Video is video is video. People are going to consume it on all sorts of devices. They’ll watch on their widescreen TVs, on their desktop computers, on their laptops, on their phone—but watch they will. Why? This text tells you what I think, but only a video really clues you in to how I feel.

You know better than most that people buy from people. If buyers can’t touch it and feel it, they want to watch somebody else touch it and feel it. They want to see how heavy it is, how luxurious it feels, how it looks on a chain. They want to hear—and see—people talking about it. And they can via video.

So think of every video you make as content for the website. Then pay attention to see who is interested enough in the product to watch. It’s surprising how useful that information can be for upselling, cross-selling, product improvement, product extension, and, well, don’t get me started.

I just wish you could see how excited I am about this!

Register for Wednesday’s LiveEdit Lab in Santa Monica where you can pick Jim’s brain in person!

Jim Sterne is president of Target Marketing and Chairman of the Web Analytics Association.

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The tragic and untimely death of actor Heath Ledger actually has some serious implications in the media and advertising world. Not only must his death make Warner Bros. executives scratch their heads about how to move forward with the viral marketing campaign for the upcoming “Dark Knight” Batman film, which stars with Ledger as “The Joker,” but even President Bush is halting a prescription drug abuse ad campaign.

Set to launch tonight from the Roosevelt Room, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino was quoted as saying, “We thought it would be better to postpone the event rather than run the risk of anyone thinking that we were being opportunistic in highlighting the issue.” According to recent a Wall Street Journal article, Ledger’s Joker was the central theme to the movie’s viral marketing campaign, ranging from the online site and games to the actual poster for the film.

Since the viral marketing article I wrote for our September 2007 issue was published, I can think of two recent examples where viral marketing has shown its strength. Office Max’s ‘Elf Yourself’ campaign increased the site’s traffic more than tenfold from last year as 26.4 million Americans interacted with the brand this holiday season. The latter example is the marketing genius behind the advertising for the new thriller “Cloverfield.” Mixing Blair Witch tactics with a Hollywood budget, “Cloverfield” has kept audiences guessing what the film is even about.

The less is more, push-to-the-web approach proved hugely successful for the film as it broke MLK weekend box-office records, making $41 million. This proves how important the details of a marketing campaign can be to the success of a film.

If you were an advertising executive at Warner Bros., how would you handle Heath Ledger’s death as it ties to their Batman brand and upcoming film?

Pat Cauley, eMedia Editor, Electronic Retailer Magazine

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My piece of the new media landscape mainly involves mobile, so it is limited but definitely offers insight into something everyone is at least beginning to think about and many have started. I agree with a lot of the articles I’ve been reading toward embracing the rush to all these new emerging channels, but I’m concerned that something could get lost in the shuffle: the relevance to the customer. I’ll paraphrase a quote from a newsletter I get every week. The quote was about marketing to the customer as if you were the customer—i.e., “Let’s think, what entices us to buy?” It’s so simple, yet actually quite brilliant and extremely relevant, as we rush into these new media platforms.

What entices me to buy is different than what entices my kids to ask me to buy for them, and it is also different than what entices my wife to buy. Instead of breaking these enticements by offers, let’s look at them in regards to what actually cuts through the clutter and reaches us (offering the chance of enticing them to buy).

I have given up checking my personal e-mail. I know if someone needs me or if I want to hear from people, they have my cell or work e-mail. My wife, on the other hand, funnels all of her e-mails accounts into one master account and at least sees all of them. Unless I get home early, our direct mail is already in the recycle bin. That’s just my house as an example. Every house is different, which is what’s making our jobs increasingly tricky. (more…)

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Let’s face it, Washington is not known for being hip, but last night’s party held at Google’s D.C. office was very cool. They were celebrating the opening of their Government Affairs office and I was thrilled to be invited. U.S. Representatives, FCC Commissioners, business leaders and a sea of 30-somethings bent on improving the world sipped on “YouTubes” (a cocktail concoction) and munched on sushi, while Xbox games played on walls throughout the office draped with dramatic colors and distinctive furniture.

How nice it was to hear from Google’s president, Eric Schmidt, that Google understands the importance of working within the system to affect change. He was talking about Net Neutrality—a battle ERA members share with Google. It’s always a pleasure to hear a CEO who “gets it” and makes the commitment to be an active player.

However, perhaps the biggest thrill of the evening for me was meeting the “father” of the Internet—no not Al Gore, but the inventor himself —Vint Serf! I was pleasantly surprised by how gracious and humble he was in light of his tremendous contribution to society.

It was a great evening. As I headed to my car, I was heartened to feel the energy and excitement surround not the party itself, but rather the spirit of the industry. The future is indeed very bright.

Barbara Tulipane is ERA’s president and CEO

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Things sure have changed a lot in the past 12 years. I can remember like it was yesterday standing at a pay phone near the field where I played little league baseball. I proudly dropped my quarter into the slot and dialed the 800 number I had written down on a little piece of crumpled up paper. I pressed the number corresponded to the color blue and the rest was history. It would soon be revealed that I had voted with the majority of Americans, 54 percent to be exact, in deciding the new M&M color. With over 10 million votes cast, blue won in a landslide over pink, purple or no change. Being just a kid, I couldn’t help but think that I had a huge impact on making the new M&M blue. That’s the brilliance of a successfully executed marketing campaign.

This is all somewhat ironic now, first and foremost because M&M’s don’t differ in taste depending on color, but also because of the way in which I interacted with the campaign. A recent L.A. Times report revealed that AT&T plans to phase out its pay phone business by the end of ’08. Additionally, a kid today would probably never fathom having to write down an 800 number on a piece of paper, but instead would be asked to text a quick code to vote for something or log onto a website. This all came to me when a current television commercial asked consumers to help create the next Mountain Dew. The “Dewmocracy” campaign asks consumers to join the movement, play games, and take a journey with fellow consumers as they develop teams eventually leading to a new flavor, color, name, logo, label, and tagline for the next Mountain Dew. This innovative campaign is a far cry from pressing 1 for blue. Only time will tell if it will be a success.

