I'm expecting a shitstorm tomorrow when my new Spin breaks. It's all about buzz marketing and why it seems (to me) to be fundamentally flawed in how it treats people. Put simply, I don't understand how anyone who wants to have a respectable brand would invest in it. Of course, this is going to make certain fans of my column go absolutely bonkers. I've invited them to the Spin Board for the inevitable flame war. I'll be standing by with my asbestos underwear on.
Growing up, I never really learned a lot of manly basics. Sure, I know how to tie on a fishing lure, and I can handle most basic plumbing with my eyes closed. But my family was never really big on working on cars, building stuff, etc. That education never really stops, living in Wading River. This weekend, I needed to take care of the front stoop, which the butthead contractor never finished before walking off the job.
First we had to demolish the old front stoop. Craig came over and brought all his tools, and I chipped all the old brick off the old stoop while Craig worked on prepping the sill under the front door. There was a lot of termite damage, so we had to cut out sections and nail up new boards and a ledger board so we had something to nail the new front deck to.
Craig and I got a bunch of stuff from Thurber Lumber and built out the stoop portion, using 2x6s and Trex decking. Unfortunately, we couldn't place the columns we wanted to put in because we needed someone to put in the aluminum flashing under the roof (the part the contractor DID build). There's also some electric work that needs to be done first. But we did get the stoop done.
Then there's the stairs leading up to the stoop. Danny came over on Sunday and we sunk two concrete pillars for the stairs to rest on. They were tough because we had to dig 2' deep pits, set tubes into them for the concrete, and make sure the tops of the tubes lined up with where the stairs are. Everything had to be perfectly level, so we measured everything out and had levels on top of everything. At some point, I need to dig two more pits and put two more concrete pillars in for the other two stair stringers.
The point is that I don't have the first idea about what to do. No idea how to get started, and I have no idea about the tricks of the trade. Thankfully, I have friends who are generous with their time and can help me get out of jams like this.
So thanks to Craig and Dan for sharing their time and their expertise this weekend.
You'd think that with all the circulation scandals plaguing print publications (especially in the New York market), the folks at Playbill would be careful to tell people that they ought not to be seen throwing bundles of Playbills into a dumpster mere blocks away from a major advertising-related conference. I snapped this on my way to the subway after my Ad Tech panel, on Broadway two blocks away from the conference. Sorry for the lack of clarity - the camera in my Treo stinks.
If Nick Nyhan wasn't such a good moderator, odds are that the folks on our panel would have politely agreed with one another on every question asked. But when Nick asked Ari Schwartz and Trevor Hughes to explain the differences in their approach to the cookie problem, the shit really hit the fan. It quickly devolved for a second into four people trying to talk over one another. At one point, I think I felt Nick's hand on my shoulder - perhaps he thought I was about to throw a chair, Springer style. At one point, I disagreed with Ari's assertion that there wasn't any benefit to a consumer accepting a third-party ad server cookie. Thankfully, Esther Dyson was on my side. (Every once in a while, you need to go see Esther live, if for no reason other than to simply be reminded of how scary-smart she is.)
In the end, I think it was an interesting treatment of a less-than-sexy topic. I think I got most of my major points across with respect to how the ad industry should deal with consumer vis-a-vis cookies (TRANSPARENCY, TRANSPARENCY, TRANSPARENCY). Now, if we could just end this polarizing situation in the industry and avoid sweeping the issue under the carpet (again), we might actually have a shot at preserving cookies and addressing the problem once and for all.
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