So, in those massive secretive data centres there aren’t massive hamster wheels populated by drugged umpa lumpas.
Infographic by the Pay Per Click Blog
If I’m honest about it I’m a little disappointed.
Jamie
9th June 2010
Beautiful snowy scenes for a rainy summers day
As the summer kicks in (yeah right) I found this beautiful video of snow in America.
The photos were taken over a five year period by photographer Lisa M Robinson.
There is something beautiful and melancholic and hypnotic about them.
Jamie.
26th May 2010
The Times/Sunday Times Paywall
The recent surge in content creation/sharing online (which we know as Social Media) has raised many questions about what’s ahead. The future of the traditional press has become a major topic, with paying for a hard copy of a paper not sitting well with a free version online. With revenues for large media groups decreasing, we’re seeing the first big moves to address this issue.
The Times/Sunday Times have announced that they’ll introduce a strict pay wall around online content from the end of June, such that only those paying will be able to read material online. Cost to do so will be £1 for a day or £2 for a week. Not only will the public not be able to reach the content, search engines too will be blocked.
For more on this check out The Times article explaining the paywall.
It’s provoked a lot of discussion, here’s a brief taste of what some of us at RKH make of it,
Jamie Mollart
Account Director
Jimmy Wales, creator of Wikipedia possibly the greatest free source of information in history said at a recent conference, ‘The newspaper industry is like a bakery that sells the day old stale bread and gives away the fresh bread for free.’ Now, far too late they are demanding that the public pays for the fresh bread.
There is something bullish and rude about this attempt to monetise content on the internet. It smacks of desperation and shows an ignorance of the medium.
Newspapers aren’t going to be around for much longer.
We can get sentimental about it.
But, the simple fact is that they are not sustainable as a business model anymore. And, despite everything, the owners are business people. They will throw money at a dead duck for so long. Good will and history only goes so far.
And this is the problem with the paywall.
The public has never had to pay for content before. If the cost was footed by the consumer then each copy of a newspaper would be £5. The bill has always been paid by the advertisers. Now with falling circulations the advertisers are going elsewhere.
So the papers are turning to the readers and saying- “You’re going to have to pay for this now”, and I don’t think we’ll stand for it.
Mark Mclachlan
Public Relations Manager
Revolutions are often borne out of small pockets of resistance dedicated to overthrowing the existing status quo. A ripple of discontent soon becomes a wave, eventually engulfing and sweeping away the old order. Are we currently on the brink of a revolution in how we pay and receive news, with Rupert Murdoch cast in the unlikely role as commisar in chief of this new change in the perceived order.
It would not be the first time Murdoch has turned the newspaper industry upside down and shaken it to its very foundations? For those old enough to remember the Wapping print disputes of the 1980’s and the seminal changes that ushered in for the newspaper industry, News International has certainly got form for changing the face of the British media landscape forever.
Is the newspaper as we know it going to be torn up forever or is the information superhighway about to take a turn down a dead end road?
It makes for interesting times ahead as the big battalions of on-line content v good old fashioned in your hand, touch it, feel, read it news get set to battle for our hearts and minds.
The next few months will provide a revealing insight into how ready we are for revolution or how to content we are for consensus – whatever the outcome it should all make for a great news story, whether you chose to read it in the paper or on-line.
Ian Moore
Web Producer
It’s a very difficult time for the press and after hearing about reported losses made by media groups, I can understand why The Times have opted for this route. However, I have deep reservations about such a strict pay wall, and believe that free limited content with the choice to pay for a better quality/extended service taken by The Guardian/Spotify is the most viable option for companies wishing to serve media online.
Will it work? Paul Hayes, News International’s commercial leader, who came up with the plan says “If [the paywall] doesn’t work then I’m in the shit… I think that if it doesn’t work we face a future of less good media” (full article on Brand Republic). There will be subscriptions but how many they get, what retention is like, that rival publications are not implementing pay walls and the BBC as a free news source are big concerns. I don’t think “we face a future of less good media”, quite the contrary thanks to the openness of the Internet, it’s just the press need to catch up and not kill journalism by dragging their heels.
For us in marketing we’ll have smaller but more easy to target groups available on these sites, which will make appearing in these publications more valuable, so there’s potential for us and our clients in this.
What do you think? Will you pay to access The Times? Would you on a mobile device?
10th May 2010
Google has eaten my soul.
Not one to normally get excited about browsers, but I really liked this promo video for Chrome.
I’ve been resisting Chrome.
I already feel like Google pretty much owns me and using a Google browser to browse Google feels like selling the tiny bit of my soul which is left to them.
However.
I am a sucker for a well made promo video and this is cool.
So, I tried to set up Chrome at home, but because I’ve got OSX 10.4 it won’t work.
Saved by my retro technology.
Tiny bit of soul left. Intact.
At least ’til the weekend. Phew.
Jamie
13th April 2010
He has done well
I want it.
I must have it.
Not bothered about the car. Well, it would be nice.
But that number plate. Wow. That’s social media.
Jamie
12th April 2010
An open letter to Royal Mail
Dear Royal Mail
I am writing this in an electronic format, because we care about the planet.
We are an advertising agency. We are aware of the power of direct mail. We have been doing it for years. We consider it as part of our arsenal.
We are aware of you. Everyone in Britain is aware of you.
We have 23 employees. You have sent us 8 pieces of direct mail. Not just an A5 leaflet, but something made to look like a book. I don’t even want to think about how many agencies and marketing departments you have sent this to throughout the country. It’s got to be thousands.
But, and here’s the clever bit, when you open it all the pages have the middle cut out and there’s a little message saying “We’ve cut all the hard work out for you.”.
Laugh? We nearly cried.
We can just imagine the scarf wearing junior exec in a London agency selling the idea to you. And oh how they must have giggled as they stiffed a struggling company for a load of money.
I have attached a photo montage below that tells the story of what we did with your piece of marketing.
“Oh look, we’ve got a load of parcels, they look like they’ve come from Amazon. There’s even one for somebody who left a year ago.”
“Oh, it’s a book about Direct Mail. This isn’t one of those stupid Royal Mail things is it, like the chocolate letter they sent us or the aprons?”
“Oh ferchrissakes it is.”
“Lets recycle the whole lot without even reading it.”
You may not care about the planet. But we do and we’re supposed to be your customers. We don’t need 8 copies of anything. One will suffice. In fact, why don’t you email us. Or send us a link to a cool website you’ve made with the same information on it.
I hope to God that in the current financial climate you haven’t been using public money to create this tosh.
Bombarding us with expensive rubbish is not more likely to make us use you, it’s less likely.
Get a grip. It’s 2010.
Yours faithfully
Jamie Mollart
Account Director, Rock Kitchen Harris.
