In my usual reading, I came across a couple things this morning.
The first is a Delta ad/competition for some in flight movies. I found it via a clickable ad at the end of a recent Ze Frank video that I downloaded. When I went back to the site to figure out which day it was actually from, I noticed that he must have the ads rotating, because from the web site, the ending was different, with a different, clickable ad. I won’t spell out what that one was for, and you might not even know it was an ad, except that I mentioned it, and Ze’s videos all end with very short clickable ads that take you off to something interesting.
My point, I like that (the second video, “a different, clickable ad” noted above) approach to drawing in viewers. It’s subtle and it requires fairly educated or knowledgeable users. Hmmm… aren’t those the good ones! Aren’t those the one’s that any company wants as their power users or to be out there spreading the word! It is very clearly an attempt at viral marketing. That’s why I think Ze’s videos capture a “valuable audience” rather than just a large one. Both serve a purpose, but the valuable is much more in line with dealing with the truly important, not just dealing with the urgent… and in line with being productive, not just being busy. Hey, if advertisers will pay the bills, there are going to be different approaches to how to sell them your audience. There is some strategury involved in positioning your product audience.
And, the second thing I came across, and wanted to mention was the way that web sites are now starting to do popups in a safe an non-annoying way. The Delta ad/competition mentioned above lets you view the short films via a little popup window. But that window is not a “new” window. It’s all contained within the browser and is sized to be just what is desired by the content owner. I even have that playing inside of one of my tabs and have been jumping around various other tabs within Firefox. It’ s *not* annoying like all the other, older popup ads used to be. And, I’m still watching.
That part about me still watching is my point for this second thing. Audiences adapt and change viewing habits and change what is acceptable and comfortable for them. By adapting the technology here, the newer renditions are easier on my eyes and easier to grab my attention.
Hmmm… People are adapting to the changing technology, and the technology is being shaped to help people get more out of it (either via advertisers, or via consumers). This is a constantly evolving thing, and will never go away.
Can you see where I’m going with this? If you’ve talked with me recently, and know what recent business ventures I’m involved in, this lines up very well with those concepts or examples. I’m excited to help change the world. Oops, did I say that outloud? Stay tuned!
Filed under: Blogging, Geek, Ideas, Leadership, Life, Listening, Perspective, Writing
