Advertising actually died about 10 years ago. We’re just living through the mourning part at the moment.

But I have a feeling that what used to be called advertising will be a major part of successful future business models. Where do you think Google gets all it’s billions? There are just too many placements and not enough advertisers at the monment.

I didn’t realize that YouTube videos could have links. Need to find out how this was done. But it’s a bit frustrating being a passive audience. Miss the interactivity. But soooo clever!

Thanks @hmargulies!

The Wall Street Journal’s — ‘How Democracy Ruined the Bailout’ – seems to think that the combination of news media and the politics of our election added more fuel to a delicate economic crisis.

The old print media, usually the goto source for info and expertise, has become the victim of their current business model of paid subscriptions and advertising. The recession, which they may have encouraged, has caused people to stop spending on the non-essentials — newspspers and magazines. And has driven them to discover great free, online sources.

Mike Elgan has a great insight and solution. And it has a long tail. He says that local newspspers should focus on making local news global. Local papers should forget about competing with global, national, statewide news coverage which many of them still carry. Their subject is local but the audience is global. Plus they have bigger brands that they could leverage unlike bloggers who have been doing this for a while.

The New York Times may have figured that out already. Well, at least they keep trying new stuff.

In the old media, lines were clear, commercials and ads were just that. They were separate. As you know, many lines have either disappeared or are blurred. And ‘product placement’ is becoming much more common.

It also raises a question or two. Is this film art? Is it advertising? Can companies ‘control’ their ‘image’ or ‘brand’ in new media? Should they?

As a former creative director and copywriter, he knows the advertising format well. Richard was not hired by the company to do this. It’s his idea. And now with YouTube, he can ‘broadcast’ it without client approval, since it’s considered art. Pretty cool. The ‘Creatives’ have now also escaped the broadcast prison. And Richard is using the commercial format to make a social comment. Or is it the other way around?

Companies no longer have to guess, or research, what the consumers ‘want’ and think. As consumers instantly communicate with each other, through emails, text messages, blogs, tweets, and even, shockingly, face to face. Through various means they can tell companies much more than some companies might like. There’s no place to hide.

Sitting in a big corporate meeting several years ago, it was crystal clear to me that since the broadcast model has fallen apart, the best thing that a company can do is simply make a fantastic product, and just stand back. The consumer can take care of a good part of the marketing. Imagine the benefits if the efficiencies were passed along.

After all, with the new media, consumers are creating the research, the advertising and the ‘broadcast’ media all by themselves. The audience is now the marketing engine. And the resources that used to be allotted to marketing can be put to use in product development. The interaction between the consumer and the product, or service, defines the personality of the company.

But $2.5 million is most certainly not garbage and just think of the possibilities for political campaigns! 

And the sad news is that The Sun may close at the end of this month. Even it’s competitors are sad at the possibility of losing it. Not sure if there are plans to keep the digital version going.