commerce enable YouTube video. It's a breakthrough in terms of video and sales as well as giving YouTube advertisers, direct response for their investment.

It is probably the biggest breakthrough since advertising started. You watch a commercial online and you can buy directly from it. We've waited a long time for this. A billion customers a month are on YouTube.

In partnership with Google Search, what happens is that you watch a video which shows some product and when you click on an aspect of it, you can buy the product online instantly. Or you can search retailers, product functionality etc. 

And it's exclusively YouTube so the same video won't click thru elsewhere.... hence if you want advertising that sells....advertise on YouTube. Magnificent breakthrough.

The first product is Unilever's Tresemme in the hair/beauty category as a test and it'll be interesting to see the results. The audience they have, the technology they now have and it will just be up to doing good video that brings eyeballs in to watch. Streamabout are in that space thankfully.

So YouTube is now a shop. Presumably they'll take a margin on all online sales and possibly, start charging for the space to show your video.

It's a dream really and a terrific Advertising platform that will compete seriously with traditional media. You never really knew if your Advertising worked on delivering sales, as such. Now, you do.

Astronaut produces stunning online video and sings Bowie's 'Space Oddity' from space (to mark his return today). This is really terrific and worth watching.

Chris Hadfield is a Canadian (which was home to me once) Astronaut on the International Space Station for the last 5 months and he's done lots of things in space including tweeting 'Happy St. Patrick's Day' in the Irish language. (In fact his daughter studied at Trinity College Dublin).

Few space travellers have actually done as much fun, interesting and "earthy" things to promote space travel than Chris. He had a space "singalong" with kids recently and he returns this Monday.

And so to mark his return, he's literally made a music video in space. Editing some great footage and singing Bowie's 'Space Oddity'. One cannot help wonder if Bowie ever saw it performed like this but he'd be pleased. He already tweeted Hadfield with "hello spaceboy".

This is, ladies and gentlemen, stunning.

WATCH HIS LANDING LIVE http://www.space.com/17933-nasa-television-webcasts-live-space-tv.html

YouTube put a Tank on the RTE lawn to claim to overtake TV Viewing numbers. And if they haven't, they will. Globally.

Google's YouTube claims to have overtaken TV in viewership and marked it with a stunt this weekend by parking a Tank in RTE (Ireland's state funded broadcaster).

Eric Schmidt Chairman of Google only last week said that, "it has already happened" and that "it's not a replacement for something that we already know" and he's right. YouTube and content consumption is different from the traditional manner where broadcasters push out content at a time that suits them, not the user.

YouTube already delivers more than a billion unique monthly users, astounding stuff and one cannot help but wonder, how then are TV broadcasters claiming more and more people are watching TV when clearly they're not? Given too, the amount of time spent on Social Media, notably Facebook, and Netflix, it is bewildering that they can produce research to show they're growing. And it's just not credible. Clearly users cannot be doing both.

According to The Sunday Independent, the RTE star programme, The Late Late Toy Show, which is their most watched show, had 1.3 million viewers. A YouTube 16 second Japanese clip of a couple getting "jiggy" had 47 million views! http://www.independent.ie/business/technology/googles-eric-schmidt-television-is-already-over-29238541.html

An audience of 1.3 million viewers is small in the video download business and yet it's the number one TV show.....

Rock band Metallica video had 30 million views; Rihannas "cry" video 27 million; Even good old Ireland's Damien Rice's video was viewed 24 million times....

In fact some of RTE's online videos are viewed greater than the programme broadcasts themselves, so what is that telling you? 

A Republic of Telly hidden camera prank had 1.1 million views online and probably 4 times the show's audience on Television. It was for example, more viewers than those of us who tuned in to RTE TV to watch Katie Taylor win gold! Imagine.

Because if the TV audience is growing, as global broadcasters suggest, then there's something wrong here.

The growth of YouTube, the stunning surge of Netflix (130,000 Irish subscribers?), the Irish love of Facebook (49% of the population use the site) -and we know most of these are evening activities - the explosion of Social Media like Twitter has to mean, that if viewers are viewing these, then they're watching less TV. 

It simply cannot be both.

Harvey Weinstein trashes Google/YouTube for stealing content and making billions from it. This is going to run.

