Download video of Doug Weaver's complete presentation here.
This dead idea is almost certain to cause a flap: The separation of advertising and editorial as a sacred premise is a dead idea.
Think about it. As virtually every program on television aggressively incorporates product placement as a core revenue strategy, and as the very line between marketer and media company blurs, we in the digital space are keeping the vast majority of our marketing work penned up in little advertising ghettoes at the top and side of our pages.
The reality is that we have one screen. One experience where marketing and content will co-exist and ultimately morph together. Products and messages will continue to find placement opportunities in what we used to think of as the content space, and the artist formerly known as the banner will increasingly be used as a distribution system for both rich combinations of brand experience and product marketing.
The ad and the editorial will live together in one unit, and it's going to be distributed across the web. What used to live on a microsite or jump page will now be distributed and syndicated through what we used to think of simply as the advertising pipeline.
Now my journalism professor in college is no doubt spinning in his grave to hear me say this point. But to me, this is a dead idea. It's anachronistic, and it's a relic of another time.
This is the 10th in a 12-part series of dead internet ideas. Here are the previous entries:
Doug Weaver is senior analyst for iMedia, as well as founder and CEO of Upstream Group.
On Twitter? Follow iMedia at @iMediaTweet.
