Archive for September, 2009:
New MDC Social Media Partner – Attention
Media Week Article: Quoted
here is an article I was quoted in for Media Week this week on In-Game Advertising.
IGN Back to Ads With EA’s Battlefield Heroes
IGN Back to Ads With EA’s Battlefield HeroesSept 13, 2009
-By Mike Shields
IGN Entertainment has signed a deal with top game publisher Electronic Arts to sell ads within Battlefield Heroes, a new, war-themed multiplayer online game.
In 2005, as startups like Massive Inc. were touting huge growth for in-game ads, IGN announced it was launching its own in-game ad effort. But those plans fizzled once News Corp. acquired the company that September.
At that time, the in-game industry was primarily focused on placing ads in games played on PCs and consoles like PlayStation. Since then, though, there has been an explosion in free Web-based gaming. IGN already provides technology and services for online games, making the transition to serving ads easier, according to said Charlie Barrett, senior vp sales, IGN Entertainment.
“For advertisers, we can offer multiple touch points [like ads between game levels and during live game play] and drive deep, rich engagement,” said Barrett.
EA has existing partnerships with other in-game vendors, including Microsoft’s Massive and IGA Worldwide. But in the case of Heroes, IGN’s online ad expertise was a plus. “In all these screens in the game we can place classical Web ads,” explained Johannes Mang, director business development for Battlefield Heroes. “We were looking for a partner with proven strength in this area.”
IGN’s move serves to further entrench the company in the gaming world; it publishes the gamer-aimed news and reference site IGN.com and even sells games via Direct2Drive.com. That multipronged approach could provide IGN with an advantage over pure in-game ad companies, said Brandon Berger, vp, digital innovation at MDC Partners. “IGN should be able to gain a lot of traction by offering an integrated campaign,” he said.
But will it expand beyond this deal to sell ads in all sorts of game formats? Not immediately, said Barrett. “We do not intend to become an in-game ad company,” he said. “But of course we are interested in extending this relationship.”
There should be numerous opportunities. According to Ben Cousins, who heads up EA’s free to play initiatives, the industry is “on the cusp of an explosion in Web games over the next five years.”
The value of friends and social currency
Well there has been a ton of talk about the value and cost of friends on facebook. Whether they are worth .50 each by dividing total revenue of facebook by total friends (approx), or they are worth .80 if you hire someone to find them, there is an inherent value to a network of friends and their connections. The value grows considerably as you begin to think about the trust factor that an influencer has in their ability to get people to consider a brand or product.
But the question is what motivates the influencer? for the most part “social currency” is a real motivator. Socia currency can come in many forms, from being in the know about information, being the first to sample or own a product, or just being able to be the one who told someone about something that is a form of social currency, and that is one of the core factors sustaining and growing our social networks.
Therefore since social currency is highly valuable and a “friendship” in a social network has value, then today why did I get a random friend request from Judy Beardsall (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/judy.beardsall). Now Judy is friends with many people I know and really trust, and although I have met a lot of people, her name isn’t that familiar. So as I began to read her “info” page it said:
As America’s preeminent Wine Consultant and internationally respected wine broker, Judy has forged a niche in the high stakes world of wine.
With over 20 years experience and a career that has taken her from the first woman manager of New York’s premiere wine shop, Sherry-Lehman…To starting the most successful wine consulting business in the world and amassing the largest wine collections ever assembled on earth…To the creation of her very own wine at a vineyard in Tuscany.
Judy’s specialty is creating investment portfolios and drinking cellars of the worlds finest and rarest wines for a clientele of discreet and discerning collectors.
As President and CEO of Beardsall and Associates, Judy oversees personalized service with extensive knowledge of the fine wine market and provides — Strategic Buying Services, Portfolio and Cellar Planning and Management, Storage Arranged and Managed, State of the Art Wine Inventory and Tracking System, Market Trend and Investing Reports, International Trading Advisory, Sommelier Services and Consulting to her clients.
Clients have included:
Steve Ross Massimo Ferragamo
Frank Sinatra Dick Wolf
Kevin Costner Barbara Streisand
Oprah Winfrey Colin Cowie
Clint Eastwood Robert De Niro
Judy is a published author, having penned the iconoclastic “Sniffing the Cork”(Simon & Schuster), which won praise from critics, connoisseurs and those daunted by wine shops and wine lists. Judy de-mythified and de-mystified the pretentiousness that surrounds the world of wine and intimidates the casual drinker.
She is currently working on the follow up to “Sniffing the Cork” which hopes to be a stylish, intimate, informative, tell all autobiographical tour through the fascinating world of wine. Judy also recently finished her first screenplay, a romantic comedy set in New York and Florence entitled: “The Palazzo People”, with writer Johnny Russo.
For more information please visit:
www.JudyBeardsall.com
www.AnandaWine.com
Joel Gotler
Intellectual Property Group Management
9200 Sunset BLVD Ste 820
Los Angeles, CA 90069
310-402-5154
Michael Adler, esq.
Lichter, Nicholas, Grossman, Adler & Feldman
9200 Sunset BLVD Ste 1200
Los Angeles, CA 90069
310-205-6999
Notice, it was written by a lawyer and included her representatives, therefore it must not really be her. In addition, she is publishing a new book, so it must be trying to build some “social media” marketing around her book.
The problem here isn’t what she did, its what she didn’t do. You see, I am a fairly avid wine connoisseur, and if “Judy” was my friend, she might have known that, but if she wasn’t (which she isn’t), Judy might have tried to become my “friend” by providing me some social currency, ie a first look at her book, an invitation to a book launch or wine tasting, anything to allow me to have a bit of currency with which to connect with her and thus “influence” anyone in my network who is a drinker of fine wine, and I work in advertising which has no shortage of wine consumers. . .