Good article from Colleen Jones, via imediaconnection about how to ally storytelling approaches to the digital space.
http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/18041.asp
Monday, January 21, 2008
Crunchies winners 2007
A great evening was had by all tonight as some of the leading startups gathered for the first annual Crunchies, a joint production between Read/Write Web, VentureBeat, GigaOm and TechCrunch.
The ceremony went (mostly) smoothly with a couple of surprises amongst the results. For a full list of nominees, visit the Crunchies 2007 portal here.
Best Overall: Facebook
Facebook revolutionized the idea of what social networking could be.
Best technology innovation / achievement: Earthmine
Earthmine picks up where Google Earth leaves off, bringing deep semantic data to 3D panoramas of the real world. Earthmine’s system can keep track of the objects found in the real world and attribute information to each of them, such as latitude, longitude, elevation, and other attributes.
Best Clean Tech Startup: Tesla Motors
Tesla’s green sports car has captured the imagination of a public who had come to expect electric cars to be dull are boring. Due to be released this year, the company has pre-orders from some of the biggest names in Entertainment and Technology.
Best video startup: Hulu
Hulu put television online. Their broadcasting system was modeled on the success of social video sites and drawn the praise of its previous critics.
Best user-generated content site: Digg
Digg’s simple voting system defined the emerging social media revolution. Getting “dugg” quickly became a badge of honor and established a coveted place in the geek lexicon.
Best mobile start-up: Twitter
Twitter, the new addictive microblogging platform. It wasn’t until after the South by Southwest conference that people realized the value of the incredibly simple microblogging platform.
Best International startup: Netvibes
Based in London, Tariq Karim and Freddy Mini’s Netvibes has made waves in the U.S. as a top personalized web portal.
Best consumer startup: Meebo
Meebo made instant messaging ubiquitous by bringing it online. They then developed it into a platform where anyone could add chat to their applications.
Best enterprise startup: Zoho
Zoho’s comprehensive online suite of 14 business applications ranging from document editing to CRM continues to lead the way in the move away from desktop computing to working in the cloud.
Best design: SmugMug
SmugMug is professional photo site. SmugMug’s attention to detail and design can command as much as $150 per year from their users.
Best new gadget/ device: Apple iPhone. See the Apple acceptance speech here.
Best business model: Zazzle
Looking for a Star Wars hat or memorable mug? Zazzle is an on-demand factory of consumer goods for top brands. It also lets consumers become producers by uploading their own images onto that T-shirt, mug, or mousepad. . Consumers can also receive a commission on products that they sell and design themselves
Best bootstrapped startup: Techmeme.
Founded and developed solely by Gabe Rivera, Techmeme serves as the front page of the tech blogosphere. The site’s advanced algorithms identify the day’s top stories by making sense of conversations across the web’s best blogs.
Best Startup Founder: Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook)
Does this really need any explanation? At 23 Mark has built one of the world’s leading online destinations that has recently been valued at $15 billion. A remarkable achievement for anyone, let alone someone at the still relatively young 23. A well deserved award.
Best Startup CEO: Toni Schneider (Automattic)
Schnieder has lead the company from its roots as a open source alternative to Movable Type into a multi-million dollar enterprise that saves the world from blog spam and offers a free hosted blogging solution that competes with Google’s Blogger.
Best new startup: iMedix
iMedix combines search and social networking to change the way people find health information online. Users are encouraged to help each other by sharing health experiences and links from around the web.
Most likely to succeed: Automattic (WordPress)
The open source blogging platform that powers the long tale and turned into a multi-million dollar spam fighting and hosted blogging service.
Best use of viral marketing: StumbleUpon
StumbleUpon’s service lets users bookmark and discover new sites they love. With only a $1.5 million investment in 2005, StumbleUpon gew to over 4 million Stumblers and was bought by eBay in 2007 for $75 million
Best time sink site: Kongregate
CEO Jim Greer describes Kongregate as XBox live for casual games. This site hosts some of the webs most addictive casual games. Remember Desktop Tower Defense? Moreover, the games are not only played by users, but also created by them in exchange for a share of advertising revenue and other rewards.
Most likely to make the world a better place: DonorsChose
DonorsChoose.org is dedicated to connecting classrooms in need with individuals who want to help.
The ceremony went (mostly) smoothly with a couple of surprises amongst the results. For a full list of nominees, visit the Crunchies 2007 portal here.
Best Overall: Facebook
Facebook revolutionized the idea of what social networking could be.
