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It’s hot. So hot that my blog is about something completely unrelated to digital media. It’s about summer fashion. Enjoy.

I am a big “rule follower” when it comes to fashion. No white before Easter or after Labor Day. Suede is for Winter, formal parties starting after 6pm mean black tie. I get it. But, in Austin it doesn’t seem fair.

Our summer starts very early and lasts until mid-October. In late July and August it is simply too hot to really wear anything other than shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops. (I know, shudder). This all really hit me this weekend when I looked in the closet at all the linen pants, shirts and seersucker, whit bucs and gingham that I have in my closet that it’s just too hot to wear right now. I hate it because Labor Day is fast approaching and I’ll have to put it all away.

Maybe I’ll issue a edict that until daily temps are consistently below 90 degrees, summer fashion is acceptable. I’ll confront dirty looks from the five people in Austin that even know what I’m violating a rule with righteous indignation.

While the rest of the country is still struggling in an economic recession and suffering renewed job losses as a result of the close of the 2010 Census and its layoffs, Austin seems almost recession-proof. If you need any indicator of hiring stats in Austin, check out the “New Austin Jobs” Twitter feed, job board listings, or read the local news.

In fact, Broad Street Interactive is part of the surge in new technology and media jobs - we’re hiring for digital ad sales. Check out the job description (or apply) here!

Coke just released its new strategy to reach its Korean market by tapping mommy blogs to be make its product more desirable to a younger audience. Coke believes these “digital influencers” will produce a strong word-of-mouth campaign at a fraction of the cost of traditional media. (from Advertising Age, July 2010)

Coke first built a relationship with these bloggers not only to properly inform them of Coke’s products but also to ensure that the blogger’s brand marketing would be consistent with Coca-Cola. Coke’s new attempt in social media marketing seems to be accurately executed, as 43% of Koreans maintain a website or blog daily, while 9 out of 10 twenty-somethings log in to a social networking site daily. Coke hopes to expand their blogging network to the rest of Asia as well as Australia within the year.

Broad Street Interactive frequently engages mom blogs in parent targeted campaigns with much success. Typical campaigns would include healthcare-related, daycare-related, and awareness-related campaigns that would not only benefit the blogger but their audience as well. Moms usually are the chief household operators and make the big decisions that affect the whole family, so it is crucial to inform them about potential products and programs that could enhance their daily lives in a way that they feel safe and secure. This is where building trust with the mommy blogs is critical and knowing what is best for them and our clients can pay off in the long run. A trusted blogger usually means trusted advertisements, which will lead to better campaign results and a higher ROI.

In the end, it is all about connecting a community of online moms and enlightening them about the new and upcoming ways of parenting and the lifestyle that accompanies those trends.

Are you interested in reaching a blogging audience? Contact us!

As social media is beginning to outweigh traditional media, people are now finding new ways to get their news and entertainment online. It used to be easier to map the demographics of a particular website, but with social sites like Facebook and MySpace, it is becoming harder to target a specific demographic. It is imperative to understand the trends that lead this shift in media and how ethnic minorities are more prevalent online than we may assume.

In a 2009 study by the Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication from Florida State University, data was collected to examine the patterns of social media behaviors of different ethnic/cultural groups in the US. The results showed that ethnic minorities visit social networking more frequently than non-Hispanic Whites.

The data was then extrapolated to determine which social networking site was deemed most popular among the users in the study. English speaking Hispanics again were at the top of the list with MySpace being the most preferred social site, followed by Facebook.

Although these statistics are interesting, finding the reasons why this shift in media is occurring among ethnic minorities will give advertisers and marketers a better understanding on how to engage this audience.

English speaking Hispanics tend to be a younger demographic than non-Hispanic Whites, and there isn’t any doubt that a younger generation is more accepting of emerging technology, but age is only a partial explanation for the use of social media. Factors like culture are more likely the relevant key driver of social behavior online.

Culturally, Hispanics are more collectivistic than non-White Hispanics and tend to look for advice from others when making important decisions. With social sites like MySpace and Facebook, these ethnic minorities can be connected to family and friends who are dispersed geographically. Also there tends to be a lack of content available online that is culturally relevant and in-language; ethnic minorities are forced to use social media in order to create and share their own content.

Although social sites provide a platform that allows people to organize and enhance their experience with others online, culture is still the bond that brings people together. Advertisers and marketers must focus on the cultural aspect when trying to reach ethnic minorities and reinforce their audience’s views and beliefs in the brands they are trying to promote.

This year’s iMedia Agency Summit at the Lost Pines Resort was another great event. We came away with a lot of good new ideas for our clients and learned about some new opportunities in the digital space.  I’m a big fan of separating the wheat from the chaff in digital media, so I loved the keynote “The Tyranny of Dead Internet Ideas” by Upstream Group’s Doug Weaver.

The summit brings the nation’s top digital agency media folks together in a setting that provides education and fellowship. It is a great place to connect and learn from each other. We always come away energized and more focused on delivering results for our clients.

