JG etc.

Nicholas Carr has a post up in AdAge talking about the shift that is underway in technology and how this will affect industries like advertising. I think it will be a natural shift and we will be see more deals between advertising and SaaS. There are concerns with this model, clearly, but there are also concerns about what the advertising medium becomes with such hyper levels of customization, targeting, and just the sheer amount of messages in a space(the grid) that is infinitely scalable. From his piece:

Our new computing grid promises to reprogram not only advertising and marketing but also culture with the cold logic of software code. Everything will become more efficient, but we may find that we’ve sacrificed a little bit of our humanity in the process.

Too often it seems that in this day and age of platforms, networks, API’s, cookies, brownies, and everything else; we forget what media/marketing is all about….. It is hard to argue with the power of science on the internet, but maybe there is more than one right answer…… I wrote my thoughts down on what this Ad Cloud might look like almost two years ago, the post is long and doesn’t make a whole lot of sense , but I think a few nuggets still ring true:

With all this capex being put out there by the big guys[GOOG,MSFT,YHOO on server farms/grid computing], where is the ROI? Er, that is where it gets kind of sad. What Google has given you is a better opportunity to put your life online, to be a part of the grid. And how is Google and now Microsoft going to get there money back to pay for this huge investment? Not software licenses, ads in space of course.

Think about what Google has in AdWords/AdSense, the largest media network in the world. Search revenue in the relative sense will continue to slow, but that doesn’t mean Google’s revenue will slow……..

Google is like a modern day Lewis and Clark, creating tools that allow others to travel and make “imprints” in space, much like L&C ventured west and discovered new territories, that allowed others to follow. I wonder if Lewis and Clark would have sold billboards throughout all the land that they were settling if they knew how much money they could have made….. Google sees the value in stamping virtual space, Miscrosoft has the money and people to build out an infrastructure; put Yahoo in this category as well.

Ballmer:

Only two to three companies can really deliver the infrastructure that’s required to keep pace with consumer demand and advertisers’ needs.

Ads in space is a much bigger deal than a bottle of coke on the side of a spaceship…….

I should have seen the MSFT/YHOO deal coming…….

Mr. Carr also has a new book out; I am about half way through it and so far it is a good read.