“The power of the executive to cast a man into prison without formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him the judgment of his peers, is in the highest degree odious, and the foundation of all totalitarian government whether Nazi or Communist.”
— Winston Churchill
I tend to rate non-fiction books by highlighters consumed. And if I really like the work, I post excerpts here so I can find them long after I’ve loaned the book to someone that really didn’t want to read it in the first place and promptly lost it.
I’m sure I’ll be boring people with references to Chris Anderson’s The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More, for many weeks. I’ve posted some of my favorite segments after the jump. And here’s one to get you started:
News was the first industry to really feel the impact of the Internet, and we’ve now had an entire generation grow up with the expectation of being able to have on-demand news on any subject at any time for free. This may be good for news junkies, but it’s been hell on the news business. (Pg. 185)
J-Dub (a foam-at-the-mouth Howard Stern fan) reports that Kennett singer/songwriter Trent Tomlinson gets some mega-exposure on on Stern’s show:
Howard Stern plays one of his tunes frequently. Mrs. Howard Stern, a little drunk vixen, chose Drunker than Me as the tune to sing along to for Howard. They love it so much, that they play it all the time on the show. Good exposure for Trent.
I love the thought of Trent and Sheryl Crow co-writing and performing a song. I gotta believe somebody is already working on that.
Seth Godin offers an explanation for why Nielsen is just now getting around to rating viewership of commercials:
The answer is that the networks are a critical client of Nielsen, and the last thing in the universe they want is to rate commercials. The surprising thing is that many advertisers don’t want the ratings either. Why? Because as soon as you measure, you need to admit you failed. So you need to tell your boss you wasted a few million dollars…
The Internet has been messing with (disrupting?) traditional media since the beginning but I’ve always felt the real disruption would occur in the advertising arena. Who is listening and watching our commercial messages? What do they think about them? And how are they reacting to the messages? Answers: Lots of people. They love them. Racing to make a purchase.
Steve Rubel points to a ZDNet report on Google’s plan for a product “…that dynamically generates and changes a terrestrial radio commercial based on demographics and news/conditions in the local market. According to those who have seen the demo, if it’s really hot in one area, McDonalds can switch from their regular burger ad to one that touts their cool drinks and frozen treats. In addition, while most advertising campaigns require a $20,000 spend, the new Google solution would require a mere $200 minimum.”
I sure would like to see that demo.
And I’d love to know what Chris Anderson thinks of Google’s plans to sell radio advertising. In his book, The Long Tail, Anderson demonstrates a clear understanding of how advertising works:
“The traditional advertising market is a classic, hit-centric industry where high cost enforce a focus on the biggest sellers and buyers. The way it works is that an advertiser, say General Motors, has a marketing budget. GM commissions an advertising firm to create some ads and then a media buyer to place those ads in television, radio, and print and online.
Meanwhile on the other side, those ad-driven media have their own ad sales forces. they pitch the advertisers and their media buyers on the virtues of their advertising vehicles. If all goes well, millions of dollars change hands. All of it is labor-intensive and made even more costly by the expensive schmoozing that’s required in businesses where a lack of trusted performances metrics makes salesmanship and personal relationships key to winning business.
These days salespeople don’t just twist arms, they also serve as advertising consultants, informing advertisers about the most effective ways to use a given medium or brainstorming creative new approaches to getting the advertisers’ message out. That works well enough, but because it’s expensive, it imposes a subtle cost: a focus on just the largest and most lucrative of potential advertisers.”
Today, there are thousands of small Google advertisers who had never advertised anywhere before. Because of the self-service model, the measurable performance, the low cost of entry, and the ability to constantly tweak and improve the ads, advertisers are flocking to this new marketplace.”
It’s going to be interesting (Read: scary as hell) to see if Google can/will fundamentally change the way radio advertising is bought and sold.
“If any teenager can put up a video for or against a candidate, and persuade other people to watch that video, the center of gravity could shift to masses of people with camcorders and passable computer skills. And if people increasingly distrust the mainstream media, they might be more receptive to messages created by ordinary folks.” [Washington Post]
My old pal Dan Shelley is headed for New York to become the Executive Editor of Digital Media for WCBS-TV and WCBSTV.com. Yesterday was his last day at WTMJ in Milwaukee where he has been news director since 1995. Before that Dan was ND at KTTS in Springfield. I interviewed Dan in May, 2005, shortly after he was elected chairman of RTNDA, and he talked about journalism in a digital age. I’m trying to get a follow-up interview. Stay tuned.
“It seems to me that the great thing about the flag is that it symbolizes something inherently indestructible: the concept of freedom. You can burn the flag as many times as you want and the concept of freedom is not only still there – it’s stronger. I like that about my flag. I would go so far as to say it’s my flag’s best feature.”
We saddle up and head for Destin tomorrow for a week in the sun with friends and family. (Thanks to Vince and Mike with the JCPD SWAT Team for sitting with the dogs.) Not sure what the wifi situation will be at Amberjack Landing but it won’t hurt me (much) to be off the grid for a few days. I plan to spend some of the time dancing the with Mac Book.
Long-time readers might recall I’m fond of Frank Capra’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. It makes me nostalgic for a time and a government that probably never existed. Usually leaves me depressed because it reminds me how venal our real-life congressmen are. I’ve posted clips from the movie going back years and decided to put them all in one post. Just watch the movie.