By Ana RadelatAdvertising AgeJust as a banner season for political advertising is starting, the Obama administration has thrown broadcasters a curveball — and broadcasters are hustling to figure out what it might mean in terms of costs and implications.The Federal Communications Commission has proposed requiring television stations to post online information about their political advertisers.That information, currently kept in paper files at the stations, includes the names of candidates or groups requesting to run an ad, the reason for broadcasting the ad, the time and placement of the ad and its cost.Moving that information online to a website that would be run by the FCC has provoked concern from the National Association of Broadcasters."The political file must be very frequently updated, particularly during the periods close to local, state and federal elections," said a recent letter by a NAB attorney to the FCC. "Developing a system of uploading, organizing, and ensuring timely online access to the political file presents a significant challenge."The move was approved by FCC commissioners last week and the new proposal is expected to be printed in the Federal Register soon, perhaps as early as this week, at which time there will be 30 days for public comment aimed at influencing the final regulations.NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton said his organization is still reviewing the FCC’s plan."But we’re going to be full participants in the proceedings," he said.State broadcast groups have estimated the cost of meeting the new requirements would be million in the first year and million each year after that and have asked the FCC to pay those costs.Providing easy access to advertising information may also affect ad rates, the tone of some campaign commercials and candidate response times.The FCC hopes to implement the changes by early next spring.Jack Poor, VP-marketing at the Television Bureau of Advertising, said he is still awaiting reaction from his organization’s broadcast members but, he said, "I’m guessing that they don’t want to do it."Jerry Britton, a Washington D. C.-based attorney who represents broadcasters, said the posting of advertising information online will make it easier for candidates to find out what their competition is doing and what rates they are paying.The FCC’s action comes amid rising concerns about political spending by groups whose funding sources are sometimes undisclosed. It also comes after the Supreme Court allowed unlimited spending on political advertising by corporations and unions in its Citizens United ruling last year.Group seeking more transparency in political advertising hailed the FCC’s move."The FCC is just trying to bring broadcasters into the 21st Century," said Corie Wright, an attorney for Free Press, a media reform group, adding that making information about their ad buys may make bring added scrutiny to independent political groups next year."But I don’t think it’s going to stem the flow of cash going to broadcasters," she said.Lawmakers who have failed to press Congress to approve laws requiring greater disclosure of these groups also back the FCC’s efforts."In an age of secretive political spending by unregulated outside groups like super PACs, consumers deserve to know who is using the public airwaves, and for what purpose," said Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., "Burying that information in an out-of-the-way filing cabinet doesn’t meet the high standard the public deserves."
In Depth
Where are your customers today? With more than 800 million users, Facebook is a good place to find a chunk of them.In fact, says Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, an associate professor of business administration at the Havard Business School, if you add up all the people who use social platforms online, it tops the number of folks who have email by about 200 million.Dunno if I totally buy that, but OK, we get the point.Next, Piskorski clues us into what most of us are doing on Facebook. We’re stalking people, he says.About 35% of us spend our time is spent with profiles and people you know. Another 35% of our time is spent with profiles and people we don’t know.Another 9% of our time on Facebook is spent monkeying with our own profiles.Add to that 8 % of our time adding content and photos.And that same amount of time spent adding or deleting friends.Doing all of this adds up to a whooping 95% of what we do on Facebook.So Mr. and Ms. Marketer, Piskorski says, when you try traditional advertising on Facebook, no wonder so few people click on your ad.No wonder that when you build a page on Facebook promoting your product or service, so few people come to it.We’re not interested. We’re too busy with ourselves and our friends (and stalking those who are our friend’s friends).The problem he says, is that you’ve likely got some digital media strategy in place, but you don’t really have a workable social media strategy.I learned all of this at the annual conference that’s a must-attend for the marketing brethren in the cable TV industry. For years it was called the CTAM Summit. This year its name is The CTAM in New York Conference.Last year I noted that this conference is the smartest one we attend all year.And so it is again this year. What Char Beals and her CTAM team are able to accomplish, seemingly routinely, is the presentation of thinking that’s outside the bun. This flows from the top—Char is almost an obsessively forward thinker. A good executive is one who wants to implement best practices. A great one is always searching for what will be the next best practice. That’s Char.Not to leave you hanging, let’s get back to how Professor Piskorski says marketers can develop a workable social media strategy.His mantra in doing so is to think “What would Zynga do?”Zynga is the wildly successful game developer that has given us the social network games FarmVille and its even more popular successor, CityVille.The key point about the Zynga games is how they encourage people to cooperate and communicate with each other.That’s the “bingo” moment, the Oprah “ah-ha.” Ask not what you can do for your customers, but what they can do for you.And, oddly enough, the key word of the new social strategy is exactly the same as the key word in any really successful sales strategy throughout history: relationships!You want to develop closer relationships with your customers and potential customers who are on Facebook. Then, think of a clever way (ah, there’s the rub) for your customers to help you increase sales or awareness (or whatever your goal is) by becoming more involved with their friends. In other words, if you can get your customers to strengthen THEIR relationships with their friends—which they want to do—in a way that also helps you meet your goal, your golden. And you’re getting them to do this for you for free!Piskorski then connects the dots to some real-life marketing examples.One is an application on eBay called Group Gifts. As Piskorski explains it, one uses one’s Facebook info to sign up for Group Gifts, which then also loads into Group Gifts all your Facebook friends. You then decide for which friend you want to get a gift.In