I see the right, and I approve it too,
Condemn the wrong, and yet the wrong pursue.
(Video meliorea proboque, deteriora sequor)
Ovid, Metamorphoses, VII (Garth translation)
It is a truism that it Pays to Advertise, as per the advertisement now being run on both Radio, Print and Television by the Jamaica Advertising Association that has been running since the last week on September in a bid to get small and large business owners to invest in advertising.
Apparently, however, with disaster after disaster, very few business people are buying this argument and are thus advertising revenue had been falling since the First Quarter of 2010, now only getting worse.
This has been the case ever since the “bad gyal” in the guise of Tropical Storm Nicole dealt a deleterious blow to Jamaica to the tune of twelve billion dollars (JA$12,000,000,000) as stated in the article “Hefty repair bill”, published Monday October 4, 2010, The Jamaica Gleaner, a blow that seems to be a bit too much, as the humidity hands both in the air and in the mind.
Coupled with the possibility that the RJR Communications Group was heavily investing in over inflated Government of Jamaica Paper, the reduced level of advertising pre- and post- Tropical Storm Nicole wiped off 53% of the RJR Communications Group profits in the Second Quarter of 2010, as reported in the article “RJR profits drop 53% in Jun Q”, published Friday, August 20, 2010, The Jamaica Observer.
So it is not surprising that the RJR Communications Group is not only pushing ahead since the Summer of 2010 with a slew of reality shows, aside from Digicel Rising Stars, which started this reality show craze and – you guessed it – was a brain blast of mine from being put on TV back in 2003 AD when C&W was attempting to force me to take up a position with training, Jimmy Neutron Style
It is also changing their website Television Jamaica to offer on-demand programming and live streaming of Smile Jamaica and Prime Time News, as this is (surprise, surprise !!!) the ONLY content produced solely by TVJ (Television Jamaica) own management. All the other content on TVJ is from Third Party Content Providers.
Thus, they have to spend a lot of money to purchase or rent, whichever is cheaper, content from these Third Party Providers, both Local and International, with Local Third Party Content Providers costs, the highest of the lot, being offset by enforced barriers from the Broadcasting Commission.
These barriers or rules ensure that Local Third Party Content Providers offering content to TVJ to broadcast cannot be sexually explicit or violent content whether on their Radio Stations as well as on Television, thus putting TVJ since 2004 AD in a position to basically dictate to Local Third Party Content Providers that their content must come with a minimum of three (3) advertisers, with TVJ picking up the slack as it relates to advertising.
International Third Party Content Providers, mainly go-between companies between TVJ and the major Studios, Networks and Cable Providers, are a one off purchase or rental, and thus TVJ must foot the bill completely for the cost of this content.
Even when this content is taken from a C-Band of Ku-Band feed, they are still subject to International Copyright Treaties between Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean , thus the still have to bear this in mind when broadcasting supposedly “Free” International Third Party Content.
This is not even mentioning the fact that they have to find all the advertisers willing to fill the time slots – a very difficult negotiating process, as most advertisers are deftly aware of the fact that the best time slots are Early Morning Prime Time (6:00 am to 9:00 am) and Drive Time (5:00 pm to 7:00 pm) and Evening Prime Time (7:00 pm to 9:00 pm). Beyond 9:00 pm, most people coming home are merely interested in seeing the news
A logical explanation as to the rebroadcast of 8:00 pm news on CVM TV as opposed to another reporter doing the Late Night News on CVM TV at 11:00 pm. TVJ has decided to follow suit, also abandoning the live broadcast in favour of a re-broadcast of Evening Prime Time News at 10:30 pm.
No one wants their advertising dollars wasted, despite TVJ insistence on 60% market share, which ironically is a shrinking market share, as TVJ should be aware, what with time –shifting and Cable TV, IPTV, Web TV to become more relevant with Municipal Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) Networks.
