The Red Cross saves the world outdoors

We've noticed the Red Cross has launched incredible outdoor creative around the world lately. Worth saving for inspiration, and to remind your outdoor design team: have one striking point.







Thanks to Charlie Menduni, our media director, and blogger Amy Gifford for the find.

Voyeurism, adventurism, and mental stimulation

The willingness to take risks is required in reproduction, evolution, creativity, communication and business. None of us would have left the womb if we'd carefully weighed the odds. So we shouldn't laugh to hear that some German tourists are now flying absolutely nude on an airline sponsored by travel agency OssiUrlaub.de. It seems there is an entire movement in Germany of free body culture in which clothes are, uh, too confining.

We shouldn't laugh because our management team is taking a flight ourselves (fully dressed) to get away to a warmer clime for a business planning powwow. A quick scan of Google finds there is an entire consulting-travel industry that facilitates corporate offsites. Yep. Our minds will think deeply on how to steer the economic ship, and we may end up drinking to our future in a big blue pool.

Why do humans long for green fields far away? Why do we surf the web at lunch, watch drivel on TV at midnight, travel to sunny lands to think business, and deep in our hearts know that, in another life, it might be cool to strip bare-assed on a plane? It's not sex or lunacy. More likely, modern civilization has our brains so wound tight with Twitter-recession-smartphone-Obama-blogging-Bernanke-RSS-iPhone feeds that we all just long to go away. Turning the brain off is a good way to turn the mind back on.

Impressions recalling impressions

Robert Krulwich tells an eerie story on NPR tonight of David Stewart, a man who slowly went blind over five decades due to a hereditary disease. Then one day in his 80s, Stewart was listening to a book on tape about George Washington's adventures on the Hudson River. And right before him, a sailor appeared in the room wearing a blue cap, looked him in the eye -- and winked.

Scientists say this type of extraordinary hallucination is common among people who, like Stewart, once could see but now are blind. The phenomenon is similar to amputees who feel the aura of a missing limb. The newly blind have vivid impressions of people, flowers, art, that are amalgams from their memories. Apparently the cells in the brain that once received signals from the eyes have nothing to do, so may misfire and tell the mind that new sight images are arriving.

Stewart's brush with phantoms reminds us that all impressions are interpreted in the eyes of the beholder. Two consumers can see exactly the same commercial and one may laugh while the other is affronted. Even the logic of communications can be disputed based on our differing histories. Will the use of a racial image offend? Is the business deal a conflict of interest? Are you really sure we look good in plaid?

Next time your marketing team or agency falls into debate over which creative message is right, think back on David Stewart, and remember: Everyone will see something slightly different. There is no clear image. Because every mind designs an answer based on its prior perspective.

Sincerity

So we're watching American Idol with the kids tonight (bear with us, they want to be musicians when they grow up) and while we're enduring this pure drivel suddenly a talented teen auditions in front of the three judges and Randy Jackson gets a weird look in his eye. We think we remember it.

The look of sincerity.

Under all the glitter and staging and Paula Abdul coming in late perhaps hung over, when pure talent raises its voice, the judge Jackson suddenly peers seriously, and we see a human soul acknowledging another without pretense or deceit. It lasts about 2 seconds ... and then the music blares again and the nets cut to commercial break.

Andy up in Vancouver posts a similar recorded incident, this one back from 1969 with the great Fred Rogers asking for PBS funding in front of a Senate subcommittee. If you watch this 6+ minute video, you'll see Mr. Rogers wasn't an act ... he was a real guy with a quiet voice trying to help children build self-esteem. The curmudgeonly senator on the other end of the pitch softens and softens and then finally approves Rogers for millions in funding. There's not much of this type of honesty in communications today. It works. See if you remember how to do it.

And now a brief word about drugs

We drive by horrible healthcare billboards all the time and wonder, why is the message always so complex? For clarity, see this straightforward anti-cocaine spot that aired in Colombia. 15 seconds. Brilliant.

