NEW AD-AGE

In this ever changing world where trends, fashions and technology change every day, every hour, every minute advertisers need to keep abreast and ahead of the multiple ways of reaching their targeted audience. They must think laterally, across multiple platforms and always search for new avenues to communicate their message: the old linear type of advertising is no longer as effective in a society where choice of content and expression is so readily available.

Advertising today must do much more than communicate and create brand awareness - it must captivate!

Audience interactivity is the key. Motion messaging must be used to enhance delivery of the advertising and be judicially used in any advertiser's mix. On the other hand services need to compete by offering complete, rich, multiplatform products especially when their business model is advertiser dependent.

THE FUTURE OF CINEMA

Digital technology will continue to revolutionize the world and cinema just as much. The camcorder and digital video made it possible for anyone to make films, even to a quality standard that is acceptable for broadcast. The digital age has shooed in the ability to do every post-production task right from one's bedroom.

It is therefore no surprise that on the business side of film things are advancing rapidly too as consumers more rapidly embrace changes on society created by the digitization of our world. Having attended Cinema Expo a couple of weeks ago it is clear that the future is digital... 3D... And sooner than most skeptics believe. Yes we have been speaking about digital cinema for almost 20 year now, but it is definitely there and slowly creeping up, like a bird of prey looming over its victim, it will seem to appear all of a sudden.

There are numerous players today in the digital cinema world and the number seems to be growing day by day. Many offering different and fascinating business models, but all ultimately with the goal of streamlining, cutting costs, and delivering more. More for everyone: the distributor, the exhibitor, the filmmaker and the audience member. The great issue on the d-cinema landscape, but seemingly quickly fading, is compliance with an industry standard that is restraining progress, hindering propagation, and creating much unnecessary competition... This, for the time being, is a far better choice than the industry standard: the infamous 2K. A particularly interesting model is the approach UFO Europe is adopting.

But digital technology doesn't stop there. Cinema-wise the next big big thing is 3D... And it's coming to a cinema near you soon... Very soon... At least that's the case if REAL D have their way. Imagine reliving 'Jaws' in 3D... Scary! I would definitely never go swimming in the sea again.

The Internet, although a seemingly natural distribution platform is still proving difficult as a place to find films, at least in terms of your traditional website search for content... And please don't tell 'YouTube'. Seen anything anywhere near the quality (let's not even talk about length) of Ridley Scott's "Gladiator" on YouTube? No. And this is the current problem with the internet in the form of YouTube-like sites and the blessing of its future. Initially the issue is bandwidth and storage. The bandwidth is there but it's still too expensive for the telecoms to light up additional fiber and with the advent in the last few year of the cheaper multiplexing fiber method, it might still be a couple of years before we reach the true bandwidth needed to view feature films streaming in HD. This is combined with the storage problem a 2 hour films pose. Joost, the new venture from the Skype Guys, might just solve these problems much sooner than expected.

MOBILE

The future of content is anytime, anyhow, anywhere! The means mobile and on demand!

Major players including front end service providers such as Vodafone, T-Mobile and the like, as well as back end infrastructure builders such as Nokia Siemens (NSN), are actively pushing the envelop to provide broadband access to the masses.

Although broadband rates available on landlines are not likely to appear this year on a mobile device near you in the middle of Hide Park (unless provided by Wifi), the technology is already (being put) in place and will be made available when front end service providers decide to commercially exploit it.

WiMax has already deployed in cities like Monaco for year. However consumers have not been able to enjoy it because the local telecom service provider has not commercially deployed it... Yet.

The future is definitely cross city deployment of wireless broadband accessible anytime anywhere from enabled devices, which currently is an issue as laptops let alone mobile phones are not equipped to receive wi-max signal. Eventually one day we will be able to connect anywhere in most countries around the world and perhaps even reach the point of getting user friendly wireless broadband internet access anywhere anytime at any spot on the face of this planet.