the example Piskorski gave, he decides to give one of his Facebook friends—his sister–an iPad for her birthday. He decides how much he wants to contribute to the gift and Group Gift then asks his Facebook friends how much they want to contribute to the gift.The service has been a boon to eBay. The price of an average gift is five times the average eBay sale. The cost to eBay—nothing—just the connection to Facebook.Another example Piskorski gives is American Express, which offers their customers such deals as going to the Whole Foods site and spend they’ll get back. They then invite their customers to post this same offer on their Facebook pages.In both examples, Piskorski says the key is getting your customers to interact with each other and helping people to commit to one another. In the process, you can get them to do something for you.Basically, what you want to do is figure out something that’s unique about your product and then find a way to use the uniqueness as a way to encourage people to somehow get together.OK. Mr. and Ms. Marketer, there you have it. And you didn’t have to attend CTAM to find this out.But what I’m not divulging here are the other great marketing tips myself and my fellow CTAM attendees are learning this week.So next October, when the CTAM annual conference hits Orlando, make it your business to attend. I get no money for plugging this.What I do get from CTAM is a swelled head from the new knowledge with which I’m I’m getting bombarded. And that’s a good thing. #
In Depth
Where are your customers today? With more than 800 million users, Facebook is a good place to find a chunk of them.In fact, says Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, an associate professor of business administration at the Havard Business School, if you add up all the people who use social platforms online, it tops the number of folks who have email by about 200 million.Dunno if I totally buy that, but OK, we get the point.Next, Piskorski clues us into what most of us are doing on Facebook. We’re stalking people, he says.About 35% of us spend our time is spent with profiles and people you know. Another 35% of our time is spent with profiles and people we don’t know.Another 9% of our time on Facebook is spent monkeying with our own profiles.Add to that 8 % of our time adding content and photos.And that same amount of time spent adding or deleting friends.Doing all of this adds up to a whooping 95% of what we do on Facebook.So Mr. and Ms. Marketer, Piskorski says, when you try traditional advertising on Facebook, no wonder so few people click on your ad.No wonder that when you build a page on Facebook promoting your product or service, so few people come to it.We’re not interested. We’re too busy with ourselves and our friends (and stalking those who are our friend’s friends).The problem he says, is that you’ve likely got some digital media strategy in place, but you don’t really have a workable social media strategy.I learned all of this at the annual conference that’s a must-attend for the marketing brethren in the cable TV industry. For years it was called the CTAM Summit. This year its name is The CTAM in New York Conference.Last year I noted that this conference is the smartest one we attend all year.And so it is again this year. What Char Beals and her CTAM team are able to accomplish, seemingly routinely, is the presentation of thinking that’s outside the bun. This flows from the top—Char is almost an obsessively forward thinker. A good executive is one who wants to implement best practices. A great one is always searching for what will be the next best practice. That’s Char.Not to leave you hanging, let’s get back to how Professor Piskorski says marketers can develop a workable social media strategy.His mantra in doing so is to think “What would Zynga do?”Zynga is the wildly successful game developer that has given us the social network games FarmVille and its even more popular successor, CityVille.The key point about the Zynga games is how they encourage people to cooperate and communicate with each other.That’s the “bingo” moment, the Oprah “ah-ha.” Ask not what you can do for your customers, but what they can do for you.And, oddly enough, the key word of the new social strategy is exactly the same as the key word in any really successful sales strategy throughout history: relationships!You want to develop closer relationships with your customers and potential customers who are on Facebook. Then, think of a clever way (ah, there’s the rub) for your customers to help you increase sales or awareness (or whatever your goal is) by becoming more involved with their friends. In other words, if you can get your customers to strengthen THEIR relationships with their friends—which they want to do—in a way that also helps you meet your goal, you’re golden. And you’re getting them to do this for you for free!Piskorski then connects the dots to some real-life marketing examples.One is an application on eBay called Group Gifts. As Piskorski explains it, one uses one’s Facebook info to sign up for Group Gifts, which then also loads into Group Gifts all your Facebook friends. You then decide for which friend you want to get a gift.In the example Piskorski gave, he decides to give one of his Facebook friends—his sister–an iPad for her birthday. He decides how much he wants to contribute to the gift and Group Gift then asks his Facebook friends how much they want to contribute to the gift.The service has been a boon to eBay. The price of an average gift is five times the average eBay sale. The cost to eBay? Nothing—just the connection to Facebook.Another example Piskorski gives is American Express, which offers their customers such deals as going to the Whole Foods site, spending then getting back. They then invite their customers to post this same offer on their Facebook pages.In both examples, Piskorski says the key is getting your customers to interact with each other and helping people to commit to one another. In the process, you can get them to do something for you.Basically, what you want to do is figure out something that’s unique about your product and then find a way to use that uniqueness to somehow encourage people to get together.OK. Mr. and Ms. Marketer, there you have it. And you didn’t have to attend CTAM to find this out.But what I’m not divulging here are the other great marketing tips myself and my fellow CTAM attendees are learning this week.So next October, when the CTAM annual conference hits Orlando, make it your business to attend. I get no money for plugging this.What I do get from CTAM is a swelled head…from the new knowledge with which I’m getting bombarded. And that’s a good thing. #
In Depth
– Vanity Fair spoke
with Rider Strong and asked if Corey
and Topanga would be divorced today since divorce rates are very high for those
who get married before the age of 20. Rider answered with “Probably,” but quickly
changed his answer to “No, no, no…” since the show proved time and time again
that those two were meant for each other and would probably still be together
in “magical happy land.” To check out the full interview, click here…Rider
also touches on how Mr. Turner quickly disappeared.