Microsoft chases searchers with WSJ

Microsoft is a distant third in U.S. web search traffic, with its 9.8% share far behind Google's 58.4% and Yahoo's 22.9%. To catch up, MSN just won a gold medal.

Information Week reports that Microsoft has landed the paid search business for the Wall Street Journal's web sites, which include the sweet properties Barrons, MarketWatch, and AllThingsD. Advertisers who discounted MSN as a why-bother-me-too search option must now rethink that strategy, and as more money pours into MSN's tiny text ads, the search results may get more relevant to consumers ... creating a virtuous cycle of growing market share.

Or that's probably the plan. All we know is one avoids the WSJ's affluent audience at one's peril. If your business thrives on paid keyword search listings, it's time to look again at MSN.

The Root fulfills dream of national black newspaper -- only online

If you're interested in the politics of race, guruship by Malcolm Gladwell, African-American genealogy, and Obama vs. the Clintons, then you'll like The Root, a new web-only publication by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive.

The Root launched yesterday with star power, an innovative business model, and close promotion with Slate.com. Co-founder Gates notes that "since 1827, black journalists have dreamed of creating a national black newspaper." The web magazine offers political and cultural commentary, plus a unique tie-in to AfricanDNA.com, a genealogical charting and mapping effort. And in a twist sure to get buzz, the service allows readers to send in their own DNA samples for analysis of their country origins.

The strong web-only stance is going to get noticed. The closest competitor we see reaching out to affluent black consumers with similar news and analysis is EbonyJet.com. Advertisers, take your marks.

The rare brilliance of Darryl Ohrt

We say rare, because we know this guy, and he's not always so articulate. But damn. Don't miss Darryl Ohrt of Plaid being interviewed by Laura Newman on the future of the internet, advertising, and how agencies should work with clients. He must have had a Red Bull, because this is genius.

Our favorite bit is Darryl talking on how business strategy must evolve:

"The internet has changed our relationship with our customers dramatically. Some have said 'Google is God.' Meaning that Google is all-knowing, and finding everything that you do. You should expect that everything about you and your brand will eventually be accessible via the internet. Run your business accordingly. I believe it comes down to three simple words:

1. Honesty. Be proud of who you are. Accept your shortcomings. Don't try and be someone or something that you're not. If you're a small company, be proud of that. People will love you for who and what you are.

2. Integrity. When you make a mistake, admit it. Stand behind your products or service offerings. Do it well, and your customers will become evangelists.

3. Sharing. Blogging, Twittering, Facebook - all excellent tools to share with your audience. But it's more than just using the tools of the moment. What are you sharing? Is it of value to your audience?

You'd think that these three things have been a part of the business community for ages - but it's not so. The internet has put every pixel of information at our fingertips. Which means that the brands who are trying to hide something, or twist a story will always be found out. The age of 'spin' is over."

Free Kiwee undercuts designers and a whole lot more

You can almost hear Hallmark wincing. Kiwee, a social expression site in which users can customize and forward free content such as greeting cards and widgets to friends, has surpassed 1 million users in six short months. The users have downloaded content 500 million times ... or, if you consider that all those greetings used to generate $2 each in cards, envelopes and postage, that's a billion dollars moved from content sales to free media.

Kiwee is a case study in how advertising-supported "free" content is disrupting entire markets -- in this case, greeting card makers, graphic designers, stock photo companies, and the United States Postal Service.

Put this in your PowerPoint and smoke it

Holy visual display of quantitative information. Craphammer (yes, that's the blog) gives us a link to an amazing overview of how humans process data in two dimensions. See the original here and roll over each icon for a pop-up display of every possible chart variation. Quant jocks, rejoice.

Britney Spears and the viral saving of America

Way back in Econ 101 we learned that every dollar spent generates hundreds of dollars in downstream value in the economy. It's pretty simple. If you pay $10,000 for a new deck, your builder probably spends $9,900 of what you pay him on supplies, food, clothing, a new drill, his home mortgage, and puts a little in the bank. And all the other people who get the builder's $9,900 spend $9,800 or so on their stuff, and eventually $10,000 + $9,900 + $9,800 ... add up to a really big number.

