Read'em and Weep!

Funnels, touchpoint maps, transmedia planning, engagement, influence.  Reminds me of Dennis Hopper line in Blue Velvet, "when I say dog, what comes to mind?"  For me it's a stupid dalmatian one of my roommates had in college, for you it's probably that fluffy white thing yapping at the window right now.  Say any of those words above without explanation, and one thing is certain - 2 of the 3 people in the room are already confused without even getting started.  "Ambiguity is like oxygen to me," a planner come account director at a DM shop (irony obvious) once said about this beautiful swirling communication mess.

This is why I read Mr. Hillstrom regularly.  HE'S WILLING TO TAKE A CUT!!  Scary proposition - A 2008 Contact Strategy for any of your clients!  He's got a snappy timeline dating back 30 years or so, but here is his estimation (with industry definition!) for 2008:

Your leading specialty catalog brand adds RSS feeds to the mix, allowing you to see new and exciting merchandise offerings once every three days. E-mail contacts have increased to three every two weeks. You visit the website once every three weeks, and you use Google to search for comparable merchandise once every three weeks.

    * Total marketing contacts = 102.
    * Total pull-based contacts (RSS) = 17.
    * Customer-driven contacts = 34.
    * Total interactions = 153.

Doesn't matter if that is +/- 5%!  Are you saying something compelling and personalized all 153?  No?, wasting time and money.