Dewmocracy Site

Do you think the Mountain Dew campaign will take off? Are there any recent interactive marketing campaigns that you’ve been impressed with?

Pat Cauley, eMedia editor, Electronic Retailer Magazine

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I am very proud to report that the Wheelchair Foundation has changed the lives of more than 650,000 people around the world—and the lives of every member of their families—with the delivery of life-changing wheelchairs. And ERA members helped us get there!

This mission started for me back in April of 2000 when Ken Behring called and asked if I would help him create this life-changing humanitarian mission. It has indeed been life-changing for the wheelchair recipients, their families, the donors, the volunteers who raise funds and especially those who participate in the hands-on distribution of wheelchairs. And while we were in the process of changing so many lives for the better, mine was also changed. I have never felt more blessed to be involved in anything in my life, and I can honestly say that the mission of helping people with physical disabilities realize their dreams and abilities is one of which I am very proud.

A true gift for me is when I find a kindred spirit that feels the same way I do about helping people. Mercury Media’s Dan Danielson is that person and was the one who contacted us and proposed working with ERA members to sponsor large numbers of wheelchairs around the world. With the incredible support and dedication of ERA President and CEO Barbara Tulipane, Dan was able to get the message out to the entire direct response industry about our mission and how easy it is to change people’s lives. (more…)

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If there were a top-10 list of “do’s and don’ts” when working with a radio advertising agency, this one would be on the list:

Don’t rush your radio agency’s creative process.

Few advertising agencies will ever tell you this. Why? Because we want to please the customer. Sometimes, as hard as we try not to fall into the trap, we will try to please you even when it isn’t in your best interest to do so.

We were recently reminded of this phenomenon. A client was in a hurry to be on the air as soon as possible. (Not unusual.) He asked how soon we could have him some radio commercials for review. We took into consideration our current line-up of creative projects and the time we thought would be necessary to produce great work and we gave him a date. It wasn’t fast enough for him, and we then received the hard-charging business-guy press for “more, better, faster”.

We folded. Caved. “Okay, we’ll do that for you.” And we quickly realized it was a mistake. When it comes to writing radio commercials, the process cannot be rushed. It is not a matter of sitting down and writing a half a page of words. It can be that, but then the chances of success are severely diminished. Why? Because that’s just not the way insights occur. And if you write radio commercials without some set of insights about your customer’s underlying thoughts, emotions and perceived needs, you’ll get one thing with 100-percent certainty: a radio ad that sounds like a lot of other radio ads. And that’s usually a radio ad that won’t do as well as hoped. (more…)

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My mother always told me that it was inappropriate to discuss religion and politics. I thus find it fascinating that when she’s not talking about the Pittsburgh Steelers, she’s usually discussing those two very topics. As a current resident of Washington, D.C., I’m beginning to see how crazy things are going to get here over the next year. With MySpace’s primary, the Iowa Caucus and the New Hampshire Primary all taking place in the past few days, I thought it may be the right time to throw my hat into the ring of one of the two unmentionable topics: politics.

Social media has become an increasingly important issue within each of the campaigns for the presidency. Howard Dean’s grass root Internet fundraising that raised eyebrows in ’04 is today an integral part of each candidate’s campaign. Just by browsing through their separate websites, I found a space on each page for citizens to get involved with the candidate on a social media level—whether it be through Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Linkedin, Flickr, etc. But, as most blogs and pundits continue to discuss what the Internet’s impact on politics will be, I’d like to ask perhaps a much more important question: What will politics’ impact be on the Internet?

Net Neutrality is one of ERA’s most important advocacy issues on Capitol Hill. Preserving a free and open Internet, as opposed to a two-tiered system controlled by the telecoms, is vital to the Internet’s thriving e-commerce. If you don’t think it’s a big deal, perhaps you haven’t heard that Comcast was recently caught interfering with Internet traffic. Of the major candidates in both parties, only Democrat Barack Obama’s website tackles this very important issue. Under “Issues,” he has a section devoted entirely to technology, while other candidates make no mention. Of the Republican candidates, Mike Huckabee has shown promising signs of favoring Net Neutrality. Perhaps our fellow Americans in Iowa had electronic retailers in mind as they braved near-freezing temperatures to make Obama and Huckabee the victors. Where were you New Hampshire? Forget gay marriage and Iraq, your bottom line may be at stake depending on the outcome of this year’s election!

I’d ask for your thoughts, but I’m sure that you know better than to discuss politics…right?

Pat Cauley, eMedia editor, Electronic Retailer Magazine

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If so, I hope that you’ll join me for a day of discussion and debate at the Electronic Retailer LiveEdit Lab in Santa Monica, Calif. on January 30th.

This one-day event will deliver targeted working sessions on how to successfully integrate your online/offline sales through various marketing initiatives. If you want to learn how to effectively compete, join me for key discussions with industry experts. Topics to be addressed include web analytics, search engine marketing, behavioral targeting, online video, e-mail marketing, social media marketing and mobile marketing.

The LiveEdit Lab is being held beach front in Santa Monica at the Hotel Casa Del Mar. The learning and fun won’t stop when the LiveEdit Lab comes to a close either. Join me afterwards at ERA’s Networking Happy Hour where we can discuss the issues at hand in a more relaxed setting. I’ll see you there!

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-Pat Cauley, eMedia editor, Electronic Retailer Magazine

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