All posts by Christian Toth

Next to Now – Late April Edition

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NEW YORK TIMES JOINS SNAPCHAT DISCOVER

Where is the news going? Where is it coming from?

Is a picture worth 1000 words?  Depends on the words.

DISCOVERINATE!

 

GEN Z —

One wonders what the succeeding generation will be called.

“Luckily, advertisers can ensure their ads stay Gen Z-significant by leveraging 3 key elements in their digital advertising approach…”

WHAT 3 KEY ELEMENTS?

 

PINTEREST:  “DON’T LIKE US ANYMORE.”

Pinterest isn’t a social network, it says — rather it wants to be seen as a visual search engine.

“The hope is that you’ll get ideas for your real life, and you’ll close the app, get off your phone and try those ideas.”

Turn off that computer!  Go outside and play!

VERY PINTERESTING … 

 

PAMA CORNER

9 intriguing stats from last week via AdWeek

Bookstagrammers Event MAY 10th

 

SESAME STREET VERSUS DATA

Early studies showed that Sesame Street was harmful to the children it was meant to serve.  Mr. Rogers fared better.

Credible?

How to get to Sesame Street

 

Daffodils - Union Square Greenmarket

Next to Now – Early April Edition

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BEWARE OF ROBOTS

Not only are they stealing our jobs, they are “liking” us! There ought to be a tax.

“Facebook advertising has a little-discussed problem: When you run an ad, people operating fake profiles will click on the ad and like your page simply to make their own fake profile look more genuine, as if it is being operated by a real person.”

Read the Bloomberg article

 

IN FAVOR OF SELECTIVITY

Only 5,000 sites? Is this the Dark Ages?

“JP Morgan Chase slashes the number of sites where it advertises to 5,000 from some 400,000.”

Find out what happened

 

FILTER ME THIS

“YouTube races to provide more filters to restore confidence: new filters they can apply to campaigns that will help them avoid more types of objectionable content”

What are the new filters? 

 

THIS MAGIC MICRO-MOMENT

Google is touting the trackability of “micro-moments”

“90% of consumers say that they go from one device to another every single day, and 91% of them turn to their phone for ideas in the middle of a task. This is an overwhelming percentage to ignore. For marketing efforts to be successful, businesses must pay attention to these statistics.”

Read Forbes on this momentous turn

 

HALF MOON OR LONGBOAT

A nifty design article on the history of publishing colophons.

Undercover Branding The Stories Behind 20 Publishing House Logos 

 

AND “S-TOWN” RELEASES!

The new podcast from the “Serial” people.

Because Serial.

Next to Now – Late March Edition

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THE POWER OF ELLIPSES

A few words — or even a few dots — can make a big difference. Compliments of a PAMA Facebook post, BookBub’s 8 Book Description A/B Tests You Need to See …

 

GETTING BOOKS TO THE PEOPLE

Emma Watson and the Station of Secrets.

Watch:

 

CASTING THE PODS MORE FAIRLY

Find out how the podcast boom can favor and disfavor diversity in this Columbia Journalism Review article.

Why are #PodcastsSoWhite?

Also check out:

10 great podcasts to diversify your listening lineup

 

UNDER THE SURFACE ON WHICH WE DWELL

Programmatic is like a planet. We live on the thin surface layer but most of the hot stuff is under the surface.

“Facebook just executed what might best be described as a digital advertising coup against rival Google and its DoubleClick empire” by letting publishers use header bidding technology. This could raise ad costs but increase yield, says AdAge.

Drill a hole and peek into the Magma

Or simply find out:

WTF is Header Bidding?

Next to Now – Early March Edition

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TRUTHERS EMERGE TO DRAIN DIGITAL SWAMP

Following Procter & Gamble’s call for digital advertising that is more reliable (and less “crappy”) Stein says, “it’s interesting that we’re at a point now where we question what even is real.”*

Isn’t it?

* In a meta twist, who is “Stein?”  He is not otherwise cited or named in the article!  It may be a typo for “Scott.”

 

CHOICE OF A NEW GENERATION?

“The Refresh Project accomplished everything a social media campaign is supposed to accomplish: millions of Facebook likes and thousands of new Twitter followers. But it didn’t sell Pepsi. Pepsi Cola and Diet Pepsi both lost about 5 percent of their market shares over the course of the year — a calamitous decline. The brand returned to TV.”

Turn on, tune in, pop out.

 

CHOICE OF A MATURE GENERATION

“American users aged 24 and younger may decrease time spent on Snapchat as more people check out Instagram Stories” but those book-buying 45- to 54-year olds are helping Snapchat to grow its total audience anyway.

Instantly Snap

Next to Now Late February Edition

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WHY SHOULD I BELIEVE YOU?

