Digitas, specifically Bitterman, Sees Mobile on Margins, Widgets At Forefront

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by Gavin O'Malley
Because of its present inability to scale, mobile will remain on the margins of Digitas' media planning strategies, according to its vice president and media director Jordan Bitterman. But he and his peers can't get enough of widgets.

Is Bitterman feeling ok?

What? No mobile????
Bitterman, what were you drinking??? Or even thinking?

Apparently the fella has been misquoted. Gavin should get his facts right.

Bitterman loves mobile, in fact, he loves it so much he wants to marry it!

Disney Tolerates a Rap Parody of Its Critters. But Why?

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The New York Times

The Walt Disney Co., despite being known for aggressively protecting its copyrights, has yet to crack down on YouTube video mash-ups that feature its animated characters singing to Soulja Boy's rap tune "Crank That." Disney declined to comment on the videos, this article says.

Digestif spin

These are cute. And it's not just Disney in there. Dora, Spongebob, they are all getting in on the act.

I don't know why Disney gets so pissed off about this stuff. It's good for their image- it appears that they like to share, they care about the participating audience, in turn making audiences respect them.

Disney- stop stifling creativity!

Macy's Celeb-Filled Ads Are Fun, Witty ... and a Strategic Disaster

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Digestif dishes it up

I've seen these ads. They're tops. They're entertaining and they work.

Being a foreigner I can observe this country from the outside in. Americans are obsessed, even sickly obsessed, with celebrity.

Seeing the amount of TV programs, magazines and fanfare associated with celebrity it is no wonder people know more about celebrities than they do their own families.

I predict people will turn up to Macy's almost expecting to see Donald and Jess there and it won't surprise me in the slightest.

Fox Offers Ad-Free Show Downloads On iTunes

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The Digestif spin

Whateva.

I'm still not paying.

Ogilvy, Carat CEOs Clash on IAB Panel

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NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Sparks were flying between Ogilvy North America co-CEO Carla Hendra and Carat Americas CEO David Verklin on the opening panel at IAB's Mixx Conference. And no, they weren't those kind of sparks.

The digestif loves biff!

Well, who doesn't? Who doesn't love someone shouting "fight, fight" and then watching all in earshot gravitate towards the scene?

I definitely do.

I would have loved to have seen these 2 in action. I've met both of them. Carla loves to talk Ogilvy and Dove, and she should. It changed the way we do marketing today.

And Carat isn't without its own issues either... David is about 2 feet tall (in comparison to myself) and is loud. He;s smart, but extremely loud.
I was once standing next to him during a little speech. He nearly blew my eardrum out.

Dove's "Real Beauty" effort no longer producing really big sales

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Advertising Age
Dove's "Campaign for Real Beauty" was hailed for its honesty in showcasing ordinary women and its success in driving extraordinary sales growth. However, with sales slowing from 10.1% in 2006 to 1.2% so far this year, the campaign's impact may be waning, according to this article.

This is a no brainer for the Digestif

And you know why? Because the Real Beauty campaign was never a product campaign. It was a campaign for a movement and a community. It just happened to be sponsored by Dove.

They've created a tonne of advocates but, forgotten one core element. You don't have to buy Dove to be a member. You just need to care about the atrocities of airbrushing, lighting and makeup.

In the end, I'm glad they won awards for what they did. They revolutionised the way advertising is done today. They created a new type of marketing, movement marketing. Maybe next time, they won't forget to put products in the ads!

Survey Finds Women Own More Game Consoles Than Men

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by Douglas Quenqua
A new survey from JWT found that 44% of women reported owning a gaming console such as a Wii, Xbox or PlayStation, compared with just 39% of men.

Is the Digestif shocked?

You bet your sweet patootie I am!
Women also love the casual gaming scene. Not the hard core type stuff, more sodoku, mind bending games. Stuff like that.

But this just blows me away. Maybe some men were embarrassed to admit it, or maybe we're talking single mothers who own consoles for their kids.

