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In-Brief: Another time that MSG was on the money! Aggregate Knowledge hinted at a mobile deal in this exclusive podcast - and now we know Paul Martino, Aggregate Knowledge CEO, meant the tie-up with CBS Mobile. I caught up with Dave Peterson, Aggregate Knowledge Chief Marketing Officer, late last night (my time) to get the inside track on precisely how the partnership aims to deliver personalized content and relevant ads. Thanks again to Falguni Bhuta & Jennifer Henderson for the quick response in arranging an impromptu Q&A with Dave.

The news yesterday reminded me how much I love my work and why. It is exciting to be that little bit ahead of the curve, consistently and correctly identifying the companies and trends that will have a significant impact on the mobile space. No wonder VC companies lead the new user registrations on MSG and also pack my in-box with requests to discuss cool new companies and technologies. I enjoy the exchange and encourage VCs - as well as the rest of the MSG community - to reach out to me directly to continue the dialogue. Of course, MSG will continue to showcase companies worth watching - so please check back regularly.

By now we have all read that CBS Mobile and Aggregate Knowledge are teaming up to enable content discovery and recommendation and deliver targeted and relevant advertising. But it’s not just about technology; it’s about a seismic shift in mobile advertising strategy. As Jeff Sellinger, Executive Vice President, CBS Mobile, pointed out in a press statement: “Behavioral targeting on mobile phones is the next frontier …because the smaller the screen, the more relevant the content needs to be.”

Trading in key words for technology to tap the collective wisdom of crowds… Is this the way forward? It will be great to hear the CBS side of the story, particularly since this move is the latest in a strategy marked by industry firsts - including the first location-based advertising scheme (together with social-mapping and communications company Loopt) and the first alliance with a line-up of leading mobile advertising companies (AdMob, Millennial Media, Rhythm New Media and Third Screen Media) - to get more bang for the ad dollar. (I’ve contacted CBS for a podcast/Q&A and will circle back when I have it.)

In the meantime, let’s look at what Aggregate Knowledge brings to the table, and the interplay of discovery, recommendation and advertising.

Here is an excerpt of the Q&A:

Q: Please walk me through the deal and the user experience.
A: What we’re doing with CBS Mobile is providing another navigational metaphor; something that allows somebody to see relevant content based on what other people are reading, discussing and finding interesting. There’s also a personalization element to this. If users have specifically spent some time on the CBS Mobile WAP site or engaging with CBS Mobile news, then they would see a set of content that is more relevant to what they’ve been looking at in combination with what others are looking at.

Q: Aggregate Knowledge has around 100 other sites in its network, including BusinessWeek and The Los Angeles Times, as well as a number of retail sites. Is the content and ads you deliver going to be around CBS only? Or will these other destinations figure somehow in the equation?

A: We are absolutely bringing the full leverage and power of our network data to bear. We treat the activity that’s happening anonymously in aggregate on CBSNews.com on the WAP site and we’re then looking at that in making our recommendations and suggestions based off all the connections between that content and what people are looking at across our network. We’ll bring all those connections to bear to drive interesting recommendations and content suggestions.

Q: And these destinations cover different kinds of media - such as print/online with BusinessWeek and video/TV with CBS. You can also crate content recommendations that unite platforms.

A: Yes, and you’re right on to the key point. We’re starting with CBS Mobile news. And therefore, you could expect to see some cross-over on the behavior of those anonymous users on our other news sites and BusinessWeek is a great example. And then as we start to roll this out across the other mobile content areas for CBS, you would expect to see cross-over in other areas of interest.

Q: That tells us about the user experience. Now you also have destinations such as Sony and Shoplocal.com in your network. How do the play into the advertising side of this. I mean with all those sites you have inventory to plug any gaps CBS might have. For that matter you could be a kind of ad network in your own right.

A: We take a look at what’s interesting and we either deliver an article or a direct product or a direct brand offer based on current interests. It’s the same targeting mechanism for content that we would use for advertising.

CBS can bring to bear their offers, their content and their inventory, in the context of our discovery window on their site and on mobile phones. But it’s also clear that we could do some matching [of ads across the Aggregate Knowledge network] with CBS content. Maybe people reading a story about high-definition TVs also looked at this particular Sony product and we would also make this match.

I don’t have a concrete example, nor will I have anything in the very short term. I can only say it makes sense that we will be able to help CBS Mobile bring a lot of our advertising inventory into the context of their service and the discovery window operating on their site.

Q: I imagine a benefit would be making a match that makes sense. A big issue in mobile search, for example, is a lack of relevant content to go with the search terms.

A: Yes. This is why we get so excited about this platform; because we think discovery’s perfect for mobile and delivering relevant advertising. If you have one shot at impressing or engaging somebody, you have to really catch their attention. That’s where discovery and serendipity can come in to capture the user’s attention with the offer they didn’t expect to see. But it is effective because our technology tells us it’s the association other users make. It’s based on real buzz and interest, not just algorithms. It’s about the element that gets users to engage or an offer that sticks in their mind to get them to engage later.

On mobile, you’ve got one second to get somebody’s attention and we think discovery is a better metaphor and a better way to get somebody’s attention over search.

Q: What’s next?

A: We are executing on our ‘discovery everywhere’ strategy. And that means delivering discovery beyond the Web. We want to get it into all the different places consumers touch a business and this includes set-top boxes. We’re looking at ways to show consumers interesting content or other things that might be related to their viewing interests.

You’ll also see more from us in the mobile environment. And you’ll continue to see a lot of effort and push around what we call discovery advertising. When we see users are interested in buying something, we want to deliver one of our discovery ads to help convert for one of our advertisers. So those are the three big areas that you would expect to see us focus on in the next quarter or two. It’s about using all our capabilities and connections to deliver the right offer to the user at the moment of intent.

• Posted in
• Recommendation, Mobile Social Networking, Personalization, Mobile Search, Mobile Advertising, Content Discovery

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