Memo to Corporate CEO's & CMO's: Why FB Bought Vine: Because Its ALL About VIDEO, Stupid!

For you corporate chiefs and marketing czars who somehow missed the most poignant and succinct explanations [courtesy of more than a few Fortune CMO's and global branding experts] with regard to this week's Facebook Incs (NASDAQ:FB) purchase of Vine, and the strategy to incorporate that video toolkit into Instagram--here it is, in a nutshell--courtesy of the smartest marketer in the world (SMITW):

"Its all about video. Any corporate executive, any entrepreneurial leader of a fast growth company, any senior capo of a B2B enterprise, whether within the financial services space, the legal industry, the accounting industry, the professional services industry, or anyone advising executives who strive to distinguish themselves among the clutter needs to understand that if you are not delivering a corporate message via video, whether its 16 seconds, 60 seconds, or 90 seconds--you've outlived your usefulness to your organization."

You'll notice that above comment included 'financial services'..for you sell-side investment bank and brokers, buy-side investment managers and advisers, and let's not forget all of you fast-paced hedge fund marketers who need to spend the next year or so wrapping your arms around compliance issues before shining a brighter light on your value proposition--here's a news flash that isn't being repeated on CNBC: You've already been 'lapped' by competitors who are already on their 3rd iteration of videos in which their company executives and staff are shining brightly on a video screen near you--and one that's presumably nearer to the clients that you would like to impress.

Case study courtesy of NorthStar Financial, one of the financial advisory industry's most recognized brands: Not only did the folks at this Omaha-based, "Land of Buffet" financial behemoth  figure out the power of video messaging well ahead of their peers, this multi-legged enterprise, which serves a broad spectrum of registered investment advisors (RIAs) created a captive digital media production company (Advisor Studios) to punch out compelling B-rolls for RIAs and the assortment of other NorthStar clients and strategic partners who want to step up their branding and marketing.

Below is an illustration of the latest B-roll to come out of Advisor Studios..a great B2B piece that was produced and edited with more than solid skills.

And, Yes, for you skeptics that don't swallow endorsements or testimonials easily, there certainly might be more video production firms to choose from than there are pizza parlors and donut shops. That doesn't mean they are all as good as Advisor Studios--or--for those in the New York tri-state area, we have 2 favs--Simba Productions and MediaPlace

Your Web Display Ads: Not Displayed?!

Courtesy of WSJ reporter Suzanne Vranica..

The old adage in advertising—that half the money is wasted but no one knows which half—turns out to be as true for the digital world as it ever was for traditional media.

An astounding 54% of online display ads shown in "thousands" of campaigns measured by comScore Inc. between May of 2012 and February of this year weren't seen by anyone, according to a study completed last month.

Don't confuse "weren't seen" with "ignored." These ads simply weren't seen, the result of technical glitches, user habits and fraud.

The finding implies that billions of marketing dollars are being poured down a digital drain. Last year, $14 billion was spent on online display advertising, estimates eMarketer, 40% of all online ad spending.
Advertisers can blame both technical snafus and more nefarious factors for ads going nowhere. Technical issues include ads being displayed on part of a browser not open on a computer screen—such as when an ad appears at the bottom of the screen and surfers don't scroll down. Another problem: Some ads load so slowly that the Web surfer switches off before the ad comes up, says comScore.

And then there is fraud. A significant number of display-ad "impressions" often paid for by marketers are based on fake traffic. Malicious software makes a website think a person is actually on a page and ads are served up to that fake visitor. In other scams, ads show up on several Web pages but they are hidden behind a window on a website that is the size of a pencil point, according to comScore.

For the full article, please visit the WallStreet Journal via this link