New Camper

I was having a little problem with Hostway and couldn't  upload any images, so many of you haven't seen this one yet.  Lauren and I picked up our camper on Thursday night.  We got it from someone in Mastic who used it three times, so It's essentially brand new.

My trailer-towing skills are rusty, so it took a couple tries to get it angled into the driveway.  Since this photo was taken, we've put it on the side of the house - thankfully it all came back to me as I was lining it up with the edge of the garage.

We're looking at dates to coordinate trips with other friends who have trailers.  In the meantime, Lauren and I are having fun combing Wal-Mart and Target for cheap furnishings and stuff (six forks for $1!).  One night when I get home from work I have to install the electronic brake control in the cab of my truck so the trailer brakes will work correctly.  And then I really should get a weight-distributing hitch.  (And a generator.  And a case of biodegradable toilet paper.  And...)

I was joking with Madeline Rich from Lotame about wiring this thing for satellite Internet access.  She said she could help me with that and recommended someone to do it.  I think that if I ever pulled this off, this trailer would become our mobile headquarters and no one would ever see me in the 23rd Street office again this summer.  ;-)

We're really looking forward to heading out to some spots on Long Island.  Right now, Greenport's on the top of the list, but I would like to make it out to Roosevelt County Park in Montauk (pull your trailers right up on the beach, folks...)

Quit it with the Anti-DVR Stunts

In her post, "American Idolatry," Ann Handley talks about how her family's American Idol experience was ruined when her DVR box jumped ahead to Live TV at a critical moment. I had a similar experience. Before I rant, some caveats...

1) I hate American Idol. I hate the concept. It's as if Simon Cowell was too lazy to get out and see independent artists, so he created this shitty show so he could be the world's biggest A&R guy without having to get up off his doughy ass. I hate Paula Abdul and that look she always has on her face as if she's stepping into the sunlight for the first time after an all-night coke binge. I hate Randy Jackson and how he's always calling people "Dog." I hate how I can feel the sensation of IQ points leeching out of my left ear and dissipating into the atmosphere when I watch it.

2) I watch this crappy excuse for a television show only because my wife is addicted to it. If you're married you understand. If you're not, I don't want to hear about it in comments.

3) Most of the time I spend watching American Idol, I'm heckling the TV and generally making a pain in the ass out of myself so that my wife will shut it off. I root for Sanjaya when I know he's not even on the show anymore. I compare Jason Castro to a stoner I knew in high school who lived in the woods behind a 7-Eleven. I complain loudly about how I'd rather jam a fork in my ear than listen to Kristy Lee Cook's rendition of Journey's "Faithfully." This is my coping mechanism.

Now, on to my rant.

My wife was kind enough to pick me up at the airport Wednesday night during the finale, so when we got home, she started watching the DVR recording. I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth when Ryan Seacrest starting doing his schtick, and I poked my head out so I could see the TV. The winner of the 2008 American Idol (long pause) is (long pause) David (carrier lost....)

That's right. The recording ended at exactly the point at which we'd find out who the winner was.

Now, even I was pissed. I didn't spend all these nights NOT playing my guitar or Grand Theft Auto IV so I could NOT find out which marginally-talented emo kid would win this ugly fiasco.

And if I'm expected to believe that the timing of the recording cutoff wasn't something engineered by Fox, they need to understand that while I can usually feel myself getting dumber while I'm watching their crappy talent show, I'm not that dumb yet.

The joke's on Fox, though. We skipped all the crummy commercials, and when we were deprived of our winner, my wife jumped on her computer and went right to the Internet. Turns out the emo dweeb I was sort of rooting for won, rather than the emo dweeb my wife was rooting for. (Hey, I didn't think that rendition of "Billie Jean" was that bad... Plus, he sang an Our Lady Peace song at one point.)

Normally, I'd be really tweaked at the networks for doing stuff like this. Such stunts are not uncommon. In fact, I'd venture that they're getting stale. Fortunately for me, I was too elated that we'll have to wait for a whole new TV season before American Idol gets a chance to siphon off any more IQ points.

Biggest Takeaways from iMedia

I always like to take a mental inventory of the things I take away from the iMedia Summits after I get back. Here are some of the takeaways from the Agency Summit in Austin: Buyers and Sellers Are Competing for the Same Strategic Role - It seemed like when we were discussing process, there were still a lot of the same age-old complaints about the inability of publishers to get big ideas to the advertisers. There was also a mood of increased reliance on publishers to bring ideas to the table, while agencies played the role of evaluating those ideas. That sort of thing doesn't happen here, but it seems to be happening at a lot of other agencies - they're playing the role of aggregator of opportunities, but not the role of strategic partner as well as they should be. Couple this mood with the many comments I heard from publishers about how they want to be seen as strategic partners by advertisers, and how they're going right to clients in order to accomplish that, and it sums up to agencies giving up that strategic role if they continue down the path they're on.

Agency People Are Generally More Tactical Than Strategic - I got this sense from talking to agency people at the conference. Whether we were just chilling at a cocktail party or in a heavy discussion at a roundtable, it seemed that agency people were really good at answering questions like "How do you track interactions in a Flash banner?" but not so great at things like "How do you prove the value of social media to your clients?" It gave me a sense that agencies were losing track of the strategic picture. It could also be that agencies are sending lower-level folks these days.

Conflicts of Interest Don't Matter Much Sometimes - It used to be a cardinal rule: Giving media buying advice while being a media seller was a fundamental conflict of interest.  It still is.  Many advertisers don't seem to care much anymore.  They're taking advice and recommendations from wherever they can get it these days.  Lots of clients still follow the old rules, but many don't.

In short, I think the writing is on the wall for the agency business.  Of course, people have been saying this for years, but I never got the sense until now that agencies were losing their grip on the role of managing all of a client's advertising activity.

It's clear that, in order to preserve their value to advertisers, agencies have to cling to a strategic role and never let go of it.  I get the sense that many of the agencies out there are stuck in the tactical weeds and wouldn't know strategy if it walked up and bit them on the ass.  Of course, that's just my opinion.

Does this Senate move threaten Newsday/Cablevision?

So the Senate doesn't like the FCC's move to dissolve the ban on newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership.  It looks as if that ban might stay intact if it passes the house and isn't vetoed by the president. Assuming that happens, how does this affect Cablevision's recent purchase of Newsday?  You've got the largest cable provider buying the largest newspaper on Long Island.  I'm just sayin' is all...