Everyone is busy juggling something in this episode of “Mad Men” - oranges, clients, spouses, kids. 

We open with Roger trying to juggle oranges sent from Sunkist to inspire the team working on a pitch to secure the account. Don seems a little annoyed speaking of the prospective client because "it's pretty clear they're too cheap to get out of print." TV was the media darling of the late 60s, much like digital is today. I wonder how many similar conversations are going on in agencies right now regarding the migration to digital and mobile media from traditional. Seems the juggling of advertising dollars, media buys and placement lives on.

Meanwhile, back at SC&P there's always an undercurrent.

Pete is treated to a surprise office visit by his mother and her male nurse, Minolo. Minolo is a charming, dashing young fellow who dotes on Mrs. Campbell. Peggy and Mrs. C have a brief interesting conversation in which Mrs. C tells Peggy she and Pete should work it out for the sake of their child. Peggy's face is priceless as she whispers that she and Pete are just friends. Mrs. C goes on to say she has found a deep love with Minolo. Finally, after Mrs. C calls her "Trudy" Peggy lets out a sigh of relief realizing the old lady is confusing her with Pete's wife. 

Peggy, Pete and Ted visit OceanSpray and enjoy a few too many cranberry cocktails. Peggy and Ted flirt until he goes to phone his wife. Pete calls her out on the mutual attraction between the two, which she wisely brushes aside. She relays the gist of the conversation with Pete’s mother to him. He is mortified at the thought of his mother having relations with the younger Minolo, and the two of them are still laughing when Ted returns. Ted, who always seems to feel like the odd man out, is uncomfortable and wants to head back to NYC. When Ted returns home, his wife is waiting up and complains about how much time he's spending at work. Different couple but same argument.

The next morning, things are in a tight squeeze at SC&P when it's revealed Roger and Don are working on a pitch for Sunkist and Ted is working on a pitch for OceanSpray. It’s the beginning of the juice wars. Lots of yelling and door slamming with poor Ted lamenting to Jim Cutler about "my juice" vs. "his juice." Jim reminds Ted that as of now they have zero juice accounts so they better figure out which one to pursue.

Don always has something else on his mind and it usually relates to a woman. This time it's Sylvia's son, Mitchell, who has just been classified 1A by the draft. Mitchell confides to Megan, who contemplates helping him run to Canada. Don quickly nixes that idea. Arnold comes to speak to Don about Mitchell and Sylvia, indicating he could tell something was up as he had caught Sylvia in little lies the past year.

Don the rescuer wants to help Sylvia by keeping Mitchell from getting drafted. He asks Pete for help but no go. Pete suggests asking the bigwigs from GM since Chevy is their account. At dinner with GM/Chevy and the partners, Don brings up his friend's son who is 1A. He talks about how the kid had his whole life ahead of him, how distraught his mother is and all but flat out asks them to intervene through their government connections. They murmur sympathies, the partners look incredulous and Don was just Don. The next morning, Ted barges into Don's office aghast at his behavior at dinner. Ted tells Don he should have said something to him because he knows the Brigadier General and will put in a call, but only if they agree to quit battling and move forward as one solid agency. Their handshake was a binding agreement. Ted holds up his end of the agreement and Mitchell will not be drafted.

While all of this is unfolding, Sally and her frenemy, Julie, are in NYC for a Model UN. They meet Mitchell in the lobby of the Draper building and the school girl crushes begin. They both think he is dreamy and write a "what I like about Mitchell" note. All young girls know these silly things are NOT to be shared with the boy.

Julie, who deliberately calls Megan "Mrs. Draper" to annoy her, helps take out the trash. In doing so, she sneaks downstairs to the Rosen apartment and slides the note to Mitchell under the door. Julie gleefully tells Sally what she did. Sally is mortified. She convinces the doorman to give her the apartment keys, again, and creeps into the Rosen kitchen via the back door. If you recall, off the kitchen is the maid's room. As she tiptoes across the kitchen floor she hears a moaning from the maid's room and sees her dad and Sylvia. Startled, she screams, drops the keys and flees. Daddy Don rushes after her but doesn’t catch her. Don is distressed and ends up in a bar. When he finally stumbles home, Megan and the girls are having dinner. Arnold stops by to offer his thanks for saving Mitch. Don is terrified Sally will say something about what she saw and convinces her, through a closed door, that he was just comforting Sylvia. Sally doesn't believe it but loves her dad and says it's fine. Ever notice how little these two talk face-to-face? It's always over the phone or through a door.

When Pete confronts his mother, she is very lucid and tells Pete, "You've always been unlovable." Ouch, that's pretty harsh for a mother to say, even if I do agree. Pete reprimands Bob Benson about referring Minolo, whom he feels is taking advantage of his mother. Bob indicates that Minolo is not interested in women, but is a kind, loving person who makes others feel special. Bob touches his knee with Pete's and leaves it there just long enough for Pete to get the message. He tells Bob to “tell Minolo he gets one month of pay and is disgusting."  Well that puts to rest some of the Internet rumors about Bob.

Peggy is still in her dark, crummy apartment. She traps a rat and it drags itself under her sofa to die. I can't help but think the bloody trail across the wooden floor is foreshadowing of a murder scene to come. Remember last season when Don doodled the noose then Lane hung himself? With only two episodes left this season the puzzle pieces are starting to fit together.