People crave freedom and this also means being able to do what they want when they want including undertaking their favorite activities. Current trends show that more and more people are spending more time online, now equaling and soon overtaking watching TV as a primary source of entertainment. But mobility and on demand access is also highly important in improving living standards by enabling people to be more productive, leaving more time for people to pursue activities that enhance their lives.

An example of this was me this morning going into Central London - I had 30 minutes on the tube so I took out the laptop and started working. By the time I got to my destination I had covered a few important items that put me ahead before I got to the office. If I had had internet access on the tube I could have saved another 10 minutes.

Companies, service providers, brands should all be actively pushing and deploying mobile structures, applications and services. I would gladly pay to have total mobility and access. An interesting model would also be to offer an inexpensive solution offset by advertising. I would gladly sit through one 30 sec commercial every time I need to connect. Just a thought.

Stay tuned... And look out.

IPTV

The future of TV, the future delivery method for audio visual content in your house - internet sites, web players, niche channels, anything you can imagine, streamed to your house, computer, media center, laptop, phone (IP, I.e. Internet protocol is still the same on all platforms) iPod, mobile device...

But the revolution in internet based broadcasting is really in solution providers leveling out the playing field and enabling anyone with a reasonable amount of cash to start their own net based TV station. So far the technical cost of hosting an IP TV player capable of high quality full screen resolution, streaming, vod and interactive linking will cost you somewhere between 50,000 and 150,000 a year. It is possible to have less expensive solutions. The price difference is really in the amount of traffic you are estimating in getting. On top of these costs you need to consider administrative, content production and possibly content acquisition costs. In comparison to buying a national TV license (50 million dollars in the US) this is an affordable way of starting your Ruper-Murdoch-like content empire.

IPTV will eventually do to the TV business what the camcorder did to the film industry. It will create 1000s of channels offering an overwhelming amount of content choice. Those who will survive in the end will be those who offer interesting and excellent content... And very specific content.

Independent IPTV channel success will really survive in the niche markets, creating must see TV for people with very specific interests. IPTV for the consumer will mean being able to sit in your house/flat and search for (much like on the internet) content you want to watch, instead of searching for channels. You can expect to turn to a Google search engine designed specifically to sift through channels based on content to deliver just what you may want to watch.

Major layers have already bet big on this including Microsoft, pay TV operators, phone and cable operators. Solution providers such as Narrowstep have already facilited numerous successful channels.

Of course there are cheaper alternatives such as YouTube, Revver and others...

The future of information and content delivery is the internet, extremely high bandwidth, whether in your home, office, or on your mobile unit. IPTV will eventually be available in all those places and will just become an audiovisual rendation of online content, categorised by channels, searchable by interest.

But what IPTV delivers that is far beyond traditional TV is ikt's ability to give advertisers and content producers immediate and accurate demographic feedback (thank you IP structure). It also enables content producers and advertisers to link content to websites and online shopping carts - a revolution waiting to happen.

INTERNET CONTENT

The Internet these days is like TV: full of crap content. Have you taken a look at what's out there? Simple dull boring content and design talking about nothing. Even when the content is good it is presented with so little originality or presentation skill that it ends up being un-captivating (much like this blog).

Like on TV, there are of course exceptions and excellent sites. Well thought out and beautifully presented, igniting the desire to keep browsing, interact and most importantly come back.

Stumble Upon, a cool little application that lets you randomly peruse the web, clearly demonstrates my point. Use it a while and rare become the sites you truly admire.

Brands, corporations, individuals, webmasters, website developers/visionaries need to take more time and effort when producing their online presence and asserting their virtual identity.

Think richer (not gold or monetarily): a richer experience, more on offer for you visitors - turn them into users!

A few suggestions are the implementation of:

- daily/weekly video content that's great, slick, professional and most of all pertinent to your site/company/brand.

- audio-tise your website: make all stories/written content available to listen to as downloadable podcasts. Not only does this make your site more productive to researchers, it also help people transfer your information to people with reading impediments.

