Mel Karmazin is the CEO of Sirius Satellite Radio. Before that he was head of CBS Radio. For most of his career he has been known as a “Wall Street darling” for his ability to drive up the price of his various companies’ stock. Don Imus frequently referred to him as the Zen Master. Let’s just say he knows a lot about radio and advertising.
On December 30th, he was the guest on the Charlie Rose Show. You can watch it here. Rose asked Karmazin which competitor he most feared.
AUDIO: Excerpt from interview with Mel Karmazin 4 min MP3
I was struck by his description of advertising and frank assessment that Google was “fucking with the magic.”
“I loved the model that I had then. At that point I had… I was the CEO of CBS and I had a model where you buy a commercial… if you’re an advertiser you buy a commercial in the Super Bowl and, at that time, you paid two-and-a-half million dollars for a spot and had no idea if it worked. I mean, you had no idea if it sold product… did any good… I loved that model! That was a great model! And why …if I can get away with that model… if I’m in the business where I can sell advertising that way, why wouldn’t I want to do it?
No return on investment. And you know how everybody looks for return on investment? We had a a business model that didn’t worry about return on investment and then here comes Google. They screwed it up. They went to all these advertisers and said, we’ll let you know exactly what it is.”
Oooh. Reminds me of the old saw, “I know that only half of my advertising works, I just don’t know which half.” The full interview is worth a watch and confirmed my feeling that a real sea change (in advertising) is taking place.
Tagged as:
audio,
Google
Here’s a little thought experiment I’d love to try. It comes in two parts:
Part 1: On January 1, 2011, we put every member of Congress (along with their families if they want to go) on a big cruise ship. Two, if necessary. And they set off on a year-long cruise, around the world. They’ll stop –for 24 hours– at the nicest ports of call, but a security escort sees that they get back on the boat. At meals, they’re seated R-D-R-D-R.
Part 2: The management of our country is turned over to Google and Apple for this year. Any questions of constitutionality go immediately to the Supreme Court of a ruling within 24 hours.
Any bureaucrat that puts sand in the wheels can be immediately dismissed, without cushy government pension.
What would/could Google and Apple accomplish in a year? No idea. Would they institute a bunch of policies that do nothing more than line their pockets. Maybe, but I don’t think so.
At the end of the year, every U. S. citizen casts a single vote on whether to keep the Google and Apple teams for another year. This vote will be electronic and an effort will be made to get everyone in front of a computer.
As for Congress, we’ll let them off the boat if the project goes for a second year, on the condition they don’t try to foment rebellion. If they do, back on the luxury cruise ship.
And what happens if The People vote to send the Google and Apple kids back to California? There’s a year of transition, during which the HR departments of the two companies recruit, interview and hire the best and brightest to serve in Congress 2.0. The new kids take over on January 1 of the following year and serve a 2 year term, at the end of which, we return to the current system of electing officials. But none of the Boat People can serve (they had their chance).
I fear our system is so broken that it no longer has the means to repair itself. The people wielding that power do not want to fix it. They like it fine, as long as it allows them to remain in power.
PS: This might make an interesting movie or novel, no?
Tagged as:
Apple,
Congress,
Google
It’s interesting how many of Google’s expanded listings have become even more useful than the home page behind the link.
For example, take these two examples. One is the Google listing for Grub & Ellis. The second is the Grub & Ellis home page you get when you click the search result link.
Links to screenshots at
37signals.comWow. I couldn’t agree more. I’m not long interested in your graphics. Just get me to the stuff I’m looking for.
Posted via web from smaysdotcom
Tagged as:
Google,
posterous
I got my invite and set up my number/account but haven’t played with Google Voice yet. It reads like a pretty nifty service.
Tagged as:
Google
February 22, 2009
in Books
Jeff Jarvis’ new book, What Would Google Do looks like it might be a two highlighter read. I’ll be posting some of my favorite passages here but encourage you to buy and read the book.
“In retail, media, education, government, and health –everything– the link drives specialization, quality, and collaboration, and it changes old roles and creates new ones. The link changes the fundamental architecture of societies and industries the way steel girders and rails changed how cities and nations were built and how they operated. Google makes links work. Google is the U.S. Steel of our age.” – pg 27, What Would Google Do (Jeff Jarvis)
Taken out of context, that sounds like horse shit. So read the book. Or don’t. I’m not your momma.
Tagged as:
Google,
Jeff Jarvis
I’m a regular user of the Shared Stuff feature in Google Reader. That’s the little widget in the sidebar, which feeds to a larger page. I love it.
I recently discovered another Google tool that also seems to be called Google Shared Stuff. This one works from a little icon in your menu bar. As you surf around the web you can add links and notes to a “shared stuff” page. But not the same shared page. It has to be a DIFFERENT shared page.
Why can’t the shared pages be shared? One page for stuff from my Google Reader and the “shared” button. If any of you kids in the Accelerated Class can help me out with this, I’ll be grateful.
Tagged as:
Google
“In Silicon Valley, a region known for some of the worst traffic in the nation, Google, the Internet search engine giant and online advertising behemoth, has turned itself into Google, the mass transit operator. Its aim is to make commuting painless for its pampered workers–and keep attracting new recruits in a notoriously competitive market for top engineering talent.
The company now ferries about 1,200 employees to and from Google daily–nearly one-fourth of its local work force–aboard 32 shuttle buses equipped with comfortable leather seats and wireless Internet access. Bicycles are allowed on exterior racks, and dogs on forward seats, or on their owners’ laps if the buses run full.”
Okay, this is just a brilliant thing for Google to do. The full article is worth a read.
Tagged as:
Google
From Inside AdWords blog: “Over the last year, we’ve been working hard to integrate the dMarc advertising platform into Google AdWords. We’re happy to announce that the integration is now complete and we’ve recently begun a U.S. beta test of Google Audio Ads with a small group of AdWords advertisers.”
If you haven’t been keeping up, here’s how Google describes their Audio Ads:
“Google Audio Ads brings efficiency, accountability, and enhanced ROI to radio advertising by providing advertisers with an online interface for creating and launching radio campaigns. You’ll be able to target your customers by location, station type, day of the week, and time of day. After the radio ads are run, you will be able to view online reports that tell you exactly when your ad played.”
A couple of days ago, Mark Ramsey (Hear 2.0) pointed us to an application page on the Google website.
Ad Specialist Application — Thank you for your interest in joining the Google Ad Creation Marketplace. We’re looking for some of the top audio ad specialists to join our Ad Creation Marketplace – a searchable directory of talent to help AdWords advertisers to create radio advertisements. For advertisers new to the radio space, or who are starting a new campaign, the Marketplace provides an invaluable starting point for finding the talent they need.
So, I decide to buy some Google Audio Ads. I search the Google Ad Creation Marketplace database for someone to write and produce my spot. We agree on a price. I send some copy. They email back an MP3 file. I’m off to the races. Maybe. Mr. Ramsey is skeptical and I confess I am too. But if it works… it could have a profound change on how advertiser buy and place ads.
Update: According to News.com, the radio ads are running in more than 260 metropolitan markets, covering about 87 percent of the country
Tagged as:
Google,
Mark Ramsey
