Don’t get me wrong, I am fully aware of DoubleClick’s contribution to starting the online display industry, and have written favorably about them in my history of online advertising. But that was then. After all, it doesn’t take a Harvard degree and you certainly don’t have to be a rocket scientist to realize that 15 year old ad technology, is well… 15 years old!

You wouldn’t buy a 15 year old car for your client. You wouldn’t use a 15 year old computer, and pretty much guarantee you didn’t have a mobile 15 years ago. 15 years ago CompuServe WAS the Internet. Now, if you haven’t heard of them, you can go read about them in Wikipedia. The same will happen here. A brand will die, a new one will replace it.

Any legacy systems were built for a very, very different world. All you had back then were tiny little clickable gifs in a bland world of blue text links. Now needs are different and the world needs something built completely from the ground up to meet different challenges. DoubleClick knew it, hence the acquisitions over the years. Yet it seems Google thinks the answer lays in a different direction; namely technology will replace humans. Sorry I don’t buy that. I just believe people want to be helped by people and customer service is not a ‘Steve Hawkings’ telephone voice saying click *#3. Technology should never replace people.

Consider this ‘different’ world and cultural differences like in Asia. It used to amaze me that Google Search was not so strong there like in the West until I realized that they have always had broadband, so why text search and click on gifs when you have always had video – and streaming TV on mobile – or can point a mobile at a QR code, as opposed to typing something in. A different infrastructure has brought about different challenges and consumer preferences. Guess what people, the same is about to hit the West with a whole range of new portable media devices running over 4G, or Internet enabled BluRay live in the homes. We will end up with a mix-match of consumer experiences in both cultures. The web today is far more then clickable text and gifs, digital advertising is more then banners in browsers.

And so in the advertsing technology arena we accept things have just got way out of hand. Technology today is far too complicated, and certainly has not simplified stuff down the way it should. In my honest opinion advertising technology has failed. Bright-eyed and bushy tail digital enthusiasts leave college with marketing degrees and instead of working on the next innovative thing, they find themselves at 10pm each week night cutting and pasting stuff in Excel… hello?! No wonder they are so keen for a free lunch on Friday – its the only job satisfaction a lot of them get these days.

So is the answer in replacing agency folk in some TransHumanistic way, assuming if all we are doing is buying and measuring clicks then we can automate everyone out of a job with some clever exchange? Well, despite the clap-trap hot air in people still talking about click benchmarks and view-thru’s at lower-levels, I am equally excited to see some amazing challenges coming in from agency strategy folks who realise that display is driving more then site visits, but rather drawing people into discussing brands on social media, or seeing them investigating more information on review and price comparison sites that drive purchase offline – all of which can leave traces of dispaly advertising to be seen as activity in search or buzz, for example. And all those consumer permeations are not going to be found in just auto-optimising display clicks, assuming that equals media performance.

The industry has been heading down a dead-end road since its inception and we have been fitting round clients into square holes since. We listened to software engineers focussing on easy-clicks rather then advertsing psychology, human neurophysiology or just plain old consumer experiences. We traded years of insightful marketing knowledge and limited ourselves to what technology could do as opposed to making technology do what it ought, and that is facilitate humans to better learn about other humans. We opted for the ‘new super get thin pill’ with exaggerated claims just to take it out in the field and realise it doesn’t work.

So you see, I have issue with technology replacing people, as opposed to making their lives easier. You can take all your perverse technophilia thanks very much and I will leave my head screwed on. People want to work things out with people and thats why agencies have – and will – always exist. This is why I do not think Google and pay-per-click and display exchanges is the answer to the advertising world. You can’t scientifically explain away emotive behaviour and aesthetic appreciation to commercial art any more then you can discuss ‘love’ in terms of chemical reactions of pheromones or reduce why someone has butterflies in their tummy to mere neurons and atoms. Auto-optimizing clicks will never explain why consumers queue up for the new iPhone or to get Jimmy Choos at half price.

