Topics for the 7/12/09 Show

Here are the proposed topics for this week's episode of The BeanCast. Please feel free to send in your thoughts and questions.

You have two ways to get in touch: 1) Send an "@" reply or DM on Twitter to @thebeancast, or 2) send an email to beancast@gmail.com

Please keep your comments succinct. Wordy comments need to be interpreted and I may not capture the essence of what you are asking. That's why I encourage the Tweet option to help keep the question or thought targeted.

This week's panel will be Dr. Eamon Boyle (The Martin Agency), Bill Green (Make the Logo Bigger.), Peter Shankman (HARO)

TOPICS

Digital Suffers Analog Problems: The news seems good for digital. Marketers will spend $65 mil on web sites this year. And even though the market will bottom in 2009, Paid search is charging ahead with 20% growth. Yet at the same time, it's plagued with real problems. State taxation schemes are driving out affiliate programs. Studies show socializing outstripping buying online. And cart abandon rates are crazy high. What are the numbers really telling us? Is the web really a commerce driver or and the emerging leader of branding tools? Is it all a house of cards with the threat of digital attacks real and present? What about these state moves -- will taxation kill growth or is it an inevitability? Are the states being short-sighted? Can they profit from the affiliate programs they feel threatened by?

United Breaks Guitars: This week's social media disasters comes to us courtesy of a full year of ignoring a customer via United Airlines. Musician Dave Carroll after wrestling with United customer service over their liability for breaking his guitar in transit from Chicago to Omaha. Now Carroll's YouTube song/video sensation "United Breaks Guitars" has finally gotten a response and a make good. But really, isn't this all a little late? Isn't the damage done? Is this a social media disaster or really customer service disaster? What does this reveal to us about brand management? How do you feel about the United response? Could they have done any better at this point? What will be the lasting damage if any? What are United's next moves?

Amazon Patents Kindle Ad Model: What does this mean for advertisers? Is this a viable ad platform? The Kindle, for all its buzz, is still presumed to have a relatively small install base. Does that limit enthusiasm for this? What excites you most about this potential new advertising opportunity?

Still No Solution to the DVR: We've talked about the threat of the DVR many times before. But with the recent court decision to allow Cablevision to have it's virtual DVR system in play, the threat has grown significantly. What are the options for broadcast? Does broadcast need to go to a freemium model and couch profits in online? How can broadcast survive if ad avoidance triples in the next two years, as one study suggests? Is the virtual DVR a threat to even the online audience?

Google Adsense Not So For Mobile: Google needed to do it. It's delivering mobile ads in apps and content. But the results are mainly stumbles now as advertisers link to campaigns that don't work on the platform. Was this move premature from Google? How quickly will this begin to work as intended?



Alternate possibilities: Twitter in the dictionary, what does your social network say about your personality, Google OS launching