The entire economy is built like word-of-mouth marketing -- you "speak money" to two friends, and they keep passing the word along.

So we have some good news. Portfolio magazine has calculated that Britney Spears contributes $120 million to the U.S. economy only in the first round of the paparazzi, record suits, and hairstylists employed by her. Geez, if she even appears on a tabloid cover, copy sales jump 33%. Now carry forward the multiplier effect, and every Britney hiccup may push the U.S. forward by 1 or 2 billion in value.

There's a lot of worry in the States today about the economy. Solution is simple. Go buy a tabloid with Britney Spears on the cover, and next week your boss will give you a raise.

6 reasons why the Skyfire mobile browser could unlock cell phone advertising

At last, something that looks almost as good as the iPhone interface but works on your old-fashioned smartphone. Skyfire is a new browser for mobile that will give you the real web, with web pages that actually look like web pages, on your current cruddy cell phone interface. If this takes off, it could be a tipping point for mobile web usage.

Connect the dots to see why mobile will be big for advertisers:

1. New positioning systems can now track you even indoors.
2. New RFID radiofrequency identification chips are as small as powder, meaning everything -- from products to dollar bills -- will soon be embedded with tracking dust that provides ID and location.
3. Microsoft has a patent app to combine feeds on where you are and what you're watching for improved ad targeting.
4. Once we get a ubiquitous mobile advertising interface, advertisers can serve just-in-time ads based on what you watched, what you bought, what you're doing, and where you are going.
5. Forrester predicts mobile ad revenues will top $1 billion by 2012.
6. Google's Eric Schmidt concludes, dude, it's gonna be a huge revolution.

But hey, we could be wrong, sometimes tipping points don't work. Try the Skyfire beta yourself here.

Scientific American: Who knew geeks could be so charming?

Scientific American, the oldest continuously published magazine in the U.S., offers a brilliant new weekly video roundup of tech news called The Monitor. The mix of casual web cams, funny graphics, short segments and detailed overlays is a perfect use of new online video. It's also a good case study in how blogs, print journalism, and broadcast are merging. Hope it fits on an iPhone.

Tipping Point friction, or why you don't know Kevin Bacon

Marketers trying to launch viral campaigns get some bad news in February. Network-theorist Duncan Watts takes on Malcolm Gladwell in Fast Company over whether viral marketing really can be controlled. At dispute is the theory that a series of key influencers set viral campaigns in motion -- proselytizers whom direct-to-consumer marketers love to try to reach.

Gladwell wrote up influencers in The Tipping Point, suggesting there are certain types of people who are much more connected in society -- hipsters, trend-setters, gregarious salespeople. These people have both charisma and connections to hundreds of others. When a viral idea reaches them, they accelerate it on to the masses. This is supposedly why Razor Scooters appeared everywhere in 2000; cool kids got them, then all the other kids followed. The "influencer" idea was given credence by a famous study back in 1967 by sociologist Stanley Milgram, who reported that most people in the world are separated by only six degrees of contacts.

Watts, however, has run computer models that show viral campaigns don't work through "hubs" of key influencers -- instead, they take off almost at random. What's more important, Watts says, is whether society is "primed" for the event, like a dry forest waiting for the first match spark.

This has huge implications for marketers who would love to spark the next fad by seeding copies of music or new sportswear among hip influencers in NYC and San Francisco. We love Gladwell, but find this alternative view fascinating. Read it here.

Tufte, the iPhone, and the shrinking space for advertisers

A new video by information display guru Edward Tufte offers a fascinating look at how Apple got mobile interface right by putting information on one plane, instead of nested menus, and how Apple often got it wrong by not adding enough detail. We always were frustrated by the limited weather info.

Tufte hints that putting information on one level is ideal, vs. the horrible deep call-center-type-push-one-then-two navigation mazes on most cell phones. As mobile screens become hi-resolution, it will be easier to lay it all on one plane. The challenge will then be how advertisers will fit into the small space -- in other words, if finding what you want becomes easier, there are fewer "inventory options" for advertisers to intercept you as you search around different pages.

