Alas, we've been away from this blog for too long [insert apology here]. But that does not mean we have been inactive. In fact, we recently (and happily) completed campaigns for some of the largest brands in the country, and we've got more on the hopper.
We're also happy to announce a new member of the group, one who's name a lot of you have become familiar with in your inboxes. But just in case, we are pleased to have Aisha Abubakr on board. She's moving things up and actually helped Mad Crowd Media record it's best month ever! We know that Aisha will be an important part of Mad Crowd Media's future, and look forward to all the fun she's got in tow.
Finally, I've often defended why we refer to "bloggers" as "publishers" -- big deal daw. Well, read article. Rest case.
The Wily Filipino, who recently blogged about Taken By Cars, sent over details to a recent NYU study of the correlation between the amount of blog entries vis-a-vis the success of a music album (hence, the Taken By Cars blog entry context). The study found that "the volume of blog posts about an album is positively correlated
with future sales."
If that's not interesting enough to our friends in the music industry, then there's this: "greater increases in an artist's Myspace friends week over week have a weaker correlation to higher future sales."
Read the study here. The Wily Filipino is part of the Mad Crowd Media network of publishers.
We continue to busy up our calendar with meetings and proposals. In the past few weeks, we've moved from proposal stage to operationalization stage for two projects. Thank you clients and bloggers!
We also received, gleefully, an honor from Michael over at Basang Panaginip. Thanks for the props. It's made Maddie the Robot very happy.
Finally, this week we're looking forward to meeting three well-regarded bloggers from the network for a campaign we're looking to kickoff late January. If meeting Connie, Abe and Kiven weren't exciting enough, I have a feeling I'm going to run out of words (or witty comebacks) with this group.
All for now.
From CMSWire:
A survey by web CMS vendor Polopoly reports that, according to European newspaper execs, 40 percent of published content will be user generated. In the next three years.There's someone at the door. It's yellow with a metallic grin.
It's been invariably hectic. For one, we went through a carousel of extended vacations (planned well ahead of Mad Crowd Media) which had us thinning out our appointment books. Now that we're all back on board, meetings and presentations galore.
What has been on our minds is how best (or better) to introduce advertisers to the new channel -- and to the potential of blogs. It's easy enough to preach to the choir, but the trouble with convincing non-believers on our part is not having any miracles to show for.
Turning to -- and staying with -- Christian history for answers, those who came to evangelize without the benefit of the miraculous powers of the Christ had instead his parables to tell; and, most of all, the infectious simplicity of his teaching: love one another.
These days, we are getting people to listen and believe in what we are doing. But, and this is where my Christian metaphor must end, translating the belief into opportunities has not been that straightforward. We think our propositions are airtight and very appealing (although I sent out the presentation to some publishers for comments and a total of zero got back to me) but we have want of parables and miracles.
We're not miracle workers, but we know we can make it work.
I'm chiming in to break the silence, but I will be brief: we've moved in. Though the office isn't in tip-top shape yet (we need our windows frosted and our floor needs some kind of treatment), it's functional and at least it puts us all in one place of business.
Okay. Time to make nice to the neighbors -- and bum some drinking water.
For the last seven weeks, we've been working to bring the best Filipino independent publications together in the network. The process, which has been likened internally to organizing small pox viruses (I like the epidemic metaphor) has been nothing short of amazing. With some publishers traveling, others unable to check email at work, and others living overseas, the carousel of emails, meetups and phone calls have been dizzying -- but very well worth it. No other blog reader out there has had coffee with the publishers we all have. I even got to meet one of your moms!
We've gone ahead, maybe prematurely but certainly in good footing, and held discussions with a handful of media independents, advertising agencies and advertisers. The value proposition is clear to them, as it resonates throughout every member of Mad Crowd Media. Our race to develop creative service offerings (such as co-branded banners) and determining CPM rates has heated up: everyone we spoke to has not only expressed interest, but is keen on using Mad Crowd Media.
Moreso now, I believe, that we've recently revised our monthly impressions estimate: we have just learned that we can easily deliver 8.5 million pageviews a month. That's an astonishing number from a local independent network. That's your number, so you should be proud.
Finally, advertisers are even more impressed at how we've put quality ahead (quality takes in the largest stake in our criteria to determine CPM rates). To them, our balance of quality and quantity (in this case, pageviews) is the perfect platform for their brands. Again, kudos to you for all your hard work in developing great content. We hope that our efforts will reward you soon.
