Ad Age Not Thrilled With How It Was Represented on Mad Men

The 4th season opener of the AMC show Mad Men aired last night, and in it, the main character Don Draper had an interview with a reporter from Ad Age. While the show is clearly fictional and takes place in the 60s, it seems that Ad Age has taken some issue with how it was represented as a publication.

Rance Crain has posted a spiel about what the show failed to get right (in Ad Age's eyes), and how it really was back then:

What's wrong with this picture? No. 1, we never did interviews over lunch; No. 2, we didn't take notes in shorthand; No. 3 we didn't ask cute-ass questions; and No. 4, our pictures were never bigger than our stories.

So what was it really like being a reporter for Ad Age in 1964?

I was a member of the Ad Age editorial staff in Washington, New York and Chicago in the '60s and, heaven help us, we would knock down walls to be the first to report a big account change, major product introduction or agency startup...

It continues for about ten more paragraphs. The article is met with numerous comments from readers, including some sarcastic ones. For example, one person says, "This is saying a story-telling medium (television) about a story-telling medium (advertising) might not be 'authentically' accurate. I am shocked. SHOCKED!"

While most viewers probably don't look to Mad Men for historical facts, it's understandable that Ad Age would want to make sure it is defending its reputation, particularly given the industry that the publication resides in. The critically acclaimed show does get a great deal of media attention.

Interestingly, Georg Szalai of the Hollywood Reporter says the show is "hardly a hit on Madison Avenue".

"Despite all the attention and the show's affluent viewership, 'Mad Men' has averaged far fewer viewers than other summer cable dramas like USA's 'Burn Notice,' and ad rates also are lower," he writes. "An average 30-second spot on first-run episodes of 'Mad Men' fetches about $20,000-$25,000, according to a recent trade media report -- not much, but it is a multiple of AMC's primetime movies." source: webpronews.com

Google Acquires Metaweb For Smarter Search Results

Two days ago, Marissa Mayer published an article in which she mentioned the wide range of meanings a simple search term like "jaguar" can have.  Now, Google's taken a big step towards improving its grasp of language, with the company announcing this afternoon that it's acquired Metaweb.

Let's address two points right now.  First, Google did not disclose the purchase price.  Second, we have no idea why news of this acquisition was sandwiched between Apple's iPhone 4 press conference and the start of the weekend, when it seems unlikely to get a lot of coverage.

Otherwise, Jack Menzel, a director of product management at Google, explained on the Official Google Blog that Metaweb is "a company that maintains an open database of things in the world."  He then added, "Working together we want to improve search and make the web richer and more meaningful for everyone."

Need an example?  Menzel continued, "Type [Barack obama birthday] in the search box and see the answer right at the top of the page.  Or search for [events in San Jose] and see a list of specific events and dates. . . .  But what about [colleges on the west coast with tuition under $30,000] or [actors over 40 who have won at least one oscar]?  These are hard questions, and we've acquired Metaweb because we believe working together we'll be able to provide better answers."

Indeed, Metaweb's Freebase, which is a "database of over 12 million things, including movies, books, TV shows, celebrities, locations, companies and more" should come in quite handy there.  And interestingly, Google intends to keep Freebase free and open (as it is now) so that other companies can use it.

Google Keyword Targeting Tool Launches Globally

Google said today it is launching its broad match modifier tool for AdWords globally after a successful beta test in the UK and Canada.

"The broad match modifier is a new AdWords targeting feature that lets you create keywords which have greater reach than phrase match and more control than broad match," writes Dan Friedman, on the Inside AdWords blog.

"Adding modified broad match keywords to your campaign can help you get more clicks and conversions at an attractive ROI, especially if you mainly use exact and phrase match keywords today."

Friedman says if you mainly use broad match keywords, that changing your current broad match keywords to modified broad match will probably lead to a hefty decline in click and conversion volumes and will not improve quality score.

To remedy this Friedman writes "To maintain volume, keep existing broad match keywords active, add new modified broad match keywords, and adjust bids to achieve your target ROI based on the results you see."

YouTube Hosting Q&A With Katy Perry

YouTube said today it is hosting an event that will allow fans of singer-songwriter Katy Perry, to ask the artists questions.

The YouTube Blog offers more details. "You have until midnight PT on July 18 to submit a video or text question to Katy's channel (www.youtube.com/katyperry). Everyone will be able to vote on the questions until July 18, and Katy will answer the most popular in an exclusive Q&A as conducted by YouTube's own Lisa Nova."



"We'll put the interview on the homepage shortly after it's edited and uploaded to YouTube."

Massive YouTube Film Experiment Announced

A project that should entirely live up to the billing "historic cinematic experiment" has begun. Ridley Scott, Kevin Macdonald, YouTube, and LG have asked people all over the world to record (part of) their lives on July 24th, and then much of the footage will be used to create a single film that'll premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.

This undertaking has been labeled "Life in a Day." It's meant to act as a sort of time capsule, showing what the earth was like at a specific point. The only restrictions involve not including trademarks or copyrighted content (music, TV clips, etc.), and would-be participants must also upload their footage before July 31st.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMxuocCN1O0&feature=player_embedded

As for the men behind the project, Kevin Macdonald, who directed The Last King of Scotland, will be responsible for actually editing the footage together, and Ridley Scott, who's perhaps best known for his work on Gladiator, Blade Runner, and Thelma & Louise, is acting as executive producer.

The final product could be quite remarkable. Scott, Macdonald, YouTube, and LG have created a strong incentive for people to participate - 20 contributors will get taken to the premiere, and everyone whose footage is used will be credited as a co-director - so there should be no shortage of material.

More information is available here if any of this sounds interesting to you. Good luck to all involved.

Yahoo Gives Search Suggestions in Near Real-Time

Yahoo has enhanced its Yahoo Search Assist tool (the search suggestions that come up when you start typing a query), to provide what Yahoo calls "near real-time" suggestions as you type.

"You probably already use Yahoo! Search Assist to conduct your searches quickly, but now you can get even fresher suggestions, which will be especially useful when there are recent top news or events related to your search topic," says Yahoo Search Senior Product Manager Linda Wang. "With the new suggestion algorithm we've launched, you will see near real-time suggestions to help you easily find the freshest content."

"For example, I was wondering which team the Netherlands would be matched with in the World Cup today, so I typed 'Netherlands vs.', and the first suggestion is for today's game," explains Wang. "Clicking on the first suggestion, I was able to see game information right in the search result page."

The near real-time suggestions are available for Yahoo News search in addition to Yahoo Search.