Leave it to Mad Men to insert a historical moment like the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. to establish time period and provide an emotional backdrop. And what an emotional episode, “The Flood” was. All of the NYC agencies gather for the Ad Club of New York awards and both Peggy and Megan are part of the team nominated for the Heinz Bean campaign. Ironically, neither of them still works for SCDP nor is Heinz Beans still a client.

That's how quickly things change in the advertising world. As Paul Newman gives his politically infused speech—celebs pontificated their beliefs at awards back then too—news breaks out of the Martin Luther King Jr. assassination. Amid much dismay, disbelieve and distress, the program goes on as planned, but everything changes thereafter.

Riots break out around the U.S., including in NYC and Washington D.C. In case you didn't catch it, Sylvia and Dr. Rosen are in D.C. for a conference. Don is borderline frantic hoping to hear that his mistress is safe. The next day, no one expects the African American secretaries to work. Peggy's heartfelt conversation and hug showed she really does understand and value her secretary. On the other hand, the stiff hug Joan gives Dawn is almost unbearable to watch because it seemed so contrived.

Speaking of changes, who knew that Pete had a heart? Pete goes ballistic when Harry whines about his clients expecting make-goods because the breaking news interrupted network programming. I honestly thought I'd never agree with Pete on anything but his accusation of Harry being selfishly worried about his commission seemed spot on. I thought it was going to be another fight fest. Thankfully Bert steps in and forces them to shake hands and apologize. However, those were the most pathetic “apologies” ever.

Pete, feeling bad about the assassination and Dr. King’s family, reaches out to Trudy to make sure she and Tammy are OK. Trudy is still unwilling to welcome Pete home. So there Pete is, in his dark, dreary bachelor pad in a one-sided conversation with the delivery guy. A tragedy like this puts everything into perspective and Pete once again realizes the serious mistakes he’s made.

Betty, looking very Joan Crawford with her dark hair, is in full-blown mommy dearest mode. She chastises Bobby for picking at the uneven wallpaper in his room. As if the wallpaper itself isn’t enough to give him nightmares, the uneven edges just beg to be ripped. Betty is at her best when she's raking Don over the coals, this time for forgetting to pick up the kids for his weekend. Don heads through the rioting neighborhoods to bring the kids safely to the city. While the children are away, Betty and Henry have a heart-to-heart about his political aspirations, where Henry decides to run for state senator. Betty is thrilled, until he mentions he can't wait for everyone to meet her. You can see it in her eyes; the distress of having to wear something other than a robe. Glad to see she's still vain. I'm hoping Betty will return to her blonde roots soon and January Jones will dump the fat suit.

Back at the Draper penthouse, Megan decides to take Sally and Gene to a MLK memorial in Central Park while Don and Bobby hang back. Bobby is grounded from TV and since Don doesn't know how to spend time with his son they go see "Planet of the Apes." Like father like son, they watch the movie.

Bobby's comment to the porter, "We come to the movies when we're sad" triggers an unexpected emotion from Don. In a tortured monologue with Megan by his side, he confesses he’s faked loving his son since his birth. It was Bobby's comment to a stranger that makes Don feel love for his son. He truly didn't know what to do with this emotion. This was Emmy-worthy acting by Jon Hamm.

Again, this emotionally charged episode found Peggy and Abe, mostly Peggy, searching for an apartment to buy. Peggy finds one on the Upper East Side and Abe is extremely non-committal. He reminds her it’s her money to spend. He goes on to say,  he "always imagined them raising their children around other types of people." That’s all Peggy needs to hear. She finally realizes all of her dreams are within reach: a great career and a great guy who wants to be with her for the long haul. She looks pleased as punch as he pounded out the story of his career.

Because it's Mad Men, there's always something disturbing, right? This episode it's Rogers’ creepy insurance contact. He tries to communicate by not talking, which is never effective. His idea for an ad includes a Molotov cocktail. In today's world, can you imagine anything so preposterous? Actually, it was pretty ridiculous in the 60s as well. His words, "This is an opportunity. The heavens are telling us to change" are prophetic but he's still too far out there for the likes of SCDP.

So what's next?

What a fitting title "The Collaborators" is for this episode of Mad Men as every character collaborates with someone on some level.  

Let's start with the extremely insensitive Pete. He and a neighbor’s wife have a tryst in his NYC apartment. She is fonder of Pete than he of her and suggests several secret signals to let him know she is thinking about him. He clearly wants none of it. Later that evening when she shows up beaten and bloody at the Campbell home, Pete knows he is busted. He tries to rush her off to a hotel and callously offers to call a cab for her. He’s less than thrilled when Trudy drives her. Women talk and sure enough by the time she returns home, Trudy knows all about the affair. Trudy goes on to prove that she is no shrinking violet. She reads Pete the riot act and throws him out of the house the next morning. Pete can't win at the office either as he and Don don't see eye-to-eye on the Jaguar account.

Unforgettable Herb, the local Jaguar dealership owner who played a key role in SCDP landing the coveted Jaguar account, still thinks he's all that. He makes a pathetic come-on to Joan, saying "I know deep down there's a part of you that's happy to see me." Her quip, "And I know there's a part of you, you haven't seen in years," was one of my favorite lines of the show.