Examples such as the Wayne Chen and Lee’s partnered Dekal Wireless as stated in the article “Wayne Chen, Lees enter Wireless Broadband Market”, published Friday July 30th 2010 by Mark Titus, Business Reporter, The Jamaica Gleaner and upstart Nubian-1- Tech Services Limited as stated in the article “Another small player emerges in the wireless broadband market”, published Friday August 2 2010 by Mark Titus, Gleaner Writer, The Jamaica Gleaner.
Digicel 4G Broadband too, as stated in the article “Digicel goes 4G”, published Saturday, August 21, 2010 BY ROSS SHEIL Online co-ordinator, The Jamaica Observer.
Did I forget to mention possibly Google TV powered LIME TV the article “LIME TV on the Horizon”, published Sunday, September 19, 2010 by ALICIA ROACHE Sunday Finance reporter, The Jamaica Observer.
Possibly Google Android OS phone (please let it NOT be Nokia!) supported LIME Mobile TV as stated in the article “LIME goes Mobile TV”, published Saturday August 28th by Christopher Serju, Gleaner Writer, The Jamaica Gleaner.
LIME Chairman, Christopher Dehring scratching the turntables by saying: “We are the revolution. Some people say they have 4G, we say we have more G”?
For the record, I, John Public, do not watch live television programming; I record it on my PC, used as a DVR (Digital Video Recorder) or I download content form various online resources to peruse at later time, thus being part of the demographic of persons that in our Northern most neighbors are called time-shifters.
They [time shifters] are contributing to the possible potential advertising loss being visited upon Broadcasting by the trend of time shifting using DVR (Digital Video Recorders), watching DVD’s and WebTV as stated in the article “Survey of viewers shows extent of TV time shifting”, published Tuesday August 17 2010, 6:53 am ET By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer, Yahoo News.
Which would explain the Pays to Advertise ads encouraging business people, ironically, to advertise, counter to the bad Economic State in the Jamaican Economy due to the Recession in the United States of America
Despite the political spin doctors, is not over and will continue for another seven (7) years until the United States of America completely decouples itself from Fossil Fuel via the usage of Alternative Energy and improves manufacturing efficiency
Thus improving export competitiveness and in the process employ Americans to make All-Electric Vehicles, albeit at slightly lower wages, a spur for increased spending come Black Friday, the Christmas of 2010 bell weather.
Combined with Tax breaks for SME (Small and Medium Enterprises) a la George Bush as stated in the article “Obama to introduce another business tax cut”, published Saturday August 7 2010 By Ed Henry, CNN Senior White House Correspondent, CNN News and Large Corporations and Infrastructural Improvements to the United States of America’s InterState Network as stated in the article “Barack Obama announces $50bn infrastructure plan”, published 6 September 2010 18:15 GMT , BBC World News.
A complete jumpstart of the American Economy should begin in the Summer of 2011 AD, just in time for All-Electric Vehicles to make their debut and for Senator Barack Obama, President of the United States of Jamaica to win a second term in Office.
Close shave, like a bullet graze, but he, like the Prime Minister Bruce Golding, is guaranteed a Second Term in Office. They both [JLP and the Democrats] have to find a way to communicate this strategic vision to their respective electorate. That would of course, be, advertising.
The RJR Communications Group, not one to site around, mope, and wait till Election time to see this windfall, has gotten on the offensive. They are not going to let time-shifting, Broadband Internet and Mobile TV get them off guard
Even as the for-now-uncapped WiMaX 4G Mobile (IEEE 802.16d) Broadband service Digicel Broadband from Telecom Provider Digicel as stated in the article “Digicel goes 4G”, published Saturday, August 21, 2010 By ROSS SHEIL Online co-ordinator, The Jamaica Observer sputters with problems related possibly to throttling due to possible litigation or inaccurate and inappropriate T1 allocation to provision the 10 MBps best effort service promised in the advertising.