- spread out: create your own YouTube channel, your MySpace page... These are great ways to self promote as they enhance and widen your online presence but they also demonstrate you are aware of current trends.

There are many more ways to enrich your visitors experience on your website. If you are interested please contact me to find out how my creative consultancy can help you.

max@onlycreative.biz

SOCIETY

Being in the UK and listening to the news it is frightening what is happening to our society. I remember the days when people didn't even lock their front doors. A young man in his mid/late 20s was stabbed to death by two teenagers for telling them off after they threw rubbish through the passenger seat window of his sister's car where he was sitting. A child of 11 years was gunned down while playing soccer with friends. Police suspect a 15 year old. Liverpool has become the crime city of the UK, resembling 1920s Chicago. This is absurd. Society is not progressing it is regressing. This seems like the middle ages with guns.

Wake up people! It's time that we as a society, as members of society, as human beings do something about this. The generations that will follow will eventually experience anarchy and dark ages if we continue on this track. And if we decide to go down this path we may even split society creating a world where the rich & wealthy turn away from problem and live on another, completely separated societal plain. The other societal plain would be comprised of chaos where anything goes, where the law of the strongest would apply and where hard working people would be the prey of lazy, uneducated, criminal minded, gun wheeling scum left to their own accord to do as they please and wreak havoc.

It's time to act, it's time for us to be less lacsist in western society, it's time parents be allowed to educate their children as they see fit within the relm of reason - just like it used to be. Youth is out of control and adults are being bad influences not role models. Wake up! Change the world! Start at home!

DIGITAL SIGNAGE

Digital signage, much like IPTV, is the future of advertising mediums. It is the future of POS/POP advertising and the undeniable platform to effectively deliver brand messages to the right demographic targets.

Digital signage will eventually evolve into what futurist have predicts and depicted in films such as MINORITY REPORT. The concept behind Digital Signage is very simple: broadcasting a message using moving image to a niche market. It’s usually a short message and the broadcast area is usually limited to a specific location (airport, shop, bar, restaurant, etc.) or a network of similar locations.

However the power of Digital Signage for a large corporate group can be substantial: no more physical POS/POP material production, delivery, installation, striking, or replacement. No need to rely on POS/POP employees to make sure the message gets changed on time. Every single POS/POP sign and location can be networked to be remotely controlled, changed, updated and managed from a single office/control centre. POS/POP material is no longer static but can now employ the full power of moving images, visuals and sound.

The simplicity of Digital Signage allows small and single location businesses to implement it: flat screen + a DVD player.

This on the other hand makes it very difficult for Digital Signage network developer to create networks that have huge revenue potential. A number of companies have successfully harnessed Digital Signage each in a very specific way: from solution outsourcing providers to niche market solution providers to public network ownership.

As much as the Digital Signage landscape was ripe with opportunity a few years ago, competing in today’s Digital Signage market is extremely difficult for Digital Signage network developers. This is because of the lack of barrier to entry. Small businesses understand the simplicity of Digital Signage and do not need network capability, nor to be part of a network – the relinquishing of content control cannot easily be offset by any potential profit participation: the single or few screen locations as part of a network will most likely not generate enough ad revenue for a network owner to share. The large established “Old World” (Pre-Web2.0) POS/POP and signage companies have all jumped on the Digital Signage bandwagon and are either providing Digital Signage solutions or upgrading their signage locations to digital (JC Decaux is a good example). Two weeks ago I witnessed this exact example as I watched men from CBS Outdoors photographing the entrance to the Baker Street Tube station in London. They were studying feasible locations for new digital signage signs.

But Digital Signage will only truly survive if it does more than simply provide advertisement otherwise it will simply be mentally Tivo-ed by audiences. Just like mobile operators, future-thinking Digital Signage network owners are hungry for content. This is why I strongly believe that to succeed as a new player in today’s Digital Signage market you should position yourself as a Digital Signage content producer and provider.