– Just what you wanted: Mike “The
Situation” Sorrentino gets his own Jersey Shore spinoff. Yuck.
– The top 10 of Maxim’s Hot 100 List
are Rosie Huntington-Whiteley
(Victoria’s Secret model), Olivia Munn,
Katy Perry, Cameron Diaz, Mila Kunis,
Bar Rafaeli, Anne Hathaway, Natalie
Portman, Cobie Smulders and Jennifer Lawrence. Check out the full
gallery and list
here.
– E! News will premiere Lady Gaga’s new video, “Judas,”
Thursday night at 7 p.m.
– Jimmy Fallon will welcome Ziggy Marley, Chris Cornell, Jennifer
Hudson, Jakob Dylan and Lenny Kravitz next week for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon’s tribute
to Bob Marley, which will mark the
30th anniversary of Marley’s final concert and death.
– Nicollette Sheridan’s Desperate Housewives suit is going to trial.
Honestly, until the writers come up with a better plot for next season, they
should just fill the hour with the court case.
– I didn’t get a chance to delve into the whole Chuck and Blair “domestic disturbia”
yesterday, but E! spoke to Gossip Girl executive producer Josh Safran and here’s an excerpt (go here
for the full interview):
I thought it was interesting that Chuck actually grabbed her and that the consequence of that
fight was Blair had the most perfect, beautiful, dainty injury, which are two
symbolically significant things. Did this moment verge on abuse? What was going
on in this scene?
The way we
viewed it, I think it's very clear that Blair is not afraid in those moments, for herself. They have a volatile relationship,
they always have, but I do not believe—or I should say we do not believe—that it is abuse when it's the two of them. Chuck
does not try to hurt Blair. He punches the glass because he has rage, but
he has never, and will never, hurt Blair. He knows it and she knows it, and I
feel it's very important to know that she is not scared—if anything, she is scared for Chuck—and what he might do
to himself, but she is never afraid of what he might do to her. Leighton and I
were very clear about that.
My thoughts: Chuck may not have full-on attacked Blair physically, but the
emotional baggage these two have given each other should be considered a form
of abuse.
Here’s an extended preview of next week’s episode (“Shattered Bass”):
(Please visit the site to view this media)
CLICK HERE to check out our list of Celebs Who Would Be Good Ghostbusters!
CLICK HERE to check out our list of Celebs Who Would Be Good Ghostbusters!
CLICK HERE to check out our list of Celebs Who Would Be Good Ghostbusters!
CLICK HERE to check out our list of Celebs Who Would Be Good Ghostbusters!
CLICK HERE to check out our list of Celebs Who Would Be Good Ghostbusters!
Anyone we forgot to include????
[Image via WENN.]
Celebrity gossip juicy celebrity rumors Hollywood gossip blog from Perez Hilton
Since accused of stealing an expensive necklace, Lindsay Lohan did not responded to the reports. However, probably due to the massive pressure of the news, the actress finally opened her mouth.
Responding to the accusations, Lindsay denied it through his personal Twitter account. “I would never steal, if anyone is curious. I was not raised to lie, steal, or cheat. Also, what do I wear to court is not supposed to make headlines. It’s strange,”wrote Lohan.
The ‘Machete’ star also claimed that she could not wait to get back to the movie world and wants everyone to ‘leave her alone’.
Lohan herself was accused of stealing an expensive necklace from a jewelry store named Kamofie and Company in LA. Lindsay denied it, but camera caught her wearing a necklace that was missing a few moments later.