Interview With Henry Copeland Of Blogads

How many blogs do you cover? What sort of traffic?

HC: Right now, we work with 900 blogs, totalling between 150-200 million impressions a month.

The traffic on many blogs is much lower than established online titles – why would a brand bother?

HC: Exactly because there are so many billions of impressions out there peddling the same news and ideas to the same sheep. A few advertisers are beginning to understand that blogs are the hubs for buzz… and they are getting past the “gimme 500 million impressions” to ask “how many minds are we changing, and whose minds?” Second, these are places to hit aficionados, weirdos and mavens who shepherd the consumer sheep through marketplace.

Any successful examples of a brand using blogs with advertising?

HC: A few, though we’ve got a long way to go, since most advertisers are so ROI oriented, exacting revenge on media for having forced them to do only branding for 200 years. Vis blogs, Brian Clark, the guy who ran branding oriented campaigns for Audi, Levis and Sharp TV has some fantastic secret metrics on the branding impact of connecting with people right in their online-living rooms. And Michael Bassik, one of the leading guys doing
online ads for politicians, has some great metrics showing the branding value of blog buys.

What trends in blogging do you think advertisers could support / leverage?

HC: Hmmm. Hundreds of them. :) To name three: Most importantly, just as we saw in politics on the left and right last year, you can see the emergence and increasing self-consciousness of other communities of bloggers, collaborating, cross-linking, cross-talking in various niches. Cutting edge advertisers are starting to realize that the game isnt’ just “buy ads on blogs” or “buy the blogosphere” but splicing your brand/service/ideas into specific networks of blogs, specific conversations, specific blogospheres.

Second, a very few advertisers are realizing that demographics are like coal in Newcastle… everybody’s got them: print, TV and online. That’s a noisy metric. The unique “new” thing about new media is the social context, the collaborative brainstorming that takes place, the peer references, and mutual respect within a particular group. Understand the hive and you’ll be way ahead of your competition both in terms of money spent and mind-penetration.

Finally, I’d say watch the t-shirt sellers. Though very little has been written about it, there’s something radical about companies like Neighborhoodies or Moeschwag or hundreds of others. They are reinventing fashion and the fashion business.

Blogads