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The Tuttle Three

July 31, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Forget the Jackson Five. Meet the Tuttle Three.

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Posted by toddand | Filed Under Music, Video

Simpsonize Yourself

July 31, 2007 | 1 Comment

Have you Simpsonized yourself yet? I have.

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None Found

Posted by toddand | Filed Under Advertising, Marketing, Technology

Alex Albrecht in Dell Commercial

July 31, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Diggnation’s Alex Albrecht stars in this hilarious Dell commercial.
Diggnation is my favorite podcast - about tech news and web culture.
Great moments in advertising: “It’s my butt.”

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Posted by toddand | Filed Under Advertising, Blogging, Humor, Technology, Video

When ads and editorial don’t mix

July 31, 2007 | 1 Comment

A great example of when ads and editorial don’t mix - click photo to enlarge.

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Posted by toddand | Filed Under Advertising, Media

Spreading the Green

July 30, 2007 | 3 Comments

The British government’s effort to reduce CO2. See spot below.

Meanwhile, Yahoo! has launched Yahoo! Green.

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Posted by toddand | Filed Under Advertising, Educational, Marketing, Video

Marketing Trick Plays

July 29, 2007 | 1 Comment

Marketing is all about the trick play.
Here are seven tricks to viral web marketing.

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Posted by toddand | Filed Under Advertising, Marketing, Social Media, Technology, Video

iPod Packaging The Microsoft Way

July 25, 2007 | 1 Comment

The Human Ear Professional Edition. Brilliant. And FOB (full of bullets).

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Posted by toddand | Filed Under Advertising, Design, Humor, Video

Update on Ad Age Announcement

July 25, 2007 | 4 Comments

Just wanted to provide a quick update as Ad Age Editor Jonah Bloom as made the rounds to a few blogs today and answered some additional questions. Here are the questions and Jonah’s answers:

Question: Over at ExperienceCurve, Mack Collier of The Viral Garden asked: Will Ad Age keep the list as being marketing, pr and advertising all mish-mashed together, or will they split it into separate disciplines? And when is Ad Age supposed to ‘announce’ this move?

Jonah Bloom: We (Ad Age) won’t split it into separate disciplines. Ad Age has always tried (even if you don’t think it has always succeeded) to be a holistic marketing and media publication. Our content is about the myriad ways in which marketers reach and interact with consumers, and we have no pre-disposition to the channel or technique used. The breadth of our readership reflects that we’ve had some success with that approach. Our core audience is marketers (Coke, McDonald’s, Kraft, Ford and so on), but we’re also well-read by media owners of all types, and agencies of all types. The web has allowed us to target certain sectors of our audience with information more specific to their interests–our daily Mediaworks newsletter for media people; Ad Age Digital for people focused on digital technologies and their marekting applications; our community-created Small Agency Diary for small shops and so on. But part of Ad Age’s mission across all platforms is to look at anything and everything that factors into the selling of products and/or the building or brands. That’s a long way round saying that it’d be totally counter to our ethos to split the Power 150 into some discipline based thing.

As to ‘announcing,’ I doubt we’ll do anything too formal, especially as Todd’s done such a good job of communicating the basic thrust of what’s going on. I hope we’ll have the Power 150 up and running on the site next week and over the months that follow we’ll “market” it in a number of ways, many through our other content channels–particularly, for example, our digital newsletter (which has more than 40,000 subscribers), and perhaps also through our daily (180,000). We’re really excited about this, but I’d rather drive readers to it because they discover it via other sites and meaningful stories and so on, rather than sending out terribly formal press releases that most people don’t read. (Why isn’t the press release dead yet?)

Question: Over at Communication Overtones, Kevin Dugan of the Strategic Public Relations blog commented: One of the metrics making up the Power 150, as you know, is Todd’s subjective evaluation. If Ad Age tinkers with that at all, it could be a whole new ballgame.

Jonah Bloom: To Kevin’s point, here at Ad Age we have no immediate plans to monkey with Todd’s subjective evaluations. I like that the ranking does have a qualitative filter, and that Todd is that filter. We’re going to try to keep him involved in making those evaluations, but if the worst came to the worst and Todd couldn’t continue to do that, or found that he didn’t have enough time to ALWAYS do it, we’d try to emulate his process and do it as transparently as possible.

Question: Over at Marketing Profs Daily Fix, BL Ochman of the What’s Next Blog wondered if AdAge or other MSM thought the bloggers on the lists would still be around after the 3-5 years we’ve all been daily bloggers. Mack Collier responded with “what I think will really be interesting is to see how other MSM sources respond to this.”

