22 July 2015

The Ugly, The Bad and The Good

Tuco_RamirezThe Ugly
No surprises with the recent shakeup at Twitter:

Will Dick Costolo's Twitter Keep Disappointing Investors?
Peter Cohan, Forbes

Twitter Earnings, Released Early, Disappoint Investors
Vindu Goel, NYT

Twitter is officially adrift now, but who will rescue it?
Mathew Ingram, Fortune

My take in 2012:

Twitter & Advertising
Dick Costolo is the CEO of Twitter.  He’s a very smart, funny, down-to-earth fellow – the last two characteristics not typically associated with tech-biz heavyweights … The mobile/social media soothsayers will have you believe that there is this unknown, magical mode of persuasion that has never been thought of before – and will reveal itself any day now.

If you believe that, I have a Blackberry in Brooklyn I want to sell you.

If you log on to Twitter nowadays, it’s ugly. Graphics, ads every which way getting in the way, nonsense on my screen.  I can barely find the tweets. 

More from 2012:

Twitter is a fascinating phenomenon, has worldwide cultural and political influence and will be around for quite some time.

But it is not an advertising platform. How Twitter will eventually support itself, who knows. Perhaps some sort of underwriting.

SentenzaThe Bad
There’s still a lot of bad advice out there.  I won’t link to any because I’m too nice a guy.  From a recent article somewhere:

With more boomers using their smartphones as their primary devices for accessing the Internet, mobile ads are a surefire way to get their attention.

I think not.  I thought not a few years ago:

04 November 2013
Smartphones & Tablets, Apples & Oranges
… Advertising on smartphones?  Only if you think something half the size of a matchbook cover will catch and hold anybody’s attention.

And I thought not a few years before that:

01 May 2010
Foretellings
… The more people use smartphones, the less they’ll tolerate silly graphical doodads mucking up their small  screens … Advertising on smartphones will be considered an annoyance, invasive, and rather dinky – while marketing/search (coupons on steroids, and more) will flourish and dominate.

And there’s this:

TV Trumps Digital in Spending and Reach

clint-eastwoodThe Good
A handful of goodies:

An interview with Alex Gibson on his Persuaders marketing radio show (Dick Stroud)

Wildlike, A Majestic Film, Challenges Boomer Males to Become Better Men.
(Brent Green)

insanityThe Insanity of Advertising
(Fred S. Goldberg)
Read excerpt on AEF site.

40, 50, 60… So what? Beauty has no age! Silver, Super models agency
(Lots of Folks)