Blog Relations

Google has announced that it’s experimenting with audio ads through its Adsense service. Initially it’s helping advertisers buy space on radio stations, but why not podcasts next? There may also be an opportunity for podcasters to produce audio ads for those advertisers who don’t yet have their audio plug ready. I would have thought selling simple endorsements / sponsorship would be the audio equivalent of a classic Google text ad. All in all, a significant development for the commercial future of audio.

Search Engine Watch has an article about optimising podcasts for search engines. It mentions something I hadn’t heard about, podscope, which uses speach recognition to listen to podcasts.

It makes a suggestion I don’t agree with – have a seperate feed for iTunes. Feedburner will make your feed fit iTunes or any podcatcher.

Search Engine Watch is an interesting site, so I thought I would give their podcast a try. About halfway through the second lengthy and noisy message from sponsors I gave up.

If – I mean when – Storynory matches up with a suitable sponsor that fits our brand – we will have a short message read by our narrator – “This story is brought to you by XXX – and a one sentence slogan.” It will be far more valuable because we will be “lending” some our our relationship with our listeners to the advertiser.

The first rule of advertising – don’t bore or piss off the audience. You are spending money to spoil your brand and the publisher’s product too.

Google’s shares have slid 13% after the finance chief admited that revenue growth was slowing.

It seems that Google has pushed text-adds to the limit. So what next? Mobiles, perhaps, but I don’t see people clicking through on a little screen….. Perhaps the restless and creative minds at Google will find a way to distribute non-intrusive sponsorship among podcasts… A big challenge.

This has nothing to do with the great curse of the internet age. The food company Hormel has hired PR firm Golley Slater to improve the image of its key Spam brand.

I’m sorry Hormel. The problem isn’t Monty Python, the association with nuisance marketing, nor anything to do with image. I can only speak for the UK, but the fact is that food here is not nearly so disgusting as it was in the 1970s when Spam was in its prime. Surely even NHS hospital or school kitchens wouldn’t serve up spam? (on second thoughts, perhaps they might).

Some problems are beyond PR. Even a blog couldn’t save spam…. Even a podcast…. Even a Wiki…. Even Steve Rubel couldn’t save spam. Just give up, please….