Neither is the answer in idolising the glorious past of yesteryear of a digital Madison Avenue, like an episode of MadMen. You can throw your beef around, but for my money I want brand new technology that gives clients what they need now, not reminisce about how great the ZX Spectrum was in the 80’s. And let’s all be honest, arguing Microsoft’s Atlas as a serious contender is liking trying to argue the merits of an Oric-1 over the ZX81…

Thats why I am so blown away that a company with balls has unleashed Mediamind. On a crowded page 10 years ago we needed something to jump out and say ‘click’, that was yesterday’s Eyeblaster. In a crowded and complicated technological world today we need something to jump out and say ‘chill’, that is today’s Eyeblaster. Something that brings a radical new approach to empowering agency staff through creative technology.

So if double-clicking now seems like too much effort, then click here, just once… and get your evenings back.

After all, things are harder then they should be. Simplify.
Mediamind by Eyeblaster.

———-

Update: Looks like the tinder is becoming a wildfire…

“It’s a total sh*t show. Google tried way too hard to make DCLK feel good about the acquisition and it completely backfired.”

• Pre-IPO Googler Says The DoubleClick Integration Was “A Total Sh$% Show”
• “Google Destroyed My Best Job/Career I Ever Had”
• Why Is Google Allowing DoubleClick To Wilt?

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I’ve said it before and I will say it again; the future for magazines is not in creating browser-based web pages. We’re hopefully past the days of newsletters formatted in MS Word, or experiencing websites with terrible typography, microscopic little pictures and business-card sized videos, not to mention, those tiny little ads embarrassingly hidden in the corners, jumping up and down saying ‘click me, click me!’ It’s all more annoying than the donkey in Shrek.

Despite the amazing advances in functionality on the Internet over the last few years, design in digital channels is a long way from the offline aesthetic renaissance spurred on by desktop design programs like Quark Xpress. One only needs to browse a newsstand and marvel at the freedom of design, where bold, beautiful, creative typography are sensually entwined with stunning imagery. Even the Wall Street Journal runs color photos now! In contrast, type in the URLs of these same publications and prepare yourself for a walk through a design desert.

Yes, templates hold consistency, but like themes variations in classical music, they’re supposed to be deliberately broken to add interest or context. Good design adds value to the communication; it doesn’t just deliver information. It’s exciting and part of entertainment and we all know HTML just can’t do that. Connection speeds wouldn’t even let you send it if you could. Also, Flash is not the saviour and only a mere gimmick that doesn’t even rise to the level of commercial art.

So why am I now as excited as teenage boy who has just discovered a discarded copy of Playboy in a country lane? Well, starters being able to ‘pinch’ and ‘squeeze’ Rhianna… Ok, no that’s not it (lie, lie!).

Consider the fact newspapers close down on a daily basis as they struggle to make ends meet as advertisers abandon them. The ratio of ads to editorial in the print world is 60:40 or higher and online is shamefully a long, long way from anything like that.

Stop and observe the newsstand and notice the ever-shrinking physical magazines to pocketsize away from A4, and that many newspapers have now moved away from broadsheet formats. Next, hold up an Amazon Kindle next to one of those little mags – not too dissimilar is it? Watch how you flick through a magazine, getting to the article you want, taking in the visual fluff from all the pretty pictures including those ads that get you salivating over that latest hot hatch. Ah, so this is what all those rumors of the impending full-colour, networkable 10’ Apple iPad being launched on Joe public was all about.

Look back at the GQ app on your iPhone.

Hold the phone in landscape mode and see a full version of PDF-like scalable magazine that you can flick through with your finger just like cover-flow. Zoom into any of those beautifully designed pages and notice how many are actually full-page ads – all of which are now clickable! Yes, they really should be more interactive, but that too will come. Next, find the article of choice and turn your phone to portrait mode – turning the app into an interactive mobile version where you can read articles like as if were a web page. At the base of the screen, there’s a hidden drawer that lets users zoom into view photos and watch videos and when you flick through the pics there’s randomly assigned full screen static images from the Grey Goose and Gillette sponsors that are also clickable. There’s even an interactive contents menu, which tells where the media-rich articles live.