It's hard not to respect Harvey Weinstein one of the most powerful men in media.

He co-founded Miramax Pictures and of course, set the world alight with 'Pulp Fiction' but a man who knows his trade and was heavily involved in 'Live Aid'.

At this week's Creativity Conference, he trashes Google's youtube. Now I can't show you the video as normal (you'll have to click the link below - but it's only 2 mins long) because the video is not on YouTube. Which surprises me....somebody must have tried to upload it? Yet it's not there....hmmmm anyway here's the link:

http://fora.tv/2013/04/26/Harvey_Weinstein_The_Creators_Process_for_Storytelling/Harvey_Weinstein_Artists_Cant_Thrive_If_Theyre_Poor?utm_source=ForaSiteMaster&utm_campaign=37b98fe34f-Newsletter_05_1_13&utm_medium=email

What he's saying is that Google steals content - an argument a lot of Newspapers are starting to have with them too. He illustrates his point by referring to the show 'Chicago' where on YouTube 9 of the 13 show songs are available for free.

Nobody is getting paid for that - not the composers, the producers, the singers...nobody, except that is, YouTube through advertising.

So with irony he says that a very good business plan would be to use somebody else's content, for free, and then build a 500 billion dollar silicon valley company. And be very, very rich. And then have cool slogans, like "we just want to help the world".

He has a point.

And this will now come to a head with content owners.

HMV and Xtra-Vision. Who's next? Skype announces a cracking idea from Monday with Microsoft's outlook.com. So could it be telephony?

Given recent collapses of HMV and in Ireland this week, the Xtra-vision chain which went into receivership (like a 'Blockbuster' chain of retail DVD rental), it's clear that online played a major part in their demise.

Video and music downloads (legal in the main) through the likes of ITunes and Netflix which is surging ahead, meant that traditional retail DVD/Album sales went into spiralling decline. The point however should be made, that brands like HMV and Xtra-vision should have got into the online space but didn't.

They were, at one time, the dominant brands with the power to win online. Anyway.

One now has to ask, what's the next category or market segment that's now faced with the same challenges? And it's telephony.

Apart from "ordinary" threats of email, tweeting, texting and messaging which avoids the need for a quick (costly) telephone call, mobile operators continue to compete on price to woo subscribers. That in itself, is reducing margins and profitability.

It's a death spiral.

But apart from that, online operators are starting to each their lunch - exactly what happened in music and video.

Skype, the best known player (but there's hundreds) have just announced a roll-out of audio and video calling, with outlook.com in the UK from Monday and then the US and Germany this month.

All you need do is download a plug-in and login with your Microsoft account and you're integrated into the Microsoft email service. So that call, has just got a lot easier - it's part of your email. Merging the accounts will automatically merge contacts so connecting with friends will be easy as well.

It's phone calls at your fingertips.

Skype is part of Microsoft so furthering usage will also be pretty easy for Microsoft as Skype replaces their 'instant messenger' service. It previously partnered with ComCast bringing Skype to HDTV sets and Skype generates about 130 billion minutes of call a quarter - growing by 30%+. Microsoft also of course know mobile telephony with android phones.

It's hard to see the big global mobile brands compete with this and especially when we've seen so little sign of it to date. Perhaps they have had it too good for too long? like HMV and Xtra-Vision?

Unthinkable? Nope.

Netflix surges ahead. 3 million new subscribers last quarter. 36m to date. This is killing traditional TV viewership.

 

 
The surge of Netflix goes on and on.

They've just announced 3 million new subscribers in the first quarter (beating brands like HBO). That means they've over 36 million subscribers (of which 'm one).

Revenue for the quarter broke 1 billion usd and the share price went over 200 usd for the first time. Extraordinary stuff for what is, pretty ordinary content but the key is ease of access at a low cost. Their free trial, only resulted in 8000 people cancelling, a really low churn rate so generally people are happy.

Netflix are great at what they do and now lead the way in TV broadcasting and have developed their own shows. Nevermind killing high street video rental who were too slow at getting into the space.

They also know how to grow - market by market - with stealth. Pick off country by country.

The other beneficiaries of Netflix are brands like Sony who in allowing connectivity through their Xbox for example, generate revenue and indeed all connected TV's will do well out of this - provided, Netflix agree to allowing them take their content.

