I was inspired by Obama and Ron Paul. Grandfather Howard Dean and Joe Trippi must also be proud of my accomplishments.

Early this morning we (that being Fixion Media) launched a pilot program at Blabbermouth.net enabling independent artists and record labels to share in the cost of advertising. Much like Google ads, except branded and far more relevant, our shared Indie banner template shatters the barrier of entry for clients of all sizes.

Here’s an example campaign from the original story posted by Blabbermouth.net:

Double Banner Features:

• Shared banner (2 ad spots available per banner)
• More than 50% discount compared to “non-Indie” banner campaign
• Top-of-page “Leaderboard” placement alongside other premium advertisers
• Your ad rotates within a BLABBERMOUTH.NET-branded double banner frame
• Ad Specs: 350px x 70px - GIF, JPG, or Flash - Max 50KB File Size
• Click here to view a demo of the Double Banner.

Campaigns ranged from $75 to $150 USD.

The long and short of this story is that it was our goal to sell 10 campaigns in 48 hours. It’s a quick blitz; a cash infusion that is certainly scalable. Less than 24 hours in and we’ve closed 7 deals. This being a new campaign offering for Fixion Media at Blabbermouth.net, interest may be yet to peak. We don’t know yet. The important part is that we will likely meet our target by this evening.

But the experiment in itself was to test the “top down” versus “bottom up” donation strategy used frequently by politicians these days. Rather than sell our inventory to the higest bidder–which in remnant terms is nothing short of an insulting figure–we have looked to the community that is loyal and familiar with Blabbermouth.net. Visitors include all types of music fans and a significant porition of the rock/metal industry that find value in the site’s content and reach. In this case we wanted to know how much support we could count on only from the grassroots. The “top down” strategy in our case would have been to max out our leads, max our existing client buys, and seek new clients externally. The “bottom up” strategy allowed us to listen to the community and listen we did.

Publicly the comments on Blabbermouth.net’s message board have been very insightful. Mind you, it didn’t help that it’s April 1st. Some called this out as a joke but in any event it helped generate some added buzz on the side.

The most important part of this experiment: we now have 7 great new clients and hopefully more will decide to be more aggressive in the digital marketing space–especially first timers.

The real trick to keeping this momentum going a la Barack Obama is to keep POW-ing our client base (a la Andy Nulman). We have to keep innovating and building new products to further complement the needs of Indie advertisers. Soon enough you won’t be seeing Classmates.com ads or Google Ads anymore. And that’s music to my ears.

Filed under: Fixion Clients, Case Studies, Publisher Side, Vertical Ad Networks, The Future, Music Industry, Leadership

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I took the first day of 2008 to personally re-launch Fixion Media. (www.fixionmedia.com)

Imagine if you could re-launch your company or personal brand in an instant? I must admit, this isn’t the first time I adapt the future of my company to the increasingly globalized and technolocally-centric world. Second admission: it gets more enjoyable every time I do it. This is what life is about. If you can apply your learnings to actual life every couple of years, the world is bound to look peachy and progressive.

To a prosperous 2008. Happy new year!

(Stay tuned for excellent coverage on this blog and podcast in 2008 about marketing, advertising, business, politics, and more. My plate is full. Dine on it at your leisure.)

Filed under: Rich Media, Fixion Clients, Announcements, Press Releases, Publisher Side, Vertical Ad Networks, Fixion Media News, Mobile Advertising, Online Video, Video, The Future, Music Industry, Adtech Helios IQ, Artists, Wealth

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I’m pleased to see savvy musicians like Matthew Ebel taking advantage of Feedburner’s RSS ad network:

I have come to understand that most music marketing campaigns are limited in range. In 2008, we are pushing our clients to adopt multi-pronged media plans that include the web, mobile, rss, video, and beyond. You’re definitely ahead of the game Matthew!

Filed under: Fixion Clients, Publisher Side, Vertical Ad Networks, Media Planning, The Future, Music Industry, Artists

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While it took a while to reach this decision for reasons that I can’t yet divulge, I’m please to finally announce that Fixion Media has entered into a service agreement with Adtech. Specifically, we will be using the Helios IQ advertising platform to manage our network. While we are currently testing the platform, a full rollout is expected by or before January 1st, 2008.

