LOTD 5/31/07

• My buddy Rick Klau from Feedburner gets interviewed by Eric Enge about RSS penetration, measurement and other such topics. (CT)
• Eric Eggertson has some good tips for employers about to bring young adults into the fold. Bottom line: Give them outlets where they can channel their passion, interest and intellect for the corporate good. (CT)
• Max Kalehoff reminds us that just because people love the content it’s not necessarily true that they love the ads around it. The ads need to work WITH the content, not against it. (CT)
• Chris Anderson is announcing his latest startup, BookTour.com. He’s being cagey with the details, though, waiting till 6/1 for the official launch. (CT)
• Kevin Burton says if you want to kill Google you have to go after its advertising revenue. Not exactly new, but I like the way he positions Google against Microsoft.
• Susan Merrit compares signing up for all sorts of social networks to filling out your dance card in turn of the century (19th to 20th, that is) society. (CT)
• Jason Calacanis is ranting (rightly, I feel) about his ISP’s decision to block his access to ESPN.com because the sports network isn’t paying them. (CT)
• Todd is beginning a series of regular profiles on members of his “Power 150″ ranking list. (CT)
• Joe Thornley is live-blogging in his usual fantastic manner from the mesh conference. (CT)
• Twitter’s Evan Williams is raising some VC funds. All proposals need to be 140 characters or less in length. (CT)
• The Encyclopedia Britannica is suing navigational system company TomTom, claiming it infringes on copyrights they own. (From TB)
• As Steve Johnson says, it’s sometimes unfortunate how so much of the online conversation resembles a fraternity common room in its level of discourse. (From TB)

Comics get brand heads

This story in the New York Times on how comics titles are bringing on “executive producers” and “show runners” that mirror such creative gurus in movies and TV is telling of how the entertainment industry is adapting. Comics are becoming more cinematic in their story-telling and these figures, who make sure everything is consistent and makes sense internally, are extremely important.

They’re essentially guardians of the brand, be it a limited run title or a mini/maxi-series, these people safeguard the brand name to make sure it is not diluted by continuity errors or other mistakes. It’s important that comics have done this since current technology means movies and TV shows can do things previously only viable in a comic format. Now comics are looking more like shows like “Lost” or “24″ with long-form arcs meant to retain readers in the same way those shows try to retain viewers.

This alone speaks volumes about “The Right” in this country

Focus on Poor Seen as Risky — Beliefnet.com

They had me at…Oh you know how this ends

Madison Avenue Says Hello to ‘Hello,’ Again – New York Times

AdAge in 60 Seconds

• Sears Holding Corp. has tapped MPG to handle media buying and planning work for both Sears and Kmart. The account is estimated to be worth about $740 million. The agency will also be taking over online work from MEC Interactive.
• If you bought a 30-second spot during last night’s finale of “American Idol” you already know this. If not, you’ll be interested to know that it cost buyers $1.3 million for that spot. Feel free to throw up a little in your mouth – I did.
• The early spots that have aired in the race for the presidency have all worked to create a brand-sense for the candidates. Each candidate is striking a distinctive tone to differentiate themselves from the rest of the pack.

Advertising Age

LOTD 5/24/07

• The White House is working on a team of “rapid response” individuals to counter criticism on blogs and other online media. The team is primarily tasked on dealing with the current immigration debate but I wouldn’t be surprised to see this built out in the future. (CT)
• The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation handed out over $11 million in prize money to people involved in new media to allow them to do that digital voodoo that they do so well even better. (CT)
• Jackie Huba is updating us on just how well the 40-city book tour she and Ben McConnell engaged in to support Citizen Marketers went. (CT)
• Of all the write-ups I saw yesterday on the redesign of Technorati (cough vaporware /cough) this post by Kami Huyse does the best job of how it’s going to impact the PR industry. (CT)
• For some almost-the-weekend humor, you’ve got to love it when LOLcats evolves, and it has with LOLJeremyPepper. Look for further non-Creative Commons-sanctioned behavior of this nature coming soon, I’m sure. (TB)

Sit still, darnit

Marketers Struggle to Get Folks to Stay Put for the Commercials – New York Times

Let’s all feel sorry for the advertisers as they work on creating engaging ads that actually sell the product. That’s so far removed from…oh wait…that’s exactly what their job should be. So let’s not feel sorry for them at all.

NPR on advertising

NPR : In a Cluttered Mediaverse, Some Ads Stand Out

This NPR story was kind of lame and wound up being an extended infomercial for Geico. Far off the game as far as NPR’s usual level of reporting.

CW enters sophomore year strong

Free Article – WSJ.com

The CW has grown into its own as a network and is actually being sought after by buyers, always a good position to be in.

Oh Snap!

Gore: “Unlike The President’s State Of The Union, [My] Book Was Actually Fact-Checked” | The Huffington Post