When the New York Times announced that it will stop charging for content, and with strong rumors that the Wall Street Journal will do the same, I had to raise my arms in exaltation: all the David Brooks I can read.
Needless to say, this is also a good sign that advertising revenue on the internet has reached maturity even among the most grey of publications. To us here at Mad Crowd Media, that certainly strengthens the argument that advertising budgets can traverse the expensive and poorly segmented mass media channels and get results from the targeted offerings our network can deliver.
Furthermore, I think it is fodder for all the champions and creators of channel agnostic media planning. New media channels should be on their list, as their target market shifts to these channels. As anecdotal as it seems, the New York Times makes a strong statement for all online publishers: content is best served free. And advertising pays to keep it that way.
We've been loving your submissions on the website: 30+ so far, among them, some are real gems. While we read, discuss and read again, we're finding even more blogs and websites through blogrolls and links. One author, it seems, is another's editor.
The most interesting part of this revelation, while not so new to many, is discovering the "cliques" of bloggers and websites: the link-to-me-i-link-to-you practice tends to herd publishers together in groups, at the core of which are the most popular bloggers, whose popularity soars even further because of the links. These groups are well represented in the Mad Crowd Media network, still we believe that these herds cannot possibly hold all the gems. Quality in publishing must run deeper.
What really makes our day is finding websites that are outside of these spheres and listening posts -- sites which we seldom see in the blogrolls we've read. They're in the sidestreets and back alleys of "our" Internet, and they are just as interesting as the really popular ones. Websites like Eksena.net, which is a portal for headliners and events on the Cebu music scene. That's a destination we would otherwise have never found if we stuck to blogrolls and popularity metrics. Another is From the Boondocks, which blogs about everything that goes on in the Cordillera region.
While there could be hundreds of these fascinating publications, the message that the Filipino writer, from any and all walks of life, has a fertile and articulate mind resonates loud and clear. This is a welcome affirmation. If you're reading this, and you're reading other blogs, go ahead and spend time outside your blogosphere: it's just like making new friends from the other side of town.
It may sound like I'm going out on a limb here, but I have my beliefs. Janette Toral was being a real trooper in talking about Mad Crowd Media in her column (thanks!) and she raised a few points that's worth reiterating:
Companies are now seeing blogs as potential advertising medium. If they are presented as a bunch, rather than just one site, then it becomes more practical. The more eyeballs, more diverse blogs with only a fraction of mainstream online media cost, the better. Having collective strength will allow the group to compete fiercely with mainstream big players.
Nearly everyone we spoke to -- potential advertisers to global account managers -- and whether they've advertised online before or have never even heard of blogs, have one seed of epiphany in them: that readers are reading and paying attention online, substituting the internet for print, even television (when was the last time you watched TV?). You seldom see that kind of empathic relationship in traditional media formats; such a relationship is built with a one-on-one awareness, the kind bloggers achieve with their readers. You can argue that putting an SMS number is interactivity, but clearly bloggers are not giving any monetary incentives for readers to respond. Readers respond because what they're reading matters to them.
Acknowledging that, let's turn our attention to potential. There's a belief that the Internet attracts only the AB crowd. That's simply wrong. In Metro Manila, roughly 45% of internet users fall in the DE bracket, with nearly half of them teenagers. They're doing that Friendster thing. And, surfing blogs. We are at a 160+% internet usage growth in urban areas year-on-year, and my good money is on expansion at the same pace. With Internet Cafes sprouting everywhere, the potential is clear.
Finally, there's the matter of fragmentation. If a marketer wants to talk to a particular audience, of a particular demographic, it's very hard to achieve that in trimedia. The two largest channels have focused their efforts in attracting the multinational consumer goods manufacturers and the telcos battling it out for supremacy. What of the niche marketer? Radio is only listened to by people *in* cars.
Magazines to my mind are the lone shining stars, as they are self-selective publications. It also explains why they thrive. Advertisers who want to hit a particular target audience, say gadget lovers, can advertise in any one of many technology magazines out there. Hit the teen market? Plenty of options.
So why make this point? We view the 60+ publications in the Mad Crowd Media network as individual magazines. Bunched together in crowds like "Parenting" or "Travel and Leisure" they make a strong case for niche marketers. To these marketers, that's advertising money well spent because it hits directly at who they're after. And when they see that readers spend more than two minutes looking at your site, that's a minute and 57 seconds longer than they might take on a page in a newspaper that would cost 1000% more.