At SCDP, Herb tries to throw his weight around to alter the Jaguar buy from national to more locally-focused. Herb pitches Don and Pete an idea for radio spots, touting his dealership over the national campaign, even though everyone (including Herb) has already signed off on national. Naturally, the men at SCDP will increase the campaign for more money. But that’s not what’s going on here. It would just be a shifting of dollars.

Don is masterful in the meeting with Herb and the British gentlemen representing Jaguar. Herb tries to push the idea of a local focus as that of SCDP. Pete is jovial as he's onboard with Herb's idea. Then Don begins his pitch as only he can. His tone, demeanor and smooth presentation make it sound like going local is the best thing for the client – a witty and effective use of reverse psychology. Anyone can afford a Jaguar. The guy driving a truck should just go down the road and get a new Jag. He says it so earnestly you almost believe he wants this campaign switched. Everyone at that table, with the exception of the two individuals that matter, knows what he is doing and is powerless to stop it. Naturally, Don and the Brits won and the campaign remains national as intended.

Later in the episode, the Heinz folks "Beans" and "Ketchup," make a “non-visit” to SCDP. Ketchup is curious about the increase in sales of beans since that division signed on with SCDP. The Ketchup division’s upstart is happy with his current agency, DDB, but wants to see what Don and his team can develop. As soon as "Ketchup" leaves the room, their client "Beans" stresses that this meeting did not happen. He emphatically insists SCDP forget this meeting as he doesn’t want the Ketchup division to be even more successful than it already is. So Don tells them to back off from Heinz Ketchup even though, "Ketchup is the Coca-Cola of condiments."

Stan relays this humorous story to Peggy on one of their late-night calls. Peggy then tells Ted about it because she thinks it's funny. Surprise! The next morning Ted insists she go after the Heinz Ketchup account since they're shopping around for a new creative agency. I must admit, I was very excited about all of the advertising discussions this episode. I have no doubt there are still some closed door dealings and client loyalty issues going on today.

Speaking of Peggy, she's still navigating her way through the good ol' boys way of doing business. There aren't many women creative directors and she's uncertain how to manage her mostly male team. She doesn't want to seem too bossy or shrew or motherly. Her little pep talk doesn’t incite any excitement among the team because it seems flat and false. The team in turn plays a practical joke on her to not-so-subtly highlight her overly-critical tendencies.

Viewers were also treated to some flashbacks into Don's earlier life this episode. Since his formative years were spent living in a brothel, it's little wonder why he treats women the way he does. To offer Sylvia money (whose husband is a surgeon) is very insulting. Even more disappointing was that she happily took it. Their relationship is interesting and though Sylvia may not realize it yet, she has the upper hand. The restaurant scene between those two was ripe with subtext and undertones. Sylvia later expresses a fear, saying they can't fall in love. But I'm afraid it's too late for Don. Sylvia is his drug of choice and lucky for him she's only a floor away.

Mistress and wife meet in the laundry room and Megan has an emotional breakdown. The two ladies have a heart-to-heart conversation as Megan shares she recently had a miscarriage. She is upset and feels guilty because she wasn't sure she wanted the baby and hadn't even told Don. She finally tells Don and he of course wants what she wants. I'm sure what she really wants is for him to be faithful. Don is a playboy and being faithful isn’t in his nature. So yes, we had collaborations of all sorts this episode.

In the world at large, the Vietnam War is definitely heating up. Did you notice any time there was a TV or radio in the background the news was about the war? It'll also be interesting to watch how that major event is woven into the storyline. 

Until next week!

As we’ve shared before, our team always reads industry sites and newsletters to find the latest media trends, news and tips. Here are a few of the online advertising stories that caught our eyes this week. Enjoy!

What Marketers Should Know About Ad Servers – Ad servers are the tools that place advertisements on websites. Sounds simple, but the truth is that without them, the unique capabilities and precision of digital advertising might not exist. So then why do so few marketers understand how ad servers function? Over at iMedia Connection, Eric Picard, CEO of Rare Crowds, shares the basics of the all-important ad server, arguing that better decisions can be made once a marketer has a handle on how this tool works. This is a piece you’ll want to re-read and then bookmark.

Enforcer of the Online Ad Opt-Out - Genie Barton, VP and director of the Council of Better Business Bureaus' online behavioral advertising and mobile marketing initiatives, is the enforcer of the bureaus' Digital Advertising Alliance’s AdChoices program, which requires brands to place a small, triangular blue icon on their ads. When consumers click on the icon, they are sent to a page where they can choose to opt out of targeted ads. In a Q&A with Adweek, Barton discusses online privacy and ad targeting. You’ll want to read what she has to say.

Are Your Online Ads Viewable? - Ad management company DG just released its Global Benchmark Report for 2012, which pushes to make viewability the chief metric for online ads – not clicks. In order for an ad to be counted as viewable, half of its pixels have to be in view for at least one second. Their argument makes a lot of sense and is very convincing. Click here to read more and download the report.

Digital Now Makes Up Bigger Chunk of Agency Budgets - U.S. ad spending grew 4% during the first two months of 2013 vs. that same period in 2012, with digital accounting for the second-largest share of media spending. Digital made up 22% of ad agency buys, according to data from four of the six agency holding companies compiled by the Standard Media Index. Digital media buys also rose 16% during the January and February, with a 23% increase in ad networks and 12% increase in premium display.

