I still remember the Apple ad campaign with the intentionally poor grammar. “Think Different” we were asked to do…and man, did we listen.
Now I wonder if Steve Jobs has changes his philosophy to “Think Status Quo”. Here’s what I mean.
We all look at our new smart phones and mobile devices as communication tools. As…well, as phones and access points. But in the advertising community, it’s looked at as the “Third Screen”….maybe more powerful and valuable than any ‘screen” than has existed to date. The value of reaching you and me wherever we are…with knowledge of where we are. It’s arguably scary and undeniably valuable. But who owns your mobile attention?
Steve Jobs recently pulled the curtain off their plans for the screens in your pocket, purse, or satchel. He calls it iAds, and it is an Apple owned ad sales team that sells all of your mobile time and attention when you are using apps and other mobile utilities. Here’s a good article on concerns amongst Apple’s audience.
I am a realist and I fully expect more and more ads to start popping up on my mobile web browser or within the mobile applications I use. But I don’t want to repeat the model of the 1950s, where consumers let others profit from our time, consideration, and information. If I pay for my phone, pay for my service, then the value of my time and attention on that phone using that service belongs to me, not Apple. If Apple wants it, they can give me a free phone and subsidized phone service. Instead, Apple will apply the typical media model, with dollars spent buying access to us going to Apple and its content creators, not us.
How about cutting me in on how much I am worth? Think Different, Steve.
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I wasn’t the only person to raise an eyebrow over the Facebook announcement I blogged about earlier in the week. Senator Al Franken of Minnesota and 3 of his peers are seriously concerned.
There’s plenty of strong ammo from the Distinguished Gentlemen and Facebook is going to head to Washington to address the questions. In case you don’t have a chance to click through to the article, my favorite quote actually isn’t from one of the elected officials….
“I can see how it would be advantageous to advertisers,” Kurt Opsahl of the Electronic Frontier Foundation said of Facebook’s “Open Graph” changes. “It’s just unclear how making this information public is advantageous to users.”
…and that’s just it. Media companies like Facebook want to make their user base (you and me) as valuable as possible to advertisers. But instead of sharing the value with you and me, typically, it’s at our expense. Facebook wins. Advertisers win. And guess who loses?
Our personal information is incredibly valuable and sought after. I don’t want to fight that it has value, in fact, ideally I’d like to maximize how valuable it is. If someone wants to pay money to find out what movies I watch, bring it on! But I’ll put up a fight that my personal information belongs to me and not to Facebook. Whatever my info is worth also belongs to me, not to Facebook.
Gomper ’s purpose is to unlock your value as a consumer for yourgain. If Gomper members want to share info, Gomper members make more money. It’s an idea even congress can get behind.
I spent the better part of last week at the AdTech conference here in SF wearing a Gomper T Shirt and starting to publicly talk about what we are trying to accomplish here. The show was well attended and a good indication of how much money is being spent in the advertising economy regardless of global economic conditions.
Typically, themes emerge at conferences such as this, and this week it seemed like everyone was talking about Affiliate Marketing. Affiliate Marketing has emerged as the walls have come down in advertising. It used to be that a company like NetFlix and University of Phoenix would hire an ad agency to buy all their media placements and generate their sales leads. But today other options exist. Independent web entrepreneurs can comb through thousands of offers on affiliate networks that pay anyone who can get them a lead or a sale. Affiliate Marketers bring leads and new customers to these marketers and get paid very handsomely for their hard work.
But it is hard work. You have to stay on top of the best offers and the best sources. It’s not realistic for a typical consumer to become an Affiliate Marketer. But Gomper has a simple way for you to make the money without all the effort. Build your friend list on Gomper and as more and more of your friends join the Gomper community, you’ll earn more and more for your time spent.
You spread the word on the Gomper Revolution. We’ll sell the ads. We’ll stay on top of the best offers. We’ll unlock the value of consumers and share it with consumers.
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Facebook held a conference this week to talk about the future of
their business. CEO Mark Zuckerberg laid out his plans to “build a
web where the default is social” and to create “instantly social
experiences”. One part of this plan is to make it easy for websites
to place Facebook branded “like” buttons on their web pages. Facebook
members who click on these buttons will immediately share their
selection with all of their connections on Facebook. This all sounds
harmless until you read between the lines.
The real purpose is to make it easy for Facebook members to
continually update and expand their profile with demographic data that
Facebook can mine and sell to advertisers. Facebook doesn’t say this
is the ultimate purpose of this move but their motivation is transparent.
I’m not so worried about the big brother aspect. I have come to
the realization that enormous amounts of data, information, and
tracking already exist on me and it’s only the beginning. Instead,
here’s what I worry about: How much is all my info worth and why is
someone else getting that money? How do I unlock that value for
myself instead of for Facebook?
A quick scan through comments on the TechCrunch article about this
quickly comes up with this gem:
Joel – April 22nd, 2010 at 12:52 pm UTC
Subject: Your personal information is worth something.
Why you willingly choose to give it to Mark Zuckerberg for free, I
will never understand.
