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Major League Soccer doesn't have the talent, tradition or TV ratings of more storied American sports leagues. But starting next spring, MLS will be the first major team sports league in the U.S. to showcase ads where viewers can't miss them: on the fronts
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Expect kinder, gentler political ads from politicians' official campaigns in coming months, said David Axelrod and Mark McKinnon, media advisers and strategists for the Democrats and Republicans, respectively
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One of the most effective ways for marketers to engage in the blogosphere is not to force themselves into the conversation, but to show up, monitor, and listen. Just ask Starbucks
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Local scientists have created what they hope will become the Google of drug discovery: a free, Web-based search engine that quickly finds potential new compounds to treat particular diseases.
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Pointroll CEO Chris Saridakis writes: "Rich media advertising technology sits at the intersection of voters' high expectations and the promise of full-scale online candidacies. It is emerging as the strategic and tactical missing link to deliver votes via
September 2006 Archives
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Verizon Communications will launch a blog by the end of the year to create a no-holds barred "all issues on the table" dialogue with consumers–and will support it with a round-the-clock response team.
The New York Times Sunday Magazine published a must-read article this past weekend about Ken Mehlman, the Chairman of the Republican National Committee, and his efforts to keep control of Congress (and looking ahead, the White House) in Republican hands. On its face, it seems like a pretty basic bio article, but dig a little deeper and you will see some key signs of the Republican strength and sophistication with regard to the use of technology to support their politics.
Some choice excerpts:
When Mehlman talks about politics, he doesn't talk about Machiavelli; he talks about "Moneyball," Michael Lewis's book about how the Oakland A's employed statistical modeling to assemble a powerhouse baseball team, sending to pasture the old-line scouts with their years of calling it from their guts. "We are the party of €˜Moneyball!"' Mehlman proclaimed, practically shouting and bouncing on the balls of his feet, talking to a room of slightly bewildered Republicans in California last year. "They measured everything. We are doing the same thing in politics."
And this...
Back when Mehlman took the job of party chairman, Republican command of the technologies of winning elections seemed the icing on the cake. Now it seems more like the cake itself. If there is one defining question in this campaign, it is whether the two big Republican Party weapons in this age of Bush — voter turnout and national security in the post-9/11 era — can be wheeled out again to overcome a political environment that has curdled for the Republican Party. As in 2002 and 2004, the White House has been hitting Democrats on national security and terror in a choreographed way, with a rollout that began, predictably, around Labor Day. But Democrats are pushing back this time, arguing that Bush's policies have if anything made the world a less safe place, an argument reinforced by the continued images of turmoil from Iraq. Polls show that the Republican advantage on the issue is not what it once was, and even some Republicans worry about how many times the White House can credibly go back to this same well.
By contrast, the intricate political machine that Mehlman has built to identify and turn out Republicans is growing, and if the election in November is close, it could provide the Republican Party with the fire wall it needs. Democrats have, if belatedly, learned lessons from what the Republican Party has done and are adopting many of the same techniques. Still, no one thinks the Democrats have caught up on get-out-the-vote, or even can catch up before Election Day. Harold Ickes, a long-term national Democratic leader and one of the smartest strategists in either party, didn't hesitate when asked if he thought the Republican Party had lapped the Democrats in the area of targeting and turnout. "Yes — there's no question about it," he said. Ickes's response was revealing because he has embarked on a private effort to build a national database of registered voters, an implicit rebuke of the slower pace of Howard Dean, the Democratic Party leader, in this area. And Ickes was warm in his appraisal of Mehlman. "The general view is, he's very good," Ickes said. "They have good systems and he's a good system person."
And this...
Mehlman has for this election taken what the Republican Party assembled in Ohio in 2004 — a database of every voting-age resident that includes voting history, party registration, demographic data and consumer history — and expanded it, he said, to include every voting-age American in the country. "In Ohio, in '04, we got the tip of the iceberg," Mehlman said. "What we did over the last two years is we got the entire iceberg." With that kind of data, Republican campaign workers in every state in the country can identify potential Republicans who may never have voted before and bring them to the polls. To help neighborhood organizers plot their door-to-door visits — and to make what might be a dreary exercise at least interesting — the Republican Party uses satellite pictures from Google Earth to chart the routes for house-to-house canvassing.
There have been two early tests of this machine already in this election cycle, and both were encouraging for Mehlman. The most recent was in Rhode Island earlier this month, where Republicans dispatched 72-hour teams to help Senator Lincoln Chafee beat back what had seemed to be a very threatening conservative challenge by Steve Laffey, the mayor of Cranston. (Mehlman and other top Republicans concluded that they had no chance of keeping the seat in this Democratic state if Laffey won.) Turnout shattered the Republican primary record for the state, set in 1994: 62,099 people voted, a 38 percent increase. Republicans said their 86 get-out-the-vote volunteers made 198,921 contacts with prospective voters in the final 11 days of the campaign. As Chafee declared victory, Democrats could not help taking note of these numbers. And earlier, on June 6 in California's 50th Congressional District, in San Diego, in a special election to replace Duke Cunningham, the Republican congressman from San Diego who quit in scandal, the Republican Party put the full press of a 72-hour plan to work. The Republican, Brian Bilbray, squeaked out a victory with 49 percent of the vote over the Democrat, Francine Busby. That was a race, Mehlman said, in which turnout was able to overcome a very challenging environment.