What online advertising stories made you click this week?

Even though mobile has become the clear medium of choice of Millennials and many other U.S. adults, marketers and advertisers are still apprehensive about launching mobile campaigns for many reasons. They find it hard to measure ROI, there are too many choices, it’s hard to fit mobile into a cohesive digital campaign and perhaps most importantly, there’s no standardization in terms of formats and sizes.

But as we’ve said many times here at the SRDS blog, marketers and agencies must re-evaluate and transform their mobile strategy in 2013 if they want to succeed.

The good news is that Joe Laszlo, Senior Director of the IAB Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence, says that the IAB is making strides to ensure that mobile will have more consistent guidelines in 2013.

If you’ve ever planned an online campaign you’ll know that the IAB Ad Unit Guidelines are essential for creating, planning, buying and selling of interactive marketing and advertising. We also recently added ad sizes and formats (IAB-standard and not) to our SRDS.com digital listings.

It’s exciting to see that the IAB is taking the next logical step in digital advertising normalization and attempting to implement standards for both video and mobile.

Last month In February, the IAB and the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) released “Mobile Phone Creative Guidelines” for public comment in an attempt to streamline the development of ad units across the industry. And just this week, the IAB revealed five video ad formats that it hopes will eventually become industry standards.

That’s not to say that both initiatives won’t be a major challenge for the organization, but without a doubt the entire online advertising industry, publishers and marketers will be much better off once it’s implemented.   

When you need to know the types of ads a website accepts, look no further than SRDS.com.  We’ve just started adding ad sizes and formats to our digital listings so you’ll have a more complete view of the countless online advertising opportunities on the Web.

Organized by IAB standard or Non-IAB standard, this section reports the ad sizes (ex: skyscraper) and formats (ex: Flash) that were served on that website within the most recent three months. We’ve added this information to nearly 15,000 digital media listings so far and are reporting on 73 different ad sizes and 3 formats.

We will also provide users with a link to current IAB standards and guidelines. We hope that this data and the IAB references provide you with all the information you need on creative standards/practices and simplify the process of buying, planning and creating digital ads.

From SRDS.com search results, click through to the listing detail and then hit the Ad Sizes & Opportunities tab to see what this looks like:

If you don’t currently have access to the digital database and need to incorporate Web sites into your plans, let us know. We have detailed advertising information on almost 23,000 national consumer, b-to-b and local websites, as well as audience metrics, site images and now ad sizes and formats.

If you have other ideas for enhancements to SRDS.com, drop us a note. User requests and feedback are critical as we decide to make upgrades and changes to the site.  

Broadcast media buyers and planners use SQAD data for media cost forecasting, specifically to find out what a CPP should be in the upcoming quarter, by market, by daypart.

Cost per Rating Point (CPP) is a metric used to determine the cost of buying ad space to reach 1% of their target audience. It allows media buyers and planners to compare the costs of advertising on different media outlets to determine the most efficient and cost-effective placements.

Here’s where broadcast planners can find this updated information in Kantar Media SRDS:

SQAD Spot Radio Cost-Per-Point Estimates by MSA

Go to the Radio Media database and on the welcome page, click on the SQAD Spot Radio Cost-per-Point Estimates link.  It will pull up a list of PDFs with SQAD data by metro market. The radio CPP data is only available to subscribers of the Radio database.

TV Households Cost-Per-Point Levels by DMA

Go to the TV & Cable Media database and on the welcome page, click on the DMA Maps and Profiles link. It will pull up a list of PDFs with SQAD data by DMA. This data is only available to subscribers of the TV & Cable database.

If you’re interested in accessing the Radio or TV/Cable databases, let us know.

This week, I had the opportunity to host another Media Mixology event in NYC, bringing together the SRDS community of media buyers and sellers. We networked, enjoyed some hospitality and heard a few insights from industry professionals, Mary Poscik of G2, Kevin Moeller of Media Behavior Institute and Ki Mae Heussner of GigaOm.

This event was actually a make-good because we had to postpone it from November in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. But despite the rescheduling, more than 100 professionals showed.

The discussion centered on the challenges agencies face when integrating emerging media into our clients’ plans, and how agency professionals can be better partners for their clients.

In prepping for the discussion, I was struck by the number of big headlines that have occurred in our industry in the last three months since we postponed. It made me appreciate even more the challenge agencies and marketers face as they try to stay ahead of the consumer’s ever-changing habits.

Across the media research, advertising and technology landscape there have been a number of big headlines:

• In Media Research: Consolidation of audience media measurement firms continues, as Nielsen announced its plans to buy Arbitron and the industry weighs the benefits of single source providers.
• In Technology: The mobile wars continued to escalate with Apple introducing a new iPhone and a mini tablet, Microsoft releasing Surface Pro, Samsung gaining traction with Galaxy, and now RIM is seriously pursuing a comeback with its latest (and strongly reviewed) Blackberry.
• In Digital Media: Facebook has introduced a whole new media: social search. Now there is speculation that they will acquire Atlas ad server technology from Microsoft to help super-size their display ad business.
• And in TV: This time of year, the entire ad industry is watching new campaigns break on the big screen for major events like Golden Globes, the Super Bowl, the Grammys and the Oscars. But how many of us have already seen these ads on the smaller screen? That’s why we also have to watch social media, especially the Twitterverse for analysis and ROI insights. And so not surprisingly, Twitter announces the acquisition of Social TV researcher Blue Fin Labs.