Joel is more succinct than I am. Well said, Joel.
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Thanks and welcome to the Gomper Community. Our purpose is simple. Advertisers spend $300 Billion each year buying access to us….to US consumers. We believe that money belongs to consumers, not to companies that collect consumers. 50 years ago, there was no way for that money to flow directly to you and me. But today there is.
The Gomper Companion is a simple little application that enables you to rent a small portion of your computer screen. You get paid for your time, not your actions. When the Companion is open and you are using your computer, you get paid. It doesn’t cover anything up or get covered up. You can position it where you’d like, and can close the Companion in one click at any time and everything else returns to full size. You’re in complete control.
Gomper is completely free to join. This is not about charging you, it’s about paying you. And this isn’t a trick to stick you with spyware or other garbage. Just the opposite…Gomper’s mission is to be a modern day consumer advocate. To give consumers a voice and a seat at the advertising table. After all, there wouldn’t be an advertising table if not for consumers. If it’s not good for you, it’s not good for Gomper.
The advertisements you’ll see in the Gomper Companion are very similar to ads you’ll see when you are surfing the Internet. Both are from advertisers paying money to reach you. Only with Gomper, the money goes to you. And as the money starts flowing from advertiser to consumer, I’m confident Gomper members will have a very different opinion of advertisers than most people. When advertisers see better results with ads to Gomper members then the ads they buy from media middlemen, they’ll spend more with Gomper and all our members will get a raise.
In other words, as more and more people join and use Facebook, the more money Facebook executives make. As more and more people join and use Gomper, the more money you make. Since the money is being spent buying your time, attention and connections, this just makes more sense.
Gomper is not a get rich quick scheme or the latest work from home craze. It’s a movement. A revolution. As our community grows so will our presence in the advertising economy. If we can get large enough, we can change the flow of advertising revenue and give consumers control of a $300 billion industry. I hope you’ll check it out at www.gomper.com and tell some friends.
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Do you know advertisers spend over $1,000 every year buying YOUR time and attention? We think that money belongs to YOU. Join Gomper and you’ll start getting paid for your time.
Earn while you use your computer and use the money any way you like.
Gomper pays you money. Not points or credits. And you don’t have to visit partner websites or sign up for any offers. Just use your computer like you already do except now you’ll get paid for it.
How does it work?
After creating an account you install the Gomper Companion on your computer. The Companion basically allows you to rent a small amount of space on your computer screen. We sell the space to advertisers and share most of the revenue with our members. It’s that simple. If you don’t want to see ads, just close it.
Invite friends and earn even more.
Advertisers like crowds. The more people on Gomper, the more advertisers will pay. So, as you invite people and Gomper grows, they’ll earn more and you’ll earn more. And if anybody you invite gets their friends to join, you’ll be compensated for their activity as well up to three degrees.
How do I join?
Currently registration is by invite only. Click Join Gomper at the top right of this page to request an invite.
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For decades, advertising agencies on Madison Avenue have been “buying media”. There are media managers, media planners, and media buyers. But what exactly are they buying?
That question is answered in this Mediapost column about the changing perspective on Madison Avenue. This quote pretty much sums it all up….
“…a philosophical shift on Madison Avenue, where major agency holding company media services operations say they have shifted from a mentality of “buying media,” to one of “buying audiences,” ”
Ad agencies used to “buy media” and not surprisingly, they paid media companies. If ad agencies are now “buying audiences” shouldn’t they start paying the members of the audience?
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I was just forwarded this amazing speech from the Web 2.0 conference last year.
Gin, Television, and Social Surplus
It’s long. But give it a click just to get a taste of what the author is talking about. The main point is that in the first half of the 1900s, massive advancements and efficiencies resulting from the industrial revolution. The result was that people suddenly had a surplus of TIME. Like lots of sudden surpluses, we were not prepared and didn’t know what to do with this suddenly available free time.
So we watched television, and media companies figured out how to extract the value out of our free time.
But like all changes, eventually, the shock thaws out and the surplus becomes a true asset. Now we demand far more in return for our time. Gomper is one of the ways that people will be able to start getting more value of their valuable asset called free time.
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Madison Avenue is abuzz this week about the latest university research which found that 2/3s of American consumers don’t like being tracked online. I’m not really sure why this is shocking or even newsworthy.
Not surprisingly, all the pundits are jumping on the privacy angle….consumers don’t want anyone to know anything about them!! I think that’s BS. We share personal information with realtors, car salesmen, neighbors and strangers daily. But when we do that, WE receive the value, not someone else. I don’t think consumers are freaking out that Ford wants to know what car you drive. I think we are freaking out because that info is gathered behind our back and sold without any benefit to us.
If the question is asked honestly, what the advertising industry is really asking is this…
“How can we get consumers to feel OK about having their personal information collected and sold despite the fact that we are unwilling to share any of the bounty and value their personal information generates?”.
If consumers, who own their personal information, received the money that was spent buying that information…does anyone think 2/3s of Americans would object?
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