In addition to the above mentioned countermeasures, they have gone into Alternate Dimensions of Advertising using Bluetooth Advertising. RJR Communications Group and it evil sister MultiMedia Jamaica Ltd, has become the first company in Jamaica and indeed the entire Caribbean to use this little know type of advertising known as Direct Targeted Advertising powered by Bluetooth as stated in the article “Bluetooth ads coming to cellphones soon”, published Wednesday, August 25, 2010 by Alicia Roache Business reporter, The Jamaica Observer
A very close cousin of Behavioral Targeted Advertising as stated in the article “Study: Like it or not, behavioral ad targeting works”, published March 24, 2010 9:01 AM PDT by Caroline McCarthy, CNET News – The Social.
Wherein lies the difference?
Behavioral Targeted Advertising is dependent on being a member of a Social Network that has geo-location e.g. FourSquare, who started this concept and FaceBook Places readily comes to mind.
Both services that have the capability to push you targeted advertisements and offerings on your mobile smart phone based on your “likes” as selected on your Social Network.
Once you are in proximity of an advertiser based on your GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) location, your acceptance of the advertisement being recorded as a hit at the time of manual or automated “check-in” to use this now prolific term originated by FourSquare, who started the trending towards geo-location.
Direct Targeted Advertising is also location based, but is unsolicited advertising and is more dependent on proximity of the customer to a fixed Wireless Network, be it a Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n), Bluetooth or Mobile Cellular Network to push advertising to a customer
This is much in the same way Telecom Providers, without your prompting, send you SMS (Short Messaging Service) or Text messages to your mobile phone, most likely a cost they themselves absorb or in the case of Third Party SMS providers, such as CoreTalk Communications Limited, which specializes in such Direct Targeted Advertising via SMS, thus this service is nothing new under the Sun.
The genius of BlueWave Caribbean, a subsidiary of the British company that is championing this advertising concept in Jamaica
Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) is also becoming more ubiquitous on mobile smart phones as well as on household appliances and gadgets, such as 3-D HDTV’s as per my previous blog articles.
Thus the concept of advertising being pushed to you on mobile smart phones via Municipal Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) Networks such as Dekal Wireless is very possible in the future and is most likely possible, especially as this Asian Tiger spreads its message of low cost, modem-less “Super-WiFi”.
Telecom Providers can get in on the Geo-Location Advertising game by simply utilizing the technology or another start-up, GloPos Communications Ltd, a GSM based technology which allows single tower triangulation as stated in the article "Global Positioning without GPS”, published September 13, 2009, 11:30PM EST by Kevin Tofel, GIGAOM, BusinessWeek.
Persons would then say that with an opt-out feature, no one will opt-in and support receiving advertising. However that worry is easily brushed aside as well, as Jamaicans love free giveaways, as evident from Telecom Provider Digicel and their previous free giveaways and current Jus Buss Promotion and as they are many Jamaican with foreign travel experience who may be using FourSquare, Loopt, Gowalla and FaceBook Places.
This trend will rapidly catch on, especially as persons get used to the idea of getting free giveaways, party tickets, even mobile phone credit from the various Telecom Providers based on just “check-in” to a location or in this case with the BlueWave Caribbean Bluetooth Technology, coming into proximity of a Bluetooth Network strategically positioned to broadcast advertising information.
The words of Director of BlueWave Caribbean sum it up best: “It's new technology so do you wait for regulations to come in or do you give people the opportunity to experience the technology? My preference is to give people the opportunity to experience the technology”.
But what about using Municipal Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) or even 3G for advertising? Instead of using mobile smart phones, you could use flexible multi-touch display screens, similar to those developed by a company named Displax, appropriately named Skin as described in the article “Miracle Film turns any surface into a touch screen”, published Tuesday August 17, 4:48 pm ET by Jolie O'Dell, Yahoo News.
One needs not to think too hard how this could be coupled with Bluetooth Advertising, as not only would the customer receive connect on their mobile smart phones, but they could also interact directly with a billboard via a touch screen interface.
