Emerging Media Ideas

Hi,

It was a great first week, and the class engaged in numerous discussion threads on the most effective and least effective new media formats for marketing communications. The consensus seemed to be websites as the most effective, although there were a few others than were interesting as well.

I don’t know if there is a right answer here, but the discussion was interesting. Two of the ideas that stood out to me were the use of social networking, and in-game advertising as effective new media tools. I’m a late entrant to social networking, but I just started using it at my current job. We created a Facebook page for Mergent, and I must say I’ve been surprised as the response. To promote our Facebook page, we put a small blurb in our quartely client newsletter. We’ve already had clients join our Facebook network from just that brief marketing announcement. Now, the question is–what do we do with our Facebook page? I’m certainly open to suggestions here, since I have no background with social networking. I know a number of our competitors use social networking as a communications tool. Rather than copying their efforts, I’d like to do something breakthrough with it. Of course, easier said than done…

The other item that I found very interesting was the concept and rise of in-game advertising. It seems like this area of new media is exploding, and is becoming a prime vehicle to reach young males age 12-34. Interestingly, Brandweek had an article on the use of in-game advertising in their October 20 issue (which for some reason arrived on my desk today, the 27th!) The article notes that in-game advertising is rapidly evolving, and has gone from static campaigns to dynamic ones that can be integrated into the most popular game titles on wide reaching platforms–i.e. Xbox 360, Playstation 3 etc. One of the neat aspects to in-game advertising is the level of engagement that the audience–the gameplayer–has. People don’t mindlessly surf games the way they do television or radio. Once a person is playing a game, they are engaged and very focused on the in-game experience. This makes the advertising quite powerful.

To me, this makes an already exciting field like new media even more exciting. I’m really looking forward to the weeks ahead where we explore other areas in depth.

Brian

Hello world!

Hi all,

My name is Brian and I’m a graduate student in West Virginia University’s Integrated Marketing Communications program. Originally from Long Island, I moved to the Charlotte, NC area in 2005–and am still loving life in the south.

I’ve spent my career, for the most part, in financial marketing. I’ve held marketing and product management positions at Morgan Stanley, BlackRock, Wachovia and Mergent, Inc. (where I’m still employed, as Director of Marketing) I’m also the Director of Global Marketing for Indxis, a new company that–with any luck and a ton of hard work–will be a giant in the financial industry.

My wife recently gave birth to our first child, Owen William. Juggling work, home life and a new baby is challenging, but incredibly rewarding. My wife and I are avid Disney fans, so we’re already planning Owen’s first trip there. We hope it will be the first of many.

I’m a bit of a political junkie as well, so I’ve been closely following the Presidential race (who hasn’t?). This one promises to be the most important election in my lifetime. We’ll see where the chips fall in November.

That’s a sliver of who I am. I look forward to completing the picture as the blog grows.

Brian