Why is this a must-read? Too many Democrats, too many liberal bloggers, too many people in the media have already written the Republican party off this cycle. If Democrats take either and/or both the House or Senate, the blame will go to the President, the credit to a small group of consultants, etc. The story is practically written already. But elections aren't that simple. The Republicans' numbers are bad, the issues are not breaking in their favor, and their leadership is about as unpopular as any group of people ever to grace the political stage. But behind all of those problems remains a very solid system for mobilizing political action when and how it matters most. If the Democrats fail to gain a majority in the House or Senate (and my personal prediction is that the Democrats will come close, maybe win 13-14 seats in the House and 2-3 key Senate races, but ultimately fall short), the reason will be clear - at least to people who read this article.
Turnout wins elections. And the Republicans have a system in place to ensure strong turnout even in the most dire of times. The Democrats have struggled for years to catch up in terms of technology and strategy on this front. There is no evidence to suggest that will change this year. But no matter the outcome, political professionals (and particularly those Democrats, bloggers and media folks) should be watching to see how this technology gets deployed and the impact it has.
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From fast-food chains to carmakers to consumer goods manufacturers and sports franchises, more and more companies are adopting text messaging as a way to target consumers on the move.
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The rules of the publicity game are changing. Here are ways to claim the spotlight for your business.
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You have the public's attention. Now, how do you make sure you don't blow it?
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You can watch the premiere of "Heroes," NBC's much-buzzed-about new series, tonight at 9, as the network's ads suggest. But you didn't have to wait for it to show up on television. If you were curious, you might have downloaded the pilot on iTunes, or wa
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The same Internet that's making so much of the world just a virtual click away is revolutionizing the way the US tourism industry entices people to come visit in person.
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By 2020, people will spend more time online in connected, virtual worlds that will boost productivity but may lead to addiction problems. That's among the findings of a new study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project that asked Internet leaders, fut
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The Philadelphia Orchestra will become the first major U.S. orchestra to open its own online music store for consumers who want to download performances.
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About one-third of movigoers typicall turn to the Internet to learn more about a movie release after first hearing about it elsewhere, according to a study commissioned by Google.
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Despite growing competition from the Internet, iPods, cellphones and other new media, Americans are watching more television than ever, according to a report released Thursday by Nielsen Media Research. The average amount of time that U.S. households had
There is lots of news today to suggest that a growing number of people in the United States are looking for political news and information online.
The Pew Internet & American Life released a memo/study saying the number of people looking online for political information is at its highest point ever, a big deal given we are in a non-presidential year election with voter turnout in many places coming in at depressingly low levels. They write:
On a typical day in August, 26 million Americans were using the internet for news or information about politics and the upcoming mid-term elections. That corresponds to 19% of adult internet users, or 13% of all Americans over the age of 18.
This is a high-point in the number of internet users turning to cyberspace on the average day for political news or information, exceeding the 21 million figure registered in a Pew Internet Project survey during the November 2004 general election campaign.
In addition, the Wall Street Journal has two articles this morning about new ways that the public can access political information online. The first article highlights how social networking sites devoted to politics are popping up, focusing on a handful of relatively new projects like HotSoup, Essembly, and MorePerfect. They also note a shift among the big players in the space towards political topics. They write:
This month, Facebook, a social networking site with more than 9.5 million members, launched an Election 2006 network, creating stock profiles of around 1,400 candidates with basic information like their name, office, state and party. Facebook, of Palo Alto, Calif., then reached out to the Democratic and Republican National Committees to encourage candidates to expand on them. The site also launched an election "Pulse" feature that ranks candidates in various races according to how many Facebook members who have elected to support at least one politician support that candidate.
And a number of political candidates already have pages on MySpace.com, a unit of News Corp. Len Munsil, the Republican running for Arizona governor, recently asked his 19-year-old son to create a profile for him. "You have to find every way possible to communicate inexpensively with voters, especially younger ones," says Mr. Munsil, who checks his profile — which features a background photo of supporters waving placards, a head shot and a campaign video — every few days. Republican Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who is running for re-election, was pleasantly surprised to find he had a MySpace presence. "We have no idea who put up the MySpace profile," says a campaign spokesman. "But we would like to be in touch since it is so supportive." Facebook and MySpace accept political advertising.
The second article discussed how political ads, and other video, are starting to appear on video sharing networks. They posit this as both an effective way to bypass traditional television (which, in some markets, will compete with the upcoming baseball playoffs, or just may be too expensive for most campaigns) as well as present a candidate's case to some different audience groups. They write:
The technology that's been flooding the Internet with videos produced by everyone from teenage skateboarders to major entertainment companies also is beginning to affect the political process. Sites like YouTube.com, Google Video and Blinkx.com already are filling up with candidate commercials, news clips, interviews and even amateur satirical videos.