For a good example, go to accuweather.com or weather.com and try to find your local five-day forecast. You typically have to navigate to at least three pages to get the information. It could be easier, but we suspect weather sites structure multiple layers of information deliberately to have more real estate to sell banner ads. If it takes three clicks, and if each page has room for 12 ads, then a web site can sell 36 impressions for a single search. The future of small screens and flat information will tighten the inventory.

Tx Andy, who writes a nice paean on Tufte.

McDonald's sexy new image

The new Mickey D's makeovers have started to land near our home town. We stopped at a red light by a McDonald's restaurant in an old Connecticut mill town today and did a double-take -- behind huge glass panes we could see elegant lighting, muted greens, and what looked like granite tables.

McDonald's started the massive redesign of its 30,000 global stores back in 2006, chasing Starbucks with three new ambient partitions -- a sitting area with Wi-Fi and arm chairs, a "grab and go" zone with bar stools and flat-panel TVs, and a "flex" zone with colorful -- but not plastic -- seating for families. Even the red mansard roof will eventually get whacked, and the total cost works out to about $350,000 per store, about equal to a year of a single store's profits.

The McDonald's revolution, along with upscale salad, coffee and chicken menu tweaks, may be the ultimate sign of the democratization of good design in the U.S. And the hyper-expensive move should pay off. McDonald's was on the verge of becoming a plasticky anachronism, got crap a few years ago for dirty stores and sloppy operations, and even though we loved it as kids, we cringed as parents every time our kids asked to go. The old McDonald's was akin to reading a week-old newspaper; even if the content was OK, we don't want things that are out of date.

Funny how changing red and yellow colors to terra cotta, yellow, olive and sage makes little burgers on stale buns taste better. We're loving it.

The end of advertising as IBM knows it

A new IBM study provides an outlook on how the ad industry will change dramatically in the next decade. IBM interviewed 2,600 consumers and 80 ad executives, and the result is a straightforward trend: Money will shift away from traditional TV, radio, and print, toward internet, mobile, and social media.

But the real news in the report is that intermediaries -- web designers, ad agencies, media planners, and all the other ad distributors -- are at risk. IBM predicts that the ability to manage ad inventory (get it out there) and the ability to create ads (YouTube video-style) will erode the business models of the entire ad industry.

Here's the scenario. Imagine you're a marketing executive in 2010 planning a TV campaign and so call around for help:

Jim, at Ad Agency 1, responds: Sure, we can do that. We'll produce a TV spot for $300,000 and run it on a cable network that most people record with DVR boxes so they can skip your commercial.

Jane, at Ad Agency 2, says: Sure, we can do that. We'll produce it for free with video from YouTube and run it on an internet network where everyone will watch it, then forward it to 2 million of their friends.

No brainer, eh? IBM notes the future is here. 25% of Americans now use DVR boxes, and 7% have created and uploaded video online. Compare those data points with the current cost for producing a professional TV spot -- $100,000 to $350,000 -- and you'll see why many ad agencies may be threatened. Nearly half of ad executives interviewed said they believed at least 10% of media funds would shift from TV to interactive in the next five years.

The study points to a simple solution, and it comes down to data. The fragmenting forces of consumer control, consumers blocking ads, and 360 degrees of millions of media channels mean it WILL get harder to make advertising work. Long gone are the days when you could buy a few broadcast networks and reach all of America. The ad agencies and media planners who can track hard results to see what works will be able to give CMOs what they want -- proof.

Think of the irony. The future of creative lies in data.

(Nice work by study authors Saul J. Berman, Bill Battino, Louisa Shipnuck and Andreas Neus. Complete study is here.)

Johnny Lee and the future of 3-D

Carnegie Mellon brainiac Johnny Chung Lee has figured out how to make three-dimensional images on a flat panel appear to float in space in front of the screen, using a Nintendo Wii motion detector. The illusion is stunning. Fake Steve is drooling.

