Could an airline subsidise air ticket to almost zero cost, through in-air advertising?
In-air advertising could be on the audio-video system provided in (some) planes, or poster on the walls and roofs, or pamphlets in the back-pockets.
You think people would simply close their eyes in deep meditation to skip the advertisements? Then lets do this - they get a refund on their ticket based on a quiz they take before they deplane - the quiz tests them on the ads they saw during the flight!
But realistically, how much would advertisers pay for an in-flight ad. Or put another way, how much would one pay for a person's attention? Let go about it in a systemic manner - lets begin with how much advertisers pay for TV spots or newspaper ads. Then we can move onto calculating the attention span of a customer. More of these in later posts.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Micro-payments: Let Eveyone Make Money
The great thing about Web2.0 is that everyone can participate. Everyone can add to the content. But does everyone get to make money?
Consider three scenarios:
Amazon, a commercial marketplace, with users adding reviews and ratings. Users don't get anything for adding a review, Amazon does. (Of course, users get to read other people's reviews, and make informed decisions. A bit like Pay it Forward, but I will leave the larger implications to another post.)
Another site, with a lot of user generated content, displays ads to generate revenue. Again the users get to participate in generating the content, but not in the earnings.
Yet another site, gets users to generate lots of content and eye-balls, and waits to cash out in a sale to a larger player. Again the users who generated the content in the first place lose out.
Put micro-payments into place, along with all its shortcomings (!), and let everyone participate in the earnings, including the people who put those apps up, as brokers. Of course micro-payments is not going to be a panacea, but it is worth taking the web in that direction.
Consider three scenarios:
Amazon, a commercial marketplace, with users adding reviews and ratings. Users don't get anything for adding a review, Amazon does. (Of course, users get to read other people's reviews, and make informed decisions. A bit like Pay it Forward, but I will leave the larger implications to another post.)
Another site, with a lot of user generated content, displays ads to generate revenue. Again the users get to participate in generating the content, but not in the earnings.
Yet another site, gets users to generate lots of content and eye-balls, and waits to cash out in a sale to a larger player. Again the users who generated the content in the first place lose out.
Put micro-payments into place, along with all its shortcomings (!), and let everyone participate in the earnings, including the people who put those apps up, as brokers. Of course micro-payments is not going to be a panacea, but it is worth taking the web in that direction.
Micro-payments: An Alternate to Adsense?
The success of the web has been it's being predominantly free. And with web2.0 coming in, it is more free than ever before. And how can you beat a craigslist, which is almost 100% free.
But the larger question is how sustainable is it? We will revisit Craigslist in a later post, and build a case around that, too - but later.
For now I wish to tackle the problem , as i perceive, of the business model of most web2.0 companies based on sweat, free content, and adsense revenue. Generate lots of traffic, and get people to go to other sites, so that you can make money. And people probably go to other sites that are similar. And I think this model is fundamentally flawed.
So I would like to turn the whole model on it's head. I would like to make the whole content paid. Yes. All content.
The whole web would work on micro payments. Visit a site, read a page - pay $0.001 cent or some such. The amount you pay could depend on user ratings, frequently visited, etc (just the way a lot of web2.0 works).
Of course there are tonnes of problems implementing such a system - has the page been read, should children not browse the net, payment a function of time spent on the page, cost of implementing micro-payments more than the payments, what is the payment aggregator (each of this will potentially become a post) - but it is not flawed like the model of getting people to go away from your shop, if you wish to make any money.
But the larger question is how sustainable is it? We will revisit Craigslist in a later post, and build a case around that, too - but later.
For now I wish to tackle the problem , as i perceive, of the business model of most web2.0 companies based on sweat, free content, and adsense revenue. Generate lots of traffic, and get people to go to other sites, so that you can make money. And people probably go to other sites that are similar. And I think this model is fundamentally flawed.
So I would like to turn the whole model on it's head. I would like to make the whole content paid. Yes. All content.
