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SAVE NETSCAPE!
Ok y’all.
You may have read that AOL is planning on discontinuing support for Netscape.
Nyuh-uh. Not having any of that.
Are you going to let them take away the reason why you’re reading this blog in the first place? Are you going to stand by and let AOL pull a Bob Irsay?
No sirs and ma’ams.
Don’t Let Them Kill Netscape!
Remember that first moment you went online? Those of you that did so in the 90’s anyway.
That N. Those stars. That soothing grey and purple.
The Netscape browser has a place in internet history, and I, for one, do not want to see it go.
Do you?
Don’t let Netscape go the way of other “unsupported” cultural gems like Arrested Development, Action, and The Famous Teddy Z. OK. Maybe not that last one, but you get what I mean.
We, the undersigned, pledge our unwavering support for Netscape out of respect for the browser that Drapeau built, and for the preservation of history.
Keep ’scape Alive!
Better yet, give it back to the people. Let the vibrant community of open source developers, programmers, and general die-hards restore Netscape to its former glory.
Viva Mosaic!
Show your support. Save Netscape. Give it back to the community.
Visit SaveNetscape.com and sign the petition.
Oh — and Happy New Year.
Posted in 
My Latest ClickZ Column: What If Piracy Was Legal?
My latest column on ClickZ is brief, but important. It basically outlines a ruling that would be flying completely under the radar if it wasn’t flying in the face of a hundred years of copyright law.
Check it out by clicking here.
Excerpt below:
“The New York Times” reports the WTO on December 21 imposed a $21 million sanction against the U.S. in response to a complaint made by Antigua, the home of many online casinos. After WTO ruled in 2005 that a U.S. law prohibiting online gambling was illegal, Antigua and Barbuda claimed $3.4 billion in annual damages as a result of the U.S. prohibition.
As part of the WTO ruling, the tiny island nation of Antigua was awarded compensation up to $21 million — but not in cash. Under the WTO ruling, Antigua basically gets a free to violate up to $21 million in copyright and trademark protections from the United States.
This is going to get very interesting.
AgencySpy Nails Why Indie Means Better.
Take a moment to read this great post by AgencySpy.
As an independent agency, we come into contact with much larger (less independent) agencies all the time. And one thing that always leaves me scratching my head is the lack of innovation that truly happens at many of those places. Innovation is a culture thing — not a lab. It’s something that should be a part of every employee — not a “Director of Innovation”.
From AgencySpy’s post:
Because those indie digital shops operate like trend units. They know what’s going. They live on the culture edge. Go on - ask a trad’s inner digital unit or media agency what an ARG is. Ask them what that hot new website is. Ask them about usage of the internet, gaming or mobile devices are for kids between the ages of six and thirteen. Ask them how to use Azureus or for that matter what one uses it for. We can go with this list, but… you get the idea.
I consider myself a student of innovation and technology, and I’ve tried to grow a company with the same values. Unfortunately, many of the larger agencies cannot retrofit themselves to innovate throughout an organization at the pace that’s needed to address rapidly changing technology and consumer behavior. Nor are they incentivized to do so.
It’s always been my goal to make Deep Focus the most innovative advertising agency in history. Not just of the moment, but in history.
Lofty goal? Sure. But the bar’s been set pretty low before us, and we’re going to keep on raising it.
Happy new year everyone. Here’s to an innovative 2008 and beyond.
Ads Online Better Than Ads on TV.
Well lookee here.
Ars Technica reports on findings of a Simmons report that says that internet video watchers are 47% more “engaged” by the advertising they watched than traditional TV viewers. The study also said that online viewers were 25% more engaged with the shows as well.
Per MediaPost, “engagement” was defined according to:
…six characteristics that respondents identify with media: “inspirational,” “trustworthy,” “life-enhancing,” “social interaction,” “personal time-out” and ad receptivity.
Survey participants were asked, for instance, to rate TV shows, magazines and Web sites based on how “inspiring” they were or how much they provided fodder for conversation. Ad “receptivity” was gauged on how willing people were to view or read advertising in a given medium because of its relevance.
Perfect timing for this writers’ strike, huh? Looks like there’s some effectiveness to be had in them thar streams. The natural assumption is that money will continue to follow.
Again, I will stress that online video is something to be taken seriously. Serious enough to rethink simply using existing :15 or :30 TV spots.
What the Dell Are They Thinking?
All over my neighborhood here in NYC (Union Square/Chelsea) are these ads, usually above subways, touting the opening of this Dell Direct Gift Store, a pop-up store, near Union Square at 813 Broadway.
So I think to myself, “That seems interesting. I wonder if they carry the new Nokia N810 Internet Tablet in there.” When one has a question, one typically turns to the Internet for an answer.
Of course, I go straight to Google and type in, “Dell Direct Gift Store”. Search. Nothing.
Then, “Dell Direct Gift Store” “813 Broadway”. Search. Still nothing.
Actually, I do get something. This link to what apparently is the only coverage of this store even existing.
The next thing I do is head over to Dell.com for some help in determining what the store’s contents are, contact information, anything.
Again, nothing.
The point I’m getting at is that if a company that relies so heavily upon the web for transactions goes through the trouble of opening a pop-up store, at least do it right and provide some information about it on the web, wouldja?
Deep Focus Plays Santa for PS 11
Who says advertising doesn’t do anything good for children?
Through the efforts of my amazing wife, Cheryl, Deep Focus delivered hundreds of new and used books to some kids in need at PS 11 in Brooklyn.
Check out the smiling faces on these kids. It kind of puts everything in perspective, doesn’t it?
What Does 2008 Have In Store for Online Video?
iSpot, from ShootOnline, brings us a feature that asks some of the online video industry’s leading executives (and me) to specify the top challenges facing broadband video advertising in 2008.
My portion leads off with this:
The business of broadband video advertising has many, many stakeholders, including publishers, advertisers, techonology companies, agencies, talent, distributors, and copyright holders. As revenue grows for video advertising, how many times can the pie get sliced?
Read the rest of my response, including those of execs from R/GA, DoubleClick, Brightcove, Organic, and others, here.
Never Let ‘em Tell You That The Internet Can’t Make You Famous (Or At Least Get You Some Work).
Take a powerful community (deviantART), mix it with a social news aggregator (Digg), and add in some serious talent, and there’s some serious potential for getting discovered.
This happened to an artist within the deviantART community that calls herself "spacecoyote".
And she did this, a Manga version of the cast of The Simpsons:
The Simpsonzu by *spacecoyote on deviantART
Long story short? Millions have seen and shared this work, and Matt Groening (The Simpsons’ creator) hired her. Read the story here.
Google’s Blog Search. Useless?
Speaking of Googsturbation, I have an RSS feed for Google’s blog search on my name. It’s good to know if someone is taunting me on some blog somewhere.
The problem is, Google’s blog search is filled with so much spam, I rarely get any legitimate results, because when they do show up, they are pushed down the list my fake posts (fauxsts - my term, I came up with it).
Google, there’s got to be a solution for this.
