YOU AIN'T GONNA LEARN WHAT YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW

The Tipping Point, Going Platinum

Fall of 1987.

Going Platinum.

A great little video from the David Letterman show.  It is hard to believe that this was 20 years ago...but it was.   This was the turning point, 23 years into the band's history and evolution.   It's called commercial success.  Something that the fella's never had......until 1987. 

Watch this video, and see if you smile like I did.

Risk and Thinking BIG

My good friend, and fellow Lotamite, Scott Hoffman relayed a story to me about his son's parent teacher conference last night.

Above the blackboard, in quotations, big block letters -- prominently displayed:

"What would you risk today, if you knew you COULD NOT fail?"

Some of you may say, well then it's not a risk.....but, it is.  You never know, when you dare to think big -- the risk, the reward -- and ultimately the process that goes on in your mind --- to even dare to THINK BIG.   Do we not think big because we are, afraid of failure? 

It's the mental process of DARING.  Many of us, have gone through the motions (and I certainly have been guilty of it) of being complacent, and not stretching our abilities ---DAILY.

Board meetings with investors force you to think big.  Investors (if they are good, and want value creation) force you to analyze risk -- but, take RISKS that sometimes push your "comfort level" -- and, I LOVE IT.  I love it, but it does cost you many a sleepless night......

And then, I thought of this picture that I took.....and it took me back to the Gorilla Sanctuary at the Bronx Zoo. 

Major Congrats......

I'm excited, thrilled and honored that our friend, Michael McDowell won this weekend at Toledo Speedway.

Rookie of the year in racing, a amazing accomplishment, and one we are proud to be associated with. 

See the story HERE.

"McDowell started the weekend off on the right foot, landing the ARCA SIM Factory Pole Award with a blistering-fast time of 16.469, over 1.5 tenths of a second faster than teammate Ken Butler III, the second place qualifier. While Saturday in Toledo was designated for McDowell's metaphorical attempt at breaking the sound barrier, Sunday was all about seeking the win in his No. 2 Lotame / Make-A-Wish Dodge. He didn't disappoint. "

A Few Riffs.....

Yesterday my blogging hero, Fred Wilson wrote a post that blew me away.   Not only is his content on his blog fantastic, and worthy of praise -- it was his amazing style for the post, that had me scratching my head in wonderment of his, "creative style."

Fred Wilson continues to innovate in HOW he expresses his views, and the delivery of his opinions.   (He also was my inspiration for starting this blog nearly 2 years ago)

Fred is a friend of mine, and I hope he does not mind the "creative plagarism" I am about to display (in copying the style of his post, titled: "30 Thoughts at 30,000 feet.")

HERE GOES:

1) We launched our new website yesterday, and it's not "exactly perfect", but it is a work in progress.  I'm really happy with the way it turned out, and I need to thank the R2i team, as well as Stacy Feldman for running with the ball on this important initiative.....thanks team!

2) Hiring talented, motivated and good employees is hard work -- its hard from start to finish, but well worth it.   Cutting corners in the hiring process (and not fully checking references, digging in, and spending quality time) is tempting -- but it is NOT worth it. 

3) Bruce Springsteen still rocks.  Saw him last night in NJ, and he was better than ever.  His new CD, Magic, is a brilliant piece of art - that really grows on you, and seeing him live exceeded my expecations.  I have been seeing him live on every tour since 1981, and for a 58 year old musician, he packs more energy than nearly anyone his age.   Get his new CD, and HERE IS A PAGE with video clips from the last 2 weeks of shows......(I'm also going to MSG next week to see him again)

4) Objections in Business.  At Lotame, we are focused on "Consumer Generated Content" and helping advertisers embrace this form of media as a resource to build upon their brands.  Some of the objections around, "we are leery of advertising or placing our media buys in UGC - and have not figured out how best to do that."  I'm proud to report - we tackle this objection head on, and have had success in explaining how technology (Crowd Control) can help them drive results, and feel more comfortable.  It is working.  More to report on this VERY SOON.  (The funny thing is at Advertising.com we faced the same objection, as clients asked us back in 1999 ,"do you have a site list to show us where we will run our creatives?"  Our answer was "no, we are focused on driving results...."   It worked, and Advertising.com became the premier 3rd party network as we convinced agencies to add a network to their media buys to enhance their plans)

5) When building a company and working in "overdrive" it is important not to forget relationships in life.  I feel guilty sometimes that I'm not investing as much time as I once did in my friends, and family.  I'm working on acheiving more balance, and it is a work in progress.