GQ trials are already showing the new audience is spending upwards of an hour with this app, which fully mimics print versions. So, let’s face it, the combination of interactive features is going to boast much more measurability then print ever could.

Are you catching the importance of this? It could be the biggest societal change since the invention of the printing press. Well, it’s certainly the start of subscription-based content coming across to a whole breed of new consumer devices, as that little iPhone is doubled in size to the iPad. Combined with the ads, the commercial aspects of ePaper will help battle against the declining print sales as the value of the purchase is fed back into developing better content as opposed to distribution, and the current awkwardness of news/magazine content online.

Is it any wonder why the New York Times wanted to be in on the launch on the new Apple iPad? Black and white typography of old, making way for a new generation of streamed full color interactive video news, complete with full page rich media ads. Advertising as it was meant to be. Informative and interactive and coming to iPad near you… sooner than you think. The Kindle must feel like yesterday’s fish and chip paper.

I’m sure there will come a time when interactive means I can move Rhianna’s arm slightly on the cover of GQ – or perhaps that will come on a future ePrint Playboy version? So as I wait the next 60 days to get my hands on all new things iPad, I remind myself I’d be just as happy getting a virtual version of beautifully illustrated 12” record gatefold covers, or maybe an e-picture disc to collect in iTunes. Oh how I can’t wait for the future to discover retro.

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The expectation of being able to travel anywhere and pay for things by credit card or at least find an ATM. The expectation of electricity and telecommunications – whether fixed line, widespread mobile signals or at very least a cyber centre. The assumption that power is anywhere, despite the fact I may need an adaptor for my socket. Can I therefore say that this aspect of technology is ubiquitous and widespread? The expectation would deem it so and force the others to follow suit. Online and in business the English language language is already seen as ubiquitous, i.e. pervasive though not exclusive. The global village means its no longer sufficient to learn the language of my neighboring country France, but rather dominant force such as Chinese (alongside Spanish).

We are aware that in certain parts of Africa some people have no access to food or even clean water. There are always exceptions to the rule. There are also remote parts of africa where business on a mobile phone, checking stock supplies and arrivals of fruit and grain or relying on a call to be able to taxi someone arriving at an airport and thereby make a living. This is more akin to a pure reliance on technology for commercial business usage then merely sending an email via a blackberry in the west. Despite cultural differences, computing technology is a unifying force across the planet and removing vast walls.

With sensors in cars to monitor road conditions and adjust speed or fuel mix to sensors in air, electricity and water flows at utility plants monitoring your domestic consumption. Certain BMW cars can now be reset through a telephone operator who can ‘log in’ to your car on the side of a highway. Your refrigerator talks to the utility plant to where out where to send more electricity, and in fact switches itself off when norms are reached. Intelligent CCTV cameras spotting when items are left unattended or things looking out of place and automatically zooming in on items and triggering alert calls. We are finding computing blending into the background of everyday lives in new, exciting and sometimes startling ways.

In terms of logical computer processing we are seeing a power-shift in moving the thinking, the intelligence to the system – uploading the processing to ‘the cloud’. This seems to be psychosomatic of modern culture too. It is no longer sufficient for us to individually remember and process ‘1066’ and what happened on that date as Google means we can answer that question from a mobile in any corner of the globe. Education and understanding should come from the application of that number and trying to discover the significance of what that date means as opposed to rote facts of what happened on that date. It is in reading between the lines people are educated as opposed to merely informed. In the same way times-tables and log books gave way to a calculator, now we are eclipsing not just maths but all aspects of learning. It is happening on a global scale.