And that’s just the big stuff.

Through all of this, marketers don’t just expect their agency partners to stay on top of news coverage and understand the changing players as well as their new line-up of offerings. No, what marketers really need is help in understanding how their audiences are adopting and using these new technologies and how their behavior is being measured. They are anxiously relying on us to advise them how to participate in this new environment, while still doing our day jobs.

It’s a major opportunity and a reason why we love being part of our dynamic media industry. It’s how each of us keeps learning – and pushing our clients to try new things. And it’s why we all want to come together at these events, share ideas on what’s working, or not, and blow off a little steam.

Thanks to our speakers, Mary, Kevin and Ki Mae. Thanks to our sponsors for making the event possible. Thanks for spending some time talking with me and the SRDS team about your new challenges. Thanks for giving me a reason to stop and reflect on what’s happening so quickly. It’s why we love media.

Thanks to everyone who made this week’s Media Mixology event such a success. More than 100 media planning and buying professionals came out on Fat Tuesday to socialize with representatives from our media company sponsors. They shared ideas, snacked and sipped cocktails in a cool NY lounge.

Our purpose for these after-work gatherings is to bring together the entire SRDS community – the buyers and sellers of advertising – in a relaxed yet chic setting. It’s another way for you to mix fun and networking with media insights and information. At each event, we invite a few thought leaders to share their insights on an important topic.

This week, Mary Pocsik of G2 and Kevin Moeller of Media Behavior Institute, with industry reporter Ki Mae Huessner of GigaOm moderating, shared how they make decisions about integrating new media into client media plans, what media they have found effective and how they measure success. Mary and Kevin also presented to a Chicago Mixology crowd last fall, and your Chicago colleagues found different takeaways to use with clients.

It was a fun evening, with small conversations dominating. In fact it had such a great flow that a fair number of the group stayed to socialize an extra hour.

We’re getting all the photos ready, and will put up audio from the Chicago event, Mary and Kevin’s presentations and links to a few of Ki Mae’s articles. We’ll keep you posted.

Thanks to our sponsors who make these events possible:

• SaleSpider Media
• American Classifieds / Thrifty Nickel
• Architectural Record
• Bloomberg Businessweek
• The Purple Network
• IEEE Spectrum
• Marketing Profs
• PaidContent / GigaOm

Interested in Kantar Media SRDS hosting a Media Mixology event in your city? Let us know – we’re looking for places we can assemble a good group from both sides of the buy.

For years, many businesses focused their marketing and advertising efforts at a national level. But with the rise of social media, search and mobile, the game has changed. It’s clear that the key to cost-effectively reaching your best prospects is to laser-target campaigns and go local. In fact, an updated BIA/Kelsey forecast expects advertising revenue for all local media to reach $147.1 billion by 2016, at a 2.1% annual growth rate.

On the surface it may seem difficult to adapt a national marketing plan for a local market, but the creative itself doesn't necessarily need to change too much. It's all about determining how to best make it resonate for that audience and more importantly, where to place it so it reaches your target audience. Many marketers use SRDS.com to get the data they need to make informed decisions about local advertising opportunities. Here's why:

1. Any Media Type: Access detailed information on every available media property that accepts advertising, including websites, newspapers, radio stations, TV & cable stations, magazines and out-of-home opportunities.
2. Every Market: Conduct a DMA drilldown with comprehensive local media data for all 210 DMAs across the U.S.
3. Background Check: Research new markets with consumer demographic data.
4. Due Diligence: Even if you work with an outside agency, guarantee that they are selecting the right ad opportunities for your brand in markets you may be unfamiliar with.
5. Actionable Data: Listings include all the data points you need to compile a plan, including rates, contact info, audience metrics and much more.
6. Smart Spending: Small businesses, retailers and restaurants all use SRDS.com to find innovative and affordable ad placements that go beyond the budget-breaking TV buy.
7. Ask Around: Don’t miss out on this unique service. Marketers from Kohls, Dr Pepper, Crate & Barrel, Shoe Carnival and possibly your direct competitors already rely on SRDS.

See SRDS in action and let us know how we can help with your local marketing needs.

While I wouldn’t say that any of this year’s Super Bowl commercials topped the action-packed game and larger-than-life performers, but there were four memorable ads.

Perhaps not as memorable as the black-out though. You can bet that had advertisers worried, but interestingly, many of them capitalized on the strange event with comic social media posts, like these:

But here are the top commercials from this year’s big game:

1. Budweiser: Brotherhood – Most commercials are all about silliness or clever quips, but Budweiser did a fantastic job with this moving take on their classic Clydesdales. It’s beautiful story-telling, without any words.
2. Doritos: Goat 4 sale – I have relatives in Greece that have pet goats, so for me, this ad really hit home. Doritos consistently comes out with funny Super Bowl ads and this one does not disappoint. And most of us can appreciate that these are consumer-created ads, with a prize. Even though it’s not a consistent campaign, ‘funny and offbeat’ comes out loud and clear as the brand message.
3. M&Ms: Love Ballad – This spot came early, and for a while, it was one of the best. Poor old red M&M just wants some lovin’, but he quickly realizes there are certain things that even he won’t do for some TLC.
4. Best Buy: Asking Amy – Just because it’s Amy Poehler, this one makes my list. The actress is a bit over-zealous in her question asking, but this Best Buy salesperson is ready for anything.

