ClickZ Links to Calacanis' Criticism of Sales Team

Zachary Rodgers at ClickZ points out Jason Calacanis criticizing his own sales team for failing to sell in E3 sponsorships on Joystiq. I like Jason's transparency. The post begs the question, though: Does it make sense for bloggers to have 'editorial calendars' if they know they're going to be covering specific events every year? Something like that would make it easier for sponsors to get on board.

I ask because the notion of an editorial calendar seems to give some of the blog networks the heebie jeebies. Maybe if you know that you're going to be doing event coverage regularly, it might make sense to at least do a sales one-sheeter so that ad sales folks can speak to advertisers and agencies beforehand. (BTW, I have no idea whether Jason or the AOL folks do this already.)

Someone Actually Stands Up For Late Creative

Klipmart CEO Chris Young actually writes an article for Mediapost in favor of letting creative deadlines slip.

Sure, late creative is annoying and obstructive to ad execution. But that's part of the reality of the business we're in, and it's up to all of us to find ways to adjust.

Like actually delivering things when you say you'll deliver things?

But online, we go impression by impression. If an ad goes live late, impressions can often be made up at the end of a campaign. And even after the ad is live, changes can continue to be made as many times as they need to. Late creative might add pressure and frustration, but it's certainly not the kiss of death.

Earlier in the same column, Tom Hespos grumbles, "It's obvious that deadlines slip in online media only because they can."

Well, yeah.

So shouldn't we be proud of that fact, and work to deliver the best performance we can from a medium unlike any other? We're not a traditional format, and we shouldn't be playing by traditional rules.

Rather than charge a client full price for materials that never ran, why not place the ball in their court by just saying, the pay period starts whenever you get the materials to us?

What Young is advocating is being different simply for the sake of being different. The distinctions he made about online media being served impression by impression are important, but they don't change the fact that inventory still expires. When a $20 CPM flight doesn't start on time, yes we have the capability to shift the flight dates. But what runs in that ad's place? Typically a house ad or a low CPM or CPC ad. Say what you want, but publishers are deprived of a revenue opportunity. And that opportunity cost rises the tighter inventory gets, so the problem is getting worse.

Not to mention that it's bad business to say you're going to deliver something by the first of the month, but you deliver it on the 7th instead.

Weekend Recap

We spent Friday night with the gang, celebrating Cinco de Mayo at our favorite Mexican Restaurant That's Located In A Strip Mall - El Mariachi. While the mariachi band did quite well on this particular evening, service was intolerably slow. Pitchers of sangria took 30 minutes to arrive (or didn't arrive at all). It took over two hours to get our food. Other restaurant patrons were leaving without finishing their meals. Looks like El Mariachi was having a bad day. Saturday was a lot of fun. Lauren and I went over to my house in the morning and picked up some camping chairs, a cooler, the metal detectors and some fishing gear and headed toward Smith Point Park. (BTW, my Dad taught me well - whenever you go near the water, always be sure to take your fishing pole. More on why that's important in a minute.)

At the deli, we picked up some sandwiches, drinks and ice and headed to the beach. The weather was really nice. When we got to the beach, we found out that most of the outer beach at Smith Point was closed due to erosion and bird nesting. The only thing open was the trail to Moriches Inlet, and it was open only to fishermen. The folks manning the station at the head of the trail sold me a season permit for $75, so I can take the truck on any of the county beaches, but they told me that I wouldn't be allowed on the beach unless I had fishing tackle with me. When the ranger checked my truck out, I pointed at the poles in the back of the truck and he let me pass. We weren't really there to fish, but thankfully we had the poles with us, otherwise they wouldn't have let us on the beach.

I took my tires down to 25 psi and took the trail behind the dunes - it took quite some time to make it from Smith Point all the way over to Moriches Inlet, but it was fun. I knew I hadn't let enough air out of my tires, and a couple times the truck almost got stuck in the soft sand, but we made it out there.

Once there, we unpacked our stuff and ate sandwiches on the rocks. We took a few casts with the poles, but nothing was biting. So we broke out the metal detectors and decided to try that out. Turns out there was a huge bird nesting area roped off, and we couldn't pass it to get to the narrow strip of beach just west of the inlet. So we packed up, let some more air out of the tires and headed back. There was a huge difference between 25 psi and 17. If you ask me, I'd recommend always making sure you take your tire pressure down to between 15 and 20 psi. The truck handled like a champ at 17 psi and the trip didn't take as long. If you've got a 4x4, I'd recommend taking that trail. It was a nice time.

We swept the main beach at Smith Point with the metal detectors, but the sand was just groomed, so we didn't find anything. We aired up and took a trip out to Cupsogue on Dune Road, but they had just done the same thing there. We'll probably give folks some time to lose wedding rings and loose change before we try treasure hunting again. Maybe later in the beach season.

Sunday was spent doing not a whole lot. I took the opportunity to get my column written and to get a head start on some work that's due early this week.

Treasure Hunting This Weekend

I think Lauren and I are going to take some time out to do some treasure hunting this weekend, which is something I haven't done since two summers ago. If you recall, it took me a while of fiddling with my detector to get the settings right I've got my metal detectors ready, and I'm looking into getting a day permit so I can take the truck on the beach. Last time, an out-of-season permit for the day cost $25 with a Green Key. That's not bad, but I'd like to get something for the year, since we go to the beach often in the summer and I like having the truck right there so we can take fishing poles, hibachis, big coolers and whatnot.