This new medium naturally opens up new possibilities for negative campaigning and for gaffes to be magnified into major campaign issues. For example, an amateur video on YouTube.com about Montana Sen. Conrad Burns shows him falling asleep at a hearing. Numerous Web sites carried footage of Sen. George Allen, of Virginia, calling an aide to his Democratic challenger "macaca," considered by some to be a racial slur.
But video on the Web is going beyond mudslinging. It's also beginning to help inform voters. Numerous TV stations that televise debates are for the first time posting them on their Web sites so they can be watched at any time. Some civic groups are putting short video interviews with candidates on the Internet so voters can make side-by-side comparisons. Startup sites like thepeoplechoose2006.org and election.tv are trying to create video-rich sites that provide information on races throughout the country.
The fact that people are looking to the internet for political information should come as no surprise. There are still not enough campaigns and candidates waging effective campaigns online, but there are some very encouraging signs from both sides of the aisle. Still, there is still more work that needs to be done - by candidates and campaigns, technology gurus, and voters/audiences if the online medium is going to truly revolutionize the political process.
Right now, the net is mostly being used to push existing content — position papers, television ads, etc. — to new audiences. While important, and in some cases effective, this is not full utilization of the medium. Online presents opportunities to make the political process interactive – candidates and campaigns have to think about new and different ways to present their content, or better yet, create content that exists only online and recognizes the opportunities for a different interaction.
Technology gurus, like those building social networks, have to accommodate conversations about serious issues — and embrace the fact that political conversations are different than conversations about music, movies, consumer package goods, or life (dating, etc.) that typically drive social networks. Simply putting people in an online space together and suggesting a political interaction does not a productive discussion make. Social networks dabbling in the political space need to program aggressively, support networking activities with relevant, timely, and compelling information, and tie those conversations to voting and other actions. For example — where is the section on YouTube that allows users to search for political videos by category? Where is the area of MySpace that allows you to find charitable, advocacy, or political organizations to join and become involved with? There is so much potential out there that is not being realized.
Finally, the audience needs to demand more. The consensus is that voter turnout and engagement in the political process is low because the campaigns don't reflect the voters interests. Maybe so. But the public shouldn't stand for recycled position papers and empty-headed rhetoric online. The public shouldn't bark at the moon simply because some blogger says that is what they should do. If you are looking online for information and you want to have your issues addressed, demand more from both your candidates and the technology gurus. Tell them what you want.
I am encouraged by the growth in interest of political spaces online. I just want more.
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Businesses that allow customers to trade — as opposed to buy and sell — everything from CDs to cars over the Internet have been around for years. But in an effort to boost the still small swapping market, new entrants such as Whatsonmybookshelf.com, Swa
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If corporate directors really understood the implications of global warming, would they steer their companies toward preventing it?
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Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley, who wears a friar's habit designed nearly 500 years ago and who eschews most material possessions, today is taking a giant leap into the 21st century: He is becoming a blogger.
Deval Patrick captured Tuesday's Democratic nomination for Governor in Massachusetts by a substantial margin (50% vs. 27% for venture capitalist Chris Gabrieli and 23% for Attorney General Tom Reilly), and in the process may have ushered in a new era for Massachusetts politics.
Deval Patrick won for a lot of reasons — he was a new, fresh face in a state screaming for leadership and accountability, he has experience and vision to suggest that a new, more successful course can be charted for a state who's economy and social policies are, at best, mixed up right now. But, perhaps most of all, I believe Deval Patrick won the Democratic nomination for Governor last night because he ran a different kind of campaign. As the Boston Globe wrote this morning:
But a key factor in Patrick's victory appears to have been the field organization that he and his staff built. It drew heavily on the Internet to organize supporters and to raise over $1 million in campaign donations. His political base included 8,000 volunteers across the state, many of them new to politics, and a field organization that identified over 100,000 committed Patrick voters.
I will use this space to analyze some of the elements of his online campaign over the next few weeks and highlight the pieces that all campaigns should be leveraging to educate, engage, and mobilize voters. The political establishment from around the country will be watching the seven week campaign in Massachusetts to see whether Deval Patrick, the first African American nominee for Governor in Massachusetts can take home the prize in November, focusing mostly on the money raised and spent, television ads run, and campaign messages the Republican nominee, Lt. Gov Kerry Healey and Patrick use to set themselves apart from each other. They should be watching what Patrick and his campaign team does online because it may very well set the tone for how politics is waged - online and off - for years to come.
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Yahoo Inc. said Tuesday that it was creating a new online video programming venture with Current TV, the media company founded by former Vice President Al Gore. The service will combine professional and user-generated video clips.
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The Bush administration is taking its fight against illegal drugs to YouTube, the trendy Internet video service that already features clips of wacky, drug-induced behavior and step-by-step instructions for growing marijuana plants. The decision to distri
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Video-sharing site YouTube Inc., in a move that could defuse the threat of legal action against it, is racing to overhaul the way media and entertainment companies view unlicensed online use of their content. YouTube is rolling out technology designed to