Just as on the cloud computing power moves from local machines into data centre’s and needs little processing or storage locally on ‘dumb terminals’, so too we are shifting the thinking away from individuals into a collective consciousness with potentially equally devastating effects as we develop this ambient intelligence. Allowing the system to monitor, store and analyze what is happening, and predict what should happen next for the ‘greater good’.

Theologians and philosophers have warned us about over the centuries; basically do not trust in man or our own achievements – kingdoms rise and fall at an alarming rate. Instead of learning from our past and making the same logical conclusions for warnings for the future, we instead blindly trust that science and technology will have the answers tomorrow, if not today. This is a blind faith in untested science, equal to the criticisms of those who have religious convictions. It is sheep going astray – the blind leading the blind – and a flat-out refusal to listen or learn from those who have gone before, especially those who have suffered and died under or standing against oppressive global empires.

From wild animals being RFID tagged to monitor stock movements through streams and seas, to domestic pets able to access their own homes and prevent unwanted pets from walking in – or helping relocate a lost animal to its rightful home. The same technological thinking now ushering in a system from tagging prisoners to employees, from hotel guests to commuters – the mass roll out of identification for access and monitoring purposes – we call it ‘learning’ in order to foster a better future. The reality sees a tattooing and tagging akin to a global ‘prison earth’ where each is locked into the grid for their own good and lets them believe they have ‘nothing to hide’. It is based in fear of the minority can hurt the masses, that ultimately seen in a few entrapping the masses. What we are witnessing here is a ubiquitous ‘computing’ shift not just into little tiny microprocessors hidden in sensors in our streets, homes, businesses or cars but a societal shift into the great ‘wiki’ of life. We convince ourselves that all are learning how to improve, that we are working to same ends, an overarching belief in positiveness: peace on earth. Our own human ‘computing’ powers are becoming ‘ubiquitous’ – constantly encountered and connected – and becoming secondary to that of the ‘system’ we are rushing to create.

Ubiquitous computing (UbiComp) is as philosophical as it is technological. It comes down to thinking, not just processing. We are even trying to solve artificial intelligence and give rights to robots. Distorted thinking of task-driven drone bees, not in terms of human reasoning that equally embraces the ‘spiritual’ and questions the soul beyond mere neuroscience. We believe ‘computing’ is and should be ubiquitous – but it should be seen in inter-relationship of diverse parts. Equality embraces key differences, not seeks to remove the diversity in favour of uniformity under the guise of ubiquitousness.

As governments unite around the world for ‘security’ reasons – whether that is environmental, political or religious stability, technology affords the very widespread belief that we can recreate omnipresent (all seeing), omniscient (all knowing) into the the omnipotent (all powerful) collective conscious system that will herald this time of peace on earth. A foolish lie from the pseudo-scientists of dictators. A lie from the pit of hell. Building up the walls around our gardens to keep the eyes of the prying neighbours at bay, only to realise in doing so we have prevented any sunshine from ever reaching our own little garden we wish to enjoy, tend and nurture. We have removed what is the essence of life and living. Something that is, and must remain, removed from distorted human logic.

I guess thats why a virgin birth was chosen to herald peace on earth. It defies and continues to challenge our human sense of logic.

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9: 6

I truly wish you all a very Merry Christmas.

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The recent surge of research around creative variables like ad shape, format and video puts online creative into the hot seat, and size, it seems, doesn’t necessarily matter. We’ve been groomed to judge online display ads based on aesthetics alone as opposed to trying to match the physical elements with performance to see patterns. This has shown certain assets can positively impact campaign results, but it often overlooks one critical factor — the online environment.

Historically, we create ads in an assortment of shapes and sizes and stick them everywhere, only to find ourselves surprised when the same creative generates a range of results across many environments. It’s relatively obvious, actually: Surely the impact of a piece of creative that works effectively in one in environment will differ — sometimes radically — when placed in another.

That’s largely due to the consumer experience and level of activity found in each location. It may seem obvious that a portal homepage would differ to a social media site, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. As consumers spend more and more time online, the environment in which they find themselves matters more and more to them — and not matching the right creative against the right environment can be toxic. As they say, looks will only get you so far; for advertising, it’s location, location, location.

