The Thicket

New Trend in Content for Media...

Media organizations increasingly rely on syndicated content, but access to such material typically requires expensive subscriptions or syndication deals. In a similar approach to the way iStockPhoto shares multimedia with end users, New York-based Mochila has devised a way to offer articles, photos, audio and videos a la carte while dispensing with subscription fees and protecting authors' rights.

Launched earlier this year, Mochila's website is essentially an online marketplace for content. Sellers offer up their articles, podcasts, videocasts, etc… along with price and any restrictions; buyers search for what they need and choose the best match. Content can be instantly downloaded into any publishing system, and purchases can be made in two ways: either by paying the price set by the original content owner, or by agreeing to post advertising along with the item, in which case the content is free. In the ad-supported arrangement, advertising revenue is shared among the buyer, the seller and Mochila.

For sellers, the benefits include new revenue opportunities and increased exposure; for buyers, decreased operational costs, more ad pages and revenue opportunities, and the rub-off effect of big-name content are among them. More than 1,000 media organizations have joined Mochila so far, including Reuters, the Associated Press and Hearst Magazines—you can't get much bigger than that.

World media spent just under US $2 billion on syndicated news content last year, and that figure is expected to grow to US $3 billion by 2008, Mochila says. The time is ripe for a new content model, and it looks like this one is taking hold.

Waste Time on the Job More Efficiently...

CFO's everywhere should be singing the praises of yesterday's launch of the lovely new aggregator of entertainment-related blog content, Showhype.

Using a Digg-style interface and RSS, it allows users to rate and rank content from Movies, Television, Music, Celebrities, including gossip! For the ever watchful CFO, this means that we won't spend as much time trolling for all this great stuff. As reported by Organic
"the celeb obsessed among us can go straight to the killer and skip the filler."
So, CFO's, we'll click away safe in the knowledge that the world is now more efficient.

RADIOHEAD STILL NEEDS LABELS...

Following last week’s unprecedented PR & marketing gesture, the band Radiohead, which released its latest on its site in a pay-if-you-like-our-new-format basis, still plans to push the album in stores — most likely with a Big Four label, reports Ars Tehnica
Radiohead fans gave the group much love (despite the downloadable version being FREE) after it released the 10 tracks of In Rainbows at any price people wished to pay.
Many called the move a final “nail in the coffin”for the record label industry. Reportedly, even non-listeners (like me) of the band contributed finances to the album to show support.
Radiohead also snubbed Apple's iTunes by refusing to make its music available on the site.
But during an interview with UK radio show Music Week, Radiohead's management admitted record label distribution remains necessary for hitting the mass psyche.
Despite Radiohead's reported cult status, and though labels have struggled with the advent of Napster, iTunes, etc…, and online radio and file sharing, record companies still have the broadest reach in mainstream radio world.
The difference now, Ars Technica asserts, is that labels cannot count on that being the case over the long-term.

The Holy Grail of Market Research: ROI

Nielsen and Arbitron will extend the Project Apollo into 2008, dubbed the Holy Grail of ROI research. The initiative, launched in 2006, pairs Arbitron’s people meters with Nielsen’s Homescan technology, allowing the companies to track multimedia, including PR, and purchase information on a sample of 11,000 people and 5,000 homes. Some of the nation’s top advertisers are involved in the project, including Procter & Gamble, SC Johnson, Pfizer, and Wal-Mart. The extended period will allow for further testing and analysis of the service’s value to advertisers.

Advertisers have long sought the Holy Grail of market research in the ability to determine which promotion, PR or advertising combination produces the best results. More than just another audience measurement system, the Apollo project launched by a coalition of the country's largest marketers and Arbitron/ACNielsen is the revolutionary attempt to get this data. If it works, it has the potential to dramatically affect PR and ad agency revenue and creative practices. Even AC himself will be proud of this effort...if it ever comes together.

Why do you Google?

Another search firm has done a recent barrage of TV ads asking you to test their revamped search engine with its chorus of new bells & whistles. I did and it was fine but I continue to use Google....but why?

A. results (it gives me really awesome results)
B. simplicity (it doesn't barrage me with "everything else")
C. usability (everything is in its right place)
D. toolbar (integrated in your browser...access ease)
E. cool status (everybody's doing it)

My answer is D - the access ease of it in my toolbar.....I don't really choose my engine based on it's results (anymore) - do you?

(I should also say that Google sent me a fleece blanket many years ago...perhaps that's still working in my subconscious.)

You're the Arcade Fire's Puppet Master

Fiddle with this interactive music video for the song Neon Bible by Arcade Fire. The concept (& song) is solid but the creative connection seems loose with the music. It's nice how this method allows listener/viewer/fan participation (2.0+) but where will it take us? product advertising action in video? As bands (& brands) fight for your time interactive video seems to be a medium that can captivate (& frustrate usability?)....rock on.

Splice Music and the Future of Web 2.0 Tools...

Found this on YouTube, and realized that if I had any doubts about the power of Flash 9 to create truly powerful Web 2.0 apps, this web site SpliceMusic, goes a long way to overcome them :) Splice Music is a sophisticated sound/audio program that includes virtual instruments, real time plug-ins, and much more than Apple's GarageBand (a different app., entirely, with a very different purpose. But all this is very easy to use and enjoy. The person behind all this is none other than German Flash whiz, Andre Michelle! Check it out!

Sun Microsystems Realizes Importance of Your First Day with New Portal

 

That first day at work isn't like the first day of a college class.  In college you just get the syllabus and then make your way to the student union.  Maybe that's why my GPA didn't break any land speed records.  Contrast that with your first day on the job when you're just trying to figure out where the bathrooms are, and with even more difficulty figure out what the culture is like at your new company (and no, I'm not just talking about who to suck up to).  One company that  cares greatly about how well you integrate with its culture is Sun Microsystems. 

From the now famed artifacts that represent historical milestones in the organization to the fairly standard but necessary information about health benefits, Sun wanted to provide a comprehensive and engaging resource  for new employees shortly after they're hired so when their first day is upon them they're already at home.  We worked with Sun to create the new onboarding portal and some of the learning components contained in it.  It was a fun project spanning about six weeks and involving Sun teams from all over the globe.  With everyone we met at Sun and worked on this project there was the genuine desire to help new employees feel like they belonged there, and it showed in the finished product. 

DSS Talks to Paul Vogelzang at Ragan Communications

Our own Paul Vogelzang spent a week on the road banging out conference sessions at Ragan's Corporate Communications and the Social Media Revolution, New Media Expo and the Cox Communications Conference 2007, an internal Cox event for their marketing managers.  Here's his interview with DS Simon at the Ragan event.