The whole web would work on micro payments. Visit a site, read a page - pay $0.001 cent or some such. The amount you pay could depend on user ratings, frequently visited, etc (just the way a lot of web2.0 works).
Of course there are tonnes of problems implementing such a system - has the page been read, should children not browse the net, payment a function of time spent on the page, cost of implementing micro-payments more than the payments, what is the payment aggregator (each of this will potentially become a post) - but it is not flawed like the model of getting people to go away from your shop, if you wish to make any money.
Why Adsense is Flawed
You wish to make money. Sure.
You can write. So you decide to be a journalist. You wish to write and be paid for it. That is understandable.
So you write. Publish it on the web. Popularize it, get people to come to your blog. Then you pray that they go away, so that you can make money. This is the difficult part.
Well that is how adsense works! You make money when people go away from what you have to offer!!
Now, we know Google has made tonnes of money out of this, and there are businesses that are making a lot of money purely out of this sort of thing. And every now and then I come across people whose whole business model is to depend on adsense to make money, and some of them are simply being naive.
To me, something like adsense is flawed at the roots, and would be replaced by something better in a few years. Again, to stick my neck out, adsense would go when all content is paid - but that is for a later post.
My Do's and Dont's about adsense:
You can write. So you decide to be a journalist. You wish to write and be paid for it. That is understandable.
So you write. Publish it on the web. Popularize it, get people to come to your blog. Then you pray that they go away, so that you can make money. This is the difficult part.
Well that is how adsense works! You make money when people go away from what you have to offer!!
Now, we know Google has made tonnes of money out of this, and there are businesses that are making a lot of money purely out of this sort of thing. And every now and then I come across people whose whole business model is to depend on adsense to make money, and some of them are simply being naive.
To me, something like adsense is flawed at the roots, and would be replaced by something better in a few years. Again, to stick my neck out, adsense would go when all content is paid - but that is for a later post.
My Do's and Dont's about adsense:
- If you have loyal readership, and are sure that readers will comeback, even if they go away, use adsense.
- Use adsense when it is logical for users to explore further before they make a decision, or you have nothing more to offer.
- Dont distract users from your main content.
- Let adsense look distinctly different from the look and feel of your site (not sure, but gut-sense).
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
SMS Yourself to Salvation
"Reach out to God! Make offering(Rs 10-Rs 150) via SMS! Sms to 64655 @ Rs4/msg. ..."
This is a message I got a couple of weeks ago. So the world has evolved from the days when pujas could be offered on the net!
Salvation is just an SMS away. What else? Marriage? "I do." Simple enough to SMS. Divorce? "Talaq. Talaq. Talaq." Not tough.
How about sex? Why not? Here is what a marketing message (sms) might look like - "Reach out to the most beautiful women in Kasauli. Choose from: Meena: Rs 500. Munni: Rs 750. Mira: Rs 1000. SMS 66666 @ Rs4/msg. Our trusted associates with have safe sex with your chosen one. It is the thought that matters."
Philosophers, seers and saints would love this. Let everything, save eating, happen from a distance. Disengage from the worldly matters. Let SMS be the way to distance yourself from reality, and lead you to salvation. Of course, marketers would love this too!
This is a message I got a couple of weeks ago. So the world has evolved from the days when pujas could be offered on the net!
Salvation is just an SMS away. What else? Marriage? "I do." Simple enough to SMS. Divorce? "Talaq. Talaq. Talaq." Not tough.
How about sex? Why not? Here is what a marketing message (sms) might look like - "Reach out to the most beautiful women in Kasauli. Choose from: Meena: Rs 500. Munni: Rs 750. Mira: Rs 1000. SMS
Philosophers, seers and saints would love this. Let everything, save eating, happen from a distance. Disengage from the worldly matters. Let SMS be the way to distance yourself from reality, and lead you to salvation. Of course, marketers would love this too!
