But like all sarcasm, each insult contains a grain of truth, even if it’s ridiculously exaggerated.

When it comes to digital efforts, you must start by realizing that anyone online is only ever two clicks away from sports, gossip. comedy, prOn–the endless parade of distraction that makes up the world wide web. You must be relentlessly self-interested, but the self in question here is their self not yours.  Or your brand’s.

And worse, you also must realize that you’re vying for attention amidst a Niagara-esque deluge of digital information that anyone even remotely plugged in deals with these days.  Our computers, our phones, our iPads–every platform presents endlessly renewed tsunamis of information and distraction. Which makes even something as light as Facebook both a joy and a chore.

But that’s anecdotal research. Now some smart people, the kind who probably wear lab coats, have actually done studies on the subject. Not surprisingly, their results match how most of us feel: we can’t quite keep up.

Of the people polled by Magnify.net for their April Digital Lifestyle survey (download it here), almost half admitted to being connected to the web  “from the moment I wake up until the moment I go to bed.”  Oh man…  Worse, nearly three-quarters of them called their data stream ”a roaring river”, “a flood”, or “a massive tidal wave.”

This access is literally changing human behavior. Over three quarters of us regularly respond to emails on nights and weekends, half of us never turn our cell phones off, and perhaps worst of all, 40% ignore family and friends with over 35% answering work emails while with our kids.

And technology will only increase that data stream.

So the real hard question to ask is this:  is your idea worthwhile enough so it can pull people away from their friends and kids without making them resent you?

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By Dennis Ryan, CCO, Olson

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But neither is broadcast the entire answer, particularly given the ever-escalating costs of that investment and ongoing channel fragmentation.  So traditionalists who’ve kept their head in the sand over our evolving media world need to wake up fast.  Especially after those numbers-nutty statisticians at Nielsen released new data last week showing a direct correlation between video exposure both on TV and online and a tremendous increase in message effectiveness.

Focusing on direct-to-consumer drug advertising, the study proves the efficacy of integration and cross exposure in dramatic fashion.  Despite sounding like the most wonky of buzzphrases, “cross-platform media synergies” stands as the single greatest way to impact media effectiveness, particularly given the way we consume information.  Nielsen believes  TV has unparalleled influence early in the decision cycle,driving consumer awareness and interest, and creating desire.  The Internet then provides engaged consumers with more in-depth information about product specifics, along with opportunities for couponing and even the actual purchase.

The real lesson here is the same one we learned in grade school, the same one espoused by all sorts of religions: play well with others.

Some day we’ll actually take that one to heart…

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By Dennis Ryan, CCO, Element 79

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I’m copying off one of the web’s original bloggers, Jason Kottke, who has written online since 1998 and currently handles the endlessly fascinating kottke.org. Simultaneously, I’m copying off of Douglas Adams, the English author of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” and a totally fascinating creative artist who died nine years ago this past week.

This piece posted on kottke.org, quotes Adams from a 1999 interview entitled “How To Stop Worrying And Learn To Love the Internet.”  That’s before widespread broadband or WiFi or even Web 2.0.  Read this and understand the difference between commentary and insight: nearly a decade later, Adam’s vision remains accurate despite the quantum leaps in communication and technology and social networking…

“So people complain that there’s a lot of rubbish online, or that it’s dominated by Americans, or that you can’t necessarily trust what you read on the web. Imagine trying to apply any of those criticisms to what you hear on the telephone. Of course you can’t ‘trust’ what people tell you on the web anymore than you can ‘trust’ what people tell you on megaphones, postcards or in restaurants. Working out the social politics of who you can trust and why is, quite literally, what a very large part of our brain has evolved to do. For some batty reason we turn off this natural scepticism when we see things in any medium which require a lot of work or resources to work in, or in which we can’t easily answer back — like newspapers, television or granite. Hence ‘carved in stone.’ What should concern us is not that we can’t take what we read on the internet on trust — of course you can’t, it’s just people talking — but that we ever got into the dangerous habit of believing what we read in the newspapers or saw on the TV — a mistake that no one who has met an actual journalist would ever make. One of the most important things you learn from the internet is that there is no ‘them’ out there. It’s just an awful lot of ‘us’.”