Tis a perfect way to start a new year and I’m confident that our publishers and clients will appreciate the upgrade in our technology. Gone are the days of open source servers and self-monitoring. Adtech will manage the technical aspect so that we can focus on our core competencies as a network.

Last year Fixion Media served more than 300 million ad impressions. Next year we’re shooting for a billion.

Filed under: Rich Media, Fixion Clients, Announcements, Publisher Side, Vertical Ad Networks, Atlas, Fixion Media News, The Future, Measurement, Adtech Helios IQ

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The sign of a great client lies not with the amount of the budget allocated to your coffers, but with the qualititative nature of their collective integrities. And I quote:

I’m very sorry for the delay. We came into some bad financial issues over the past few weeks. You are one of three on the very top of our list to pay. We will take care of this shortly. Again, very sorry for the delay. thank you for being patient.

Now that’s class. If only all clients could have similar courtesies.

This post is inspired by Andy Nulman.

Filed under: Fixion Clients, Client Side

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As a vertical network, Fixion Media doesn’t fit the traditional mould of most juggernaut ad networks but we have taken part in the movement that eMarketer describes here:

“Internet spending growth used to be driven by small and midsize businesses,” [TNS research director Jon Swallen] said. “Now it’s the large companies like consumer packaged goods firms which are getting more into the Internet. The percentage of budget allocated to display by the top 50 blue-chip firms is still comparatively low, but that’s changing.”

While growth at Fixion Media has been fuelled by-in-large by small to midsize clients, we also are spotting more interest at the agency level as well as with major brand clients, both within the music industry and out. This growth is encouraging as it allows us to offer better technology, more campaign types, and so forth.

But my point here is an urgent one. In the coming weeks as our clients prepare their 2008 budgets, I am pushing for increased online marketing budgets as percentage of total expenditures; conservatively, 5% or more next year. The eMarketer article reports the Internet at only a 7.6% share for the first half of 2007 in terms of U.S. advertising spending by media. More importantly, that is a 17.7% increase over the first half of 2006 by far outpacing Magazine media at 4.6% growth. In other words, if you are spending the same on magazines and the Internet as you were two years ago, you are losing major ground on companies that have realized that audiences that are shifting online in droves.

In saying this, I will pre-emptively balk at those who decry my advice as being obvious in that I own an advertising network. Of course it’s in my interest. However, my point speaks to the fact that major buyers scale their marketing more efficiently than smaller companies. Major buyers are also more open to experimenting with new technologies and marketing channels. A big budget means more options. It is much more difficult though for smaller buyers to compete as they tend to stick to the same strategies and budgets as in years past without revisiting shifts in consumer behaviour. Changing the status quo may come at a higher price but it is worth the risk.

What the eMarketer article states above is that while smaller/midsized have enjoyed the bulk of the spending power in the last couple of years, larger buyers are going to flip the balance of power on networks like Fixion Media. Five figure deals are commonplace now. Less than five years ago, I remember getting e-mails from major name brands saying that they “don’t advertise online”. And they didn’t. Many labels in particular leveraged their might to seduce media to provide promotional exposure for free while they spent millions at MTV or VH1. Coupled with debacles like Napster back in the day and other P2P file sharing services gnawing the heels of power, it’s easy to see why independent music is flourishing online right now.

My grander point though speaks to the importance of small and midsized businesses as counterbalances to power. The independent scene is akin to the minor leagues of baseball. The superstars get signed while the underground economy struggles to create the next big thing. While this wouldn’t be a problem in past in the case of the music industry, the monoliths now have a diminished pool of talent to choose from. Even major bands like Radiohead are going independent because they can but it will become a more frequent occurrence. More bands will surely follow suit as profit margins are more appealing taking the indie route.

My prediction: corporations won’t give up. There is going to be a flood of money pouring online to regain share of voice where it has eroded in the past. This may negatively impact the underground scene but it could be a catalyst to a fair, free market that the music industry deserves. The Internet has made this possible for all of us.

Filed under: Fixion Clients, Client Side, Media Planning

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