Since the first display ad 15 years ago, a variety of environments have become amenable to online advertising. Take the mega sports homepage portal ESPN, or the opening to news sites like New York Times and Forbes where users skim headlines for few seconds before clicking on various links. Then, contrast destination pages found within these homepages, where the user explores athlete stats or reads specific news articles. Although homepages have mass reach, they also have short attention spans compared to destination pages, which are more likely to retain re users for extended periods of time as the absorb information and content.

Next, consider price-comparison pages versus web mail, let alone desktop messenger ads and entertainment content. Each of these online destinations creates different experiences for audiences, and if we seek to drive better results, today’s online creative should be carefully mapped out to fit the area surrounding it.

We’re wasting data from ineffective advertising if we’re not using it to determine how to improve creative concepts against the actual consumer data shown in the various environments. We see the same mistakes repeatedly, such as expecting users to click away when writing emails or hiding enticing content behind static images on fast-paced homepages. Here’s what we know:

For example, homepages typically call for high impact creative that can distract users very quickly before they move-on to another destination. Recent examples include the Chanel No5 ad or Fedex Paper Crumble.

However, destination pages require something more subtle and less intrusive that can be afforded by time, such as the Virgin Bets, often catching people who are rolling through to navigate, provided the pay-off is fun and rewarding like Ikea’s Set the Table.

In web mail, users continually refresh the page while checking emails and habitually return. Here, they’re unlikely to click away, but may be distracted to play with an ad while they chat with others online or prepare to type an email. An ad that rewards data capture like Snickers Mr. T is a great example for a web mail environment.

Also, in communication environments, marketers should use the ability to re-target users and sequence messages, which is much of what contributed to the success of Levi’s Moonbathing campaign. Sharing content with someone that users are chatting with, like in the case of the Universal Pictures’ Bruno ad is a great way of exploiting desktop messenger or facilitating social media.

If reading reviews or looking for information, affording the search within an ad itself drives people closer to the information they’re looking for and can enhance their brand experience as seen in Travelocity.

With budgets under threat, assuming all creative is equal and underestimating the environmental nuances will deliver catastrophic results and could start to destroy the digital atmosphere and threaten agencies just as global warming has melted the ice caps. Credibility comes from environmental awareness and developing a strategy for change. By learning how consumers respond across environments, marketers may consider spending less time looking at format innovation and more time looking at campaigns holistically.

This article appeared on AdAge.

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By lately it means within the last 72 hours – forget the fact I may have actually called them, emailed them or any other form of communication. Forget the fact that i may only speak to them every few days or weeks/months. Facebook going yet again where they are most unwelcome. What kind of muppets do they employ over there? Don’t they do any consumer research? Clearly not, as I am not the only one upset by this.

So this latest fubar – and yes I do mean it in the urban dictionary definition is just an outrage to personal privacy.

What has it got to do with them anyway?

One poor guy is fuming and rightly so, after the person in question it recommended to was deceased!

As the author says “Now, I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t want to be reminded that I haven’t “talked” lately to a family friend that is dead.”

Facebook must change its policy, and fast.

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It must have been 1991 when a friend of mine who had been looking through some military testings on a scanner-readable tag. It was surrounding a unique bio-code that was created by an injection that altered skin-cell reactions at on deeper tissue, effectively darkening some cells, to create a totally unique pattern to each individual that would be invisible with the naked eye but able to be read by a scanner. At the time I had no idea what such concept would be useful for. His reply startled me, ‘to identify those who have been administered an antidote in times of a pandemic – and potentially linked to commerce.’ His argument was that food allocation could be limited to those who had been administered a vaccine to help prevent further spread of disease.

We are now living in a time when the first pandemic since 1968 Hong-Kong flu is upon us, and suddenly his foresight may well becoming true.