Lee gets bonus points for posting the software for developers here. Watch the end of this clip to see how the screen can become a portal, so it appears you're looking into an alternate reality "room" through the panel. The Matrix is coming.

Torsten Pollman: Copy so good it hurts

Tip of the hat to copywriter Torsten Pollmann of agency Euro RSCG Duesseldorf for reminding us of the power of good writing. Check out his brilliance.



Madvertising notes "semantic paradoxons are statements that lead to an infinite contradiction." Tension. Headache.

Shopping for interactive agencies until the cows come home

We've been thinking about our last post on how nearly half of CMOs are about to fire their current ad agency. Why? Could be the economy; could be the fact that most chief marketing execs last only 2 years, so mathematically about half are new anyway and probably looking to build their own team.

And then we saw Adweek had an interesting nugget: the first agency on the chopping block is typically the web design group. Egad. Why would 45% of CMOs consider whacking the interactive brains first?

We think that there's one simple reason ... many interactive shops, despite their talk and analysis about the trends in the market, are focused more on the web product and less on the web strategy. Interactive agencies grew up designing cool sites, and they still love to do so. And in 2008, single sites matter less and less.

The great irony of web shops is they focus, well, on web design -- and single sites are becoming obsolete. Back in 1996, a good web site sought to be sticky and create careful pathways to keep customers within your web site pen. But today, the customer cows have broken through the fence and are out in the neighbor farm fields, on mobile and Facebooks and Twitter and texting and Second Life and blogging and YouTube and Seesmic. There's a lot of new hay out there, and the cows ain't coming back.

The solution is for marketing executives to get better results, and for interactive agencies to offer more comprehensive service. It's good to have pretty HTML, boys. But if you can't cast a broad web strategy that drives in new customers at higher profits, using keyword search and ad networks and microsites and a constellation of pull behind the HTML, there's probably a new interactive agency getting an RFP tomorrow who can.

Half of CMOs ready to ax agencies

Adweek reports a survey of 825 chief marketing officers found 45% are ready to find a new agency in 2008. The good news is your shop can expect more RFPs.

Mumsy, tonight let's do dinner in Tokyo

Sir Richard Branson and X Prize winner Burt Rutan unveiled the world's first consumer spaceship yesterday. The craft will fly to 50,000 feet, giving all passengers a nice view, and then a select group in the central rocket pod will untether and blast higher to 60 miles, where the sky turns inky black. Branson says construction is 70% complete and testing is scheduled for 2008.

Wealthy tourists have already booked flights at $200k a pop and undergone high-G stress testing to make sure their limbs won't fly off. If New York and Tokyo become just a few hours apart, the world may learn to speak with one accent.

(Overview at Machinist. Geek details here.)

United Way throws cold water on Milwaukee

Pop quiz: Are you brave enough to challenge your audience?

Go behind the scenes on a gritty United Way spot soliciting donations from Milwaukee. Seems the poverty of the inner city wasn't something the Chamber of Commerce wanted to promote. We think this breaks through advertising clutter brilliantly -- and if we lived in the suburbs of Milwaukee, we'd be picking up our phone.

4 reasons why sex is better with green M&M's

Mars Snackfood U.S. has a new look for M&M's, targeting women specifically. Which makes us wonder -- why don't more products talk to their customers' needs, and not just product features?

Here's why Mars is brilliant.

1. Women love chocolate. The green M&M's packaging reflects the whimsy of craving right back at the target audience. It looks feminine and fun.
2. Most candy packaging is an ugly commodity. Look at the gas station register and you'll see a sea of Hershey brown and orange. Green pops out of the clutter.
3. Ah, urban legend. Since the 1970s, word has circulated that the little green candies give your love engine extra juice. We can't say this is true, but we're tempted to give chocolate a try. You can just see Mars hoping the urban legend goes viral.
4. Most candy messaging is about the product inside -- more chocolate, nuts, whatever. The image of Ms. Green, the little green M&M, talks about the customer. She has luscious lips, big eyelashes, but hey, she's round. Anyone will feel svelte compared to her curves. Which offsets the guilt at popping more chocolate. Little Ms. Green is our craving for chocolate and sex personified.

