RTFM Redux

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My sixth-grade teacher, Ms. Sitver, once gave our class an exercise in following directions.  There were about 20 different steps to it, and she gave it to us with the caveat that we should read the whole exercise from top to bottom before we performed any of the tasks listed within the exercise.  The idea was that anyone who read the whole exercise through before starting would see step #20, which says rather plainly that no one should follow steps #1-19. Steps #1-19 were all silly things, like clap your hands five times or do a little jig next to your desk.  All the folks who read the thing through before starting were sitting at their desks, quietly snickering at the people who were clapping or doing jigs next to their desks.

Lately, I find myself wishing that a lot of the vendors we do business with were in that class.  We send out requests for information on a fairly regular basis to gain market intelligence for our clients, and whenever we do, my staffers find themselves fielding phone calls and e-mails from people who probably wouldn't be asking the questions they're asking if they had taken the time to read through what we've sent them.  Either they're not reading them, or their reading comprehension skills are off a bit.  We'll write something like "Please do not [foo] during the process." and then answer a dozen phone calls from vendors asking whether they should [foo] or not.

Yeah, I know.  Vendors have a lot more complaints about media planning types than we have about vendors.  I just wish we could learn how to communicate more effectively by paying attention to one another.

I've Been Through the Desert on a Horse With No Name...

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Warning signI mentioned earlier that Kevin Ryan and I went out on some rental ATVs outside Las Vegas.  We did get quite lost.  I think it was when we saw this sign that we realized we were in pretty deep. We called the rental place and explained we were off track.  They had no idea where we had ended up, but told us to follow the highway.  Once we found the highway, we followed it and met up with a guy from the rental place who had taken out a van looking for us.  Just in time, too.  We were nearly out of gas and found out later we were eight miles off course.

Back from iMedia Breakthrough

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Breakthrough was pretty intense, but I'm back in the office chugging away once again.  Some highlights: Good things

  1. Updates on what's going on in the advergaming and in-game marketing sectors, particularly the stuff from DoubleFusion.  Dynamically inserting Jeep vehicles into connected console games, anyone?
  2. Refresher courses on the mobile space.  Most mobile advertising providers are still talking about potential usage rather than actual usage, but at least we have an update on the numbers.  Networks seem to be making headway, and to my mind, that's one of the only ways to get scale behind mobile web because it would be tough for a single content site to be able to deliver the numbers mass marketers are looking for.  Notable exceptions are Yahoo, ESPN and a handful of others.
  3. Bob Garfield's Chaos 2.0 talk.  Man, that guy can be funny when he wants to be.  I think people are still whispering about that reference to Sir Martin "chasing skirt."  Joking aside, Garfield is serious about the collapse of traditional media models and has fired yet another warning shot that will hopefully motivate all of us to get our butts into gear with respect to developing compelling programs that can absorb some of the dollars coming out of TV spending.

Not So Good Things

  1. Sponsored presentations.  The good news is that the vendors who are listening (e.g. ESPN, Sprint) are creating better presentations that aren't simply "Here's who we are and here's what we do..."  Not even these good presentations, however, can make up for the suckitude of the bad ones.  We won't name names.
  2. Activities.  Wine tasting?  Hoover Dam tours?  No offense to the iMedia crew, but some of the more insane among us want group activities that - how shall I put this? - take advantage of the environment.  Kevin Ryan and I didn't pass up the chance to fire real machine guns or plunge off cliffs on rented ATVs.  That's more like it.
  3. "Speed Dating."  What's not to like about a few dozen one-minute meetings with media and tech vendors?  I was barely able to give a business card and run down the client list before the bell rang and the rep had to move on, that's what.

All in all, though, it was a great summit.  Terrific location, awesome networking opportunities, and fun with industry friends.