Weekend Read

Digital Media Week in Review: Feds Drop Rate; Yahoo Undervalued? Still Bullish on Apple?

Authored by Ned Sherman on January 27, 2008 - 4:54pm.

DMW’s CEO & Publisher provides a wrap-up of the top stories of the week. Who’s hot, who’s not and what’s the industry buzz?

There was no shortage of news for the week of Jan. 21-25. The biggest story: The Federal Reserve lowered the benchmark federal funds rate by three-quarters of a percentage point to 3.5%, its lowest level since September 2005, but the Fed’s actions couldn’t stop an already shaky stock market from continuing its downward spiral. After a sharp mid-week increase on news of the rate cut, the DMW100 ended slightly lower on the week.

Guy Kawasaki: Ten Questions with PostSecret's Frank Warren

Authored by Guy Kawasaki on October 9, 2007 - 5:45am.

Frank Warren started PostSecret as a community art project in November 2004. Since then people have sent in one hundred and seventy-five thousand anonymous postcards. They are featured in art galleries, a music video, and Frank’s bestselling books: PostSecret, My Secret, and The Secret Lives of Men and Women. His new book is A Lifetime of Secrets.

Weekend Read: The State Of In-Game Advertising

Authored by Jay Baage on July 27, 2007 - 3:07am.
In the “duh” category, senior analyst Paul Verna predicts in an eMarketer report, "Video Game Advertising: Getting to the Next Level," that “in-game advertising will evolve in scope and sophistication, offering new platforms for marketers, new business opportunities for technology providers and vital revenue for game developers, who have struggled with the escalating production costs of increasingly complex games."

Weekend Read: Circus David Beckham Lands In the US

Authored by Jay Baage on July 13, 2007 - 6:51am.
When it comes to winning matches, the US soccer season so far is not going too well for LA Galaxy - it is languishing second from bottom in Major League Soccer's Western Standings. But who cares, soon they will have circus David Beckham to entertain the crowd and the game will come second. Also, if you see it this way, since they can’t hardly suck any more than they do right now, it can really only go up from here.
"This is the story of a star at the top of his form coming to Major League Soccer," says league Commissioner Don Garber, who on Friday will help Los Angeles Galaxy officials unveil England's David Beckham, this nation's newest sports icon and marketing powerhouse. "David will raise the credibility of our league."

Google the Pimp: 10 Searches to Get Your Porn On!

Authored by Scott Goldberg on April 27, 2007 - 1:55pm.
Don Juan the Pimp They’re a dirty lot, those Mountain View folks.  You search everyday words and get horrifyingly salacious pictures in return!  Google is run by pimps, I say.  Peddling this stuff front and center like the cigarette rack at 7-Eleven.  The following are 10 terms (and believe me, they aren’t the only 10) that result in pornographic images on a Google image search.  To make the list, however, traces of porn had to turn up on the first page.  If your eyes are sensitive, either for religious or personal purposes (or because you just had your pupils dilated), I urge you to stay away!  Google indeed pushes the boundaries of good taste, going well beyond nude human flesh.  It’s enough to make Larry Flynt cringe…
tags: Internet | Search | Google | Porn |

Weekend Read: Entourage Aiming for HBO’s Top Spot

Authored by Scott Goldberg on April 6, 2007 - 2:24pm.
Entourage Sunday night marks the beginning of an interesting time in HBO’s history.  Its most successful show, The Sopranos, will debut the first episode of the final season, and Entourage, a guy’s answer to Sex and the City, will follow.  And while the end of The Sopranos is a bittersweet event for fans, for HBO it’s a cause for concern.  The Sopranos, synonymous with HBO’s image as a content-creating powerhouse, will retire, essentially leaving the cable network without its Hall-of-Fame quarterback.

Weekend Read: The YouTube Video Awards – The Cream of the Crop?

Authored by Ty Clancey on March 30, 2007 - 2:53pm.
YouTube Video Awards Yesterday my friend Lonny sent me a link to the winners of the 2006 YouTube Video Awards.  He'd gotten all riled up over the OK Go music video Here It Goes Again, which had won the award for Most Creative, deservedly.  After tersely berating Lonny for not having seen the treadmill dancing viral clip that circled the net seven months ago, I anxiously moved on to the other awards, most eagerly Best Comedy.

Weekend Read: Apple & The Art of Good Timing

Authored by Scott Goldberg on March 23, 2007 - 5:12pm.
2001 iPod What’s the definition of success?  Try this: When the name of your product becomes synonymous with the product category itself, the way a DVR is a TiVo, or a tissue is Kleenex, or a dork is Donald Trump.  That’s what the National Music Publishers Association did for Apple in New York federal court yesterday, calling XM’s “XM+MP3” radio recording device “iPod-like.” It’s nothing new, I know, but these little portable devices that play music are called iPods.  Just like those mobile devices you carry to make phone calls are “cell phones.”