The Florida-based company VeriChip Corporation, already boasts the world’s first and only federally approved human-implantable radio microchip. It is a small glass vial about the size of a grain of rice and is inserted under-the-skin and contains a number computer-linked to a person’s medical records, enabling doctors via a reader to access the information even if the patient is unconscious or unidentified. It is the only such implant approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Last week, Scott R. Silverman, chairman of VeriChip, launched a new variant of his company at ID World International Congress in Milan, Italy, to detect ‘bio-threats’ as VeriChip looks beyond patient identification to diagnostic and sensor applications. It is working with Minnesota company Receptors LLC, to develop virus-detection technology that can automatically detect in a host’s bloodstream the presence of H1N1 swine flu, the H5N1 bird flu virus, or other pandemic agents or viruses deemed a bio-threat to assist in emergency preparedness.

According to VeriChip’s press release, the company’s concept is to transform existing “in vivo” – meaning implanted inside a living organism – glucose-sensing technology into a ‘virus triage detection system for the H1N1 virus,’ i.e. a microchip that can alert others of the virus’ presence.

“As we continue to build on our partnership with Receptors, which started with the development of a glucose-sensing RFID implantable microchip, we are moving beyond patient identification to sensors that can detect and identify illnesses and viruses such as influenza,” said Scott R. Silverman, chairman of VeriChip, in a statement. “This is an exciting next step for the future of our healthcare division.”

According to Reuters, Shares of VeriChip Corp CHIP.O tripled after the company said it had been granted an exclusive license to two patents. It’s worth noting that tracking human’s via RFID has already several patents, such as those held by IBM.

“The triage system will provide multiple levels of identification – the first will identify the agent as virus or non-virus, the second level will classify the virus and alert the user to the presence of pandemic threat viruses and the third level will identify the precise pathogen, VeriChip said in a white paper ‘An Integrated Sensor System for the Detection of Bio-Threats from Pandemics to Emerging Diseases to Bio-Terrorism,’ published May 7, 2009.”

The company had already seen an interest surge on it’s VeriTrace technology following Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, where it was used by the Federal Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team. In this scenario the microchips are implanted in human remains, effectively ‘duct-taped to bones’, in order to maintain detailed records of fatalities.

The problem with existing RFID chips is that they often ‘lack-the-brains’ as seen with micro-computers, as they only transmit fixed data back to a reader device. Sensors are one aspect of addressing this, the other is advancements in CRFID’s or ‘computational’ RFID tags that are under development in MIT.

We are already seeing other variants of this technology in terms of printed electronic boards, as seen Xerox’s Silver Ink which will herald in an era of wearable electronics. Or in the case of a concept my friend and I discussed some years ago, invisible ink as shown in Somark’s chipless RFID ink tattoo, already used in animal tracking and identification.

As terrifying as pandemics are, I also took the liberty of investigating quite where HIN1 is at this current stage of global penetration. I feel the media has unduly over-hyped this current H1N1 situation as my own illness passed with relatively mild affects and so any discussion of chipping people – by choice or force – needs to be seen in light of facts of the illness.

Here is what I have found;

• All mammals and birds are susceptible to Influenza – it’s an airborne virus.
• Each year new strains are discovered. Cross-species jumps pose most risk.
• Hundreds of thousands of people die each year from the seasonal ‘flu’
  • According to World Health Organisation (WHO) ‘Annual influenza epidemics are estimated to affect 5–15% of the global population. Although most cases are mild, these epidemics still cause severe illness in 3–5 million people and 250,000–500,000 deaths worldwide.’
• WHO said H1N1 swine flu was pandemic after only 30,000 cases had been reported globally. (June 11, 2009)
• However 41,400 (avg) die per year in the US alone every year from the normal flu – and this is consistent since 1979.
• Current H1N1 WHO status is based on spread NOT severity – it was precautionary as young people had been affected around the world.
• A pandemic means level raised to millions of deaths, not the normal 100,000′s
• H1N1 has been repsonsible for only 6,768 deaths globally to date – not millions or even hundreds of thousands, not even ten… 6,768!
  • That’s much worse than average CTR!
• H1N1 (avian/pig) are only a fraction of mutations that make up Influneza virus.
• You stand more chance of catching and being fatally ill from normal flu then swine flu.
• It would seem normal flu is at least 100x more prolific and fatal then swine flu H1N1 – shown in the global data.
• People who take vaccine are having stronger flu symptoms and worse side-effects then those who don’t.
  • Most swine flu symptoms are mild and last only a few days without treatment – WHO does not recommend TamiFlu for normal healthy people with mild symptoms.
• It is normal flu we need to be more wary of and industry reactions should be 100x that of swine flu reactions – not the other way around – it’s out of balance.

