With the explosive growth in tablets in the last year it’s safe to say it finally, truly was the year of mobile.

Transitioning to video business this year and creating a start-up video business in September, I can also say that online video is truly on the minds of everyone in the marketing, interactive and advertising businesses. Creating video content for audiences now interacting more often on less work related devices that are more suited for video content, I believe will fuel more growth in video next year.

Internet TV has received a fair amount of buzz this year. GoogleTV has popped up on lots of new devices and Netflix has had some major success and failures. I think IPTV is definitely the wave of the future as it is in phone technology. We should see continued growth here.

QR codes of course have also been all over the place this year. Here’s to hoping they get more thoughtful next year.

Location based apps have become ubiquitous — well, for anyone owning a smart phone. I have to say folks, I’m about sick of seeing you check into work, lunch, and then work again.

Probably the best part of the year has been that people are starting to understand social a little better. Fewer blank stares in meetings and also less reliance on the guru types. Social is also no longer the thing for the intern “cause they’re young and they understand that stuff.”

I haven’t seen any overall statistics for the year yet but just from what I’m hearing and seeing is a lot of pain in the small to mid-sized ad agencies while the larger ones doing better this year. But not nearly as well as the larger interactive shops. This is also a trend I think will continue until traditional small ad agencies find a way to make themselves relevant again or the economy shifts dramatically.

2011 has truly been a mixed bag — lots of cool tech but stagnate growth. Here’s to 2012 being a little more positive on the growth side.

This is probably one of the more shocking numbers on the rise of video on the Web but maybe not the only one that will amaze you:

Did you know that Netflix accounts for 30% of internet traffic.

Or that iPad users watch three times more video?

Or that video traffic will exceed 50% of mobile traffic this year?

I don’t need to flog the newspapers. We know that printed word has lost its dominance. Video content has established itself as the primary form of mass communication. And web distribution is quickly becoming the best way to reach diverse audiences on their own terms. And as connected devices including tablets, smartphones and set top boxes become more important that computer desktops, Web video will not only be important but essential to a brand’s success.

Your audience no longer just has a lean in, “interactive”, work relationship with the web. Today it’s also social, relaxed, playful and fluid. It goes where she goes. And you have to too. That’s where Fluid Films comes in.

Over the last couple years my professional direction has changed slightly. No longer just writing copy for ads and social media, I began editing and then shooting video. Which isn’t all that crazy since during the time I was working in Los Angeles I was directing commercials as well as freelance copywriting.

It was inevitable that this transition was coming from copywriter to writer/director. And with the rapid rise of web content and shrinking advertising budgets there’s no better time to embrace the change with my full attention, passion, and on my own terms.

I’ll be blogging about what exactly this means over the next week.

Last week the Twittersphere was all abuzz about Google+. A simple search shows the network already has 9 million users. Probably even more by the time you read this.  My first impression is that it is no Google Wave, Apple Ping, or even Google Buzz. In fact, I’m predicting a hit – probably not on the scale of Facebook, but a hit nonetheless.

While 9 million is still a paltry sum compared to Twitter’s 200 million or Facebook’s 750 million users, Google+ is destined to be a place where marketers can learn about their customers and effectively target them. Not to mention, a good showing on the social network should have a positive effect on your brand’s search engine recognition.

So what’s a brand to do? Wait, mostly. Google+ is by invite only for the time being. Your business can apply to be one of a limited number of businesses on Google+ in the future. Of course, as an individual, once you’re on the network, you can hock your wares to anyone willing to listen.

Soon, you’ll be able to monitor your brand’s activity on Google+, at least in public posts. This should provide a valuable new way to gather information and respond to customers and potential prospects.

Remarkably, Google+ is currently ad free. But just like YouTube, search, and most of Google’s other products, contextual and banner ads are certain to arrive.

As new functionality is revealed, opportunities will arise. Marketers should pay attention to changes here and, for that matter, at all the social networks.

Whether or not your business takes an active role on Google+ depends on if it makes good business sense. Ask yourself: Are your business customers there? Can your business communicate valuable information to them on the site?

Has Google+ factored into your marketing plans yet? If so, how do you plan on using it?

