This could be the first One Degree Mash-Up. Ken shot me an email asking if Kelly (me, Mitch Joel) would like to interview Regis (Joseph Jaffe) with Five Questions for One Degree (to understand the whole Regis & Kelly thing, you have to listen to Across The Sound #31). I figured this could be a cool One Degree mash-up, so I asked Joseph Jaffe 5 Questions. Enjoy.
One of the most sought-after consultants, speakers and thought leaders on marketing and media, Joseph Jaffe is President and Founder of jaffe, L.L.C. – a “New Marketing” consulting practice.
Jaffe is best known for his breakthrough marketing book, Life After the 30-Second Spot: Energize Your Brand With a Bold Mix of Alternatives to Traditional Advertising. Along with the book, Jaffe’s Blog, Jaffe Juice, and his Podcast, Across The Sound, are both highly trafficked and recognized as offering some of the best new marketing concepts.
Prior to consulting, Joseph was Director of Interactive Media at TBWA/Chiat/Day and OMD USA, where he worked on clients including Kmart, ABSOLUT Vodka, Embassy Suites and Samsonite.
Hailing from South Africa, Joseph lives with his wife and two children in Westport, Connecticut.
Mitch Joel: Your book is called Life After The 30-Second Spot and it has been out for a while. So, is there life after the 30-Second spot or are we not learning from any of the lessons you bring forward in the book?
The book has been out for just over a year. Here’s my report back on what’s changed and what hasn’t.
Several ideas, “predictions” and recommendations have either come to pass or are beginning to see some signs of life – most notably the notion of Advertising on Demand (AOD) with respect to TiVo’s Product Watch. Nothing has been refuted and nothing has become redundant or outdated. On the flipside, it’s not what’s in the book, but what’s NOT in the book that astounds me. For example, I can’t believe how little space I devoted to blogs and podcasting, which are both central parts of my professional life (walking AND talking) In terms of the industry’s evolution…it’s still slow and cautious. I’m not overly impressed with the progress, but I guess change takes time.
There are some noticeable cracks in the walls that protect the beleaguered 30-second spot. J&J sat out the “Upfront”, as did Coke to a lesser extent. So for sure, we have witnessed – if not the tipping point – then a peak. To cope with the change and volatility, the networks have seemingly run from one extreme to the other… running around like chickens with their heads cut off preaching the virtues of digital downloads. The problems are twofold: there’s no business model and they’re neglecting their core equity: television. I know this may sound counter-intuitive to the thesis of Life after the 30-second spot, but ultimately the answer is equilibrium and balance.
Mitch Joel: Out of your ten areas that marketers need to pay attention to, which one do you think is the most interesting and why?
Category: Blogs
Twice in the last week I’ve been asked if older (i.e. 55+) Internet users “blog.”
In both instances, the person asking me the question didn’t mean, “Are grey surfers bloggers?” but instead was wondering if this older crowd reads blogs.
This is a legitimate question. It also reveals a faulty assumption regarding blogs, which is that your average surfer (of any age) can distinguish between a blog and a regular Website.
Most of us by now have heard how blogs are search engine friendly and can supposedly pick up lots of traffic quite easily. Last month, I conducted a ‘top secret’ experiment to test this theory. Now it’s now time for me to unveil the results for you.
On April 1, 2006 I launched my Internet marketing blog, which goes by the name Sweetmantra. “Launch” is perhaps overstating the case since all I did was remove the password protection that was blocking access to the site. Only a handful of people knew I was launching the blog, and they were sworn to secrecy and told NOT to visit it.
Since I’ve spent over a decade helping people drive traffic to their Websites, it was very ironic (and at times frustrating) for me to sit on my hands for an entire month and NOT market my new baby.
The only “marketing” of Sweetmantra that I did was the following:
# Registered Sweetmantra with FeedBurner, PubSub, Feedster, and Technorati
# Added links to my new blog from a couple of Websites I have editorial control over
# Published a new post once a week
That was it!
Here’s what happened next:
