Links – 3rd August 2008

Since getting back from holiday, I’ve bookmarked a lot of stuff to read. Over the weekend, I finally caught up. At least until the next interruption to my finely honed grazing schedule.

Further link posts to appear over the coming days but today

Marketing and Media

Old media deathrace 5000 (Mashable) – very interesting analysis on the future of old media. My opinion is that TV will remain the central point of the media experience, but that it may be “web powered”

Should TV be margins or ratings? (Huffington Post)

Overview of the long tail debate between Chris Anderson and Anita Elberse (Slate)

Nielsen data shows people still prefer the TV set to the computer (Marketing Charts)

New IMMI survey data says that half of online TV viewers are using it as a replacement for traditional viewing (I’m yet to read the full report, but I assume it is an “ever” rather than “always” answer)

Tess Alps of Thinkbox responds to accusations of declining advertising audiences (Guardian) – a tough crowd but you can’t really find fault in her argument. Audiences are fragmenting, which is an issue, but total viewing does appear to be increasing

Bob Garfield predicts chaos for the TV industry (Advertising Age)

How the dip sits between the head and the long tail (Seth Godin)

Ever increasing levels of product placement (New York Times) – with Fox News taking it to the next level

Sega’s Game Gear adverts in Viz from the early 1990s (UK Resistance) – I like these; it shows the brand addressing the media it is advertising in

ANA Marketing Insights May 08 (Slideshare presentation) – a very useful resource

The power of FREE! (Neuroscience Marketing)

Notes on the 40 years of planning event (Brand Republic)

Dealing with analysts – funny Slideshare from RedMonk

A very engaging slideshare presentation on Content Marketing from Helge Tenno

Lucy Barrett on dying brands (Guardian) – I suppose this is the stage before they come back zombified

24 unforgettable advertisements (Toxel) – funny mix of outdoor and experiential

The six laws of customer experience e-book (Experience Matters)

Songs about brands (Guardian)

Some very high quality posts in there, but the three I would recommend most highly are Old media deathrace 5000,  Bob Garfield predicts chaos for the TV industry and A very engaging slideshare presentation on Content Marketing

The forthcoming link posts will be:

Monday – Internet and Business

Tuesday – Useful and Interesting (to me, at least)

Wednesday – Miscellaneous

Thursday/Friday – back to the regular schedule

I’ll even try and fit a “content post” into the mix

sk

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Giving it away for free to earn your keep

Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/vanessao/

Brian at Copyblogger rhetorically asked if one could make a living from publishing white papers for free, mass consumption online. His answer was (of course) yes, and he made reference to a former colleague who makes $300,000 a year from doing so. As one would expect, his tips for success are freely available from here.

This business model is described as content marketing. Earlier this week, Joe of Junta 42 once again practiced as he preached by releasing an updated version of his 42 top Content Marketing blogs. A fantastic resource linking to some great blogs; the original release was how I heard about his blog. And since then I have become an avid subscriber (if not paying customer).

One blog currently not on there is Jonny Bentwood’s Technobabble2.0. He has just followed up his white paper on social media with an analysis of the quality of other analysts’ Twitter/microblogging usage. Go check it out.

So, is this the future of content creation? The free distribution online sets the brand up and creates buzz, and a (possibly supplementary) living can be earned from speaking engagements and corporate training sessions.

The basic content is therefore free, with the revenue coming from incremental business based around that – books (special editions) and face-to-face sessions (live events). Now where have I heard this before?

Since some critics argue that what works for Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails (the link takes you to their brand new free album – The Slip) doesn’t work for Joe Average, is this a model that all bloggers can aspire to?

My answer is yes; if the quality, the luck and the will to succeed are there. Like I hadn’t heard of Joe before someone linked to his blog, I hadn’t heard of Black Kids before I saw a Pitchfork article and a link to their free EP. And now they’re on Universal. Ticket sales and merchandising, rather than CD sales, is how they will be getting paid.

And as a final point, it is interesting to note that the material I linked to from Joe and Jonny takes publicly available knowledge, adds some special sauce, et voilá. An original, insightful piece of work. Remixing, in other words.

sk