Cutting the cable also provides me what I think is a glipse at the future. Much like the original wave of ISPs including Earthlink, Mindspring, and AOL, (and a lot of companies you’ve forgotten the name of) I believe that cable television providers are about to be marginalized. How? Just take a look at what this internet connected TV can do that costs about what an average cable bill does for a year.

You can watch Hulu, Netflix, YouTube, MLB and update your Facebook account without accessing cable. Sports, TV programing, and movies – isn’t that what people have cable for? Cable content is now included in the cost of a television. So what is ATT and Comcasts response? Throttling (hearsey) and limiting your bandwidth.

Now, I don’t own the above TV and can’t tell you how well it works as a media center. I actually own an Apple TV 2. It’s not much bigger than a hockey puck and out of the box it streams iTunes, Netflix, MLB, YouTube, and NBA content for $99. I’m very pleased with the quality of the content. The iTunes and NetFlix content looks close to my former 720p HD cable. Some of the iTunes stuff looks even better.

I’ve also hacked my Apple TV and added Plex. This requires a computer operating as a media server alongside the set top box. Basically, it required me installing a free app on my iMac. I’ll be honest, this isn’t easy but if you’re not afraid of doing a little programing and internet forum searching, it’s doable.

Hacking the Apple TV allowed me to install a lot of plugins that enable streaming video from all over the web and all over the world. This includes things like French TV, films from Lion’s Gate and most important to my wife, Hulu and the major network video players. This adds a whole new dimension to your TV experience.

Now, the flash video from many of these players isn’t on par with the MPEG2 two stream coming to your cable box. But for the most part, I was watching lower quality recorded shows on my DVR anyway. So no big deal for me.

The point of this article isn’t to bash the cable companies. Or to advocate for cutting the cable. It’s simply to say there is a shift happening in they way content is being delivered to homes. This is part of the cloud computing shift and it’s going to be as big as what’s already happened in mobile. As a advertising professional, it’s my responsibility to understand these changes as they begin to affect clients.

New agreements are going to be negotiated between networks and cable providers. Content providers may even start to look for new ways to sell their products. Ridiculous? Who would have thought HBO would be one of the most highly regarded content providers in the industry 15 years ago? Who knows, maybe BMW will be next.

Fortunately Bill Bernbach and the creative revolution came along and showed us a better way in where the consumer was treated as an intelligent human being who appreciated entertaining and thoughtful communication.

Not only have we seen a rise of technology in the marketing industry, there’s been serious discussion whether technology is now more important than creative. In fact, I’ve have read columns and articles positing that ad agencies should be run more like software companies.

The idea probably comes from a belief is that technology is now king  in our industry like it already is in many others. That today the real ideas in advertising are technological.

Trouble is people don’t really interact with technology. They interact with each other and maybe sometimes the media in which the interact is considered tech.

Understanding technology is crucial to success these days.  And it’s unbelievable how many senior executives still don’t understand how many social technologies work. But the only thing that’s going to make the tech compelling to an individual is creativity employed in making it compelling. Example of this would be the Old Spice campaign that uses social technology including YouTube.

OK. You still don’t believe me. Let’s look at popular technology. One could argue that iPhone and iPad were technological breakthroughs. Wrong. They were creative breakthroughs. The difference between them and what was developed elsewhere is that at Apple the designers are in charge.

The designers took mostly existing technology, even bought parts from other manufacturers,  assembled them together, created a great user interface to made something beautiful, compelling, and even groundbreaking. That’s what creative people do – not technologists.

And that’s also exactly what your advertising should do.

We’re in the midst of some rather transformative times. Especially if you happen to live in the Middle East.  Some are crediting Facebook and Twitter as key catalysts that helped to overthrow a 40-year dictatorship in Egypt. This phenomenon has spread throughout the Arab world from Yemen to Bahrain and is currently erupting in Libya. You can follow the revolution on Twitter. Read the rest…

Well, what do I have to say for myself? Some of the predictions were wrong, some were right, and some were easy.

Let’s start with the easy. “The kids will still text at an alarming rate.” Duh. But I guess I had to give myself a couple easy ones.

