I believe this new invention—although it’s basically a larger iPod Touch—could revolutionize print advertising as we know it today. Truth be told, when I’m reading news online in a traditional web-browser format, ads are too often easy to ignore. Online, I don’t get the same level of marketing impact as I do when I’m flipping through the pages of the printed form of a magazine, looking at full-page ad after full-page ad. That printed form, however, makes the metrics of my intake of that marketing message tough to measure. How long did I stare at the ad? Did the pages stick together, making me miss it altogether? Did this ad’s call-to-action (visit www.companywebsite.com) prompt me to do something? Wouldn’t marketers like to know!

The middle ground the iPad could occupy between the PDA and the laptop could be just the remedy that publishers and marketers have been waiting for, especially if the technology will allow users to earn their subscriptions by agreeing to view the ads measurably. People want free content. Publishers want to sell ads AND charge for the content. Looks to me like the paradigm could soon shift to an online format where consumers could choose: view ads and let us measure your interaction for free content, or just look at everything at your leisure and pay for all the content. Either way, advertising still drives the financial model. That’s good for ad agencies, and that’s good for the publishers.

Boy, I’d hate to be Kindle right now.

This year is sure to bring lots of fun and innovative things in the marketing and advertising world. As in 2009, the technology and gadgets out there will surely drive the marketing dollars and efforts toward new and unique ways of reaching the masses with our branding messages. In blogs past, we’ve reviewed how Apple is working on a patent for a device/software that forces consumers to interact with ads, but what other unique gadgets and gizmos are on the horizon?

1. L5 Remote – This little device allows the iPhone or iPod Touch to serve as a remote to your television or other electronics.  But what is cool is that by pointing the iPhone or iPod Touch at any remote-controlled device and pushing the right programming code, the iPhone will program itself to correspond with the device. Cool, huh? Now whether this fits into Apple’s master plan of servicing ads to consumers, that’s unknown, but I have an inkling that the two might be connected. For a more detailed look, check out the video below. And please forgive the rambling, but the tech is so new, this is the only one I could find!
2. eReaders – While everyone and their dog is making an iPod-esque gadget to mimic the Kindle reader, such as Barnes & Noble Nook, Plastic Logic Que, Spring Design Alex, and LG’s solar eReader, I my myself am excited about The Skiff Reader geared toward digital newspaper and magazine. This thing is decidedly larger than the others and is supposed to be under 1 lb, 11.5-inch size, a high 1200 x 1600 pixel screen resolution, and under 1/4-inch thick. But best of all … it’s flexible. That being said, the market for advertising space could be revolutionized, since we all know that mags and newspapers are struggling in print. A surge of easily downloadable info via these babies could serve as a new platform for brands and consumers to interact.
   
3. Boxee Box – This little device is really going to be amazing, if it does what it says it does. So, a little black box smaller than a coke can will serve as a tool to bring all your media together in one place on your television screen. There are multiple inputs that allow you to download pictures, hook up your computer(s), etc. to give you the ultimate media experience. It will even show your Twitter and Facebook feeds with links from your friends. Sounds a lot like just surfing the internet, no? NO. As you can see in the demo below, this gadget does more than just make a pretty face for your media storage. Say you want to watch an episode of your favorite TV show online. All you do is search for the show by name and it provides the feed from anywhere online. So much easier than checking twelve different network websites for all your online viewing pleasure.
   
4. Tablets – While ambiguous at best and product development touted by behemouths such as Apple and Google, these things are the talk of the town. Sure to be a new ad platform for marketing-heavy corporation Google, the details on what exactly a tablet will be is elusive. However, Apple claims to have a $1000 price tag, so I’m pretty sure they will be more than the rumored iPhone on crack. Some say they may include free global Wi-Fi, others say there are even cooler traits to this gizmo, especially due to the high price point and secrecy behind both global networks’ production. Say tuned for more …

So, with all these new innovations in using existing technology in new and interesting ways, it isn’t hard to assume that 2010 will be packed with marketers’ and brands’ scrambling to find the new way to reach consumers. And undoubtedly, if you’re the first on the bandwagon, it could be a relatively cost-friendly endeavor. Here’s looking forward to what’s in store for this decade!

Just from reviewing and trying to get the social search features activated on my personal Google and Bing searches, it seems to be a lot more complicated than most are letting on. Not only do you have to have an account for each respective engine, but on Google, you also have to submit profile information, links to your social networks, and then be logged in at the time of search. After doing all that, even searching a familiar term like “facebook” yielded no results from my networks. And before you ask, yes, the account was signed up in the Google Lab, the testing section for the feature.

As explained above, these searches only pull up information from the user’s “circle of friends.” So, the doom and gloom of getting any and every negative comment about a brand seems highly unlikely. And although it can be said that a negative comment made within a customer’s social network may be more damaging than one outside, the likelihood of its occurrence diminishes quite a bit when all the filters are in place.

So, brand managers, take heart. The only thing this social search means for your brand is you had better pay attention to what’s being said about your brand online. And I know you’ve heard that one before.