This is a case where such a strong content partner can now dictate who carries their signal and on what terms.

Whilst TV broadcasters continue to commission "reputable" research showing TV viewing still remains high, it is to say the least, dubious. They continue to try to hide the ongoing collapse of TV viewing habits but publishing data about the TV itself. In other words, claiming that those using are using a TV set to view content are "TV viewers" ....when in fact, they are watching other content such as Netflix. Or YouTube via their Television set.

These massive increases in online content viewing are helping to dispel the myth that TV viewing of traditional broadcasters content, is holding steady - when clearly it's not.

Simply, the Netflix numbers and the facts about usage of Social Media in the home from Facebook and others, are exposing the death of traditional broadcasting. 

They both cannot be right.
 

Boston Shootings. Twitter bringing in the news. Nobody can compete wih this.

Fairly extraordinary stuff going on in Boston as Police hunt a suspect in the Boston Bombings. One has already been shot, so too a Police Officer and one is on the loose.

What's also extraordinary (and thanks to Mashable) is the tweets and pictures that are coming from the scene.

Here is the page  http://mashable.com/2013/04/19/live-tweets-from-massive-police-standoff-in-watertown/

If ever you wanted to see Social Media in action for news, literally as it happens, this is it.

Extraordinary. 

No news organisation can compete with this amount of content simply because, every citizen with a smartphone is a journalist and they're all on scene.

YouTube open special news page for video of Boston explosions.

Following yesterday's explosions in Boston, YouTube have opened a page where they've brought together all the video into one place. It's here;

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbpi6ZahtOH5T_nrvCoHfnYWbW1shGYYv

There's no doubt, watching an event unfold like this live last night, how Social Media is now fulfilling the news role. 

Twitter going out live from the scene with pictures (although some of them cruelly unedited) and YouTube video being posted. 

All well ahead of traditional news organisations.

I understand an 8 year old was one of those killed, waiting for his mum and dad to finish the run, both of whom survived. I too have an 8 year old son and it's impossible to understand the tragedy of those parents as they set about running a marathon on a sunny bank holiday Monday. God be with them.

EBooks now a quarter of all US Book Sales. From 9% in 3 years.

The American Association of Publishers, have reported that E-Books now account for nearly a quarter of all US book Sales (23%).

From 9% in 2009, it's pretty terrific growth and really interestingly, there's been a growth in books in general. Like ITunes has brought more music sales, so too has EBooks.

So instead of the Internet decimating Books and Music as predicted, it has brought a new life to them. Simply, the ease of access online has meant more people can buy more easily and they do.

At the time, the music industry particularly, instead of jumping onboard the download revolution, spent millions trying to stop it through law. When they should have encouraged it.

Interesting too that these stats on Ebooks show a real growth in children's/teen books which probably means, more younger people are reading - no bad thing. 

EBooks are a real success - if you haven't yet got a Kindle, go get one now. You'll resist it at first and then fall in love with it. Stunning piece of kit.

New writers will be encouraged by these numbers too. It's all in all, great news for literacy (if that's how you spell it).

Kobe Byrant V Lionel Messi. Turkish Airlines Video goes hugely viral. But it's great and worth a look.

Super Commercial/Viral Video for Turkish Airlines which has just passed over 110 million views and quickly. Actually faster than 'Gangnam Style'.

Kobe Byrant (he's a Basketballer of some note) Versus Lionel Messi (he's a footballer seemingly) vie for the attention of a kid on board. But the key here was by using such well known celebs, piggybacked their own following and so the Video immediately had traction amongst fans.

And critically, it was shared because of who they are.

Having said that, the spot is clever in itself and a good use of the talents on board. Unusually too for Turkish Airlines, not known for strong creative. Developed too, by a local Turkish Agency and local creatives, it shows Turkish airlines as a comfortable way to go - and celebrity endorsement does no harm.

Lovely idea and yes, the talent fees would be high but the shoot itself doesn't have a real expensive look about it. Still, if both players got a million each to appear and it has reached over 110 million people, that represents cracking good value.

In fact, at 5 million each, it still does.
Celebrity can be worth it.

