AdAir - First Peek at Dubai

Did you hear of the newest advertising idea in the world? I bragged about it here even though I don't have anything to do with it. Now AdAir just landed in the Guinness Book of World Records for the world's largest banner! At 20,000 square meters, I'm sure nothing else comes close.

And who is going to be the advertiser on this outdoor media? Guardian quotes Stephen Jones in that the advertiser is going to be a real estate company, in line with the current expansion in Dubai. Soon you will see ground based advertisements when you fly over Los Angeles International Airport and Chicago O'Hare.

As I wondered earlier, the ads will most likely target window seat passengers flying to these airports. This may well be one of the ways that make air travel free in the future. Would you mind a travel route covered with advertisements if your tickets were free? Or would you rather take an aisle seat and pay for it?

During an email brainstorming session with Chahal, he pointed out another way for advertising on the ground - use one (or many) of those laser lights to draw high-refresh images on the ground. That way, the ads can be moving pictures instead of being just still ones. This would definitely impact the conversion rates (which are going to be difficult to measure) and the amount of attention the ads receive. Unfortunately we did not brainstorm what happens to the ads in the day. Maybe the current day/night ads can double as a screen for night-only laser advertising.

Surely, this kind of advertising is only beginning now and we can expect more innovations in this arena soon.

This is where I got the news from.

Microsoft Should Read Email

Steve Ballmer, the CEO of Microsoft, is back in the headlines after claiming last week that 'Unlike Google, Microsoft doesn't read your email'. Pray tell, Mr. Ballmer, how does Microsoft know where to send the email if they don't read it? For an email to be transmitted over the internet to my browser, it definitely needs to be read first. What Microsoft doesn't do (can't do?) is serve-up unobtrusive contextual ads. Moreover, how does Microsoft detect spam emails if they don't read any emails at all?

For one, Steve Ballmer is not new to creating controversy. He was in the news earlier for his comments on the iPhone and how the expensive phone will not appeal to customers because of the lack of a keyboard. On how Microsoft plans to compete with the iPhone, he said "Right now we're selling millions and millions and millions of phones a year, Apple is selling ZERO phones a year (this is just before the launch of the iPhone). In 6 months they'll have by far the most expensive phone in the marketplace and let's see how the competition goes". We all know how the competition went for that one. Here's a video where you can see Mr. Ballmer fielding the question himself -

If you like the iPhone, though, you would love the following video where Craig Ferguson bashes Microsoft's Zune in favor of the iPhone. A must watch video -

If you want to head to where people are discussing Mr. Ballmer's latest comment, here are some places -

Steve Ballmer Attacks Google's Gmail Ads at Mashable

Microsoft's Ballmer: Google Reads Your Mail at Slashdot

Can't Miss Advertising - AdAir

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Now here's advertising you just can't miss - AdAir presents ads targeted specially at window-seat airline passengers. There's just something about people asking for window seats that makes them a sought-after demographic. With standard ads the size of 3 Manchester United Football pitches (which equals 4 times the Dallas Cowboys' football field), the visual effect on a passenger is no less than stunning.

The teeny-tiny plane in this picture is a Boeing 747 passenger aircraft (70.7 meters in length) and the pitches are each the same size as Manchester United's Old Trafford football pitch.

In their own words,

The Ad-Air concept revolutionises 'out-of-home' advertising with the largest adverts to be seen from the air. This 'record breaking' new medium delivers a captive audience of millions of premium international passengers.

The results are no less than stunning though, here's a picture I found on Gizmag. It shows the view a window seat passenger gets. Hard to miss eh? The ads will be placed along 30 major airports and passengers flying to Dubai might be the first ones to witness these ads. With upto 10 million unique viewers (probably includes the aisle seat passengers as well) and upto 20 million impacts a year, advertising for airline passengers is bound to take off!

Of course, this creates the problem of excessive advertising and, where applicable, loss of land. To cater for the possible loss of land, the boards will be non-permanent and may be fenced and surrounded by landscaping to prevent land-based humans from inadvertently registering views. If they cover fertile land, they will be printed on a PVC mesh that allows light to reach the vegetation below. When illuminated at night, the ads promise free light to the plants. The farmers would be so delighted!

Just like phone calls of the future will be paid for by relevant advertising on the medium, I hope my airline tickets can someday be paid for by ground-based advertising. Can we have bigger windows please? I promise to keep my eyes peeled open.

Other places where you can find relevant posts - Switched.com and Gizmag

Advertise Your Blog Using BlogRush

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"The Fastest And Easiest Way To Instantly Drive A Flood Of Targeted Readers To Your Blog... Absolutely Free!" That's the bold claim BlogRush makes in the website. With the multilevel referral scheme, it might come quite close to delivering on the promise. since no money is involved, it isn't one of those (illegal) pyramid schemes but the benefits are still on similar lines.

When you place the BlogRush widget on your blog, it shows relevant posts from other bloggers next to your posts. Every time your page loads, you get one credit to show your blog on other blogger pages. Neat eh? Moreover, when you refer someone and their page loads, you still get a credit. That's also the reason why all the BlogRush links in this post are referral links...

In their own words,

BlogRush is a "Cooperative Syndication Network" that rewards its users for their contributions to the network -- from the impressions they provide of the BlogRush Widget to the referral of other users through 10 'generations' of activity and the impressions of the widget that they provide. BlogRush was designed to be incredibly viral and to provide its users with tremendous distribution leverage to receive exposure for their blog content (onto related content blogs) that they could never achieve on their own; at least without a massive advertising budget.

There you have it - the best (so far) way to promote your blog for free. We already know the advantage of a targeted readership - people interested in what you are writing are more likely to stick around your blog and this will directly affect the revenue you generate from your efforts.

So go ahead, use one of the referral links in this post (or visit www.blogrush.com directly) to get code for your widget and start reaping the benefits of targeted readers.

Update:Just got a mail from BlogRush explaining the 'The Syndication Credit System Formula' (the formula used to derive your credits). Here it is:

Your Traffic = 1:1
1st Generation Of Referrals (Directly From You) = 1:1
2nd Generation Of Referrals (i.e. Jen in the video) = 1:1
3rd - 6th Generation Of Referrals = 1:4
7th - 10th Generation Of Referrals = 1:8

1:1 means you earn 1 syndication credit for every 1 impression of the
widget by your own traffic or by any users located on the 1st (direct)
or 2nd generations.
1:4 means you earn 1 syndication credit for every 4 impressions of the
widget by any user located on the 3rd to 6th generations.
1:8 means you earn 1 syndication credit for every 8 impressions of the
widget by any user located on the 7th to 10th generations.

Hopefully this clarifies your doubts on how the service works. In case you are wondering how BlogRush plan to monetize their service, I got that answer in the mail too - Soon you will be able to BUY Credits!

Other bloggers who wrote about BlogRush:

Why You Shouldn't Rush into BlogRush at Search Engine Journal

Tips for Using BlogRush to Generate Traffic for Your Blog at ProBlogger

BlogRush: 8 Reasons to Be Wary...and Optimistic at Mashable

Try Blogrush Widget for Free Referral Traffic Till 10 Levels at Quick Online Tips

BlogRush - Getting More Blog Exposure Through Syndication & Leverage at Squidoo

If you would like to make legit money on the internet, do check my other posts:

Make money from uploaded videos

Earn magazine subscriptions by watching ads

If you are a website owner, also check Amazon's Flexible Payment System