American (Ad) Idol
: Craig Newmark has a change-the-rules idea the new Current.TV: Let the audience vote off the worst commercials.
I like that: Sponsors would know the rules when they advertise and would operate under fear of being voted off, so they would improve their commercials.
But it's so, well, negative. How about a more aggressive scheme:
How about having a contest for the best commercials, products, and brands on the network. Make it a game. Hire the Simon Cowell (or Bob Garfield) of the people to slam the spam. Have the sponsors compete for our affection.
Everybody wins:
: Suddenly, consumers have a reason to pay attention to commercials. Wow, that is revolutionary. So if the sponsors have decent commercials, they win.
: The network becomes a better environment for advertising. Advertisers will line up to give them money. The network wins.
: The sponsors improve their commercials and consumers can get rid of the worst of them and encourage better ones. The audience wins.
The audience is in control.
This follows my first law of media (and life): Give people control of media and they will use it. Don't give the people control and you will lose them.
That's all Craig is doing. That's all Craig ever does: He empowers the people. Good thinking, Craig.
: This also deals with a problem of marketing and media in this era when media is paid on performance: That is, if you are a publisher or blogger, you get paid only when the consumer clicks on an ad you run. But if the ad is crappy (or the ad targeting is off) then no one will click and you lose; you used up your space, your ad avail, to no avail.
So what if you got to pick the ad creative you put on your site or network... or recreate it? That scares ad agencies that make money on making that creative. But, hey, it's a new era: You win when you give up control, not keep it. So the wise advertiser and ad agency would take Craig's idea (and my add) and run with it.
[Bad link to Craig fixed. Sorry.]
Can you jump back over the shark?
: I was glad that in his press conference last night, Bush distanced himself from the religious fringe.
THE PRESIDENT: ... The role of religion in our society? I view religion as a personal matter. I think a person ought to be judged on how he or she lives his life, or lives her life. And that's how I've tried to live my life, through example. Faith-based is an important part of my life, individually, but I don't -- I don't ascribe a person's opposing my nominations to an issue of faith.
Q Do you think that's an inappropriate statement? And what I asked is --
THE PRESIDENT: No, I just don't agree with it.
Q You don't agree with it.
THE PRESIDENT: No, I think people oppose my nominees because -- because of judicial philosophy.
Q Sorry, I asked you what you think of the ways faith is being used in our political debates, not just in society --
THE PRESIDENT: No, I know you asked me that. Well, I can only speak to myself, and I am mindful that people in political office should not say to somebody, you're not equally American if you don't happen to agree with my view of religion. As I said, I think faith is a personal issue, and I get great strength from my faith. But I don't condemn somebody in the political process because they may not agree with me on religion.
The great thing about America, David, is that you should be allowed to worship any way you want, and if you choose not to worship, you're equally as patriotic as somebody who does worship. And if you choose to worship, you're equally American if you're a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim. That's the wonderful thing about our country, and that's the way it should be.
Of course, the cynical view is that he gets to come off as more moderate -- on prime-time TV, at least -- and lets others suck--up to the religous right for him. Another cynical view is that the polls indicate that DeLay, Frist, et al went too far and so Bush is reacting to that (but if he were just listening to the polls, he wouldn't have been pushing Social Security so hard). But -- risking an Ollie Volley -- I'll say I think he is more moderate on religion. He has not pushed for regulating speech on cable and satellite and has told parents to use the remote control. He gives this speech to pull back from the right-wing religious shark-jumpers. We can only hope that this is a recognition that they went too far and Bush used this opportunity to say so, to pull back to the middle.
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