No need for geo-location or getting Telecom Providers involved, as the pushing of display content to the Billboards could be controlled via a Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) connection using Dekal Wireless Municipal Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) Network, which would enable true intractability, somewhat akin to Multimedia Jamaica Limited DVR Based streaming advertisements.
Being always someone who is interested in futuristic advertising media, the invasiveness of geo-location may not be to the liking of most people.
Worse Jamaicans, mainly due to the fact that it effectively has the potential to result in people who you are your “friends” in your Social Network i.e. Loopt, Gowalla, FourSquare or FaceBook Places, being able to potentially track your every move and possibly do you harm – or worse catch you while you are get a “piece” [sex] with someone other than your significant other.
But even more interesting is its application to sunglasses. Ordinary sunglasses could effectively be turned into the next must-have accessory that would allow for people to not only use their telephones without taking their phones out of their pockets, but potentially they could also eliminate the phone altogether.
The phone electronics could be micro-miniaturized into the frame of the sunglasses or even a watch, somewhat as how the Apple iPod Nano is being worn on the streets in May Pen, Clarendon, which would interface via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) Direct as stated in the article “Wi-Fi is about to get a whole lot easier”, published October 14, 2009, 12:01AM EST By Olga Kharif, BusinessWeek – INTERNET or WiGig as stated in the article “Wi-Fi to cultivate speedy 60GHz band”, published May 11, 2010 11:08 AM PDT by Dong Ngo, CNET News - Wireless.
Combined with the user using Air Multi-Touch gestures or Voice Command, akin to Google Android OS 2.4 aka Gingerbread to dial numbers, download and use apps and even watch full length 1080p video streamed via Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) or stored on the one (1) Terabyte memory (my predicted standard future memory size for mobile smart phones and Tablet PC by 2012 AD).
This is not too hard to imagine, as Java-based Google Android OS uses AI (Artificial Intelligence) in its Voice Recognition Engine as well as its Search Engine as stated in the article “Google Uses AI to Make Search Smarter”, published September 21, 2010, 12:01AM EST by Olga Kharif, BusinessWeek - SPECIAL REPORT.
Were Google to develop such a mobile smart phone and throw in a bit of Augmented Viewing as stated in the article “Augmented Reality goes mobile”, published November 3, 2009, 12:44AM EST by Rachael King, BusinessWeek - AUGMENTED REALITY and supported by the article “Augmented Viewing: its' like real life, but better”, published Sunday 21 March 2010 by Charles Arthur, The Observer, The Guardian Newspaper
Augmented Reality as supported by the article “Augmented reality edges closer to mainstream”, published June 3, 2010 2:17 PM PDT by Declan McCullagh, CNET News - Gaming and Culture in the form of its popular Google Goggles, it would truly be an Advertisers dream, as they could push advertising to you not via not only your Bluetooth connection alone, but via:
- Municipal Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n)
- Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) Direct
- WiGig
- Even the soon-to-be-defunct 3G or 4G Networks
Especially when you are no longer in contact with a Municipal Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) Network every time you look at a product!
Satellite Voice and Data Services akin to the Satellite smart phone enabled TerreStar Genus as stated in the article “AT&T launches satellite phone”, published September 21, 2010 9:32 AM PDT by Lance Whitney, CNET News – Wireless.
Mesh Networking Data Calling as hinted by Dr. Paul Gardner-Stephen of Flinders University in Australia
Support for this idea comes in the article “Wi-Fi calling coming to T-Mobile Android Phones”, published October 6, 2010 6:02 AM PDT by Bonnie Cha, CNET News - CTIA 2010 would be just icing on the cake for the customer, in a world straight out of Minority Report (2002).
This film can be used no only for such a futuristic phone, but to display advertising on any surface, and be multi-touch interactive. Project Alice Through The Looking Glass (TV 1998), anyone?
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please register and leave you comments. For contact, leave an email or phone number and I'll be sure to get back to you.