Don’t take my word for it – or the media’s – do your own research. After all, its as easy as clicking on on some of those links above…

… so can we all stop panicking now and have a nice week please?!

Final trivia question: In thinking through vaccines, why would something with such bad press from 1960′s be useful on a new strain only announced at start of 2009? Hmmm… How long does it take to get medical tests done? (Clue: no. of years)

More on RFID; NothingToHide.Us

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“A highly reliable source has informed me that Apple has built some prototypes of the next generation iPhone with an RFID reader built in and they have seen it in action. So its not full NFC but its a start for real service discovery and I’m told that the reaction was very positive that we can expect this in the next gen iPhone.”

Near Field Communication (NFC) is a technology that enables connections between mobile phones and physical things, and is often referred to as Ubiquitous computing. It certainly heralds the start of true web 3.0 – the semantic web.

This is not so new a concept for iPhone users, as already their is a popular application ‘RedLaser’ already allows users to scan barcodes from their iPhone and allows you to search for online prices using Google product search.

An iPhone that reads RFID tags would indeed be an incredible hot commodity and could make an adoption of mobile payments a realistic possibility in the west. This would follow in the foot steps of Japan where a large majority of mobile phones (73%) are already RFID-enabled, according to Christopher Billich, SVP, Research & Strategy at Infinita Inc based in Tokyo whom I met with this week as he presented his future insights into mobile at IAB Warsaw.

He explained that in Japan NFC usage is becoming commonplace and already 18% are using mCommerce via RFID. It is well-documented of the experimentation McDonald’s using Kazasu Kuupon (”no contact coupon”) program, using electronic payment and coupon system based on RFID for people to buy discounted burgers, etc. whist affording McDonalds a huge inventory of data of consumption habits and real-time locations tracked to an individual.

Apparently 61% of 16-24yr olds in Japan already use Internet on mobile for 1 hour a day, yet 30% use it for more than 3 hours continuously. Most phones already have permanent connection to digital terrestrial broadcast television direct to the handset, as well as continuous Internet connectivity as data bundles are included within price plans.

mCommerce is only one of the uses of NFC, in Japan even certain motorcycles are started remotely via RFID, showing just one of the potential uses of an RFID-enabled iPhone. ePassports and driving licenses or security entry systems are all within possibility.

Touch is a research project that investigates and develops applications and services that enable people to interact with everyday objects and situations through their mobile devices. They have the following video, amongst others posted on their article ‘iPhone RFID: object-based media’.

More on RFID; NothingToHide.Us

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From now on let’s measure all outdoor and print display advertising by the number of QR (quick response) codes captured by consumers’ cellphones. Then, let’s set up a trading system called Cost Per Quick Response (CPQR) and try and convince every traditional marketer in the world of its value. The argument will be that technology says we can measure it and everything not measurable is useless and out of date with modern consumer behavior. Oh, and I also expect to gain a whopping 3 percent of print media share in 15 years.

Sound familiar?