Monday, January 15, 2007
Second Life: A Marketer's and Philosopher's Delight?
Attention of potential two million active users (and rapidly counting) is surely something each marketing manager would like to get a pie of. More about this another day. For now here is an interesting page to track (complete with linden $ charts, conversion rates, volume on SL, etc!):http://secondlife.reuters.com/
And here I am sitting alone, with $L 0 in my pocket:
It is always refreshing to think about the Zen philosopher's story: "Am I dreaming about the butterfly, or is it the butterfly dreaming about me?"
There is an interesting story in Mind's I, by Stanislaw Lem, touching briefly on the dichotimy between virtual and real existence:
http://www.usfca.edu/philosophy/pdf%20files/princess%20ineffabelle.pdf
Mind's I, by Douglas Hofstadter and Daniel Dennett, is a real good read exploring in some depth real and virtual worlds.
What ever the reality, I shudder to think that some day Ray Bradbury's "The Pedestrian" will be a reality, thanks to Second Life and the like.
And here I am sitting alone, with $L 0 in my pocket:
It is always refreshing to think about the Zen philosopher's story: "Am I dreaming about the butterfly, or is it the butterfly dreaming about me?"
There is an interesting story in Mind's I, by Stanislaw Lem, touching briefly on the dichotimy between virtual and real existence:
http://www.usfca.edu/philosophy/pdf%20files/princess%20ineffabelle.pdf
Mind's I, by Douglas Hofstadter and Daniel Dennett, is a real good read exploring in some depth real and virtual worlds.
What ever the reality, I shudder to think that some day Ray Bradbury's "The Pedestrian" will be a reality, thanks to Second Life and the like.
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Contextual Mobile Ads
Each day I get a few SMS from my credit card, or my mobile service provider to spend some money and get get some cash back, or pay some cash upfront and get a few SMS free. The credit card ones get deleted the moment I see them, and the SMS ones I probably delete them half way.
Let me not even talk about voice marketing cold calls that I get on my cell.
So what could be a bit more innovative and relevant? Could contextual ads work in the mobile domain?
Idea 1: Say I am having a conversation with a friend, and we talk about a book the other person has read, and I evince interest in getting hold of the book. And the moment I get off the phone I get a message that says, to order such and such book SMS xxx to 2345, or something similar. Looks too severe? Would this be considered breach of privacy? What if the mobile company assures that no one is really listening to the conversations - it is only the intelligence of the algorithm that throws up the ad? How different would it be from traditional contextual advertising on the web?
Idea 2: Advertisers pay you to advertise. Of course. Now what if they pay you to have their marketing message as your ring tone? You use Nescafe's message as your ring tone, and you get, say, Re 1 for each full cycle of the message, to a unique listener, each day. The payment could come in the form of a credit in the monthly bill from your service provider, or some other mechanism. Part listing could entail a part payment. And of course you would carry the ringtone of the advertiser who pays the max - the highest bidder wins!
Let me not even talk about voice marketing cold calls that I get on my cell.
So what could be a bit more innovative and relevant? Could contextual ads work in the mobile domain?
Idea 1: Say I am having a conversation with a friend, and we talk about a book the other person has read, and I evince interest in getting hold of the book. And the moment I get off the phone I get a message that says, to order such and such book SMS xxx to 2345, or something similar. Looks too severe? Would this be considered breach of privacy? What if the mobile company assures that no one is really listening to the conversations - it is only the intelligence of the algorithm that throws up the ad? How different would it be from traditional contextual advertising on the web?
Idea 2: Advertisers pay you to advertise. Of course. Now what if they pay you to have their marketing message as your ring tone? You use Nescafe's message as your ring tone, and you get, say, Re 1 for each full cycle of the message, to a unique listener, each day. The payment could come in the form of a credit in the monthly bill from your service provider, or some other mechanism. Part listing could entail a part payment. And of course you would carry the ringtone of the advertiser who pays the max - the highest bidder wins!
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