Doug Schumacher

I find it both remarkable and encouraging that in this market a client has both the vision and the verve to do something this seemingly radical. Is it that radical? Not when you consider that they're going off a benchmark from a previous success story. It's yet another reason to get in and use new media tactics. It gives you a frame of reference to work within. - Doug Schumacher

This is good for a laugh - Doug Schumacher

Animated slide show with some good social media stats. it's definitely pulling from the cream of the crop in terms of it's case studies, though, and I think the bigger question is, How do you define ROI for the more average company that isn't necessarily going to get early adopter publicity. - Doug Schumacher

Build-A-Brand feels you should be able to create a brand as quickly and easily as registering a domain. This type of thinking is fascinating, as the implication is that a machine/algorithm/formula can create a strong brand presence. I suppose if you're a local dry cleaner this approach may work better than what many of them usually end up with. But given that most really successful small business ideas that grow to big ideas are generally born out of the passion of the entrepreneur, I have to wonder how this process will ever capture that sensibility. And I do think the difference will be noticeable. - Doug Schumacher

A good list of what lagging business operators can do to get in the new media ball game. - Doug Schumacher

Great podcast on 60s magazine Ramparts, which went from a Catholic literary quarterly to seminal left-wing publication. Jan Wenner worked there before launching Rolling Stone. So did the founder of Mother Jones. Great stories about Robert Sheer getting an interview with Fidel Castro (just after playing a basketball game) and their radical cover concepts. - Doug Schumacher

Interesting ways that business is taking shape. This concept of group couponing is generating a lot of interest, and responses. I'm a little surprised it's taking off via small business the way it has, as I would have thought it would have to be for larger, ecommerce brands to enable Groupon's profitability. But, they're already profitable. - Doug Schumacher

More steps towards Facebook's goal to be the connector across anywhere on the web. This is big, as while Yahoo is certainly having their challenges, they're still the number 3 site globally in terms of traffic. - Doug Schumacher

Love this interview with legendary sports photog Neil Leifer, who shot the famous 1958 NFL championship game shot of Alan Ameche going into the end zone for the winning score. He took that snap on his 16th birthday. It's full of great anecdotes about what it's like to stand inches from the ring where Ali just clocked Liston (his most iconic image). There's a gallery exhibit at the Anneneberg Space for Photography, in Century City, which sounds like a must-see. I went to a different show there a couple of months ago, and it's an exceptional place. - Doug Schumacher

Great interview with Bob Stein, Director of the Instituted for the Future of the Book. Any doubts about the veracity of his title are quickly dispelled once he starts talking. It's great to hear an industry insider -- although I'm sure he's considered an outsider by many -- to be not only aware, but inviting to the inevitable changes hitting the industry. One particularly great comment. He mentions that after the invention of the book, it took another 50 years before people started adding page numbers. To anyone in any industry who thinks "it's all been done", that's a striking reminder that no matter how obvious something an idea might be, there's a good chance there's a number of brilliant insights sitting around waiting to be 'discovered'. - Doug Schumacher

great posts today, Doug! - Glenn

Gracias, Glen. - Doug Schumacher

If you want to know what the general public is really interested in, check out what they're searching for. The top searches are really no surprise. Celebrities, wrestling, car racing, and a TV show, and a video game. The surprise entry goes to Naruto, a Japanese Manga series. Obviously something the fans are quite, well, fanatic about. - Doug Schumacher

One of the case studies around testing different creatives. While the concept is interesting, this particular application reminds me of tests in the 90s, when they'd test a red vs. a blue border, and then make a proclamation that X border is better. In reality, the key factor was, what color of background did the page have that the banner ran on. - Doug Schumacher

Teracent enables more highly-targeted ad distribution through a type of multi-variate testing for different target audiences. 1000s of ads can be created, then chopped up and distributed across a wide range of media units segmented by any number of demos. Is this infringement on the creative department? Maybe, maybe not. It reformats their role, but frankly, the key to good creative is a lot more than volume. And the more volume you have, the more you need messaging diversity to really maximize the potential from your testing. - Doug Schumacher