Best technology innovation / achievement: Earthmine
Earthmine picks up where Google Earth leaves off, bringing deep semantic data to 3D panoramas of the real world. Earthmine’s system can keep track of the objects found in the real world and attribute information to each of them, such as latitude, longitude, elevation, and other attributes.
Best Clean Tech Startup: Tesla Motors
Tesla’s green sports car has captured the imagination of a public who had come to expect electric cars to be dull are boring. Due to be released this year, the company has pre-orders from some of the biggest names in Entertainment and Technology.
Best video startup: Hulu
Hulu put television online. Their broadcasting system was modeled on the success of social video sites and drawn the praise of its previous critics.
Best user-generated content site: Digg
Digg’s simple voting system defined the emerging social media revolution. Getting “dugg” quickly became a badge of honor and established a coveted place in the geek lexicon.
Best mobile start-up: Twitter
Twitter, the new addictive microblogging platform. It wasn’t until after the South by Southwest conference that people realized the value of the incredibly simple microblogging platform.
Best International startup: Netvibes
Based in London, Tariq Karim and Freddy Mini’s Netvibes has made waves in the U.S. as a top personalized web portal.
Best consumer startup: Meebo
Meebo made instant messaging ubiquitous by bringing it online. They then developed it into a platform where anyone could add chat to their applications.
Best enterprise startup: Zoho
Zoho’s comprehensive online suite of 14 business applications ranging from document editing to CRM continues to lead the way in the move away from desktop computing to working in the cloud.
Best design: SmugMug
SmugMug is professional photo site. SmugMug’s attention to detail and design can command as much as $150 per year from their users.
Best new gadget/ device: Apple iPhone. See the Apple acceptance speech here.
Best business model: Zazzle
Looking for a Star Wars hat or memorable mug? Zazzle is an on-demand factory of consumer goods for top brands. It also lets consumers become producers by uploading their own images onto that T-shirt, mug, or mousepad. . Consumers can also receive a commission on products that they sell and design themselves
Best bootstrapped startup: Techmeme.
Founded and developed solely by Gabe Rivera, Techmeme serves as the front page of the tech blogosphere. The site’s advanced algorithms identify the day’s top stories by making sense of conversations across the web’s best blogs.
Best Startup Founder: Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook)
Does this really need any explanation? At 23 Mark has built one of the world’s leading online destinations that has recently been valued at $15 billion. A remarkable achievement for anyone, let alone someone at the still relatively young 23. A well deserved award.
Best Startup CEO: Toni Schneider (Automattic)
Schnieder has lead the company from its roots as a open source alternative to Movable Type into a multi-million dollar enterprise that saves the world from blog spam and offers a free hosted blogging solution that competes with Google’s Blogger.
Best new startup: iMedix
iMedix combines search and social networking to change the way people find health information online. Users are encouraged to help each other by sharing health experiences and links from around the web.
Most likely to succeed: Automattic (WordPress)
The open source blogging platform that powers the long tale and turned into a multi-million dollar spam fighting and hosted blogging service.
Best use of viral marketing: StumbleUpon
StumbleUpon’s service lets users bookmark and discover new sites they love. With only a $1.5 million investment in 2005, StumbleUpon gew to over 4 million Stumblers and was bought by eBay in 2007 for $75 million
Best time sink site: Kongregate
CEO Jim Greer describes Kongregate as XBox live for casual games. This site hosts some of the webs most addictive casual games. Remember Desktop Tower Defense? Moreover, the games are not only played by users, but also created by them in exchange for a share of advertising revenue and other rewards.
Most likely to make the world a better place: DonorsChose
DonorsChoose.org is dedicated to connecting classrooms in need with individuals who want to help.
Ad within an ad within an ad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbNyFRPZM_8
Nice concept and i imagine one hell of the struggle to get these giants cooperating
Nice concept and i imagine one hell of the struggle to get these giants cooperating
Mobile - 'Meet The Spartans' with Carmen Electra
While we've all seen this type of thing done before, this campaign using personalised video messaging really stands of with it's simplicity, great execution and nice mobile tie-in (US numbers only at this stage).
Subject choice and premise for the video also is also spot on.
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From branding unbound: 20th Century Fox Selects Celtra´s Mobile Marketing Platform for New Movie Promotional Campaign
Celtra's on-demand platform known as Fooch Campaign Manager (FCM) delivers personalized and video synchronized phone calls as part of an interactive campaign for "Meet the Spartans," starring Carmen Electra ( http://www.carmenhasacrushonyou.com/ ). Celtra offers an on-demand service for message-based mobile marketing. The Fooch Campaign Manager (FCM) platform provides Voice, SMS and WAP push connectivity through a powerful on-demand application for campaign management.
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Carmen Electra has a crush on you. And you. And you.
In an innovative new campaign from 20th Century Fox, the studio is teaming with Boston-based Celtra to bring personalizable, video synchronized promotional phone calls to mobile phones.
It all starts at Carmenhasacrushonyou.com, which features a viral video starring Carmen Electra, the star of the upcoming movie "Meet The Spartans."
Electra becomes side-tracked with talk about a new love interest during a faux interview where she originally intends to plug the film. Users have the ability to personalize Carmen's story, by changing the subject of her love interest to someone they know. Users can then enter the phone numbers of recipients they designate and thereby send the video interview URL link to their friends.
Carmen's calling act in front of the camera surprises viewers in the much the same way as the recent Peyton Manning "Pep Talk" and "Dexter" personalizable videos and the 30 Rock promotional calls. In addition, they receive a personalized call invitation to see the movie.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
A Social Net You Can Bring Out to the Bar
SAN FRANCISCO (AdAge.com) -- Want to know how long the line is outside your favorite club on a busy Saturday night? Or the guy-to-girl ratio at a bar before you pay the cover?
That's the promise of BuzzD, a new local-search/networking service from mobile pioneer Nihal Mehta. "It's the next generation of the mobile internet," said Mr. Mehta, who founded text-messaging company Ipsh and sold it in 2005 to Omnicom Group in one of the first holding-company mobile acquisitions.
The service is initiated through text messaging and gives users the lowdown on social venues in real time from their peers. Sending a message brings the user to a mobile website with friends' critiques, ratings of drinks and other information on social venues.
Partnerships
BuzzD launches this week in partnership with Flavorpill, a website that lists cultural events in major cities. Flavorpill Mobile initially will be available in six cities: New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Miami and London. BuzzD also has partnered with another guide publisher, Time Out.
Helio is expected to be the first carrier to offer BuzzD, but Mr. Mehta said he plans to make it available on all the nation's major carriers.
Nokia's Nseries is sponsoring the launch. "Nokia looks at the mobile device as more than a device to make phone calls," said Camilla Pagliarolia, communications manager, Nokia U.S. The Flavorpill and BuzzD combination "uses the phone as a creative platform. It's a good fit for us," she said.
Generating revenue
BuzzD works without information about a user's location but eventually will add a GPS, Mr. Mehta said. While there is evidence that popular location-based services, such as mapping applications, are generating good revenue for carriers, it's still unclear whether location-based mobile social networks will do the same.
The Walt Disney Co. shut down its branded phone that allowed parents to locate their children. Boost Mobile said 171,402 subscribers use its Loopt service, which allows young adults to locate friends. Sprint, provider of the network for the Disney and Boost Mobile phones, has a similar location service, but a spokesman said Sprint does not share information about the number of subscribers using that service.
Roger Entner, senior VP-communications sector, IAG Research, said he's not sure the idea will work. "If I'm having a bad time, I might take the time [to write a review or critique the scene], but if I'm having a good time, probably not. That sounds like serious work at a time when I'm having fun."
Mr. Mehta said the concept has proven itself with Dodgeball, another mobile social network. "If you're having a good time, you want to connect with your friends," he said.
That's the promise of BuzzD, a new local-search/networking service from mobile pioneer Nihal Mehta. "It's the next generation of the mobile internet," said Mr. Mehta, who founded text-messaging company Ipsh and sold it in 2005 to Omnicom Group in one of the first holding-company mobile acquisitions.
The service is initiated through text messaging and gives users the lowdown on social venues in real time from their peers. Sending a message brings the user to a mobile website with friends' critiques, ratings of drinks and other information on social venues.
Partnerships
BuzzD launches this week in partnership with Flavorpill, a website that lists cultural events in major cities. Flavorpill Mobile initially will be available in six cities: New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Miami and London. BuzzD also has partnered with another guide publisher, Time Out.
Helio is expected to be the first carrier to offer BuzzD, but Mr. Mehta said he plans to make it available on all the nation's major carriers.