Jonah Bloom: Two thoughts:

1. Yes, we definitely thought these things would be here to stay. In fact more than 4 years ago we were telling our readers about a consumer-control revolution that would change their marketing and content models. Long before almost anyone else had cottoned onto the importance of this stuff, frankly. Some people got it, some people thought we were nuts.

2. It will definitely be interesting to see more such technologies used on more different big-reach sites, and as I am out and about speaking about some of the things Ad Age has done in recent years to evolve what we offer to readers and viewers and how we offer it, I’ll certainly be offering thoughts on the potential for many publications to make their many rankings more dynamic and add blogger rankings. I still think a lot of people are too defensive about linking out, let alone about bringing the best bloggers in their space to their readers’ attention. All that said, are we really going to keep up this “MSM” ‘them and us’ thing going? It just feels very 3 years ago. There are very mainstream blogs and there are very edgy mass media offerings–does the channel really define how we’re classified? Shouldn’t it be about the quality of our content and how our readers value us? Just asking.

UPDATE: Valeria Maltoni, who blogs at Conversation Agent, Fast Company, Blog Herald and MarketingProfs, is currently writing her weekly post at Fast Company about the Ad Age + Power 150 partnership and will be inviting readers to discuss the potential impacts of such a move from a customer conversation angle. It will post tomorrow morning with link from her blog and this one. Here it is - check it out.

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Posted by toddand | Filed Under Advertising, Blogging, Marketing, Public Relations, Technology

Power 150 Partners With Advertising Age

July 23, 2007 | 79 Comments

BREAKING NEWS!

I’m very excited to announce that the Power 150 ranking of top marketing blogs is joining forces with Advertising Age, the world’s leading marketing and media publication. The Ad Age + Power 150 partnership will help make the list an even greater tool (more powerful) since Ad Age has a dedicated staff, a giant readership and more resources than I do. The Power 150 is already one of the standards by which many bloggers measure themselves. The hope is that Ad Age can help make it a standard by which the entire industry will measure them, and thus help boost the profile of the whole blogging community.

As an individual who is passionate about marketing, I have taken the Power 150 as far as possible. It far exceeded my expectations, but also far exceeded my abilities, time, and personal resources. Today, the Power 150’s multimetric algorithm ranks almost 350 marketing blogs - 150 plus honorable mentions. Several hundred hours have already gone into creating, establishing and maintaining the Power 150, and this is an opportunity for Ad Age to take it to the next level, immediately creating value for readers as well as listed bloggers (considering the potential for a ton of traffic). According to the media kit, adage.com gets over 354,000 monthly unique visitors. Across online and print, Ad Age has a a total reach of more than 800,000 people including many senior agency, marketing and media executives every month! Bottom line, the marketing world - including the marketing blogosphere - will benefit tremendously from the Ad Age + Power 150 partnership.

MOVING FORWARD

Everything will be status quo for the immediate future, but soon Ad Age will be hosting the Power 150 on adage.com. Ad Age will likely/hopefully improve the list with a new design and the addition of some new bells and whistles. Jonah Bloom, editor of Ad Age, said the publication will use the Power 150 as the main editorial benchmark when referencing bloggers in print and online (i.e., “according to David Armano’s Logic+Emotion, No. 15 on the Power 150 ranking of marketing blogs.”). Jonah also said that Ad Age will continue the Power Profile Q&A series, which I will remain involved with as an adjunct Ad Age contributor. As they manage the Power 150, Ad Age will surely be looking for advertisers and sponsors that are interested in reaching all walks of marketing executives, agencies, bloggers, podcasters and more - so if you’re interested in reaching this audience, please email me.

My readers are getting the inside scoop here, but stay tuned as Ad Age is working on its own announcement of the partnership. I’ll keep you posted as more details become available, but get excited because all those blogs ranked on the list should start to see an uptick in traffic once Ad Age’s readers begin to discover the Power 150.

Jonah offered these thoughts: “We’ve been trying for a while now to work out how to point our readers towards the best of the media and marketing blogs. To that end we’ve done some linking out from our Out of Site blog, but don’t have a comprehensive resource for our readers. Of course we could have put something together based on our own opinions or bloggers’ traffic numbers, but Todd’s brilliant creation goes way beyond that and creates a ranking that combines traffic, influence and quality into a ranking of the best out there. We’re excited to be able to bring that to our readers. We also hope it’ll be a great thing for all bloggers listed. Ad Age already provides our readers with the definitive rankings of the country’s leading advertisers; the leading agenices in most disciplines; and the leading traditional media companies. The fact we’ll now also be ranking the media and marketing blogs says a lot about how important that community has become in a very short time.”

