K Street Cafe

Social Media Ad Spending to Hit $8.3B in 2015 (Mashable)
Organizations will look to harness the power of social media even more over the next few years, increasing ad sales from $2.1B last year to $8.3B by 2015.

Ownership of TV Sets Falls in U.S. (NY Times)
As more consumers go online to fulfill their entertainment needs, television ownership drops for the first time in twenty years.

First published on the Mirsky & Company blog.

FTC enforcement of its new blogger guidelines has involved typically high-profile actions against Anne Taylor LOFT (FTC ultimately taking no action) and Reverb Communications (for allegedly deceptive postings of positive reviews on iTunes for games produced by Reverb clients).

While premature to draw any broad conclusions on the enforcement environment for the new rules, a philosophical problem with the FTC’s new blogger framework is its willful ignorance of the advertising underpinnings of traditional media.

So, for example, while established newspapers like the New York Times and Washington Post depend for their credibility on perceived soundness of the journalistic “church-state” divide, readers are almost never proactively alerted to major advertising support from common story subjects in business and politics.  Disclosure more typically comes from investment or ownership relationships, in the form of “full disclosure” statements like that from Ezra Klein when reporting about Facebook (“Disclosure: Washington Post Co. Chairman Donald E. Graham is on Facebook’s board, and The Post markets itself on Facebook.”).  Not, though, from advertising relationships, even major advertisers.

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In the continuing debate over new media vs. old media—what’s online vs. what’s offline—the sub-debate about advertising is instructive.

On one hand, online ads are vulnerable to the tyranny of choice. The metrics can be overwhelming, the jargon can be off-putting and success can be mistaken for failure. Moreover, unlike traditional ad buys, online campaigns demand continuous monitoring and fine-tuning.

On the other hand, if you’re tired of one-off shots in the dark—where your one-page spread for life insurance runs opposite to an article on video games, or your spot for an SUV runs in the middle of a segment on high gas prices—then online ads may be right for your organization. Here’s why:

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Media Bloggers Association Launches Liability Insurance, Legal Advisory for Bloggers (What’s Next)
Bloggers take a large risk in performing their task, but now protection is available to them. Taking into account the many lawsuits that have come about because of blog posts, the Media Bloggers Association (MBA) has started offering liability insurance.

The Future of Your Newspaper (Mental Floss)
Print media has been having a difficult time surviving with more and more people getting their news online. However, this new technology could provide newspapers a new portable outlet.

Advertising Without Radio or Television, Only Word of Mouth (Word of Mouth Marketing)
Don’t think advertising without TV, radio or print will work for you organization? Here is an example of how word of mouth marketing can be used to execute a successful campaign.

Financial Meltdown: Don’t Cry for K Street (National Journal)
With the financial system in ruins from this week’s fallout, the nation’s economic system will definitely be changing. The National Journal examines how lobbyists may have a lot of influence in the reshaping of economic regulations and policy.