Playing Catch Up
Wednesday, April 25th, 2007It’s been three weeks since I’ve written. Just too many other priorities that demanded full time attention day and night, but hopefully the sand is starting to settle and I can get back to some semblance of a normal schedule.
I missed writing. But what I discovered I missed most…was forcing myself to take some time every day to step back a bit from the daily grind and learn something new or analyze what this or that might mean for marketing.
It’s amazing how much changes so quickly. At the end of March it really looked like Microsoft would buy DoubleClick. But by mid April Google announced its $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick. That’s a chunk of change. Talk about creating an even stronger powerhouse. It’s cool to think of being able to see reports for search, display and rich-media banners, and any click-based media vehicles (such as newsletters, text links, etc.) all in one place.
Yet the ever larger reach, depth, breadth and overall hold of Google makes me a bit nervous. And it sounds like consumer and privacy groups are asking the Federal Trade Commission to probe the privacy implications of Google’s deal for DoubleClick. The Electronic Privacy Information Center, the Center for Digital Democracy and a coalition of state public-interest groups said Google’s collection of consumers’ search information violates FTC fairness requirements and that combining it with DoubleClick’s tracking information is an invasion of a consumer’s privacy. So apparently I’m not the only one feeling nervous.
Other things that I found interesting…
Last month there were reports, but I guess it’s official now. Nike moved some of it’s business from Wieden & Kennedy to Crispin. It sounds like its the creative work for the running-shoe business, as well as the Nike Plus. Pretty sad…I always felt Wieden’s work for Nike was exceptional and I admired the long-lived relationship. But at least they are not out altogether.
Sounds like the fumble of the month went to Blackberry. You would think a company that pretty much started the rapid-fire messaging game would have done a much better job of letting its 8 million customers know about something as big as a RIM shutdown.
In the “not the least bit surprising” category…ABC wins the clutter award. That’s why I TIVO Grey’s Anatomy. ABC was the leader of MindShare’s annual clutter report, which says the alphabet network
logged 15 minutes and 38 seconds in total non-program minutes per hour in 2006.
Rosie O’Donnel plans to leave The View. Contract problems. Anyone surprised? I rarely saw the show, but admit it was fun to watch Rosie vs the classy Barbara Walters.
I missed a lot, so I best get busy in my quest to catch up.