Topics for 1/10/10 Show

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

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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 Christopher Baccus (The Auto Marketing Blog), Bret Bernhoft (InsYght), Al Gadbut (AcquireWeb) and Angela Natividad (AdVerve).

TOPICS

Mobility Madness: If I had a dollar for every time someone called the rise of mobile in the past, I would be a very rich man by this point. But there's been a virtual explosion on the mobile frontier this week? Angela, why the sudden interest by everyone in making this the year of mobile? Is reality what we envisioned or are the plays being made something bigger? In particular Google and Apple have been dominating headlines. What aspects of Google's strategy are most interesting to you? What about Apple? Is it unusual for them to be buying Quattro, a mobile ad network? What does this confluence of strategies mean for mobile -- Apple (a hardware company) entering ad network space, Google (a ad/software player) entering the hardware space? Is all this good for advertisers or limiting our choices and potentially strangling growth? Who is better positioned? Google obviously owns the world of search, but Adweek reports that in 2009 Apple dominated the social realm in terms of brand chatter? Which is more important for success? In the broader sense, how will some of these changes we discussed change the world we work in?

[Sponsor mention this week: AdPulp]
AdPulp Story of the Week - The Local Digital Opportunity: AdPulp highlighted a portion of a recent Radio Business Report forum that was interesting for local players. We all know that digital was probably the most recession resistant of the ad mediums this past year. But Randall Rothenberg from the Internet Advertising Bureau suggests that local and hyperlocal markets are severely under-represented in this space. What do you think about these opportunities, Bret? Is pursuing digital strategies for local a viable proposition or still too much of an uphill battle? What strategies can smaller agency players and independents use to bring local businesses into the digital space economically? What represents the biggest opportunities? email, search, social, web design?

Google Divided: And speaking of search, we find ourselves back to Google who on one hand is evolving the powers of what search can do for advertisers, while they develop a browser that can block those ads. Let's talk first about the evolution. Google announced their contact form extensions beta which allows first ranked ads to also accept information from customers for later call back. Why is this important, Al? Obviously this could be a powerful tool for products that require sales follow-up, right? Will it expand their value to advertisers or just clutter the experience? And meanwhile, their Chrome browser, which recently became the #3 most used browser, was called out for allowing ad blocking extensions. How can Google navigate this fine line? Obviously Chrome is integral to their larger strategy of owning the desktop, but to play there effectively are they undermining their biggest cash cow?

H&M's Trash: The number 2 trending topic on Twitter this past week was the story of how clothier H&M's New York store was reported to be throwing out jackets and other warm clothing items right in the middle of the coldest stretch on record. Is this really a social media disaster or just another example of poor customer response? The person who outted them, Cynthia Magnus, did try to contact the home office about this first before going public. Could this have been averted through simple responsiveness through traditional channels? What does this say about the need for social responsibility when it comes to marketing? Do all brands need to be more cognizant of social action or is this a matter of whim on the part of the public?

Social Activism: And from a social disaster, we move to social success. The Detroit News had a fascinating story about how non-profits are finding the tools useful for everything from fund-raising to mobilization. Why are social networks so suited for the needs of NPOs? Why aren't more social organizations fully leveraging the medium? What concerns are keeping them away?