North Korea have launched a missile. Japan's Government Tweets. By accident.

The Korean peninsula is on a knife-edge as we know.

One small mistake may unsettle everything. 

So the Japanese government officials got ready. On standby and had their tweets ready to go. All bases covered, all on alert.

One of the official Tweets was "North Korea has launched a missile" ready to send to advise the population to be prepared. All good preparation because Twitter is huge in Japan.

Until one donkey in officialdom goes and sends it, by mistake at noon on the official Twitter account. And leaves it up, for 20 minutes before replacing it with an apology.

It's one way to get re tweeted but another way to cause total havoc. And the sort of thing that really causes problems.

And the culprit? "The Crisis Management Office Affairs Bureau" of Yokohama in Japan. Irony of ironies.

(It wouldn't happen in Jack Dorsey's day.....)

It's back. Mad Men Series 6. Tonight.

It's back. He's back. Short sentences are back. Tonight. 10pm Sky Atlantic.

Advertising men like they used to be. Mad Men Series 6.

Fox threaten to go Subscriber only. Online re-broadcasting is causing problems (IPTV).

Fox, that great bastion of free right wing media (actually, I watch it a lot so I mean that tongue-in-cheek) are threatening to come off "free to air" and to move towards cable or pay-per-view.

In other words, just be available to subscribers.

And the reason? Online IPTV re-broadcasters (in this case 'Aereo' in particular) whom are offering live Fox and CBS and ABC and others online for free. They're simply, re-sending the TV signals online for a small fee. And the courts have upheld their right to do so. It would seem that these re-broadcasters have set themselves up exactly within the limits of existing laws.

So no need for an antenna or set-top box, you can now see Fox online through Aereo and that's what's bothering Fox. Aereo also allows you to record programmes in the cloud and of course, is available on multi-platforms to watch "as you go".

It means that traditional TV Companies are now losing control of their signal, their content and ultimately, their advertising. So if Fox became subscriber only, it would starve IPTV such as Aereo, of content. But then too, it would lose its advertising revenue because numbers of viewers would dramatically reduce.

It would also cause problems for affiliates of Fox (such as Sky) who may no longer get access to that content either. 

IPTV is a threat to broadcasters - of that, there's no doubt.
However, one wonders why they don't join the party and develop their own IPTV strategy? In other words, come together as an online brand and compete.

So many times, we've seen online destroy businesses who sat back and depended on legal action rather than, get into the space and fight. This to me, looks like another example.

Feels a bit like a Fox episode of The Simpsons.

Spotify. They've blazed a trail in music streaming and now face a huge challenge. So they turn to advertising and their first TV Commercial.

'We are Spotify, we are for music', sounds like the Pedigree Chum Campaign 'We are for dogs' and you can't help but see in Spotify's new, first, TV Campaign, influences from Apple advertising.

I have no understanding of their copyline either, "Music is worth fighting for"? Sounds like a copywriter trying to be evocative without making sense. 

However, the point is that this is Spotify's bid to get into US Homes through TV advertising, promoting its music streaming business before competitors enter the space. And the space is hotting up.

Apple, Amazon and most notably Google, are all primed to enter the Spotify space. Big players with big money.

Music Streaming is different to music downloading (as in ITunes) in that it allows you to listen to tracks for a standard subscription. 

Launched in Sweden in 2008, Spotify currently has over 20 million active members with about 6 million paying and has a valuation of circa 3 billion usd. So it's a relatively young start-up that has grown and has trail blazed a new segment of streaming music. All from a base in Sweden. Not bad at all really.

Its success hasn't gone unnoticed and hence they're now faced with big players coming into their market - always a problem for a start-up. If you're successful, others will follows. And hence therefore, this new TV Commercial to try to develop subscribers before the big boys get hold. Which is exactly the right thing to do, whether you like the commercial or not.

Spotify deserves the success either way. And turning to Advertising will help it now. But it's now faced with the challenge of its young life. 

Yoko Ono is 80 and wants more gun control. So she Tweets Lennon's bloody glasses. Scary stuff.

This is a Tweet from Yoko Ono and what makes it pretty scary is that they are the exact glasses that John Lennon was wearing when he shot outside the Dakota Apartments in NYC (where I saw for myself). That's his blood on the lens.