Weekend Read: Social Awareness Is The Top Online Marketing Trend for 2007

Authored by Jay Baage on February 16, 2007 - 6:00pm.
It does not take an expert to figure out that this year will be a year of disruption for media companies. Internet, new technologies such as third generation game consoles and cell phones are all transforming the media landscape. Smart marketers need to be a step ahead. So, what does this realization of social scientist Marshall McLuhan’s prediction of a “global village” really entail for marketers?

Weekend Read: The Porn Stars and the Geeks - A CES Hangover

Authored by Scott Goldberg on January 12, 2007 - 3:47pm.
Ron Jeremy, Scott Goldberg - AVN/CES 2007Scheduling geniuses brought together two worlds in Las Vegas this past week that aren’t as far apart as they may seem: tech geeks and pornographers. The former (seemingly 95% male), and the latter (at least 95% female), mingled beautifully at post-show bars and clubs all over Vegas and it wasn’t difficult to tell the two apart. The CES crowd looked overly practiced at ogling gadgets and more than welcomed the opportunity to direct their digital cameras to the spectacular AEE (Adult Entertainment Expo) crowd, which in turn were all too ready to offer photo ops.
tags: Internet | Marketing | Tech | CE | Adult | CEA | Events | CES | DMW | Las Vegas | AEE | AVN |

Weekend Read: Daniel Craig Marks New Era for the James Bond Empire

Authored by Jay Baage on November 3, 2006 - 11:39am.
He’s got a license to kill and a killer brand to license – James Bond is back. This time in the form of Daniel Craig – blond, rough and ready to hit the jackpot in the upcoming movie Casino Royale, the 21st film installment of the franchise. Not since Sean Connery played the role, has the suave British spy seemed so multifaceted. However, the buzz on the Internet is mixed. Some fan websites have totally dismissed Craig as the wrong choice to play Bond. So what does MGM, Eon Productions and creator Ian Fleming’s estate have in mind for developing one of the best known media properties in the 21st Century?

Weekend Read: Bono’s (RED) Shopping Campaign Makes Money Instead of Taking Money

Authored by Jay Baage on October 20, 2006 - 11:34am.
Bono’s (RED) campaign is simply genius. It is really not about charity or corporate social responsibility, as much as it is about the joy of shopping and increased profits. And that is a good thing. The (RED) campaign manages a way to incorporate charity in everyday life that it as simple as it is effective. The campaign is marketing 2.0.

Weekend Read: Coffee Table Porn for the Next Generation of Playboys

Authored by Jay Baage on October 14, 2006 - 8:44am.
Adult entertainment magazines are something that people usually keep hidden away. Now publishers are trying to rebrand them into products that you can proudly display on your coffee table or on your computer desktop. Will it work? The publishers of Penthouse and Monkey think so. Now the question is, can Playboy respond to remain the king of men’s publishing, or is it too late?

Weekend Read: Microsoft 2.0 is All About Advertising

Authored by Jay Baage on October 6, 2006 - 7:19pm.
Microsoft adCenter DiagramIt is clear that Microsoft is at a crisis point in its 30-year history. Rival products based on free open-source software, such as Linux, are threatening the dominance it has enjoyed for so long in the computer software market. Moreover, PCs are transforming into entertainment centers and that has opened up for a whole new competitive situation. Microsoft's reaction has been to slowly get out of the office software market and into the leisure advertising market, in essence becoming more and more of a media company. While Apple and Google are clear inspirations, there is more to Microsoft's new plan for world domination. Reports about interest in a purchase of YouTube and the Zune digital music player concept gives us a hint of what Microsoft 2.0 is all about.

Weekend Read: Poker Brings the Media and Gambling Industries Closer

Authored by Jay Baage on September 29, 2006 - 9:36am.
gambling.comInternationally televised tournaments like “The World Series of Poker” and “High Stakes Poker” are creating new stars and a whole new media industry surrounding it. It is currently all being fueled by Internet gambling, either directly or indirectly. The British magazine Gambling.com just landed former Esquire Senior Designer Stuart Tolley as Art Director. The September/October issue features Hollywood actor Eric Bana in his first interview, since filming completed of the poker movie, Lucky You (opens March 13, 2007). In the movie, Bana plays a pro poker player pitted against his estranged father, played by Robert Duvall.