Caught this baby on Multiply for Mastercard Paypass.

My name’s not yet on the list, but I’ve already confirmed and sent my profile and pic and everything. Topic is “Marketing to an Online Community”. I am excited beyond measure.

There’s a pet project I’ve been wanting to do for quite some time … and I’ve decided to do it on this blog. I’m going to be publishing here all the online advertising that’s currently being done online in the Philippines that gets on my radar.

In a nutshell:

• I am oh-so-happily married. No kids yet.
• I am hooked to my Xbox 360. Gamertag mikoid
• I run Havoc Digital, a web marketing company. We have a stake in PinoyExchange and MyAyala.
• I’ve become something of a resource on digital marketing.

Currently reading:

A reality check for online advertising
(registration required)

I get giddy when I read projections like this.  Since our online advertising market is about 5 years behind the Unites States, when will the Philippines’ explosion take place?

I’m talking to a group right now which delivers streaming video ads.  The rationale with these rich media spots is that you don’t have to deliver them as often to make an impression, or generate a click.

So far, this has been our best year ever in terms of ad bookings, and we haven’t even scratched the surface of what’s possible.  So I can’t wait to get on the exponential growth curve.

Current reading link:

Are you reading the news?
http://www.physicsweb.org/articles/news/10/7/3/1

It’s been raining the last couple of nights I’ve decided to drive home from Makati via EDSA. And it’s been a source of amusement to drive past the Coke Summer video ad in front of Megamall as my wipers work furiously to clear my windshield from the torrential rain.

It’s common knowledge among site publishers that our current incarnation of media buyers by-and-large don’t understand Web advertising. They buy spots on websites in exactly the same way that they buy billboard or print advertising.

They’re obsessed with duration, when what they should really be concerned about is reach.

Here’s the scenario: you’re an agency with your latest campaign. You have one set of creatives, and you’ve got to milk them for all they’re worth.

Three months from now, the UAAP Basketball you are promoting will be over. Manny Pacquiao will be fighting someone else. Your summer beach campaign billboards will be drowning in the monsoon rains.

Less and less people won’t click the same-old ad you’ve been displaying for the last 90 days. Your whiz-bang cool Flash animation will be stale as roses a month after a hot date.

And now physicists are telling us that news (and probably most web content and marketing) has a rate of decay that’s measured in days, not lunar cycles.

The important question is this: how many people did you hit in the short time your creative was fresh?

Here are two interesting bits I picked up on today’s web journey.

Mark Cuban on Connected vs. Disconnected Entertainment
http://www.blogmaverick.com/entry/1234000023073785/

Do you remember a first date with someone your really liked, when you made sure your mobile phone was off the entire time? That bit of disconnection is so much more fleeting — and potentially valuable — in today’s 24/7 connected world. I assign the most importance to people when I unplug myself while talking to them. In today’s age, that’s the ultimate compliment.

In disconnecting, we find the connections that really matter.

The Rise and Fall of the Hit
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.07/longtail.html

In the struggle to get companies to advertise on the Web, I realize that I am taking marketing budget away from other forms. Every Friendster ad they place is a spot lost to Summit Media. Every PinoyExchange campaign that is released means one less TVC for ABS-CBN. I am committed to taking money away from tri-media and getting brands to go online.

But are we looking at the death of broadcast? Today, we have a quarter-of-a-million blogs for every news site. We have 172,000 consolidated voices on PinoyExchange that paint a more accurate picture of a restaurant than any single restaurant review. And the voices come nonstop — we sleep, we wake up, and we have new content on our site. This never ceases to amaze me.

For as long as we can remember, the media has crowned our kings and queens. . They have told us what to eat and drink and wear. They have sold us on the beautiful, the desirable, and the catchy.

But there is a power struggle. The Web’s intelligentsia is more influential than ever before — and it’s not quite as swayed by the hype/BS machine as others.