What was your favorite spot from this year’s Super Bowl?

Usually, we visit a webpage for either content or utility. Sometimes when we’re lucky, we get both. So it’s no wonder that in the past few years we’ve  seen the rise of content marketing in an attempt to combine the best of both worlds. 

When I visit a site intending to buy something transactional, utility is the table stake to get me there. I also want to find out as much as I can before I buy anything; give me reviews, industry news and a way to see what other folks like me are buying. It’s a huge advantage if I can do all of these things without ever leaving your website. Bonus for me because I get everything I want in one stop and bonus for you because not only do I stay on your site, I come back again and I tell my friends about my great experience.

How do we find the sites we visit? If we know where we want to head, we type in the URL and off we go. If we aren’t sure, we typically visit a search engine, throw in a search term and see what it cranks out.  If we’re lucky, we have a recommendation from a friend (perhaps through social media) and find exactly what we want.  For most of us, I would guess this last approach is the preferred method for finding most things online. After all, a friend’s opinion generally carries more weight than a site’s SEO.

Consumers aren’t the only ones to notice this preference. Erik Qualman has been telling us for the several years in his video “Social Media Revolution” that “we will no longer search for products and services…they will find us via social media.” How will the products and services find us? They will find us via the continuing explosion of social media usage and referrals. 

In his October 2012 article in the Atlantic, Alexis Madrigal points out that across the same sites, social sources were responsible for 18% of referral traffic and search sources were responsible for 22%. 

How is it possible that social referrals will surpass search in the coming years? Social referrals will continue to rise as our activity increases on sites like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, where we share things that we love with others. Instantly we can electronically share information with thousands of people whereas in the past we probably would have had ten to twenty face-to-face conversations. This idea of products and services finding consumers is accelerating as we continue to use social media as a way to share what we like, love, need, are looking for and don’t like.

Facebook has just stomped on the gas pedal. By introducing “Graph” search across its massive hold of user preference data, you can group your Facebook search into a specific subset, such as "my friends who like hockey," or more precisely "my friends who like hockey and live in Chicago." You can also filter for things like music or movies my friends like.

For advertisers, by becoming more well-liked on Facebook, they are more likely to be found by folks who are actively looking for their products and services as well as the products that are similar to them. If you haven’t heard of the term contextual search, get ready because that’s how we’ll refer to this new Facebook search capability. And certainly others will be looking for ways to replicate this contextual search functionality. 

Similarly, Google introduced its social network Google+, which is unlike other social networks in that it’s not accessed through a single website. Google has described Google+ as a "social layer" consisting of not just a single site, but rather an overarching "layer" which covers many of its online properties. The company clearly recognizes that social referrals will continue to rise in number and in importance and this is a way for it to maintain market share.

All of this brings me to a central question: how will this affect our search behaviors and the ways marketers optimize their pages to be found? As Greg Levitt pointed out in his MediaPost  entry from Jan. 9, this changing of the search guard will force marketers to optimize social media content distribution versus tweaking their interaction with search engine algorithms. 

Marketers and advertisers must optimize their media plans beyond just SEO. Social recommendations and sharing may end up being much more important. It isn’t just about someone typing in a search term and happening upon your site.

Can users share information about your product on Twitter? Can they send your product as gifts on Facebook? How many users are sharing information about your service on Facebook graph? Are there images of your products on Pinterest and Instagram? These questions will become the norm in the coming years and social media usage and the phenomenon of social referrals continue to rise.

Marketers/Advertisers: How will this affect your channel planning and optimization schemes?

Online advertisers and publishers have been using behaviorally targeted ads to track, reach and serve ads to their target online demographic. It’s about time that digital radio got into the game.

According to an article by PaidContent, marketers will soon be able to target online radio listeners based on their Internet browsing habits. Currently, you can only track this user base by zip code and gender.

This important development is the result of a deal between radio service provider Triton Digital and data provider eXelate. Marketers and advertisers shouldn’t disregard this agreement. It will have a big impact on advertising plans and results—and not just for sites like Pandora but for traditional radio station sites as well.

For example, if I’m looking at an exercise website, the next time I’m listening to my Classic Rock Pandora station, I may hear an ad from a local fitness center.  Or if I’m searching for a good Mexican restaurant in my area, a targeted audio ad might come up for Chipotle.

Mike Agovino, Triton Digital COO, told PaidContent that radio ads represent a $17 billion industry but one that depends on archaic metrics and that offers little accountability to ad buyers. He believes that letting brands sell to listeners based on their Internet browsing behavior will drive automated ad buying and grow the value of the radio ad market.

Marketers/Advertisers: Will you be more willing to advertise on digital radio now that you can target your ads? 

Per Ad Age, 30-second spots in this year’s Super Bowl sold for around $3.7 million - yep, they're already sold out. For any marketer buying one of these spots, this is likely the largest single advertising investment all year. Recouping this kind of investment takes a massive lift in sales and/or customer acquisition activity—a lift most companies won't see. This is why, for most advertisers, it’s an easy decision to stay away from the big game. How then, does any advertiser decide it’s a good idea to spend this kind of money?

