The Secret Diary of a Bonafide Marketing Genius

Hallelujah, a big brand that understands that The Future is Digital!!!!

Hats off to CMO Barry Judge and his team for waking up and smelling the roses, as it were. Hopefully, it’s contagious ;).

If I didn’t love my iPhone so much, I would probably find all this brew-ha-ha around the unprecedented success of the iTunes App Store a tad annoying.

But I do love my iPhone.

And I’m a big fan of the apps we’ve created here at Viximo, particularly TrueFlirt.

And you can’t disagree with the numbers:

• 17 million iPhones sold
• 500 million apps downloaded (SINCE JULY!)
• $1 Million/day in iPhone app sales
• 93% of iPhone users have used the App Store
• 3/4 have 5 or more apps on their device

To quote Jim Goldman of CNBC:

“The potential of this store seems enormous, and its success seems to be gaining momentum far more quickly than even the most optimistic analysts out there projected.”

As a marketer, I think these numbers are pretty damn compelling. As a Genius, I think there’s a massive opportunity for brands to reach a highly desirable market segment (think young, rich, and tech-savvy!)—and keep them engaged on a device that is personal, novel, ubiquitous, and downright sexy.

And lest you think that branded iPhone apps are merely a flashy new “branding gimmick,” consider that said gimmick is being broadcast on a device where shopping and sharing are literally a click away.

Want to hear more? Check this out:

Those of you smart enough to want a closer look at this opportunity, check out VixML.com. Believe it or not, we’re actually GIVING AWAY access to the iPhone content authoring tool that TechCrunch calls “revolutionary”.

Of course, if you’d rather have us build you an app, we can do that, too. Either way, I suggest you get off your keister and start thinking about how NOT to let this goldmine pass you by.

With Facebook, MySpace, and Google energetically elbowing each other out of the way in their bid for World Domination, I can’t help but wonder what’s more scary: the fact that Rupert Murdoch might buy one (or all) of them and effectively own the United States? Or the fact that they’re amassing a frighteningly large amount of data on us, based on our behavior online?

When I first read about things like “portable personalization” and “behavioral targeting,” I thought… cool. With all the technology we have at our fingertips these days, there is really no excuse for irrelevant advertising and non-sequetor junk mail. Like this ad from the good folks at “MegaDi*ck,” which landed in my Spam folder earlier this week:

“The latest investigations have discovered, that males with bigger penises are more successful!”

If I had a penis, perhaps I would care.

But then, I read this little bit of braggadocio from the CEO of NebuAd, which raised >$30 million in venture funds recently:

“We see all of the pages you go to and all of the searches you do,” CEO Bob Dykes said. When combined, that information provides marketers with a “much greater level of insight into what you’re doing,” he said.

Ok, that’s just creepy.

When asked to address the privacy concerns voiced by watch-dog organizations like The World Privacy Forum and the Center for Digital Democracy (who argue that companies like NebuAd should not create profiles on any user without first obtaining opt-in consent—period), Dykes responded by [what else?] downplaying the privacy concerns and emphasizing that the company doesn’t store records of search queries:

“We don’t want the government on our door saying, ‘Tell us all people who do a search on guns,’” he said.

Well, gee, I feel so much better!

Advocates of behavioral targeting are pushing the “opt-in” angle, suggesting that the benefits outweigh the risks: less Spam, fewer annoying, intrusive banner ads and pre-rolls that bear no resemblance to your personal interests or needs. The end result would be a much more enjoyable online experience, where you receive more of the stuff you do care about and less of the stuff you don’t.

But my concern is that most web-users don’t get the whole “opt in” thing to begin with—let alone how the term applies to “behavioral targeting”. My parents, for example, are still trying to figure out where the “forward” button is… and they spawned a GENIUS, for chrissakes!

As a passionate advocate of social media and the democratization of the World Wide Web, I think I’m leaning toward the opt-in only side of the argument. Certainly, there are plenty of tools out there already (and more popping up everyday) that help me find information that’s relevant to my tastes and interests—without having it shoved down my throat by advertisers. Or worse yet, used to put me on some government watch-list.

The final nail in the coffin for me will be when Google-DoubleClick joins forces with Big Pharma. Or Big Tobacco. Or Big Oil. (Or perhaps all three at once with a nice, firm handshake in the Oval Office!…)

Until then, I’m going to hope that my last Google search for “tax evasion” combined with a visit to DishonestAccountants.com doesn’t land me in hot water with my buddies at the IRS.

Wish me luck.