IT’S THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN FOR RADIO ATTRIBUTION:  If you work in digital media you know attribution is becoming table stakes if you want to earn your way on to anything more than a test campaign.  Tracking purchase performance by those exposed to an ad vs. the non-exposed base is key to proving efficacy.  This only works when you know who’s seeing/hearing the ad, as digital publishers with logged-in users do.  So how do radio broadcasters, who can’t track individual listeners, demonstrate attribution?  Right now the solutions are very primitive – like your parents dropping you off on the first day of kindergarten primitive.  The attached Inside Radio article explains two new approaches.  CBS is working with a third party tracking firm to match specific times commercials run with in-store purchases.  Does this mean listeners are waiting in the parking lot to hear the ad and then running into the store to make a purchase?  Or even worse, iHeart’s approach to track and report individual impression delivery to show advertisers where/when the ad ran and what creative was heard.  What?  Isn’t this just providing proof of performance for ad delivery?  I think Broadcasters will be in for a rude awakening when they take one of these solutions in to a digital savvy client or agency.

FACEBOOK MAKES A PLAY FOR TV CONTENT DISTRIBUTION:  There’s a fascinating game of cat and mouse happening around digital distribution of TV content between FB and the networks right now, and you can’t really tell who is the cat and who’s the mouse.  On one side you have FB, whose video ambitions include distributing and monetizing Network TV content on their own platform and proprietary ad server.  On the other side you have the TV Networks who would love to open up a new distribution/revenue channel, but are wary about giving FB too much power in their industry.  The Networks know if they all aggregate on FB it could eventually become just as much of a “must have” as your typical cable provider, so they’re trying to test and learn without fully committing.  Right now the A&E Networks are the first ones in the pool.  Should be interesting to see who else joins them.

THE FUTURE BELONGS TO ELON MUSK:  Last Friday Elon Musk participated in a Q&A-style TED talk.  The result was a glimpse into the future we’re about to live in.  The first topic (boring car-carrying tunnels underneath LA), is actually so staggering that the host doesn’t even know what questions to ask.  Then Mr. Musk proceeds to walk through a half dozen technological game changers which are in motion right now.  Self-driving electric cars, a completely autonomous long-haul trucking industry, and full-house solar roofs will all happen within the next 10 years.  It’s a long interview at 41 minutes, but stick with it if you can.  And if you only watch one thing go to 30:45 where they show video of a reusable Space-X rocket coming back in from orbit and landing on a floating down platform.  It’s actually humbling to think that mankind (much less a private company) could create something like this.  I know this isn’t really a media-specific piece, but if you plan being alive 10-20 years it’s totally worth watching.

Have a great Tuesday guys.

THE “HOW” OF SOCIAL MEDIA:  We’re living in the age of social media, no doubt about it.  So have you ever wondered what makes social platforms popular and either succeed or fail based on how they actually work?  The attached Flipboard link does a really nice job explaining how Snapchat’s functionality transformed social from Facebook’s “life highlights” approach to more of a “be there in the moment” experience.  That paradigm shift vaulted Snapchat to success.  But sometimes success can be a killer.  In Snapchat’s case it’s user growth had two unintended consequences.  First, a formidable competitor named Instagram duplicated their Stories approach and started stealing uniques – see how Instagram is effecting Snapchat’s user growth in the graph below.  And second, since Snapchat didn’t have an algorithm in place for prioritizing user feeds all posts from those you follow appear in reverse chronological order with no preference towards what you actually want to see.  So the more people posting on Snapchat the harder it is to sort through the crap and get to the good stuff.  All of this is putting considerable pressure on Snapchat to make changes in order to stay relevant in the social game they helped reinvent.

THE NEWFRONTS ARE ABOUT TO GROW UP:  Over the past five years the Newfronts have become the digital equivalent of TV’s Upfronts.  It’s become THE way for digital video publishers to pitch the entire buying community for the upcoming annual cycle all at once.  However, instead of featuring new shows like the TV networks, publishers have used the Newfronts to roll out cutting edge ad products, targeting capabilities and native integrations.  And just like clockwork each year many brands get tangled up in the Christmas lights of the next hot thing for fear of being left behind.  But this year’s Newfronts will be decidedly more toned down and dare I say mature.  Instead of hyping the next shiny object, publishers will be focused on brand safety and fraud control.  In fact, some are going so far as to reposition themselves as an extension of traditional TV, figuring it’s safer to take harbor while the current digital video storm passes.  For a complete summary of this year’s Newfronts, and a look at how this phenomenon has evolved over the years, check out the attached AdAge article.  Even if you don’t specialize in digital video it’s good to know what this sector of the industry is up to.

COMPETING IN AN 3.0 WORLD:  On the weekends I like to do catch up reading on larger trends in our business.  Although this one was posted on AdWeek a few months ago, I thought it was important enough to recirculate.  The concept of “Agencies 3.0” is emerging, where creative curation joins brand strategy and media execution as three equally important pillars of marketing.  The guest author delves into the “Four Ts” needed to compete in this new paradigm – Trust, Technology Talent, and Time.  It’s an interesting concept to ponder, and it gives you a sense of how hard it’s becoming for AORs to compete in this ever changing industry.

Have a great Monday guys!