For an industry that’s considered progressive and labels itself “new media,” it’s certainly locked into an archaic catch-all metric, the click, which measures only a menial part of a consumer’s senses — a part so pigeonholed to action it dismisses all aspects related to influence (think, feel, sense, imagine and interact). Clicks have little to nothing to do with exposure to creative and actually ignore emotional connectivity to a brand. Simply put, clicks only measure one response — which we generally often assume is a positive indication of intent versus accidental — and generally are a long way from a suitable conversion point an advertiser actually seeks.

Advertising at its core is about reaching out to the senses to captivate an imagination, influence an action or change a perception by enhancing a consumer’s desire. Enter multimodal perception, a notion based on the idea that humans use multiple senses to learn, sight being the strongest, followed by sound and touch. It’s the combining of senses that helps us to build a bigger picture of the world around us. Ever notice how food doesn’t taste the same when you have a cold and can’t smell it? From a marketing perspective, that may mean that collaborative exposures across media are enhanced through a physical experience of play and exploration. It might also point to the fact that measurement is not always immediate or isolated and should be perceived as something that develops over time.

Marketers are beginning to measure this sensory engagement across channels by looking at specific touch points along the consumer’s path to conversion and not just focusing on the immediate action of the user on any given single exposure. Digital has afforded marketers the means to stimulate multiple senses through interactivity in a variety of virtual scenarios, from TV screens in the back of cabs and digital billboards in Times Square to floating billboards along the Hangsu River in Shanghai. We’ve already seen users chatting with the actual developers at Intel inside online banners, talking to President Obama via Webcam and watching Chanel takeover entire computer screens across the globe. Given technology’s ability to measure exposure in front of all media, “time” offers the most insight into consumer behavior and reach.

First, we must ascertain what a consumer “sees,” then what did they “do” — which is a the heart of the concept for Electronic Gross Rating Points (eGRP). In a recent panel in New York, comScore, Nielsen, DynamicLogic and TNS investigated the need for old-style GRP and agreed it should be superseded by focusing on analyzing actual consumer behavior to drive measurement models. In looking at how consumers now consume media, a “time-based” eGRP is a possible model, opposed to a “reach-based” eGRP.

Focusing on time spent at each key touch point allows marketers to obtain a scalable metric — even a potential combined exposure per consumer, per campaign across all media — that concisely can answer advertisers concerns and objectives with consumer awareness. In turn, this can be followed by other subsequent behaviors such as triggering search, or further exploration or communication.

Taking time-based measurement into account, the recent launch of metrics developed around time attempt to isolate those who see and subsequently interact with a creative as opposed to those passively exposed, and offers a positive viable alternative to clicks by measuring time spent exposed exploring any given brand. The utopia for time-based measurement is to measure the total time spent exposed across all media channels as well as the total time spent engaging per campaign.

One thing is certain: the key to defining measurement needs to be closely linked to human physiology and the multi-modal behavior of consumers, and not conformity to the software engineers who have disrupted the heritage of advertising and distorted the phrase “engagement.” The answer is to develop a series of metrics along the consumer’s touch points that indicate intent, and it would seem “time” is the most adaptive measurement across multiple media channels.

So, in about 10 years when people realize that QR codes are not the be-all and end-all measurement for print advertising, we can all look gleefully back and say, “I told you so,” armed with strategic marketing intelligence and good old-fashioned common sense that predates any new fangled technological ideology.

This article appeared in AdWeek.

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Always amuses me that people complain that online advertising is terrible. When you take a walk around the streets you sure do see a whole load of ugly signage. I equally would rather clean up the neighbourhood then most websites. The worst offenders are estate agents IMHO.

Just been shown this video, which I think is an interesting twist on the concept of a consumer in control.

My advice. Create more interesting and artistic ads, fly-boy!

P.S. Curious why the company in question equally isn’t arrested?

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In response to this not-so-hidden agenda – bearing in mind the biggest technology coo ever is being thrashed out over the tracking and tagging of 1.2Bn people in India right now – here is a powerful insight into the flip-side of Verimed. Part 1 of 5 of One Mainframe To Rule Them All is shown here below.

More on RFID; NothingToHide.Us

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