Radio Killed The Podcast Star

Read original story on: AdWeek

At its first ever “Soundfront”, iHeartMedia pitched a dozen original podcast programs to radio ad buyers, citing the recent breakout hit podcast “Serial” as evidence of the format’s rising prominence. The 12 podcasts will run on iHeartRadio’s app, iHeartMedia websites and possibly some of the media giant’s radio stations, and some will be hosted by celebrities, such as Jared Leto and Jaime Pressly.

The radio behemoth is also teaming up with Snapchat to push a social marketing campaign on the latter’s platform as an effort to reach the younger audiences, who typically choose music streaming over radio, but also make up the mainstay of podcast audiences.

“Slow Media” asks quality over quantity

I recently attended a client summit in Berlin and had the opportunity to meet renowned European Media Consultant and Researcher, Joerg Blumtritt. With his peers Sabria David and Benedikt Koehler, Joerg developed the Slow Media Manifesto. Taking a page from the Slow Food Movement, Slow Media offers a new take on the ever-more overwhelming media universe we live in; key is quality over quantity in our media production and consumption. I sat down for an email chat with Joerg to find out more about the roots of Slow Media, and what it means for advertisers, brands, and consumers.

Lab: What is slow media and why does it matter now?

JB: Slow Media is about taking care: to carefully spend your time, not to waste it with media consumption that is  not worthwhile, and – even more important – to take responsibility in creating media that gives value to people’s life. Continue reading ““Slow Media” asks quality over quantity”

Top hi-tech gadgets for pets

Jake the dog (Raquel Krouse)We live in a digital world, so it makes sense that our pets would have some cool gadgets of their own. And, for the holidays, new media solutions for pets make good gifts for the pet lovers in your life. From pet social networks and dating sites, to digital camera collars, pet mobile phones and GPS systems, the pet-tech field keeps bringing pets and their owners new toys to play with. Here are some cool, albeit strange, digital innovations for pets:

There is no longer a need to guess whether or not Fido is happy or sad. Digital translators, Mewolingual and Bowlingual, interpret your dog or cats thoughts and feelings into words you can understand. The technology places a meow or bark into one of six standardized emotional categories and announces a phrase to represent the emotion. Sadly, the translators are currently only available in Japanese. Continue reading “Top hi-tech gadgets for pets”

At the Emmys: Fear and praise of new media

At the Emmys: Fear and praise of new media The Emmys came and went Sunday with a bit more bang, sex appeal, and just plan show biz than previous years.  There were no long political speeches or streaking or as Ken Howard stated, “[interruptions] by a congressman or a rapper” (my favorite line of the night).

What was evident this year was the presence of multi-channel plays to support the main broadcast in a way that encouraged community rather than just showing a display of new media savvy ( a current disease among broadcast shows –gotta have  a blog, a Twitter stream, a something-to-be-cool…with no strategy behind it).

Kyte, a mobile video service streamed live from the red carpet with Facebook and Twitter integration.  CBS, who had the broadcast rights,  allowed users to send in comments or vote in polling questions. E! Online also implemented some Facebook and Twitter integrations.  Continue reading “At the Emmys: Fear and praise of new media”