Then at the beginning of the year I researched activity trackers, how they compare to each other and what’s coming on the market. The design of the Jawbone wristband got my attention, but I ended up pre-ordering the Fitbit Flex instead. Even though not even on the market at the time, this tracker – an improvement of the Fitbit One that was a clip-on pedometer – got the best reviews.

I received my new fashion statement end of May and my life has changed ever since. Not only does it monitor my steps per day, it compares it to the set goal and happily starts vibrating once achieved.

Side note: It came with the default setting of 10,000 steps and even though I changed this to 8,000 I’m still having a hard time hitting that goal during week days.

It links to your phone where you can use the app to alter you goals, monitor your calorie intake and how many you’ve burned, calculate calories burned through sports activities, water intake etc. There is some work involved since you have to log everything you eat and drink. But it is then quickly turned into numbers and statistics. It even monitors how much you sleep! Set it to sleep mode when going to bed and tell the device you are awake in the morning (by just tapping on it). A few seconds later you see your sleep pattern in the app. It’ll show how long you’ve slept and how often you were restless or even awake during the night. And if you want to get a more detailed analysis of your sleep pattern, there’s an option to buy a detailed report online.

Greatly motivated by this device, I find myself walking around the block before going to bed, happily taking the steps wherever I can avoid the elevator and even run more when playing tennis! Yay! As someone whose daily life revolves around looking at data and how it applies to real-world decision-making, I can’t help but appreciate a human digital device, backed by analytics, that so immediately changes behavior. What a world!

PS — And if it’s not enough for us to track ourselves, how about tracking our pets! Check out this article and start tracking your dog.

Frauke Cast
Just Media, Inc. 

This concept comes via the latest version of Adblock Plus, which is currently the leading open source ad control program and number one browser Firefox add-on. Details can be found here and definition of “Acceptable Ads” can be found here.

This is BS. Really, acceptable ads? Two of the criteria are that the ads should not include any animation or attention grabbing images and that they should preferably be text only. Welcome to a world of bland. Imagine if TV ad spots, which we are similarly forced to consume, indeed ones that break the content flow entirely, were only allowed to be text based.

Why does the web have to be policed in this way or ad creativity stifled?

Digital ad industry is evil. This is the premise of these anti ad tracking products and voices. Really? Let’s think about this for a moment. Advertisers simply are trying to stop wasting money by using technology to show ads only to people who might actually be interested in them. They are motivated to actually avoid spamming users who will not respond. Remove tracking and analytics and we all get spammed….thanks – but personally I prefer to see ads for things I actually might want.

Like that free content? The simple fact is all that free content you love comes thanks to advertiser dollars. Take that away and you either loose the content or you will have to pay for it. Personally I like it when someone else is paying. I hate the fact I pay for cable TV and yet still get ads….where are the dissenting voices there?

So listen…please get off your pedestal. Online advertisers drive the growth of the web, have enabled millions to have access to amazing tools and are simply trying to develop techniques that bring more efficiency to what they do. I’m all for keeping tabs and being smart but let’s stop with the nonsense.

Dick Reed
Just Media, Inc. 

• 5 Unalarming Stats About Banner Ads  – Article For Banner Advertising
• Summary: Companies continue shelling out big dollars each year on banner advertising, despite the fact no one clicks on them, because they can still bring in positive ROI. Uses pretty mindless examples to make the point, but the point is still made…
• Banners are the Worst Advertising  - Article Against Banner Advertising
• Summary: Banners are a waste of money because no one ever sees them and they are not impactful enough, blah blah blah…

So which article makes the best case?  In my humble opinion, they both make some decent observations.  However, the imbecile behind the article against banner advertising is missing the point.  The purpose of online banners is never “impact”.  TV commercials can definitely be more impactful and yes, it is more common to hear people discuss the latest cool television ad than it is to speak of the last cool banner ad they’ve seen.  Talking about an ad is one thing but resulting in a sale is a completely other thing.  I may talk to friends about the last impactful TV spots I have seen, but that doesn’t mean I am going out to buy a Fiat or Axe Body Spray any time soon (hey, don’t judge my definition of impact).