Mars, nicely done. We hear your green chocolates with sex will be on display through Valentine's Day. Please consider an extension.

Microsoft's next ad targeting: Online, offline, everywhere

A new Microsoft patent application shows the future of advertising, and it has U.S. privacy advocates worried. The system would combine data from cell-phone towers to pinpoint a consumer's location (by triangulating on your cell phone); data from credit cards about transaction history; and any media the consumer is now using, such as watching TV, listening to the radio, or potentially strolling past a digital billboard.

The application says:

"If the offline behavior indicates the user was watching a college football game ... if the user goes online during or just after such activity, then an inference could be made that the user is interested in seeing more information about the game as well as being receptive to advertisements selling college-team memorabilia."

Soon advertisers may be able to move beyond ad networks to purchasing people networks. "Hey, we want to target James Smith. Let's track his every location, and serve him ads at every media outlet." Question is: if personalization becomes omnipresent and omnipotent, won't consumers get sick of it?

New York Times taps your blog for its web site

Your personal blog may have just become a free wire service for The New York Times. NYT has bought a stake in Automattic, the distributor of WordPress blogging software. Toni Schneider, CEO of Automattic, says one application may be for NYT to run top posts from bloggers around the world next to news stories on the Times' web site.

Interesting strategy. The 110 million-plus blogs in the world now provide experts in all areas -- politics, marketing, food, travel, science. Some blogs such as The Huffington Post have hired reporters and become just like big papers ... and big papers like The New York Times will find it tough to compete with this fragmentation. But if the Times could combine its news brand with a Digg- or RSS-type feed of top related blog posts around the world, consumers might stay interested.

Imagine the future. You witness a tragic accident, whip out your Nokia cell phone with Carl Zeiss optics to capture hi-def video, upload a story to your blog, and in two minutes your story is broadcast on nytimes.com. Bloggers may have to start charging.

Google's diminishing returns

Shhh, this is a secret. Your return on Google is slipping.

Check out the above trend line for searches on Google in the United States for "advertising agency" from 2004 to 2007. Down about 50%. Now why, you might ask, would the originators of these searches, probably mid-level marketing managers hunting for new vendors, decrease use of a tool that helps find a skilled specialist? Advertising spending is about constant in this period, so reduced demand is not the option. CMOs still get pushed out every two years, so marketing organizations continue to re-evaluate vendors.

The only answer we can see is marketing managers, relatively sophisticated at web tools, pushed hard on search engines as a knowledge center three years ago, but by 2007 had started to toy with newer search tools. Blogs (like this one), industry networks such as AdGabber, and alternative social networks (webs within the web) create more than one way to find a specialist.

This trend is important, because other industries will follow the path of the knowledge workers cutting through the internet jungle. We think keyword search campaigns will continue to be important assets, but the bloom is off the rose. If your PPC results are down, don't complain -- easy pickings are over, and you may need professional program management and keyword bidding software to compete in the new, crowded world of Google.

The incredible power of really, really bad art

The slow slide of video production values can be charted from the heyday of Miami Vice down through MTV to Real World to Blair Witch Project to American Idol tryouts to YouTube, and now, thunk, hitting bottom in this brilliant Colle + McVoy spot for the Minnesota Lottery. That's right. Brilliant. Steve Hall at AdGabber suggests that these types of characters are compelling because we recognize them as something real.

The trend of consumers broadcasting video from every device has put us awash in low production values. This democratization of media is welcome on two levels: it's more effective to grab attention (since we all have voyeuristic hearts and perk up at a peek into real windows), and it also reflects something human back at us. Here's to the scruffy geeks who remind us of dear friends, or ourselves, back in high school.

Banner ads for the little guy

Now AdReady offers anyone with a credit card the ability to customize a web banner ad template, run it over an ad network of hundreds of web sites, target specific demos, and only pay per click. The ad templates don't look so hot, but then, neither do most web site layouts. Plumbers, hairdressers and lawyers, once you have Google down, this is the next step.

