Over at “ClickZ”:http://www.clickz.com, Pete Blackshaw’s “Protect the Marketing Commons”:http://www.clickz.com/experts/brand/cmo/article.php/3525681 is definitely worth a read.
Why this matters to Internet marketers:
Category: Strategy
Blogs, wikis, folksonomies, social networks, citizen journalists, photo sharing, file sharing, MP3 sharing, collaborative technology and napsterization – there seems to be a trend here. Online technology is centering on the exchange of data and information.
On “PostSecret”:http://postsecret.blogspot.com, people share their deepest, darkest secrets. On “Flickr”:http://www.flickr.com, people share their photos. On “LinkedIn”:http://www.linkedin.com, people share their business contacts. Pretty soon, there won’t be anything that remains unshared.
Traditional business isn’t about sharing. It’s about signing non-disclosure documents and protecting information. Any information that is to be made publicly available is carefully combed over by PR reps and then double-checked by corporate lawyers. Patents provide another barrier to protect information: the public has access, but can’t use it. Information can be sold, too. Newspapers now charge for online subscriptions. Business models for many information providers rely on paid subscriptions. It would be ludicrous to give it away.
Or would it?
“Kaboose Inc.”:http://www.kaboose.com is one of the world’s leading online media companies focused on kids and families. The Kaboose Network, including award-winning sites like “Funschool.com”:http://www.funschool.com, “Zeeks.com”:http://www.zeeks.com and “Kidsdomain.com”:http://www.kidsdomain.com, is a top 10 global Internet destination for over 6.5 million kids and families a month looking for entertaining, interactive and educational content. Jonathan has over 8 years Internet industry experience and an MBA from the University of Western Ontario.
*One Degree: Kaboose is geared to kids but makes aggressive use of advertising throughout most (all?) of its sites. Is there a right way to market to kids online without raising the ire of either parents or the government?*
Kaboose is a free site for kids and parents and is thus supported by advertising. Kaboose is the intermediary between millions of kids and parents and some of the largest brands in the world. We have many parents who bring their kids to Kaboose and they observe their kids interacting with our site, and thus are very aware of the advertising on it. So, the first thing an advertiser and publisher needs to constantly be aware of is that in the online world, where there are kids there are parents. Our most important role as a provider of ad supported content is to be a responsible publisher. That means accepting only ads that are suitable for a child of any age, approving the creative and messaging of every ad that goes up on the site.
*One Degree: You’ve got some pretty in-your-face interstitial ads on the site. The Pillsbury Doughboy just drew a “StrudelDoodle” all over my monitor! I’ve heard reports of technical horror stories with poorly coded ads on some Canadian sites. How do you guard against technical faux pas damaging your brand and your advertisers’ campaigns?*