Nokia's Nseries is sponsoring the launch. "Nokia looks at the mobile device as more than a device to make phone calls," said Camilla Pagliarolia, communications manager, Nokia U.S. The Flavorpill and BuzzD combination "uses the phone as a creative platform. It's a good fit for us," she said.
Generating revenue
BuzzD works without information about a user's location but eventually will add a GPS, Mr. Mehta said. While there is evidence that popular location-based services, such as mapping applications, are generating good revenue for carriers, it's still unclear whether location-based mobile social networks will do the same.
The Walt Disney Co. shut down its branded phone that allowed parents to locate their children. Boost Mobile said 171,402 subscribers use its Loopt service, which allows young adults to locate friends. Sprint, provider of the network for the Disney and Boost Mobile phones, has a similar location service, but a spokesman said Sprint does not share information about the number of subscribers using that service.
Roger Entner, senior VP-communications sector, IAG Research, said he's not sure the idea will work. "If I'm having a bad time, I might take the time [to write a review or critique the scene], but if I'm having a good time, probably not. That sounds like serious work at a time when I'm having fun."
Mr. Mehta said the concept has proven itself with Dodgeball, another mobile social network. "If you're having a good time, you want to connect with your friends," he said.
Digital M&A Trends for 2008
Published: December 17, 2007 - By Abbey Klaassen - AdAge
| SIZE MATTERS Especially as more marketers are looking for agencies that can handle their global marketing duties. Need proof? Look at the 1,000-person shop WPP is setting up for Dell. (And it's perhaps no coincidence WPP made several major purchases in 2007, including Schematic, Blast Radius and 24/7 Real Media.) Look for agencies and holding companies to continue to grow in 2008. |
| INTERNATIONAL INTEREST Thanks to the weak-dollar effect, several industry prognosticators suggest we'll see more international firms looking to snap up American companies. "On a per-employee basis, the U.S. is still a cheap market, as hot as it is," said Michael Seidler, CEO of Madison Alley Ventures. |
| NEXT-GENERATION AGENCIES Whether you want to call it an aQuantification of the business or an inevitable trend as more money moves to digital, a new crop of agencies rooted in search or digital creative are trying to expand into other areas and create a new breed of agency. AKQA, with private-equity investment, has been aggressive in this space. Also watch for the formerly search-centric iCrossing and 360i. |
| ANALYTICS WILL BE HOT -- AND EXPENSIVE As more marketers laser in on return on investment, expect the value of firms such as Web Trends, CoreMetrics and Omniture, which has been steadily gaining since its mid-2006 IPO, to rise. "It's driven by supply and demand and right now there's not enough really good companies across the sector," said Linda Gridley, president and CEO of Gridley & Co. |
| MIXED IPO PERFORMANCES Ms. Gridley's firm has tracked new IPOs for several years. She said there were five in the internet business in 2005 and four in 2006, and the share values of all but one have risen. In 2007, performance was mixed -- a trend she expects to continue. "You can get higher returns, but the risk is greater," she said. |
| THERE'S ALWAYS A BIGGER FISH If it seemed like all the big acquisitions already happened (Google-DoubleClick, Microsoft-aQuantive), think again. Likeliest candidates for giant acquisitions? Those with more than one technology or silo, said John Hawkins, partner at Generation, a coastal venture-capital firm. He said AOL is a great example of this philosophy -- even with all its 2007 acquisitions, people are already wondering where it will be when 2008 ends. |
| COMMERCE IS BIG If investments in commerce and transactional companies seem unfashionable, think again, advises Ms. Gridley. "They are at the heart of data centric and consumer-behavior-driven marketing." |
| STRANGE BEDFELLOWS At the onset of 2007, would you ever have guessed Microsoft would own an ad agency? "Ten years ago you had offline agencies buying online agencies," said Mr. Hawkins. "Now you have tech companies coming into the space. ... Tech companies, ad agencies and ad networks -- they're all coming together." |
| VERTICAL AD NETWORKS Expect media companies to continue to invest in this space, either acquiring or building out their own vertical ad networks. The idea behind the trend: While a magazine or TV net might have great reach in their specialized offline space, it's difficult to garner that scale online -- so they seek to aggregate and sell related sites. |
AD-NETWORK CONSOLIDATION
Then again, there are too many ad networks, said Mr. Seidler. This sector has seen astronomical premiums but having too many players negates the advantage of networks: scale. He suggests high-margin rich media networks and those with deep analytic backbones will grow more expensive while the price of commodity networks with lower margins will fall.
Monday, December 3, 2007
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