It starts with the understanding that any marketer buying a spot in the Super Bowl won’t see a direct equal return on the money spent—not right away anyway. Buying a spot in the Super Bowl is more about being culturally relevant. There are still no other events where an advertiser can present a brand message to an American audience upwards of 100 million people all at one time. 

And boy, do we like those brand messages. We tweet, like, share, vote on, upload, blog and discuss in person what we’ve seen. The Super Bowl is also one of the few events where there’s analysis of the game and the advertising in the newspapers the day after.  You don’t see columns in the Chicago Tribune about who won and lost the advertising race on the last episode of Grey’s Anatomy. 

Astute marketers can take their participation in the game and use social media as a force multiplier to generate buzz and excitement around their message both before and after the game. Creating contests, leaking additional video content and tweeting out questions around the ads are just some of the ways advertisers create this buzz.

Sometimes the marketers don’t have to do anything. Just this week I went looking for classic Super Bowl ads via branded channels on YouTube. These ad views will register with the marketers long after the ads have run in real time. 

Advertisers/Marketers: Do you think advertising in the Super Bowl is worth the cost?

For years, mega-sized advertising agencies beat out their smaller counterparts 9 times out of 10 because they could access large-scale media buys for a better price. But Matt Murphy, Founder and Executive Director of fusion92, believes that this trend may be slowing, as hyper-local advertising allows “mid-sized and smaller firms with broad regional knowledge and full-service advertising capabilities that include digital expertise” to gain a clear advantage.

Hyper-local advertising targets individuals at the neighborhood or ZIP code level and delivers timely, relevant ads that often have a local component in the creative or messaging. Consumers are inundated daily with ads on every media channel, with most being ignored because they don’t have any relevance to the user. But hyper-local advertisers can create smarter, more targeted approaches that vary by location.

Agencies already use SRDS.com to reach targeted markets by DMA. They have access to media planning data for local websites, print magazines, newspapers, radio, TV and out of home.

But just because these agencies are tailoring their campaigns for local markets doesn’t mean they are ditching large national campaigns. On the contrary, it’s more about using data and technology to customize a large campaign so that it is better matches the targeted audience.

It makes sense that a message incorporating something about your neighborhood (a free appetizer at the Chili’s down your street, for example) has a greater chance of resonating. And not just for you, for everyone in your ZIP code. For users in Chicago, Chicago Bulls imagery or a sound clip from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra might make strike a personal (and memorable) note.

Another reason agencies should consider hyper-local advertising is that it’s cost-effective. Digital technology such as Foursquare encourages users to share location information, making it easy for advertisers to reach their target markets, both through traditional methods and digital channels. According to Murphy:

“Advertisers can segment target audiences to ZIP-code levels, build customizable creative for local components of national campaigns and use digital and traditional advertising channels to distribute hyper-local ads and generate market share gains across multiple regions.”

The ad industry is only going to get more competitive, but if smaller agencies can take the bull by the horns and become more agile, then they have a big opportunity. Plus, the technology and data is already there, so why not use it? 

It hasn’t been an easy year for ad agency professionals, but that doesn’t mean they’re pessimistic about 2013.

According to a survey from RSW/US, the majority of ad agencies surveyed (62%) believe that new business opportunities will increase next year compared to 2012. The survey polled 168 agency executives and more than 100 marketing professionals.

About 45% of agencies surveyed believe that opportunities to pick up new business in 2012 exceeded those in 2011. While that may not seem like a huge percentage, it more than doubles the 21% who believe that new business opportunities decreased. About 34% said that the opportunities were about the same. According to the RSW report:

“We suspect that as the economy continues to move ever so slightly forward, and as the elections finally come to a close, we'll experience a higher degree of certainty in the market, which should give marketers more confidence in how and where they spend their dollars.”

Similarly, data from our October Kantar Media SRDS Consumer Magazine Media Planner/Buyer Research showed promising signs from an ad spend perspective.

We surveyed 114 professionals from advertising and marketing agencies, media planning and buying companies and in-house agencies. They estimate 5% growth in what they will spend on consumer magazine media in the next twelve months. Their average budget in the last twelve months was $3.9 million and they expect it to be $4.1 million in the next twelve months.

More than half of the respondents (59%) said their ad spend will be the same, while 27% said they would increase spending and 14% said decrease.

One more piece of insight from? the RSW/US survey: Agencies believe digital (76%) and social (53%) to be the two biggest business drivers relative to other marketing/media platforms.

While we don’t know what the next year will bring, it’s good to know that there’s a positive feel coming from agency folks and that many of them will increase their spending as a result.

What do you think? Will 2013 will be a better year for the advertising industry?

A few weeks ago, we wrote about tablet commerce and how publishers are trying to find new ways to make money while offering readers a more interactive experience through e-commerce offerings.

Thanks to Esquire Magazine, we now have a real-world example of this taking place. The December issue of Esquire uses the iPhone app, Netpage, to convert paper print magazine pages into ones that are digitally interactive on your smart phone.

According to an article on Internet Retailer:

“Readers can use the Netpage app to interact with the print edition of Esquire and do things such as purchase items in ads, play videos, and digitally clip and save any article, photo or ad and share it via e-mail, text, Facebook, Twitter and other social networks.”

And this isn’t just a test run for Esquire. All forthcoming issues will function digitally using the app. Hearst Corp., Esquire’s publisher, also announced that its other magazines (Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire and Elle) will use Netpage in the future.