“In the decision to trust a source, objective expertise appears to matter less than the determination that this person shares our beliefs, assumptions and suspicions, that they are, in a sense, a member of our tribe.”

Tell a story, earn some trust. 

 

TOP 4 BEST …

What makes you want to pay attention?  Here are VentureBeat’s “4 best practices to move the needle on digital advertising.”

“The only problem is that creating an exciting, engaging campaign is easier said than done.”

No kidding!  But food for thought as we select our review quotes.

 

COOL YOUR JETS, DIGITAL.

The advertising market is more diverse than some would have us believe, says SMI via MediaPost.

See from a different perspective. 

 

PAMA AND PAMELA PAUL

Pamela Paul speaks at the Publishers Advertising and Marketing Association’s event next week, Wednesday, March 1.

Full disclosure:  Poster Christian Toth is PAMA’s president!

More here if you’re interested. 

 

 

Next to Now Mid-February Edition

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FACEBOOK COMMITS TO AUDIT

“Until last year, advertisers mostly accepted Facebook’s metrics with closed eyes. However, after admissions that a portion of its ad numbers were being misreported, all hell broke loose.”

It’s a matter of trust.

 

SMART MAGAZINES FOR AFFLUENT READERS

Flipboard’s new app is getting noticed. “Rejecting robo-driven ‘programmatic’ advertising [and] using humans to sell premium-priced slots for magazine-style ad campaigns from upscale brands.”

Build your own echo-chamber.

 

FAMOUS POTATOES

Subversive branding coup? Or an extravagant waste?

Something to keep an eye on.

 

NEXT TO NOVEMBER

A story on firewalls that makes us think about ads on opt-in environments. CPMs may be higher but users truly value the content.

Unto the Breach.

Next to Now Early February Edition

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HOW MANY HAVE YOU READ?

The “One Book, One New York” Program has narrowed it down to five, and celebrities pitch their own picks in videos:

Bebe Neuwirth advocates for Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Anchor).

Danielle Brooks advocates for Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (Spiegel & Grau).

Larry Wilmore advocates for The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz (Riverhead Books).

Giancarlo Esposito advocates for The Sellout by Paul Beatty (Picador).

William H. Macy advocates for A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (Harper Perennial).

(I’ve read three!)  See the Buzzfeed Books Tweet and the NYC Page 

 

SNAPCHAT OPEN TO DISCUSSION?

“Although we have recently tried to establish longer-term advertising commitments with advertisers, most advertisers do not have long-term advertising commitments with us, and our efforts to establish long-term commitments may not succeed.”

So can we now have that $5,000 plan by Wednesday please?

Looking ahead …

And, On Thursday, The New York Times became the latest publisher to join Snapchat’s Discover section.  More here. 

 

THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX, INSIDE THE BAG.

These Tostitos could save your life.  And it’s a memorable Super Bowl promotion. 

 

 

Next to Now: January 27 Edition

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ABOUT FACE

No frame, all-image. (Potentially all-ad?)  In the near future your phone may be composed entirely of a single, interactive screen. Possibly on both sides.

The latest Apple patent spotted.

And bendy too!

 

 

PRINT IS THE NEW VINYL

Educated, affluent readers who love reading prefer their quality, long-form journalism in print form, even if it means paying more.  Or so hopes this web-only publication that is returning to print (partially).

Give it a spin.

 

 

3 WAYS TO DRIVE GROWTH

Google looks at the mindset of leading marketers.

Embrace experimentation!

Next to Now: Mid-January 2017

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MIDROLL WITH A TWIST

Facebook’s strategy creates a new opportunity for advertisers … while  incentivizing the creation of videos that people will actually want to watch.

Read about it here and here.

 

 

WHAT AD TECH INSPIRES TRUST IN 8 OF 10 USERS?

Spoiler … It’s not VR.

Don’t take our word for it.

 

 

WOMEN WANT FEWER AND MORE GENUINE INFLUENCER POSTS

Among other things, probably.

Learn to avoid pitfalls.

Next to Now for January 2017

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CAN THEY HEAR WHAT YOU HEAR?

Not always.  Here are 6 tips from Facebook for making silent videos speak.

Listen to the silence. 

 

“For mobile marketing, a moment of transformation is at hand …

… By year’s end, 75% of online content consumption will be mobile.”

Something to bear in mind when reviewing our ad stats, which often average mobile and desktop together.  (Not all CTRs are created equal.)

Tune in to Programmatic with Point 3.  A tool to remember as we plan our campaigns.

Read about the projections. 

 

“WE’RE PUTTING IT ALL INTO FACEBOOK!”

Maybe that’s a good idea … but maybe not.

Consider this.