I’ve been catching up on my reading this morning and found a few things to share. I’ve already Tweeted them, facebooked them and told everyone in the office so now I’m going to share them on the blog.

I embrace the Blackberry. So, I was glad to read this post on the top 10 Blackberry apps from Mashable.

The decline of Foursquare?  While social media location tools and apps are being hyped as the “next big thing” I like the honesty that asks if these services will survive long-term.  In the digital world we sometimes rush to embrace new technology and services without really evaluating their long-term efficacy or impact on our clients’ brands.

Adobe is biting back at Apple. I love competition. So, while I may think Apple is being a little harsh with their public criticism of Adobe, I also think Adobe needed a shakeup. I like watching the public catfight between these two companies that are not known for “openness” talk about being open.

Interactive advertising budgets continue to grow, even in a down economy. While media budgets overall may be stagnant, more and more marketers are moving budgets to the digital space. The digital advertising space provides measurable and affordable answers for marketers trying to improve ROI without budget increases.

We continue to see our budgets grow as our clients see direct results from the campaigns we run. Whether they are looking for engagement, leads or to close deals online the digital space is providing good value and results at affordable rates.

As digital budgets continue to grow, publishers have to maintain quality content and inventory to meet the growing demand. We’re talking to you, publishers that put five banners at the bottom of pages to try and meet our impression goals!

This isn’t the first time everyone has been all twitterpated on the privacy settings and failures for facebook. I have been an outspoken critic of the lack of privacy until I realized that we would not be subject to these invasions of privacy if we weren’t addicted to the narcissistic practice of self-publishing our every move and thought so maybe we all get what we deserve. Gawker thinks we’ll never quit.

What started for college kids to connect and hook up has turned into a national obsession. Marketers are insisting that brands cannot neglect an awesome facebook fan page and people are wasting hours of productivity updating their status when they should be working.

All the criticism aside, I love facebook.

Using facebook is a great way for me to connect to long lost friends and recapture the great memories we share. It’s also a great way for brands to connect with their consumers, if done the right way.  We advise brands to be engaged in social media and to have real live conversations and interactions with their constituents. When done correctly, facebook can connect a faceless corporation with people in deeply personal ways. This can elevate a brand and develop loyalty among consumers in a way that other mediums cannot.

Recently, I culled my friends list to people that live far away or family. When I see friends I say, “How are things going with you? I’m genuinely interested because I deleted you on facebook.” It gets a laugh and leads to a real live conversation where I’m engaged without using a social network to connect to people.

The transparency of ad placements has always been a struggle between advertisers and blind ad networks. Not knowing where your advertising dollars are going can cost you valuable impressions and clicks towards a campaign. As advertisers have less certainty to where their ad budgets are being allocated, service providers that offer ad-verification placements are becoming more popular.

Why won’t it become standard for ad networks to show clients the site list where they are placing the media? It seems that if a client needs to hire a 3rd party ad-verifier because they do not trust the network they work with, then they shouldn’t be working with them in the first place.

These ad-verification providers, like DoubleVerify, AdSafe and AdXpose, are able to track client’s ads using tracking pixels embedded in the ad tags. They are then able to monitor where the ads are being placed and remove them from sites that are inappropriate to the client—not to mention a refund from the publisher’s network. These ad-verifiers do more than just ensure that your ad doesn’t appear on adult content sites, but also review any specified IO agreements like page placements and geo-targeted placements.

“The use of verification is growing exponentially,” said Kent Wakeford, chief revenue officer of AdSafe. “It’ll become standard in online media buying.”

Although this new ad-verification service is able to catch and report the problem of misplaced ads, it doesn’t necessarily solve it. Even if the ad is taken down from an inappropriate site, the inventory bought is still lost from the media buy. The client is now getting a reduced number of impressions and has nowhere to place the excess media.

Fees for such services are about 5 cents per thousand impressions and although that seems low, it is an unnecessary expense to a client for trying to place media fairly. Fully transparent networks are the only way to give clients the confidence of using an agency without having to hire ad-verifiers.

Here at Broad Street Interactive, our ad placements are fully transparent on our hyper-local CPM ad buys. There is no “blind ad network” so you don’t have to worry about not knowing exactly where you are spending your money. When you pay for a media buy with Broad Street Interactive you get a full site list and approval of each media plan before we place any ad.

Chevy sponsored Glee’s Sue Sylvester re-creating the famous Madonna “Vogue” video. By tying themselves to this high quality content that combines icons and ties itself to a popular television show, Chevy is gaining a lot of free additional advertising.

Here’s the video

Since Chevy sponsored the video and isn’t paying by the impression (I’m assuming) they follow the video as it makes its way across thousands of facebook pages, blogs and emails. It also quickly became a trending topic on Twitter.

This is an innovative way of showcasing the evolution in television advertising. Chevy sponsored a three minute clip that promoted a television show. The synergy makes my head hurt. It also gets an end-run around the DVR generation since you have to view the Chevy sponsorship to see the video.

Consider me gushing.