Or maybe, just maybe, it's the truth and I should just accept it...

Nielsen: Local People Meters Begin Nationwide Rollout

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by David Goetzl
Nielsen is adding local people meters to 38 markets over the next four years en route to implementing them in 70% of the country by 2011, the company said. The goal is to provide year-round data, not just sweeps periods, which can skew a network's true performance.

What the Digestif drinks?

Whoop! I'm excited about this. I've always felt I've need to take ratings with a grain of salt. They're just an approximation, not at all accurate. In fact, I've hated them.

This is a little bit more interesting. 70% of the population...that's what I'm talking 'bout Willis!

Relevant Advertising (Behaviorally Targeted) Yields More Receptive Prospects

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Revenue Science study shows online consumers are more receptive to behaviourally targeted ads than contextual ads across all major categories. The study found behaviourally targeted ads outperform contextual by as much as 22 percent in some categories.

What the Digestif thinks?

Interesting. If you're selling, I don't know, let's say a nice grappa and you find your target is interested in the automotive category and you advertise in automotive, you will be more successful than if you advertise a grappa on an alcoholic site...

It's good to know, but probably needs to be watched and used extremely carefully.

L'chaim!

NBC to allow free downloads of TV shows

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NBC announced that its shows would be made available online for free download via a service called NBC Direct. Beginning with an October beta test prior to a roll-out in November, viewers will be able to download entire programs and view them over the course of a week, after which the downloaded files will expire and become unusable. The move comes in the wake of a decision by NBC to withdraw its programs from Apple's iTunes store.

What does the digestif say?

Very sexy. Very smart move towards the future. NBC meets consumer demand. Although I don't think a week will be enough. Or can you just download it again?

I could have pictured myself settling down with a Brandy, my iPod and Californication. But a Jeffrey McManus ruined that view:

"In October, NBC will launch a craptastic DRM-laden video download site that will let people do less than virtually any video delivery system ever devised. This NY Times article announces the new "store" without mentioning that the reason these movies people download will self-destruct after seven days is because they're wrapped in Windows Media DRM."

Nielsen: Yahoo, Veoh Way Up In Video; MySpace Trumps Facebook

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by Tameka Kee
Nielsen//NetRatings released the rankings for the top 10 U.S. social networking and video sites.

What does the Digitas Digestif have to say??
Veoh is a no brainer. The product is good, the public will flock to it.
But MySpace beating the Facebook! Who would have thought?!
Then again, Facebook is a white collar medium, MySpace a blue collar one. When we are constantly surrounded by who/what we know, we forget about the remainder.
Blue collar will always outweigh white collar. Even though Facebook’s audience will grow and their data will continue to get more detailed and more useful for marketers, my opinion is that the audience will never outweigh that of MySpace.

MTV, YouTube Capitalize on Britney, VMAs

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From TheStreet.com
The so-called "Britney Bomb" at MTV's Video Music Awards was certainly a ratings boost for Viacom's MTV, but it was also, significantly, a great day for online video providers--particularly MTV. According to the Street.com, MTV's strategy to show the awards once on cable television provided the boost it wanted for its Web site. And Britney Spears' "universally celebrated" disaster comeback helped drive the highest day of traffic ever on MTV.com in terms of unique visitors and video streams.

What does the Digitas Digestif have to say??

This whole thing has been an excellent marketing ploy. I don’t think Britney was ever going to perform. Yet, she still managed to pull audience for herself, for MTV and anyone wanting to see the royal-stuff-up through web (even if it was short lived). And people are STILL talking about it!
In my opinion, Brit-Brit still has at least 2 more of these fiascos before she pulls a rabbit out of the hat. Fans and other viewers will still watch each and every performance purely for the spectacle.
Sadly, in a kind of Murphy’s Law way, as soon as she is back I predict a lot of audience will lose interest. Some see the entertaining factor is in her demise.