Topics for the 10/11/09 Show

Here are the proposed topics for this week's episode of The BeanCast. Please feel free to send in your thoughts and questions.

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This week's panel will be John Wall (Marketing Over Coffee), Ken Wheaton (Ad Age), Dave Wilkie (Where's My Jetpack) and Alan Wolk (The Toad Stool).

TOPICS

Disclose Per Post: FTC has finally come out with their guidelines for online endorsement. Disclose any and all material connections to a brand you endorse or face an $11,000 fine per incident. And celebrity endorsers can be held responsible for the claims made in an ad. Are these rules good for consumers or over-stepping boundaries? Do consumers need this kind of protection? Are these rules enforceable? What about the focus on bloggers while ignoring traditional media -- is this fair? Will the imbalance between media treatment undermine their effectiveness? Are the court challenges inevitable? Are the lines drawn here clear enough? Is it easy or confusing to comply? A study this week shows Internet users tend to review product positively online. Does regulating blogs change the fact that brands can positively influence perception in all kinds of ways?

Google Gets Creative: The powerhouse of plain-text ads is working with ad agencies and creative producers as they advance their video offerings. Is Google changing it's philosophy or just responding to the needs of growing YouTube profitability? Is their offering to adsense users compelling or changes the agreement? Does it become too intrusive? Does the recent eMarketer report that user prefer pre-roll to content ads have any bearing on the Google effort? Do video content ads even make sense unless it is outstanding?

How To Fix the USPS: Newsweek ventures a list of seven things the post office needs to do to fix itself. Does Newsweek make good points or are they confused? Let's go through the list: 1) Get into e-business 2) Increase service, not chop delivery days 3) Advertise w/ coupons 4) Make a play for control of government broadband 5) Rebrand 6) More strategic approach to closing branches 7) Reorganize and motivate staff

The Twitter for Business Chatter Continues: Biz Stone is now on the record talking about the much maligned Twitter business accounts, this time claiming that Twitter will always be free, but that they plan on offering premium business accounts with additional analytics. Don't third parties already offer this? What happens to 3rd party vendors in this play? Is this a profitable play, considering their competitors take a broader social focus?

Twitter Gets Facebook-Style Gifting: AdNectar wants us to be able to give away branded virtual gifts to each other, a la Facebook. You know I hate this idea , but what do you think? Is this a good money-making venture? Will it be accepted? Is it good for brands? It obviously works on Facebook, but does it translate to the Twitter environment?


My Story to Watch: Ad Industry diversity...maybe I'm just too close to this issue at the moment, but between the 4As making a stand for AdColor Industry Coalition and the premiere of Bill Green and Angela Natividad's AdVerve podcast with Hadji Williams talking about racism in adland, I believe this will be a big trending topic again.