"How Marketers Get Wikis Wrong"

A recent video by Advertising Age on wikis.

Marketers have begun to explore wikis as a new approach to product promotion. But, several flaws in marketers' thinking often causes their wikis to fail, says Jimmy Wales of Wikipedia to Ad Age. Wales now has a second site, Wikia.com, which has become a universe of thousands of wikis with more than 500 million page views a month and has growing stable of blue-chip advertisers.

"Web 2.0 tools present a vast array of opportunities—for companies that know how to use them"

This McKinsey article is a need to read not only for Internet researchers or marketers but for anybody who is interested in looking at the Internet from a new perspective.

"Technologies known collectively as Web 2.0 have spread widely among consumers over the past five years. Social-networking Web sites, such as Facebook and MySpace, now attract more than 100 million visitors a month. As the popularity of Web 2.0 has grown, companies have noted the intense consumer engagement and creativity surrounding these technologies. Many organizations, keen to harness Web 2.0 internally, are experimenting with the tools or deploying them on a trial basis."

In this article, McKinsey provides six management imperatives that determine the outcome of efforts to implement these technologies. "Web 2.0 tools present a vast array of opportunities—for companies that know how to use them."

News stories from the past week

Here are some interesting industry news that I have selected from the past week.

FTC updates behavioral ad guidelines
"In the US, The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued a revised report which reinforces the view that companies which track peoples’ online behaviour should follow self-regulatory guidelines to protect user privacy. The FTC began investigating behavioral targeting after the Center for Digital Democracy and the US Public Interest Research Group filed a complaint about the practice in November 2006. In its report, the commission updates concerns about how online advertisers can protect consumer privacy while collecting information about their online activities in order to serve up ads tailored to their interests." MrWeb Daily Research News Online

Do we need a new Internet?
"Security and privacy have become so compromised that many experts believe it is time to start over. What a new Internet might look like is still widely debated, but one alternative would, in effect, create a “gated community” where users would give up their anonymity and certain freedoms in return for safety. Today that is already the case for many corporate and government Internet users. As a new and more secure network becomes widely adopted, the current Internet might end up as the bad neighborhood of cyberspace. You would enter at your own risk and keep an eye over your shoulder while you were there." New York Times

Study to shed light on state of play in UK mobile ad industry
"Mobile operators and ad agencies are backing a major new research project into mobile advertising in the UK. The project aims to “document the state of the mobile advertising industry in the UK, identify growth opportunities in the emerging mobile advertising marketplace, and benefit stakeholders, shareholders and consumers worldwide”. It has been commissioned by Every Single One Of Us, a joint initiative backed by mobile operators, ad agencies and brand owners to promote mobile marketing, and has the support of the Interactive Advertising Bureau and the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA)." Research Magazine

Market researchers need to develop softer skills
"Market researchers need to listen to consumers rather than focuson "feeding the metrics monster", according to Procter & Gamble's senior researcher Kim Dedeker. Dedeker told an Advertising Research Foundation forum that market researchers need to employ softer skills, such as finding and telling persuasive stories or making greater use of ethnography and online communities." Brand Republic

The future (!) of newspapers

Don't miss this amazing video (1981 TV Report On Birth Of Internet News)

“Imagine, if you will, sitting down to your morning coffee, turning on your home computer to see the day’s newspaper. Well, it’s not as far-fetched as it may seem.”

SF Examiner: “This is an experiment. We’re trying to figure out what it’s going to mean to us, as editors and reporters and what it means to the home user. And we’re not in it to make money, we’re probably not going to lose a lot but we aren’t going to make much either.”

The Best And Worst Super Bowl Ads

"With a price tag of up to $100,000 a second, companies that bought ads in Super Bowl XLIII are banking on buzz. NBC sold spots up until the last minute, convincing marketers that even in a harsh economy, Super Bowl ads can help build a brand and drive sales. The network scored several first-time sponsors, including Mars’ Pedigree dog food, Denny’s and Cash4Gold.com. Advertising’s big game will play out over water coolers and across the Internet for days after the Super Bowl."

For an interesting review of the Super Bowl XLIII ads by experts for the Forbes magazine, visit forbes.com