KUDOS AND COMMENTS

In one of my first email exchanges with Ad Age, I said “the list integrates perfectly with Advertising Age’s mission statement of delivering advertising, marketing and media news wherever and whenever busy marketing executives want it.” Kudos to all those bloggers on the list who perhaps unknowingly carry out that mission and faithfully deliver quality marketing content every day.

What started out as my attempt to add a tiny sliver of value within the massive marketing blogosphere has blossomed into an amazing resource for so many. Since launching the Power 150 seven months ago, I’ve received hundreds of ‘thank you’ emails because people are discovering new blogs from the list. In return, I’d like to thank all those who have been so kind and generous. In particular, I would like to call very special attention to Marjolein Hoekstra of CleverClogs and Mark Woodman of TechBrew.

Marjolein donated her time and expertise to help develop the “Kitchen Sink” feature, which added tremendous functionality to the Power 150 - including a “river of news” combined feed and a search-and-subscribe function (read more). Mark saved me hours upon hours by generously donating hours and hours in order to write code and automate the Power 150. Thanks to Mark’s automation, the Power 150 went global (read more). Also thanks to Henri van der Hoof for the custom Power 150-Google Toolbar Button that he created.

Since I’ve already made this post a lone one, I might as well make it even longer. Below are some of the many Power 150-related kudos and comments I’ve received over the months:

“Todd deserves a great deal of applause for this list because of his methodology. Todd recognized that each of the ways that individual services such as Google and Technorati rank blogs has limitations, so he created an algorithm to include data for each marketing blog and PR blog from several sources. Think of Todd’s approach as like a combination of data-driven popularity data (such as Nielsen TV data) with quality measures (like Emmy awards). If used in the TV world, Todd’s methodology would allow a metrics driven comparison of shows that consistently win awards (The West Wing) with those that consistently attract a large audience (American Idol).”
David Meerman Scott, viral marketing strategist and author
Blog: Web Ink Now

“Thanks for the list — I’ve already learned about a number of new blogs! Looking forward to breaking in in the very near future!”
David Polinchock, chief experience officer, Brand Experience Lab
Blog: Experience Manifesto

“You’ve created a tremendous resource and I applaud the giant effort it must have taken.”
Mike Sigers, sales consultant
Blog: Simplenomics

“If you’re interested in expanding your PR, marketing and advertising blog reading, you owe a nod of thanks to Todd Andrlik — because he’s provided a list of the top 150 marketing blogs.”
John Wagner, principal, Wagner Communications
Blog: On Message from Wagner Communications

“Here’s an easy way to find some great marketing blogs that have already earned a following, but may be new to you. I call it Power 150 Roulette. Todd Andrlik has compiled a Power 150 list of the “top” marketing blogs. Every weekend, I randomly pick three numbers between 1 and 150 and then I visit the blogs that are at these numbers on Todd’s Power 150 list.”
Joseph Thornley, CEO, Thornley Fallis
Blog: Pro PR

“Some great blogs are on this list, so if you’re looking for some fresh, new communication insights, Todd’s list is a great place to start.”
Warren Allan Johnson, corporate marketing director, MidMichigan Health
Blog: Unsolicited Marketing Advice

“While a ranked list of such US blogs is useful, I always felt it would be great to see a list that was a bit more international. Now there is such a list as the Power 150 now includes any English-language blog about marketing, wherever the blogger is based.”
Neville Hobson, communication consultant
Blog: Nevillehobson.com

“This is clearly one of those ventures that takes a LOT more time than one imagines when starting it, so thank you Todd for making the effort.”
BL Ochman, marketing consultant and blogger
Blog: whatsnextblog.com

“Many times, I have praised ToddAnd’s efforts to add to the PR and Marketing community with his Power 150 Top Marketing Blogs list. Many times, I have praised ToddAnd’s efforts to add to the PR and Marketing community with his Power 150 Top Marketing Blogs list.”
Kami Watson Huyse, PR Consultant, My PR Pro
Blog: Communication Overtones

“He’s got a unique position: Switzerland. With a corporate marketing job, no agency allegiance, and a love for marketing, Todd Andrlik is the ideal man for the job. Todd And - The Power to Connect maintains a very important place in the marketing blogosphere, the home of the Power 150. This list ranks more than 300 of the top marketing and PR blogs out there.”
Geoff Livingston, marketing consultant, Livingston Communications
Blog: The Buzz Bin

