Author: Jonathan Gardner

over 5 years ago The Twitter API: human meets programmatic

The official launch of the Twitter Ads API was inevitable but still important for the marketing ecosystem. One of the world’s biggest human-fed and –curated platforms has taken a step in the right direction – using technology to help make marketers’ lives easier.

Twitter is taking a page out of the playbook of Facebook, which started its journey toward a mature advertising business with its own API in 2009. They built on this success with the launch of Facebook Exchange in 2012. As one of the original FBX partners, we have seen the data and scale available become important to many top brands.

over 5 years ago After the web, what’s next for digital?

Without a doubt, the most significant media disruptor in recent history has been the internet, and it’s reasonable to consider the last 10 to 15 years the “internet era.” If the long history of disruptions has taught us anything it is that we need to ask, what era will be next? 

Even if we can’t predict the future, we need only look around us in digital media and technology to guess and stay informed of what’s down the road. As we have seen how quickly prominent companies have fallen, foresight is sure to pay dividends for marketers, publishers, and generally everyone who interacts with the world around them.

It’s a time for bold statements. It’s a time for stretching the imagination to glimpse at our future “beyond the internet.”

over 5 years ago ‘Bunkering’ and the future of work

Those of us on the East Coast fortunate to not face tragic circumstances in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy quickly realized that to varying degrees our work lives would be disrupted. This of course, often goes in tandem with concern and assistance for friends, colleagues and family members who were affected.

Climate change may lead to many more events like this down the road. I posit that this shift -- along with the new technologies and work styles now available to us -- means that we should prepare for a future of work that finds us often "bunkering" and operating independently while remaining connected to the gears and channels of an organization.

over 5 years ago Making your ads viewable is only half the battle

With online advertising in the throes of a full-fledged panic about ad viewability, marketers are turning to native advertising and branded content as digital Xanax to alleviate their stress. While anxiety about unseen ads is well-founded, this road of what we call “next-gen digital” holds new bumps and curves for marketers to navigate.

It’s a fact that consumers are ignoring ads like never before; banner blindness continues to plague the industry. On top of that, it turns out that even if consumers were paying attention, many ads wouldn’t be “in view”: They’re served below the fold or take more time to load than viewers typically spend on a page.

almost 6 years ago Keep it simple: a new mandate for marketing

Keep your marketing simple, and – trust me – consumers will engage. In a technology landscape that’s continues to morph and grow more complex by the day, remember to keep your value proposition clear to users.

Focus on simple. Focus on consumers. Focus on creating usefuland compelling advertising that is in the interest of consumers.

almost 6 years ago The ‘Buzzfeed Model' and Photo-Driven Marketing Strategies

What do Facebook, Buzzfeed, and Pinterest have in common besides keeping us from getting actual work done?

Each of them is powered by pictures. That’s right: jpegs, pngs, graphics, photographs. Facebook’s April acquisition of Instagram and more recent launch of its camera app announced to the world what it’s known for a while.

That the best way to keep users engaged is to give them lots and lots of images to view, post, and share. This will be among Facebook’s greatest successes.