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Because in today’s socially-networked, immediate-impact world, opinion trumps reality.  As soon as it forms, opinion spreads through mass viral channels like Facebook, Twitter and blogs.  And because it is opinion, it doesn’t require fact-checking.

Last week, I got a wake up call that this truth applies to our Element 79 brand as well.  In the finals of a new business pitch, a CEO mentioned that he Googled Element 79 and wondered when we were gonna merge with DDB?

We’re not.  Never were.  But due to a newspaper column written by a speculatively-inclined columnist for the Chicago Sun Times over fifteen months ago, that rumor popped up in our prospect’s search engine.  Worse, when I shared this anecdote with a few friends at other shops in town, they admitted hearing the same thing.  When the rumor mill, or at least irrelevant suppositions, can influence the outcome of new business, you’ve got trouble.

We’ve spent two years reinventing and rebuilding our agency.  And slowly, we’ve been regrowing.  Today we have about 110 people busy working to help our clients thrive during these tight times.  We want Cricket to leverage their national coverage into a leadership position for value innovation in wireless.  We want Supercuts to show the value of their affordable haircare so that if and when the economy turns better, people realize they don’t have to pay more to look good.

We want Amway to help people supplement their incomes and Central DuPage Hospital to be the first choice for superior healthcare — especially as they bring Illinois’ first Proton Therapy Center online this Summer.  And we want Harris to keep helping people realize how much better the right bank can be.

We also want to do big things for the half-dozen new clients we’ve brought in these past five months.  We want LasikPlus to show glasses wearers that this simple procedure can radically improve their lives quickly and safely.  We can’t wait for the private equity firm GTCR to launch their revamped website and concise brand story in May.  And we take inordinate pride in winning three new brands–Wolf Chili, Alexia, and Banquet–from our friends at ConAgra.

There’s an old adage about physicians taking their own medicine.  And so we’re also going to be taking some steps to clean up our online hygiene.

It wasn’t good news to hear.  But like criticism from a smart coach, it will make us better.  And that’s the daily goal.

By Dennis Ryan, CCO, Element 79

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PS:  Michael Gabriel and Gus Gavino made the video above for a recent pitch.  Though we didn’t prevail there, the energy of this piece is just delightful.  The track is “100,000 Thoughts” by Tap Tap.

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That’s right: no Budweiser ads.  No Dockers, no Snickers, no Coke–just promos for rugby and soccer matches.  When the commercials came on, the crowd just headed for the rest rooms or the bar for another pint of Kilkenny’s (lovely stuff, that).

Without commercials, the Super Bowl is decidedly less Super.  It’s not nearly as engaging.  When it ended, people talked about the game for a while before quickly moving on.  There were no debates about which spot was best, what was a dumb investment, and who got hosed by unfortunate placement.  I’ll probably catch up later by watching them online but it’s not nearly the same as hearing a crowded bar erupt at a good joke or loudly pan a weak execution.

DVR technology allows people to skip past commercials and data shows many do–but they frequently rewind if they see something interesting.  And the Super Bowl majors in commercials that at least attempt to be something interesting.  Just this past Friday, a page one poll on USA Today claimed that 51% of viewers enjoy the commercials most about watching the Super Bowl on TV.  I’d have to agree.

Chalk a big W in the score column for traditional media.

By Dennis Ryan, CCO, Element 79

PS:  Do yourself a favor and read Ross Buchanan’s comment to this post.  Frankly, I wish I’d written it.

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I’ve been thinking about babies for two reasons: first my friend Rick and his wife Diana welcomed their second son Luca into the world over Thanksgiving, and next a group of roller-skating, hip hopping babies just scored huge for Evian.  The Guinness World Record people just named “Rollerbabies” the most-viewed online ad of all time.  It’s been watched more than 45 million times already and this new recognition will only add to that tally.