“Todd’s list is a great marketing resource — a towering mountain of high-ranked marketing blogs, ranging from the quirky to the breathtakingly insightful.
Worth checking out.”
Alan Rimm-Kaufman, Ph.D., president and CTO, The Rimm-Kaufman Group
Blog: rkgblog

“I like this so well, I put a permanent link to it on the side bar. These 150 branding and marketing blogs are filled with PR, research, marketing tips and are a great source of information for any business professional. “
Chris Brown, president/owner, Marketing Resources & Results
Blog: Branding & Marketing

“Todd Andrlik gets major props for pulling this list together and creating an innovative way to ‘rank’ all of the participating blogs.”
Josh Morgan, principal, Morgan/Dorado Public Relations
Blog: Don’t Eat the Shrimp

“I subscribe to Todd And’s power 150 marketing blog OPML file and there is MORE content that comes from that to my feed reader than CNN, CNNFN, CBS Marketwatch, BBC, SJ Mercury News, NY Times COMBINED. These marketing bloggers sure have tons of stuff to say.”
Mukund Mohan, CEO, Canvas Group
Blog: Best Engaging Communities

“Todd Andrlik’s Power 150 alone is a buffet of marketing cuisine unlike any other!”
Daniel Sitter, author
Blog: Idea Sellers

“The ‘Good’ – creating a site that provides the marketing community a one-stop-shop for insights and thought leadership. I highly recommend that you checkout Todd And’s Power 150 that ranks the top marketing blogs based on their Google PageRank, Bloglines Subscribers, Technorati Ranking and a subjective rating of the quality of their content.”
Todd Ebert, director of product marketing, Motorola
Blog: Bad Marketing

“Blogs are some of the most useful repositories for rich, up-to-date content. What I enjoy the most about blogs is the frequent aggregation of like-minded professionals. If you are in the marketing profession, you’ll appreciate this list: Todd And’s Power 150 Top Marketing Blogs.”
Bobby Lehew, director of operations, Robyn Promo
Blog: Branded Matters

“Todd Andrlik (who goes by Todd And) is a fresh-thinking PR & marketing consultant who was inspired to develop a list of the Top Marketing Blogs that he calls the Power 150. There are a ton of fantastic blogs to explore in this list! I still haven’t got through checking them all out. After his top 150, he lists about as many ‘honorable mentions.’”
Michelle Golden, president, Golden Marketing, Inc.
Blog: Golden Practices

“I’ve been reading Plaid’s Brand Flakes for Breakfast blog for only a couple of months, it’s a recent discovery off of Todd And’s indispensable Power 150 list of marketing blogs. I’ve been hooked ever since.”
Sarah Wurrey, account manager, CustomScoop
Blog: blogstring.com and CustomScoop Blog

“The Power 150 provides a stable, unbiased ranking foundation with a pinch of subjective measure for creativity.”
David Carlson, communication and design consultant, Design Strategy and Brand Communication
Blog: David Report blog

“This is truly the A list of marketing bloggers, and the guy who put it together, Todd And, employs a methodology that is at least as sound as anything used by the publications that regularly rank colleges and universities.”
Andrew Careaga, director of communications, University of Missouri-Rolla
Blog: higher ed marketing

“Now, Todd’s list is more comprehensive, and impressive for the work he did on it. It is a list of the top 150 marketing blogs, ranked according to a composite of factors.”
Doug Haslam, veteran media and PR professional
Blog: Tech PR Gems and Gischeleman’s Blog

“People love lists. Todd’s list is worth checking out because there’s lots of good reading there. Kudos to Todd for using some relatively objective measures. And bigger kudos to him for recognizing the subjectivity of this with that last category.”
John Whiteside, principal, Squarevox
Blog: Opinionated Markters

“Todd did something very, very smart in creating his list… he developed his own proprietary ranking system and branded it (nice looking logo, too). Essentially, he’s grabbed a space that no one else claimed, and if people continue to refer to the Top 150, then Todd becomes the de facto expert of marketing blogs. He’s more or less, written the rules of competition.,,, And if this is the turf he wants to compete in, he’s done a great job of writing the rules.”
Steve Miller, marketing consultant, speaker, author
Blog: Two Hat Marketing

“This list is awesome. It is a great list to peruse for marketing thought leadership.”
TJ McCue, president, Q4 Sales
Blog: S&MM SoundOff

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