Scary too that Lennon was only 40, Yoko is now 80 and that he was shot 33 years ago. Yoko has 3.7 m followers on Twitter and she did this Tweet to enter the conversation on gun control. Pretty effectively I think.

Over 31,000 people die in the US every year from shootings. John + Yoko had always been involved in issues like this - the song Give Peace a Chance of course, symbolises that. So there's no doubting she wants more gun control and is using her celebrity with a controversial image to get it out there.

Newspapers have a new confidence. Recent NNI Video tells the story and journalists tell theirs. Newspapers are the ONLY Media people pay for. That means they want it.

The power of Newspapers and their power online. Real Social Media as shown at the recent NNI Awards night.

The point is that Newspapers are a trusted source for news. And now with the online/social media dimension, they can provide that news with video, just as well as any broadcaster. But perhaps more importantly, is that people actively pay for Newspapers. So they value it, they read it, they trust it. 

And that has real value to advertisers because they don't pay for TV, Outdoor, Radio.

It's the tradition of newspapers to break news and set the news agenda as you'll see. Story after story after story.

But importantly, they can do that "as it happens" so before traditional TV broadcasters who hold back their news for advertising lucrative evening broadcasts.

Newspapers are not threatened by the Web but rather, it brings new opportunities (such as subscriptions) without the massive cost of printing. And, they can enter the TV advertising arena through providing pre-roll commercials in front of their video news. Who'd have thought you can see a 30 second TV commercial in a newspaper?

Well done to The National Newspapers of Ireland who are pushing out the message with new confidence. And rightly so.

And along comes another, brilliant, simple, world class idea. Bluetooth Earphones.

Just when you thought everything was invented, along comes another great, simple idea.

Bluetooth earbuds.

Now I do know of wireless headphones like we all bought in the 90's for late night TV watching. And I do know of bluetooth earpieces for Iphones favoured by Taxi drivers. But bluetooth ear buds, as in the tiny earpieces we all have, I hadn't seen as wireless.

So no more chords to plug into your iphone, instead they're wireless over bluetooth. The ear buds just connect to a little device which links to your phone etc. So forget tangles, they're a thing of the past.

Elroy (I admit, a most peculiar brand name) is looking to raise funding on Kickstarter (crowd funding) and I think it's a real winner. Not only does it replace the mess of tangled chords but when you remove an earpiece (as in, someone says "hello" on the street), it pauses the music until you put it back in.

If you get a call, inserting the ear piece answers it and so on. Clever?

Really.

The mounts are also magnetic so when you're done, they simply stick to a box which you carry. 

Elroy were looking to raise 30k usd on Kickstarter and already they've past that mark. I'm not surprised.

This will be the way of headphones in the future (did I just say that?).
Well, I mean, it's a sure winner.

New Ad Agency launches. Brief them on Twitter, response in 24 hours, 999 dollars on PayPal. Dear oh dear.

A network of Ad Agency creatives in New York have just launched the fastest creative turnaround ever. Using Twitter briefs (that is, 140 characters of a brief, refreshing in itself), they'll respond with ideas (tag lines, communication platforms, stunts etc).

Claiming to be "the fastest Agency in the world" they say clients can say goodbye to "powerpoint decks, long lunches, meetings, to-and-fro emails, inaudible conference calls - I'm with that 100%, consumer focus groups" and so on. 

http://worldsfastestagency.com/ only seek 999 usd paid by 'PayPal' which I assume, you pay in advance. So goodbye too to billing/invoice queries and I assume, goodbye to any problems with the ideas seeing as you'll have paid for them.....

Founded by a 'Floyd Hayes', they're claiming clients including brands such as Unilever, Mini, Levis, HSBC, Vodafone and other blue-chip corporates. Also claiming to be "in short, I develop ideas to sell your stuff" which really does cut to the chase....

And if you look at the Video above, you'll see Floyd is pretty proud of himself. 

Of course, what this all does is further commoditises the work of Ad Agencies - rightly or wrongly - but one lesson that's clear in my experience is that good ideas require one thing. Time.

The longer you have, the better the idea or ideas. And it really is as simple as that. Good ideas rarely, come quickly and certainly in 24 hours, you'll not have something outstanding. Because with any idea, you need time to kick it around.

