JG etc.

Via 37 signals:

- If communication can fail, it will.
- If a message can be understood in different ways, it will be understood in just that way which does the most harm.
- There is always somebody who knows better than you what you meant by your message.
- The more communication there is, the more difficult it is for communication to succeed.

And I particularly like his observation that anytime there are two people conversing, there are actually six people in the conversation:

- Who you think you are
- Who you think the other person is
- Who you think the other person thinks you are
- Who the other person thinks he/she is
- Who the other person thinks you are
- Who the other person thinks you think he/she is

I would like to go to a communications coach/counselor. Fascinating stuff.

We raised some money:

BusinessWeek —> Federated Media Raises $50 Million (and a Few Eyebrows)

AdAge —> Federated Media Nabs $50 Million in Funding

PaidContent —> Confirmed: Federated Media Receives $50 Million Third Round; Interview With Battelle

MediaPost —> Federated Media Garners $50 Million Investment

CNET —> Federated Media closes on $50 million

Why is all this news good?

It allows us to do programs, like the one below, put together by John Shankman.

The RadioShack Invention Lab

There will be more to come on this campaign, including an interview with John and what it means to sell ads at FM or for that matter, how ad sales is changing…. Forever, maybe. :->

For now, I leave you with a quote from the site, No Revolution:

I found this by clicking an ad banner (e-gad!) on boingboing - the gadget site - because my good friend and UXD expert Mike Brooks sent me a video link.

So, there you have it. Social interaction leads to spontaneous discovery leads to brand renewal for an “old” retail brand. There’s hope for this whole “Net” thing after al

Always awesome to see people appreciate good work. Here is a Twitter from Dave Morin, Senior Platform Manager at Facebook, talking about a campaign that the team out West at FM(Lester Lee & Matt Jessell) launched with BMW and Graffiti:

Check out the campaign here –> Graffiti Car Contest - “What drives you?”

Gets me every time. (Ad on my profile page. The cookies know too much!)

On a Beacon-related note, Cathy Taylor of MediaPost has a great write up and insightful community comments from our Dell ReGeneration campaign. She was nice enough to ask my thoughts on how we work in the Social Media space with brands like Dell.

–> Maybe Advertising In Social Media Should Be An Oxymoron

Also, Jeremiah Owyang, Sr. Analyst at Forrester, covered the campaign as a Case Study for his Web Strategist Community.

–> Case Study: Dissecting the Dell Regeneration Graffiti Facebook Campaign

Finally, ESPN announcing they are dropping ad networks is an awesome sign of premium web publishers demanding better media in places where they put ads.

Update:I like what Todd Bender of Nokia said on the ESPN decision.

My guess however is that longer term, the debate will be moot as traditional display advertising is phased out in favor of brands working as partners to offer an integrated content or service offering to consumers. What does this look like in practice? Well, I think American Express has the right idea in creating this partnership between Federated Media and OPEN, the AmEx brand for small business.

I have scooped the famous ChasNote and lined up an exclusive interview with John to talk about a new project he is working on.

Developing…….