The point of banner advertising is to get someone to (hopefully) take an immediate action.  All companies, big and small, have a website these days.  The best way to get someone to that site is via online advertising.  What most folks miss is how to properly measure digital – beyond just the traditional linear click and last-click site analytics. With the proper analytics setup, you can analyze much more mature attribution models way beyond basic clicks.

Don’t get me wrong, as a media professional, I’m a fan of broadcast, print, and OOH media.  In fact, studies have shown brand recall is much greater when there’s a more integrated plan in the works.  However, with the desire of immediate results accompanied with limited advertising budgets, clients aren’t asking “What mediums should I use?”  Instead, they are asking “Can I afford anything to coincide with my digital campaign?”

It’s digital first and then, if I can scrounge up some more dollars, maybe we can discuss other media.  Why?  The answer is threefold:  digital ads are cost efficient, most targeted, and easiest to measure.  Additionally, all consumers are online.  If it’s not at their computer, they’re on their mobile phones or tablets.  Even TV’s have banner ads now.  You have to hit them where they are, right?

Of course, digital advertising isn’t easy.  As the moronic “anti-banner” article stated, there IS a lot of clutter.  How do you get your banner ads noticed and in front of the right audience?  Good creative helps (have to give a shout out to that side of the business!), but it also comes down to targeting.  This can be done a lot easier digitally than any other medium.  And, despite the fact no one clicks on banners, they are still seen and can be very effective (see Just Media motto!).

As someone who’s been in media for a very long time, this seems like a no-brainer to me and maybe not worth a blog mention.  However, apparently there are still some people who need to be reminded of the importance of digital media.  Again, all mediums have their place in advertising.  But the age of digital advertising is not going anywhere.

In fact, it’s evolving and getting better!

Dale Viger
Just Media, Inc.

At Just Media, we have the pleasure of working with a variety of marketers across a multitude of industries: B2B Tech, Consumer Tech, Healthcare / Life Sciences, Financial Services, Human Capital Management, Energy, etc. However, they all face the same challenge – evolving internal marketing technologies to optimize, measure and track the flow of users from inquiry/interest through revenue generation. Only a select few have it nailed. In looking at the new “Marketing Technology” LUMAscape, it’s easy to see why. It’s simply overwhelming, some might even say depressing.

And guess what?  Internal marketing technologies are just the tip of the iceberg. It doesn’t take into account all of the equally daunting 3rd-party marketing technologies that deliver bigger and better ways to target users through outbound marketing. For that, have fun navigating all of the other LUMAscapes. Yes, there’s Display, Search, Video, Mobile and Social, just to name a few.

It’s a tall order. As a first step, most companies are focused on simply aligning their 1st-Party Data through Web Analytics, Marketing Automation and CRM/Sales Automation platforms. This enables companies to track inbound users through to sales pipeline and revenue generation. Very cool.  As a start. But there’s still the missing piece of 3rd-party outbound marketing campaign data.

Most marketers are only tracking outbound campaigns through last-click data. “Oh, they came in from Google Search, so that must be the only place to invest our marketing dollars.” Wrong. What about the trigger that drove them to search in the first place? To really do effective campaign measurement and analytics, companies need to look at the full impact of their marketing investments and measure this 3rd-party data with their internal 1st-party data. This is what will allow you to make the most efficiently optimized use of your precious marketing dollars. Again, not an easy task.

Even more depressed now? Don’t be. Leveraging marketing technologies is an evolution and not a revolution. And you’re not alone. Start with the basics. Yes, you must align your automation and sales platforms. You must have some level of user/lead nurture. But as you’re doing these, setup a proper methodology for aligning your outbound campaign data in conjunction with your internal data. This will allow you to test, optimize, repeat what works on a tactic-by-tactic basis, whether you’re using traditional publishers, lead generation platforms, data targeting techniques, social advertising or even native content marketing.

If you don’t feel you can do this alone. Find partners. Seek advice. And that doesn’t have to cost you money. Heck, we’ll share Just Media’s campaign analytics methodologies for free if you want to see our “Technology in Marketing” tour. But this isn’t about us. It’s about the evolution of a market and setting a foundation of knowledge exchange.

Crawl, walk, run.

Again, you’re not alone. Put a smile on your face. This stuff isn’t as cool as curing cancer, but better than a slap in the belly with a cold fish.

Hey, we even think it’s fun!

Brandon Friesen
Just Media, Inc.