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New Kids

By Robb Johnstone
Copy Manager, Critical Mass

For a while, it was merely child's play. Blogging, the art of creating an online diary for others to peep into, was once the sole domain of young teens. Even now, the vast majority of blogs, or web logs if you're so, like, yesterday, are operated by pimply-faced pundits who wax philosophic and knowledgeable on everything from the perils of dating to the shock and awe of a war thousands of kilometres from their mega-mall hangouts. Of course, it was only a matter of time before advertisers figured it out. Just as they had when commercial websites began taking over a channel originally designed for use by the military and college institutions, the product pushers are now poised to strike in this oh-so-fertile ground. Any time communications becomes community, Madison Avenue is quick to respond.

Just look at what the Internet has become. Once a simple idea exchange forum, it's been transformed into an advertising feeding frenzy, with online ad spending now measured in billions. Banner ads still proliferate, with ever-increasing gimmickry on some of the most high profile portals, like MSN.com and CNN.com. E-mail is now almost synonymous with advertising, both good and bad, as a one-to-one channel whose potential has yet to be fully mined. So where does that leave the bourgeoning blog?

Already, some blogs have grown from underground phenomenon to essential participation. For many members of the design world, a regular trip to Coudal.com is considered required surfing, just as thousands of online media marketers wouldn't miss a daily issue of PaidContent. Besides getting updated news that's been researched and sifted for them, blog readers also find links to more information (and more blogs) as well as the irresistible opportunity to add their own two cents worth.

Rafat Ali, who publishes PaidContent, is now making a living at it, as much or more than he once did as editor of the Silicon Alley Reporter. And that's where advertising comes in. Ali supports himself with advertising and sponsorships, offering advertisers the chance to target his subscriber base of 2,500 as well as those who just drop in. Then there's the blog as ad itself. To generate a groundswell of interest in the movie, Adaptation, author Susan Orlean hired a writer, Jason Kottke, to compose a regular blog about the flick. No whiz bang flash heavy site. No gratuitous giveaways. Just the straight poop on the movie.

As always in the Internet world, there will be a transition from the offline environment to the online one when the advertising blog boom hits. And nowhere will it be more active than the writing community, as copywriters, journalists and other writing wags jostle for elbow room. Get ready for it: the war of the wits.

With the Web, the job of writing marketing copy fell initially to those collateral or "long content" specialists who had been making hay in the print world of brochures and annual reports. When banners arrived, those who could transfer their traditional marketing skills best were generally the short synapse types who had been specializing in billboards and print ads. E-mail has drawn scores of previous direct mail writers into its billowing folds. So, where will the blog advertising writer come from? Likely, it will be the journalists and editors who finally have their day in the online sun. They're the ones who best understand the frequent-update nature of the medium, and who will be able to add their voice in daily or weekly blog blurbs.

Naturally, just like TV ads morphed into the reviled info-mercial, blogs will eventually attract advertisers who insist on portraying their marketing message as important information. They will attempt to blur the line between blog and ad, encouraging blog writers to massage copy into their content, or blatantly masquerading their ads as the latest need-to-know news on the issue at hand. This is one we should try to nip in the bud; just look what happened when spam was ignored for too long.

Followers of the once-humble blog's progress can see what's coming. So, too, can the savvy marketers lined up at agencies across North America. Here in Calgary, our advertising community will either fall into a lockstep "me-too" approach, or proactively seek ways to explore and expand the potential of this medium. After all, the blog is based on the idea of community, which also creates the possibility for geographically relevant content that's 100 per cent local.

Let's hope the kids get it right.