The survival instinct of Green Bay bikinis

Seems the reason consumers long for silly gadgets and sports teams is we all have an innate need to avoid loneliness. Behavioral scientists at the University of Chicago say this is why people anthropomorphize pets, gadgets, gods, or Facebook pages. We ascribe human characteristics to the non-real things around us to make us feel part of a clan, a necessary trait to survive.


Case in point is the frenzy on the internet over the Green Bay bikini girls, three young women who braved wind chill of 23 degrees below zero Sunday night in the U.S. football game between the Packers and the NY Giants. The image was broadcast on Fox and created a stir of searches on the web, rising to one of Google's top trends on Monday.


This is more than casual voyeurism -- this is a surge of humanity trying to share a single vicarious event. The women weren't just attractive human beings. They were crazy human beings, in swimsuits in weather below freezing.

Search Google Trends and you can see similar waves of human interest, as collectively we all begin searching for the same communal news. The hot search trends on the net often involve celebrity scandals, or crime, or certain products that skyrocket to fame and fade away within hours. People long for the same sports teams, the same gadgets, the same celebrity gossip because thousands of years ago, being lonely could kill you. Stray too far from the pack, and you'd freeze in the Ice Age.

Next time your boss finds you browsing for cars or gossip on the web, just explain -- you're following your survival skills.

Web lead forms from Hillary and Obama and Mitt, oh my...

The top U.S. candidates for president offer interesting case studies in how to convert web visitors to buyers (or voters). Many marketers advertise online, but then make mistakes in the first web page that consumers see. Do you have a lead form? If you do, are you asking for too much information, or too little?

We scanned the PPC campaigns on Google for Hillary, Edwards, Obama, McCain, Rudy and Romney, who spend millions on internet marketing, and the results are in. Best-in-class web design seems to be four simple lead data fields: first name, last name, email, and ZIP Code. Here's how the candidates shake out.


Prize for leanest lead form: Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, tied. Both ask for just first and last name, email address, and ZIP (presumably so they know when to pester you as your state's primary comes up on the calendar). Barack gets points off for forcing you to fill in information before hitting his web content; Hillary kindly lets you skip the form if you're just a Republican doing enemy reconn. Also, Hillary uses the much more understandable "submit" button vs. Barack's "join us" button. Clarity is so important to encourage action on the web, while obscuring the call to action with copy like "join us" may depress response. If you don't believe us, CLICK HERE.


Prize for the best one-two punch: John McCain. McCain's site asks for just your email (top right), but is followed by a second page asking you to complete 39 data fields. Talk about aggressive -- he wants your street address and if you're interested in a religious affinity group. We'd donate, but our fingers are scared.


Prize for cleverest friend-get-a-friend: John Edwards. Edwards asks just for your email and ZIP, but -- aha, the catch! -- then when you hit his site, he also asks you for the names of your friends and their emails. This is a clever tactic overlooked by many marketers. Hey, if we're divulging our personal information, what the hell, let's turn in our friends, too.


Price for most confusing web lead form: Rudy Giuliani. Hit Rudy's page, and you get three choices; you can join, you can donate, or you can subscribe. We're not sure what the difference is between joining and subscribing, so hit the back button.


Prize for ignoring potential voters and donors: Mitt Romney. You'd think a former BCG and Bain consultant would know better, but Mitt's web site gives it all away for free without even trying to identify you. Strategic? Or skipped opportunity? Mitt does get points for tailoring the home page to the current state holding a primary. Points off for more obscure button terminology like "join team Mitt" and "Florida HQ." We have no idea what those mean, so we ain't clicking there. Web lead forms are buried inside, and Mitt will take credit card numbers, too.


Prize for most personal response: The new Middle East policy blog from U.S. President George W. Bush. He's not running for a new term, and we're not sure he really wrote these answers. But the vibe is so personal, we have to give W. some credit. As George says, it's been a long trip, but we're gonna miss his charm.