We have a persistent question running on PinoyExchange whenever a new user signs up. We asked them “what would you like to see from your PinoyExchange advertising? (check all that apply)” Over 22,000 users ages 18-30 have answered the poll since summer 2005. Here are the top answers:

Links to the Website (76%)
Photos/Images of New Products (67%)
Discounts and Freebies (59%)
Photos/Images of Brand Endorsers (48%)
Product Features, Price and Where-to-Buy (46%)
Latest Product Lines Highlighted (43%)
Discussions and Threads about Products (40%)
Contact Info (38%)
Raffles and Online Games (36%)
A Company Rep to Answer Questions (35%)

What they are trying to tell us is this:

“We want to know that your product exists. We want to know what it does. Let us know what you want to give us to make us try it.”

“But we don’t need to hear what you think about your own product. Let us make our own decisions about it. If we like it, let us know how we can get more of it.”

Today’s web advertising is about introduction and education. Let the public be the judge of acceptance, conformity, and “cool”.

With my wife and brother-in-law in tow, I caught an advance screening of Superman Returns last night.

While I can’t complain about free tickets, I must say that the Robinson’s Galleria theaters are starting to show their age.  In an era of stadium seating and removable armrests, Robinson’s post-2000 modifications to its theater don’t seem to justify the price of admission (except when the tickets are complimentary).

Not unlike the movie I had just seen.

The creative force behind Superman Returns, Bryan Singer, made two worthy X-Men films which worked because he got the mythos right.  He does the same in Superman Returns; just about everything in the film seemed to flow from the Richard Donner movies — the look, the pace, even the delightful graphics in the opening credits.

But that adherence to canon is also the problem.  In Superman Returns, you have what is essentially a 1980’s movie in 2006; and it’s cursed by irrelevance.

The funny thing is that the Man of Steel hasn’t fundamentally changed all these years.  It’s the world around him, made manifest in his arch-rival Lex Luthor, who has made the franchise compelling.  Michael Rosenbaum in Smallville introduces us to a deeply complex Lex who blurs the distinction between right and wrong.  Treatments like the comic mini-series Luthor: Man of Steel are deeply insightful into Lex’s character.  And the Superman and Justice League cartoons of the 90’s and recent memory also reflect a ruthlessness and cunning that transcended the bumbling buffoonery of Gene Hackman.

I was initially elated when I heard that they had picked up Kevin Spacey.  Singer and Spacey last worked together in The Usual Suspects, and I figured that all Spacey had to do was channel the Usual Suspects’ badass villain Keyser Soze and we would have the Lex we needed.  Alas, Spacey is utterly wasted in this film — he channels the Richard Donner Lex replete with sidekick hooker and dull thugs.

(The only delightful part in all the villainy is reserved for fans of Harold and Kumar.  You’ll know it when you see it!)

And when did Lois Lane lose her bark and bite?  Where’s the feisty Margot Kidder?  The new girl is as meek as a lamb; not exactly someone who struck me as tough enough to pull a Pulitzer.

I was extremely disappointed, primarily because of what could have been.  The film looks absolutely stunning — the set pieces, Metropolis in particular, have never looked better.  Superman flies around, rockets into space, and hurtles back into earth with sonic booms and flaming re-entries.  I also liked  Jesus/Superman/Savior references Singer leaves all over the place.  Awesome.

But all that could have been used to tell a Superman story that’s fit for the age.  It could have been an origin story; a re-imagining like Batman Begins.  It could have been a post-9/11 tale where the enemies aren’t as clear-cut as they used to be for the Boy-in-Blue.  Then Bryan Singer’s work would start to sing and we’d have a Superman worthy of the age.

But no.  Singer is ultimately shackled by the trappings of Superman II.  By making a generally faithful sequel, his film seems more like a period piece than a Hollywood blockbuster.  I can’t help but liken it to King Kong, which, for all the cleverness of Peter Jackson, seemed to alienate an era of movie-goers that were looking for something more than Lex Luthor hamming it up.

So far, I’m 0 for 2 for summer superhero movies.

Last night was the Rowster’s surprise bridal shower. My job was to keep her out of the house for a few hours as her friends set up the food, games, and other activities.

Unfortunately, a major monsoon rain came down in the late afternoon, locking up EDSA for most of the early evening. As I drove Row home from Makati, I stewed in my car as Row’s maid of honor somberly reported the guest cancellations. From twelve confirms that morning, we were down to four.