6) Saying "Thank You" more, to people that are working hard to execute our vision. 

7) As Fred said, and I will echo -- my sports season appears over.  Mets are not in the playoffs, and the Jets are 1-4. 

8) I miss Jerry Garcia. 

9) There is too much information floating around about internet advertising, and the evolutionary practices at work.  It is overload.  I've begun to "shrink" my RSS and Google reader feeds - as I condense my "perspective and noise" about what we are focused on.

10) Facebook is the new Linkedin for professionals.  I suggest to all my friends that they sign up (if you have not already done so) - and, I'm getting about 10-20% of our clients communication through the Facebook platform......what a EVOLUTIONARY change.

11) My 20 year reunion is Saturday night.  I'm not sure precisely why I'm going, and I have no expectations of having a good/bad time.  I do know that there is only a "handful" of people I'm looking forward to seeing.  Problem is, I dont know who the "handful" precisely is.

12) I got nominated for a award last night in Baltimore.  Stacy and Brian attended the reception last night in my place.  (Innovator of the Year) Referring back to #6 above, thank you S & B for going......I really appreciate.

13) A Client of Lotame, (and friends of mine) invited me to the Friars club to see the Pat Cooper Roast next week.  I've never been to one of their events, and I'm excited.

14) I've been a Howard Stern listener on a daily basis for 24 years.  He is better than ever at 54 years old.  Those of you that do not have Sirius YET, are really missing out.  Get it (if you have not already) and listen to it on your computer.  You will not go back to terrestial radio......I have not listened to regular radio since getting Sirius.  I suspect I'm not alone. 

15) My kids are reading and spelling, FULLY now.  No more trying to hide my communication with my wife, as we spell out words between each other, in a vain attempt to not have the kids understand what we are trying to say, ABOUT ANYTHING.  Those days are long gone......I'm kinda sad. 

Only 15 points to discuss, for now........

Increased Performance in Consumer Generated Content

At Lotame, we're focused on lifting the value of consumer generated content (read: WEB 2.0) for both owners of websites (publishers), as well as advertisers looking to more efficiently find their targeted consumer.

I've provided some data below from one of our first case studies.

The top column is UN-TARGETED advertising impressions, called RON (run of network) and the total number of impressions was 670,165.  These untargeted impressions generated 380 clicks, for a click through rate of .057%.  (CTR = total number of impressions divided by the clicks generated)

The bottom column ran THE SAME CREATIVES, but instead of running un-targeted impressions -- we ran against a LOTAME-generated segment of behaviors (what we call an audience).  We carved out two audiences around the specific demographic, as well as lifestyle preferences.

   

There are three main points to take away from the chart above:

• Lotame saved 80% of the media budget for the advertiser by being more efficient with their budget allocation (as evidenced by the decrease from 670k impressions to 45k impressions through Crowd Control's targeting capability)
• Lotame created a premuim audience from once remnant inventory, thus lifting the publishers ability to charge a higher CPM for the 45k of targeted impressions
• Increased Click-Thru Rate (CTR) by 4x with the same creatives and used 14x fewer impressions to do so

What conclusions can we draw?

Lotame increased the value of advertising space

Lotame got better return on investment for the advertiser

And Lotame enhanced the user experience by showing more relevant advertising

INCREASING PERFORMANCE IN CONSUMER GENERATED CONTENT FOR BOTH PUBLISHERS AND ADVERTISERS....

Rock on.