Media Bites-June 25 2010

For all of you Media Man fans that poke fun at all the gym and Starbucks check ins, here's a little update on location based marketing ( or as a friend of mine lovingly calls it: pleaserobmyhouse.com)

Startups and other less than visible brands are moving from useless games that take up space to a practical app that is actually a lot of fun.

As an example, take the newest geotargeted app on the scene-http://www.goby.com/. Say you want to look for hiking trails in Appalachia on a specific date. Your search will deliver a list of places to visit and a map of where they are. But it doesn't stop there. Click on a pin to a new location (the Adirondack Park) it will magically give you the same search results, different location. Looking for a the hottest wings in Memphis? Search and discover the price and location, move the pin to Austin and bingo-same search, different city.

Tasti D-Lite recently launched TastiRewards (http://www.tastidlite.com/). Mashable explains that customers can use their Treat Cards to gather points for purchases and those that opt in to social media bonuses are atuomatically entered to additional points.

And lets not forget my personal favorite Foursquare. I checked in at a NYC hotel for a conference and immediatley received a text that noted ( and I'm paraphrasing) 'Luann from the Real Housewives of NYC says that three blocks from here is the best Asian restaurant on the Upper East Side' Now, most people would find that annoying and obtrusive. However, I thought it was the coolest thing since sliced bread.

Get on the grid and give one of these a try.

Media Bites-June 14 2010

$50 million for BP television advertising while the economy in the Southeast is stagnating due in part to the oil spill? While I'm in support of advertising, marketing and press to raise awareness of this disaster, does it really make sense to spend it on TV ads?

Results from a recent Ace Metrix study:

41% of those surveyed think BP is doing all it can

71% think BP is entirely responsible for the spill

40% of respondents feel the government response was slow and inadequate.

Media Bites June 2 2010

The discussion on my radio show today was about reality TV and the blurred lines between being a clinician and being an entertainer. Think Dr Drew Pinsky, Dr Laura, Dr Ruth, Dr Phil ( all first names, isn't that interesting). We all know that at one point they all had thriving practices that were truly helping people. As Benita pointed out today; what was the tipping point? What made them go from an appointment book full of addicted and abused patients to TV/radio personalities and does that jeopardize their credibility?

Media Bites-May 21 2010

Checking in at Starbucks, the gym, office max, train stations, a tapas bar in Buenos Aires-what is all this about. It's free and fun foursquare my friends, and here's a primer on what it is and how it works:

Foursquare is a hybrid of friend finder, social media application and a city guide. It allows you to check in anywhere in the world, give comments about what you're doing and give tips about your location ( 'be sure to try the crab legs', 'this place has the worst bathrooms', )

Win points and badges by checking in at new and interesting places-you can even become the Mayor by having the most checkins at one of your locations. Download the app to your IPhone, Blackberry and Android.

Link it to your Twitter and Facebook streams and now your family, friends and enemies will know where you are every minute of the day.

http://foursquare.com/

Media Bites-May 15 2010

Remember when Saturday afternoon cartoons were all about 'Tom & Jerry', 'Tennessee Tuxedo' & 'The Smurfs?' Starting in the fall of 2010, the joint partnership between Hasbro and Discovery (The Hub) will be cracking open the vault to relaunch some of the best 1980's animation.

According to CEO Margaret Loesch "We think if we come in and really focus on the 6- to 12-year-old demo as our prime target, it's a relatively underserved audience where there's a lot of opportunity to do a lot more. Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon are doing a great job now, but the audience is starting to age up"

Media Bites-May 7 2010

I was convinced that there was almost no creativity left in radio-until stumbling upon this gem that's running in Amsterdam:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdCVHNkMqfo

Hear an ad on the air, hold your land line phone up to it, get connected to the advertiser.

While I find the technology innovative and interesting, wouldn't it make more sense to be able to hold your smart phone up, have it navigate to the web site and make a reservation-then send you an app download? Now if it can do that, when can I get started using it?

Media Bites May 4 2010

TV Everywhere & Anywhere continues:

In the quest to get your entertainment ( not news, my print friends) where ever and whenever you want it, DISH Network will open up a beta web portal this summer to offer premium content. According to Multichannel News, Comcast is the only distributor to offer the service through Fancast Xfinity Video (http://www.comcast.net/on-demand-online/)-viewers can watch their favorite shows from HBO, Starz, TNT, TBS, A&E, History, CBS and AMC.

Time Warner Cable, Verizon FIOS and DirectTV are all at various launch stages. Additionally, HBO (owned by Time Warner) recently introduced HBOgo and MobiTV (http://www.mobitv.com/) has been in the game for a while now. Yup, I've already downloaded both HBO and MobiTV apps to my IPhone.

However, here's the frustrating part: Lets say I want to catch the latest episode of 'True Blood' on my Macbook. Whoops, can't do that. My cable provider is Time Warner and they haven't rolled out that product yet. OK, no worries. I'll go to HBOgo and catch it there. Blocked there as well as they have a limited number of distributors signed up and their parent company isn't one of them.

I see TONS of opportunity for media business start ups to get every distribution company, networks, programmers, marketers and tech pros on the same page so the consumer can benefit. I'll say it again with gusto: one access point, one fee, multiple devices. Hey, maybe my business partner and I could develop something........