23 Musings

So, after attending a widgets conference I'm now gripped by all things widgety and waiting to see the latest developments in this area of the web marketplace. I didn't have long to wait...

Clearspring have just announced the launch of a widget ad network called (wait for it) WidgetAd Network. They've been serving adverts as widgets for a while but are now offering a network to widen the distribution possibilities.

It's the next in a line of widget ad announcements. Advertising.com launched WIDGNET as a network to serve widget ads last week.

My concern would be if widgets end up being seen as the new MPU. They have so much more potential than that, I've got a list of applications I want to embed in a widget for my employers benefit, and all will show a decent ROI. Brands need to think differently.

A widget is not just a display point (like a traditional banner)! It is an interaction point, an engagement point, an application container and a way to automagically seed your websites functionality onto other websites quickly and easily. And all this is down to the user to say, yes please I'd like to grab your widget and embed it in my page/site. It's direct response with user permissions thrown in for good measure, you can't get much better than that.

So please, don't just embed a flash banner in a widget and think that you can get away with it. You could seriously damage the potential of widgets and give users the wrong impression.

Keep them smart, keep them engaging, keep them useful and you'll see real ROI and drive the kind of brand loyalty and qualified visitors that we are all looking for from these networks.

Here at Widgety Goodness today, in case you don't know what that is it's a conference in Brighton UK all about (you guessed it) widgets.

For me it's a chance to understand more about a technology I've been familiar with for a year or so now and to try to get my head round the benefits to our brand and return good ROI with them.

Anyway, highlights so far:

The first speaker couldn't make it, bad news sometimes but luckily Susan Mernit (Yahoo) left a video message. Take out from her talk was that widgets are all about the user and there was a great quote that 'we are the operating system', something that is becoming increasingly evident.

Up next was Chris Cunningham of Freewebs. These guys interest me a lot as they specialise in custom, branded widgets which is just what I'm after. He said that success in widgets is much more elusive, less formulaic and algorithmic in nature. Tell me about it, we've been battling with finding the right reason to jump on board, another reason for coming today. He says that custom widgets have the most brand advocacy of any online ad format and offered three rules: add value/utility; be contagious and make it a personal experience. All key points for us as we have a brand to protect and only want to enter this space of we can engage our customers (and potential customers).

Next up was Russell Davies. A hugely interesting guy and highly knowledgeable in his space. Interesting to hear someone from a more traditional marketing background discuss widgets. Main take out from him was that marketing is changing, mainly brought about by the move to digital platforms. He says 'awareness' is old school; what's new school, well it's all about attention, engagement, permission and response.

Great conference so far. Looking forward to some of the later speakers very much. More later.