alwayslookaround (and occasionally tell about it)

I just came across this post by Reprise Media (a previous employer of mine).

I’d love to see a copy of that survey. And I’d love to see how traditional advertising agencies are reacting. Surely they’re getting increasingly nervous about Google stepping onto their turf. And about themselves being unprepared to handle and service the digital world. Publicis’ recent acquisition of Digitas attests to that point.

Regarding the Donna Bogatin article quoted in the Reprise Media post…..

“Google can not readily enter legacy advertising markets offline, however, and disrupt long standing market dynamics by imposing its Google centric pricing schemes.”

I beg to differ. Google’s (and/or others) acceptance into legacy markets will be centered around a more efficient selling/buying process, better and more sophisticated targeting (especially cross-platform behavioral targeting), and more robust reporting (again, cross-platform). Once advertisers got a taste of those things online, there’s no turning back. It will only spread further to offline media. Current dynamics will surely be disrupted. New pricing models will surely be introduced (not necessarily Google’s auction based model, but definitely new models of some sort). We’re seeing it now in cable, radio will follow (both satellite and traditional), print will eventually transition, and mobile will be introduced at some point (no “transition” required for mobile, it’s new enough to be integrated quickly right from the start).

The hiccups along the way will be caused by old infrastructure (witness cable). But infrastructure hardware and software can be replaced. Even REALLY expensive hardware and software. It just takes a little time - actions follow dollars (and then MANY more dollars will follow those actions).

It’s like ‘Field of Dreams’ - “If you build it, they will come”. :-)

Just for the record, I’m not a big fan of Google domination, but they’re the most equipped to do the job. I’d really love to see Publicis acquire Aquantive, and try to beat Google to the punch.

I’m amazed by how bad the UPS communication system is. I’ve been sitting at home all day, waiting for a delivery. The UPS guy usually hits my neighborhood no later than 3pm. So I called at 4pm to inquire. The main UPS customer service representatives have no way of contacting or messaging the drivers, so they have to relay a message to the local UPS delivery center (how are they not all connected on one network?!). The local UPS delivery center is supposed to call the customer back, at which point the customer has to explain the inquiry again. This happens most of the time, but not every time. Like today, for example - my call was never returned. But if/after the local delivery center does connect with the customer, they will try to contact the driver, and then call the customer back with an update. But those callbacks are not guaranteed either, so sometimes they don’t happen.

That’s a lot of inefficiency there, combined with no guarantees of successful communication. That’s a horrible combination, especially for a company as big and relied upon as UPS. How is it possible for UPS to accept such poor communication standards?

One additional problem with their operation - the local UPS delivery centers don’t stay open very late. The one for my neighborhood closes at 7pm. So no matter how many time I call the main UPS 800 customer service number after 7pm, I will not receive a new update. I just have to wait. Here it is at 10:12pm and I haven’t left my apartment all day - not a fun situation. UPS claims the driver is obligated to make an attempt, so technically he’s still expected to come tonight. I continue to wait anxiously, wishing I knew whether or not I’m going to have to stay home again tomorrow….

In my experience, FedEx is a much smoother operation. From now on, I think I’ll pay extra for FedEx delivery when I have the option.