As cute as these babies are, they didn’t go viral all by themselves.  Evian leveraged YouTube home page ads in the UK, Germany, France, Japan, Canada and the United States to promote the spot.  They also credit its massive popularity with positive brand impact.  Specifically, Nielsen and YouTube research indicates Internet users in France experienced increased brand awareness and purchase consideration after viewing the ad.

For a metrics obsessed client, that may not be nearly enough hard data to confirm their believe in the ad’s effectiveness.  Or the general worth of pursuing viral fame in general.  But in this medium, and with this market of widespread casual viewers, the Rollerbabies made quite a splash.  In a world where brands are opinions, their runaway popularity means they generated a great deal of positive talk, and that influences opinion.

At a certain point, everyone has to embrace the uncertainty of John Wanamaker’s classic maxim: “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted: the trouble is, I don’t know which half.”

One way to tilt the odds in your favor is to include a funny baby.  Or ten.  And putting them on roller skates seems to help too.

By Dennis Ryan, CCO, Element 79

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Which may explain these recently released findings from comScore and Starcom updating their ongoing research around click-through rates for online ads.  Two findings leap out from this data.  First, a mere 16% of all web users account for nearly all online ad clicks, with 85% of clicks coming from 8% of users the study rather unimaginatively categorizes as ‘heavy clickers.’  And secondly, in less than two years between July ’07 and March ’09, the total share of all internet users who click online ads shrunk in half, from 32% to 16%.

Of course, media and marketing salespeople will respond to these findings by redoubling their protests that click through is an anemic measure for ad effectiveness.  And indeed, another comScore research shows online display ads generate meaningful lift in both online and offline sales whether they click the ad or not.

All of which kind of misses the really obvious lesson here: there simply can be no standing still on ‘proven’ assumptions about online audiences.  It’s a movable feast and the more effective and advanced technology becomes, the more the time-honored values of surprise, delight and intrigue will rise to the fore of this media platforms requirements to be truly effective.  Creativity always has been the differentiator between the average and the exceptional.  Even the wonkiest data wonks will soon have to admit tonnage and new message environments alone will not move the needle.

You always have to have something worth saying.  Or at least a clever way to say it.

By Dennis Ryan, CCO, Element 79

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Unfortunately, in a tough economy with escalating TV media costs, many advertisers look to the web as simply a cheaper medium.  They don’t really understand the metrics but the siren call of lowcost of entry makes far too many forget any sense of basic strategic responsibility and ROI discipline.

Hopefully, that shortsightedness will change if enough marketers read about this study from Mpire, an online ad optimization company in Seattle.  MPire developed a new technology called AdXpose which recently determined that 95% of clicks and 50% of online ad impressions were fraudulent.

AdXpose: “95% of Clicks, Half of Online Ad Impressions are Fraudulent

If these numbers don’t knock you back, re-read that sentence again.  This fraud is nothing short of Madoff-esque.  For a medium with as much data-mining and measurability as the web, this kind of blatant gaming of the system threatens to destroy it’s incredible promise.  And if that seems like too big an exaggeration, like something confined to the small space bargain bins of discount web banners, watch the click counts on YouTube for the Super Bowl ads this coming February.  Some will legitimately spike as people relive or catch up on this cultural event.  But others, quite obviously, will be blatantly played.  It’s been happening the past few years by some of the biggest names: names that don’t have the track record of performance of say a Budweiser.  With this big a high-profile gamble, a little off-shore insurance can protect your career and so clicks skyrocket for spots that hardly bear watching once.  In some cases, this can even happen without the clients’ knowledge; insurance works for production companies and young directors as well.

Television skeptics have enjoyed quite a run these past few years, particularly over dated and dubious metrics like Nielsen.  Given these findings however, perhaps skepticism deserves its day.  And equal time.