I can deliver an advertising concept in a minute, but how good will it be? (yeah, yeah, most will say I didn't deliver a good one in 20 years so okay then).

However, being the "fastest" Agency is a positioning which Agency's in the main, lack (they all appear "samey"). Or being the 999 dollar Agency is another positioning. And it grabs the headlines on the likes of 'Mashable' and Advertising publications. 

Fundamentally though, it damages the business of the Ad Agency and demystifies what they do. Floyd would say I'm sure, no bad thing and you know what, he might be right....even if this is a stunt in itself, pure and simple.

What it does point to is the need for big Agencies to stand up for themselves and explain clearly how and what their contribution is in the digital age rather, as they're prone to do, dismissing it. Or they'll keep getting hammered and hammered into a positioning as well-dressed money men with nothing to add.

Or else, Floyd will be rubbing his hands.

Turning buildings green. A classic piece of marketing for St. Patricks Day.

Accuse me of being biased but I do think the concept behind turning international, iconic buildings green, for St. Patrick's day, is a classic. Just as an idea, forgetting is has anything to do with Ireland.

But green is the Irish colour and internationally recognised as such - so a building lit up in green, means Ireland.

Sydney Opera House, The Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai, The Empire state Building (which I actually painted as a teenager, honest guv), The London Eye, Sphinx, Christ the Redeemer statute in Rio, Pyramids....all went green for Patrick's Day. A pretty impressive ad. And that great Irish city Chicago, where I once worked, as usual, turned The Chicago River green.

I have to say, I thought it was a stunning idea as well as all the Government Buildings turning green. At the launch of the idea, Streamabout interviewed Minister Varadkar who said the cost was 36,000 euro in total. That represents pretty good value then.

A lovely idea that actually happened. And yet again, simplistic thinking wins.

St. Patrick's Day. Ireland's gift to the English? Wayne Rooney.

Ah St. Patrick's Day....the celebration of all things Irish where we make a complete show of ourselves.

But there's one thing we do well - laugh at ourselves. No better man that Dara above to do that.

Now, where's my leprechaun hat.

Enjoy yourself.

The Underground Library. Turning the NYC Subway into a Library for all.

I'm big into books.

And what I like about digital books and ebooks is that they've actually brought in more readers. Like Itunes have delivered more music sales.

And at the time, you'll remember that it was thought that ebooks would kill reading and itunes would kill music, when exactly the opposite has happened. The web has been the saviour of the music business as it turns out.

Ebooks have also allowed virtual libraries where you "rent" a book (exactly as you do in a traditional library) and then after a time, it's deleted from your device. 

So the idea of students to make the New York Subway into a virtual library, is a cool one. After all, it's exactly the time when people want to read in transit. Through Ads in the trains, which look like bookshelves, they list a series of book titles, "best sellers". When a user scans the title with their smartphone.....

.....they get the first 10 pages for free as a sample. just enough to read on that commute.

Then they're reminded that the rest of the book is available for free, at the New York Public Library complete with GPS map as to how to get there.

Lovely, lovely idea, called 'The Underground Library'.
Still in concept phase, it deserves to be heard. And read. 

Amazing Cinema Advertising and Experience. Disruptive marketing for homelessness.

Smashing piece of work in Cinemas in Germany.

Simple idea - all the best ones are - which got cinema goers to experience for a moment, what it's like to be homeless.

Cinema goers sat in a cinema, were given an old blanket and the air conditioning was turned down, getting colder and colder. As it was, they watched a promo Ad/documentary by homeless people, about what it's like to feel cold. Even colder than the shivering audience.

It's disruptive, guerrilla advertising and of course, they were asked at the end to make a donation including by text and QR code. Which they did. So would you.

Experiential marketing call it, but effective advertising it is. Not only in creating funds on the night but by bringing home to people an experience that they wouldn't normally.

Watch the video and think how easy it was.
Big ideas don't have to cost big money.

Facebook pushes News through news feeds re-launch today. Newspapers take heart. This is your future too.

Facebook has gone through another re-design just as elaborate as the "timeline" changes in 2011.