How Netpage Works:

When a reader hovers over the print magazine pages with a smartphone, the app recognizes each page and sends a digital replica of the page to the reader’s mobile screen. As the reader moves the phone over the page, the app tracks it, and then sends instructions to its web servers on what to show the reader based on how the app interacts with magazine pages.

What Readers Can Do With Netpage:

In this issue of Esquire, for example, a user can watch a video of actor Bradley Cooper, buy featured items from internet retailer MadeMovement, share a recipe on Pinterest and save articles to read later on a smartphone.

Advertisers also benefit from interactive publications like Esquire’s in that they can make their ads interactive and flashy. Lexus is the big winner in this issue. The magazine includes a two-page ad spread for a new Lexus sports car. When readers scan the ad using the Netpage app, it’s almost like you’re emerging from the darkness into the light. The scene begins to animate on your iPhone, the car’s headlights flash on and then the screen morphs into a 30-second video ad.

This may be the first instance of a publisher pushing the digital envelope to enhance print reader experience and drive revenue, but it won’t be the last.

What will be interesting though is whether or not Hearst’s competitors will end up with a digital publication/e-commerce model similar to this or one that is radically and creatively different.  

What do you think?

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Do you think TV commercials are more effective than online advertisements?

Marketers and consumers don’t completely agree on the answer, according to the recent survey conducted by Adobe. The survey said that U.S. marketers rated online ads as more effective than TV ads, but only slightly (51%). On the consumer side, two-thirds of (marketers? Consumers?) believe that TV commercials are more effective.

Moreover, respondents considered traditional media (newspapers/TV) the best buy for marketing and advertising, but indicated that might be true just because consumers are accustomed to it. It’s hard to say.

Respondents said they would rather see an ad in their favorite print magazine (45%) or while watching their favorite TV show (23%) versus on social media (3%) or in an app (0%).

Again, that might just be because we’ve been conditioned into thinking traditional media automatically comes with advertising. Digital is newer and it didn’t always come with pop-ups, banner ads and “enter your email address to see this page.”

Both consumers and marketers feel online advertising is effective, but the majority of consumers (68%) responding did not have positive perceptions of it. They frequently used words like “annoying,” “distracting” and “all over the place.”  

While respondents consider advertising created by professionals to be the most effective form of advertising, a little more than a fourth of marketers (as well as consumers) believe that user-generated content is the best form of online advertising.

So what do consumers want to see in advertising? They want the ad to “tell a unique story, not just try to sell” and the majority prefers videos and user product reviews.

 Ann Lewnes, Adobe chief marketing officer, says:

“This study is a wakeup call for marketers. We know there’s a tremendous opportunity – online, on mobile, in social – in terms of where consumers are spending their time and money. But as marketers we’ve yet to really break through. Serving customers relevant content, delivering experiences that are engaging instead of intrusive and, just as importantly, measuring what’s working and what isn’t so that we can improve our marketing are all critical. When marketers begin to master these things we’ll turn the corner – consumers will start to notice and we’ll start to capitalize.”

Do you think TV or online ads are more effective, or do you recommend integrated campaigns?

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Last week, NextMedia Group announced the sale of NextMedia Outdoor, its outdoor advertising business, to Lamar Advertising Co. for $145 million.

Baton Rouge-based Lamar is the nation's largest outdoor advertising company, offering ads on bulletins, posters, digital billboards, buses, benches, transit shelters and highway logo signs.

The deal will allow NextMedia to focus solely on its radio operations, said NextMedia CEO Jim Donahoe. The company currently operates 33 stations across eight markets in the U.S. The sale also eliminated NextMedia’s debt.

SRDS covers changes like this in the Out-of-Home market continually. Our users rely on the SRDS database to find traditional outdoor options as well as targeted space like sampling, in-flight, in-store, in all 210 DMAs. The SRDS out-of-home database will reflect these changes after it uploads at the end of the week.

What’s the most interesting out-of-home placement you’ve bought?

In a recent blog post on iMediaConnection, Penry Price advocates that the rise of programmatic buying shouldn’t kill media planner creativity. I’ll take it a step further. Programmatic buying should actually enhance creativity.

When I had my first media planning job, the Internet was just starting to become an advertising medium. Back then a “roadblock” on the MSN homepage was a really big deal, and no one had ever heard of optimizing the plan, never mind doing it in real time. 

But that’s what programmatic buying now offers; the ability to reach consumers based on changing data in real time. As a former media planner, that’s exciting to me and it should be to you too.

I know what you’re thinking, how can I be creative when I’m staring at campaign dashboards all day? Price says it best:

“You can be more creative and serve your clients better (and be a hero at work) if you work to align your efforts to truly understand the journeys of your client’s potential customers.”  

Look at the matrix of web traffic data on the dashboard as a person and not as a slice of a customer segment.  For example, think of it as a person desperately searching for the season’s hottest Christmas toy and appreciate their journey as your own. Then recognize that programmatic buying platforms give you the ability to make that toy appear right before that person’s eyes.   

So what’s next? Look around for more interesting ways to connect your clients to people and their journeys. Everything is a potential entry point to the journey, from the ways people interact with products to their media consumption habits throughout the day. You can be the expert in the room; all it takes is some creativity. There, I said it.