The flakes broke my heart. Really.

Rowie is the most unbelievably kind and generous person I know. So many people count her as a supreme friend and confidant. She gives so much of herself to other people. And to see her arrive at her once-in-a-lifetime bridal shower with only four people among her countless friends in the world just reeked of wrongness.

But she had a blast nonetheless. Her friends saw to that.

To Gen, who planned the grand conspiracy from the beginning, I salute you!

To Karen, who cooked up an amazing dinner, you filled our stomachs with joy!

To Angie, who came all the way from Davao to make it to Row’s big night and enlisted her boyfriend Jan to help set-up, you are a true friend.

To Meechee, who showed up despite the traffic, a thousand thanks.

To my friends Kristine and Marie, who bolstered the ranks, thanks for letting your men hang out with me playing Xbox and reading comics as you discussed your debauchery.

To all those who dropped off kinky gifts, thanks so much for making your presence felt.

I’m sure everyone else had good reasons for not being able to make it: pressing deadlines, a pathological fear of EDSA traffic, the Da Vinci Code, I dunno. Hopefully, y’all will be there on the 10th.

Animal

Last night, Rowie and I met with my comic-nut buddy Francis to watch X-Men III: The Last Stand. The first X-Men movie ushered the era of “good superhero movies”, while X-Men II pretty much continued the good works of Bryan Singer.

Then Singer left and jumped to Superman. Brett Ratner took over the project.

I daresay that directing an X-Men movie is MUCH more difficult than doing just about any other superhero film. With a Batman, Spider-Man or Superman, you’re looking at one big individual. And the mythos is pretty clear on each of these characters — what they can or can’t do, or what they would or wouldn’t say.

With an X-Men movie, you’re juggling close to a dozen characters. You have villains who are almost as compelling as the heroes. Each one deserves their time in the sun.

I believe that The X-Men is about the dynamic between a family of heroes. Collectively and individually, each of these young heroes struggle to find their place in the world, while reconciling the amazing gifts they possess.

Bryan Singer understood this dynamic. You have Scott and Jean in a troublesome triangle with Logan. You have Nightcrawler feeling used and confused after being manipaulated into a Presidential assassination attempt. You have Rogue and Iceman — teenagers who want to get close but can’t. You have Magneto, defeated after the events of the first movie, rotting in a plastic prison.

Somewhere in the production of X-Men III, someone said that this dynamic wasn’t as important as getting some good mutant whuppin’ in.

And what about that wooden, hammy script? Where was the emotional credibility? Where was the sense of tragedy in each of the films’ three big exits? Were they nothing but devices to keep the plot moving forward?

Where was the atrocity of mutants out of control? Has the US film industry been so sorely neutered that the only deaths you see here are soldiers? I can see the credits: “No fictional civilians were harmed in the making of the film.”

How can you establish a villain as a serious badass without taking out a few thousand civilians or wiping out a city? It seemed like the “Mutant Threat” existed in a vacuum.

And speaking of neutering, what’s up with Wolverine? With each film, he becomes less and less abrasive, and while he still does terminate with extreme prejudice, his demeanor close to the end made me want to retch. It seemed like his healing factor didn’t help after the castration; he’s as docile as a kitten.

Needless to say, I exited the film sorely disappointed. There were some forgivable problems, but Singer gave this movie style and soul. Rattner gave this film sound and fury but nothing else.

Of the three films, X-Men III’s one redeeming factor was the stunning visuals. You see Magneto whirling cars and bridges about — like he’s an honest-to-god Master of Magnetism. And the big finish looked utterly fantastic.

But the failure of the film is its complete absence of charisma. Since time immemorial, stories of heroes are supposed to tug at the heartstrings.

X3’s introduction of the mutant Angel said it all. This was an opportunity for a franchise to realize its potential, until some studio dunderhead clipped its wings.

Once again, I genuinely fear for superhero movies.

Pahabol: call me a Firefly fan, but I think Joss Whedon would have done a great job on an X-Men film.