It has overhauled its "news feed" interestingly, with Zuckerberg calling it "a personalised newspaper" not just with text but with imagery. It features blogger images, mobile consistency and multiple feeds.

This is a radical departure. The focus on news stories is more visual, images are much larger (taking 50% of the feed) and more centre positioned with an 'Instagram' feel. Of course, the key here is the ability to 'share' news.

More feeds, and more control of those feeds gives users more options, which you chose to 'follow'. Could be a news feed from family, from friends, about music and so on. Niche news that you want.

Being heavily mobile enabled too, is a good answer to criticisms of Facebook. 

The continuing journey for Facebook into online news is interesting and another competitor to traditional news orgs. But the fundamental issue around news, the fundamental issue around 'citizen journalism' is trust. You have to trust the source and are these Facebook feeds trustworthy? Not always.

News is pure gold as a content commodity. It draws people in and it retains them. The people in Pole position to provide trusted news are newspapers. And they'll get there with a little belief in themselves and with a mindset change that realises, their newspaper futures are online.

The biggest asset newspapers have, is not on a printing press, it's their websites. And it'll take time for Press men to get their heads around that, but get that, they will.

Do not despair oh ye of little faith.

Dove Real Beauty Campaign gets a controversial online download. Ad Agencies not happy.

Dove, the Unilever brand, is extending its "real beauty" campaign which launched in 2004 and came to prominence in 2007 at The Cannes Festival.

It's a campaign aimed in part, at the true illustration of women in advertising and in editorial - campaigning against "air brushing". It also seemed to align itself with a campaign against young women identifying with those images and consequently leading to eating disorders amongst teenage girls.

What they've done is to distribute a piece of software ('Photoshop Action') on Social Media sites. Whilst downloading the software pretends to offer better filter images (in an 'Instagram' kind of way) for the photograph, in fact, it reverts the photograph to its original - warts and all.

It is aimed at Art Directors and creatives in Ad Agencies who create advertising featuring beautifully retouched women. And it makes a point.

Needless to say, Ad Agencies aren't happy with the download because it doesn't do what it promised to do. They've hit back at Unilever claiming that the original Dove campaign itself, was photoshopped and they also point to other Unilever campaigns (such as for 'Axe' and 'Fair&Lovely' brands) which features.....beautifully retouched women. Or so they say. Basically, you can't have it both ways....

But the idea of using a download in this way, is clever. Or controversial.
It depends on whatever way you look.

Why you'll see good Video content coming off YouTube. Low Advertising cpm rates.

Now there is no greater fan of Google's YouTube (bought for over 1.6 billion usd in 2006) than yours truly.

It has, and is, a fantastic platform for Video and a great resource used by publishers and public alike. It has actually allowed and fostered freedom of expression and especially in countries where there's no other free media outlet. 

However YouTube is, and wants, to move into the TV arena and I've always said that YouTube will be the biggest global TV player when it gets structure.

However, that's the problem - structure.

In particular, what will make YouTube a broadcaster, is good content as it moves more and more into that broadcasting space. Attracting good content is now the issue as it tries to shift from what's called its "experimental" stage.

Content makers get paid by YouTube from Advertising and a lot are unhappy about the revenue they're generating.

Firstly, the problem is supply and demand. Simply as YouTube has more and more and more Video by the second (literally), the amount of Ad money to share around is less and less. Too much supply outpacing Advertiser demands. 

Secondly, and the bigger issue, is Ad rates.

YouTube's "cut" on ad rates is too high. At the moment it's circa 45% but that leaves content providers with a cpm (cost-per-thousand-views) of about 2 Dollars. Which in turn means that if your Video is watched 1 million times (very high), you generate 2,000 Dollars (very low). If you generate a thousand views (which is more likely and considered "good"), you make 2 Dollars.

Most of those quality video makers aren't happy with that revenue and with other Video sharing sites like Vimeo, are looking at those options especially when it's about quality content. 

The likelihood therefore, is that you'll see good content disappearing from YouTube unless they re-consider their rates. And that's a pity because, as I said, they're pioneers but Video makers have to eat too.

If it remains as a site offering cat and dog videos, it will never be the TV type broadcaster it aspires to be. And it will leave room for other video sharing sites to fill the void.

The Video market is maturing.