By Dennis Ryan, CCO, Element 79

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The headline should emphasize that advertising is “evolving to a higher plain,” instead of continuing to forward the whiny, helpless hand-wringing that’s become endemic to our industry (“it’s over–everything we’ve ever known is now wrong!”).  Yes, social networks are a critical platform that our industry needs to address.  Yes, the media landscape has changed radically.  And yes–most critically from my perspective–advertising alone is not enough anymore.

But here’s the thing: it never was.  For advertising to really work, it has always needed a great product or service, attractive design, and engaging street and retail programs.  But somehow, the simple fact that the advertising environment has become exponentially more complicated over this past decade has led some people–including apparently, the editors of Ad Age–to subjectively dismiss the foundation of our industry: generating creative messaging in paid media.  And that fries my bacon, that salts my shorts, that makes me pigbiting mad…

Because here’s a newsflash: advertising works.

Please read that sentence again.  Better still, let’s read it aloud together, shall we?  Advertising works.

Television?  Still works.  In fact, that audience is bigger than ever.  Radio?  Still works: we may court disaster by texting in our cars but all that commuting time is still filled by AM/FM radio.  And print?  It may be changing radically, but answer this question: would you rather have your name mentioned in the online version of the New York Times or the actual paper?

It’s time our industry corrects itself from this odd fever of self-loathing.  Because the facts don’t support all the wailing and gnashing of teeth.  In the June 22 issue of Adweek, Mark Dolliver wrote a story unfortunately relegated to a short item on the Adweek Media page.  In it, he cites an Adweek Media/Harris Poll recently fielded that concludes that yes, indeed, people are still swayed by ads.

Is advertising alone enough?  Of course not.

The real innovation our industry needs is the strategic melding of creative messages distributed through a coordination of both paid and earned media.

It’s not one.  It’s not the other.  It’s both.

by Dennis Ryan, CCO, Element 79

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I get it.  These days, everyone gets it.  Any time I’m on an e-commerce site, some unseen recommendation engine works to insure that I see listings that reflect my own tastes and interests, like say alternative music as opposed to polka classics.  And I appreciate that, in much the same way I appreciate when a salesman understands my taste in clothes or shoes or pinky rings.  Data enables remarkable things…

But a senior vice president of advertising for  a company called ChoiceStream recently outlined a disturbing vision for what she sees as the next frontier for her business: expanding personalization from onsite user experience out into the currently impersonal realm of offsite banner advertising.  In this piece from Behavioral Insider, Cheryl Kellong sees this as logical progress and considering her title, I guess that’s her job.

“Most retailers by now have at least begun personalizing particular product recommendations and brand attributes for consumers who are on their site.  The problem is that that level of personalization is not followed through when it comes to delivering advertising messages to consumers once they’ve left the site.”

Eww.  The whole notion of customized creative and messaging feels way too Orwellian.  Can she really believe that personalized display ads will build any sort of real relationships between advertisers and consumers?  Seriously?  Because I certainly don’t. Back in the 80’s, we would placate regional beer markets through a more primitive version of this kind of personalization that we called ‘localization.’   This resulted in classic gems like “Hey Chicago, make it a Bud Light!”

Seriously, Do I Know You?

Now a tree frog could tell you this exercise was meaningless and ultimately, these messages meant more to the local wholesalers than the consumers of the greater Chicagoland/Northwest Indiana market. Because they’re facile. And false.  I don’t doubt that gigabytes of sophisticated web data would allow a ChoiceStream powered banner ad to create a far more intimate overture to me, but the net result is the same–it’s not authentic. I know it. And resent it.

The fact that technology allows you to do something does not make it a good idea.  Frankly, I bristle when people I don’t really know approach me and adopt an attitude of false intimacy or bonhomie; why would I feel differently if your brand behaved that way?

The promise of the web remains the deeply intimate level of one to one communication it makes possible.  But just as in real life, you need to be invited in first.

By Dennis Ryan, CCO, Element 79

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