The right? I’ll stand by most of this list as pretty solid. I think I could tweak this list slightly and make it a 2011 list. In fact, number 13 on the list has been what I’ve been living underneath for the past four months and the reason why my blogging has dropped off to a trickle.

The wrong? I don’t think social media has made as much progress in B2B as I had hoped. I think there is opportunity for B2B marketers that hasn’t been fully realized.

I think big agencies are doing even better than I thought they would. They’ve done a good job of consolidating resources and delivering on client expectations. However, this doesn’t mean I think it’s a bed of roses out there. Tough times are still ahead for everyone.

Although I didn’t state it outright, I believed that interactive agencies would be doing even better. Still, I have seen anecdotal cases of quite a bit of organic growth. But I thought we’d see more cases of interactive shops taking the lead.

Stay tuned for my 2011 predictions. And, hey, happy new year. Fingers crossed.

If content could be delivered at high-speed, (this was back when everyone had dial-up at home) via the internet, people would no longer be content to watch Baywatch in their living room.  Heck, they could watch it on their desktop. This was mainly perceived as a technical problem at the time. Everyone thought people really wanted TV on the world wide web delivered to the personal computer. And also that TV viewing would be better if it were more interactive.

We now  have Hulu, YouTube, and even smart phones that can stream content. Yet the vast majority of video is still consumed in the living room passively. Especially entertainment media.

Conversely, the internet has been making inroads into our family room. Google TV, officially launched today, Apple TV, Boxee, set-top boxes, and even some televisions now deliver the web to our TV.

Only most people don’t want to actually look at the Web on their TV or really want to “lean in” to their PC to watch their favorite sit-com. The computer is work. The TV is passive relaxation.

However there is software that’s started to change this work/play separation. You guessed it, iOS (and Android). The iPhone brings our work email and our entertainment together. The iPad has our reading material and our spreadsheets on the same device and also provides a wonderful screen for watching that sit-com. But they don’t do it at the same time.

iOS and Android don’t require you to watch TV on a computer. They morph  a Droid, iPhone or iPad into a video playback device and then later morph it into a book and then into a calender to schedule a business meeting.

There are no windows, mice, keyboards reminding you to you’re on a computer — it’s a seamless transformation from one device to another. The operating system truly changes the entire function of the device from one app to the next. Apple and Google have put their amazing software  into Apple TV and now Google TV.

In the end, the Web hasn’t converged with TV, rather the TV now has the power to be transformed into countless devices that leverages the internet.

While at first Steve’s “hobby” and Google’s low-profile launch don’t look all that earth shattering, consider the tiny computing power of a Droid, an iPhone or iPad and consider how profoundly they’ve changed the way we look at what a phone or a tablet computer can and should be.

While the pundits are arguing that Steve Jobs is just trying to sell more from his iTunes store and Google is just trying to sell more ad space, Apple TV and Google TV, through the power of their app driven software, will transform your TV, in the near future, into whatever open-source community thinks it should be. That might mean a giant cook book, a weather monitoring station, a spreadsheet, a giant drawing tablet, a virtual conference room, or musical instrument. And get ready for touch-screen TVs.

This presents some amazing opportunities for advertisers and some scary times for media outlets. Yes, TV man, Google wants more of your advertising dollars.

I’ve written here before about the need to post frequently and maintain a  constant presence. Consistently creating high-quality content is the best way to build influence in the social media sphere and to increase the chances that  posts be featured high in search results.

What if you’re not up to creating high-quality content? Jim Rome the popular sports DJ jokes that he has to go “down in the basement and recharge the batteries” every now and then to keep the quality of his program up to  his standards. This is a human and normal thing to do – yet professionals still feel the need to tweet their vacations away. Stop it.

If you’re in a corporate environment you need a plan for your personal time. For the agency blog, we keep a couple generic articles in reserve that can be posted when people are on vacation – we advise clients to do the same. If you’re a personal blogger you can do something similar, posting before your vacation but not have the posts go live  till you’re far away from responsibility – WordPress makes this really easy. Or you can just give yourself a break. I did and I don’t feel guilty.