OMG, digi=IRL, rite?

"If you're a newspaper publisher and you think the solution is a digital facsimile of the analog version, you need to re-think." - Ed Cotton, from his post about the News Corporation starting to charge for online content

This is a fantastic quote, and not just because it succinctly calls out newspapers' digital stumbles, but it speaks to the larger issues facing the media and advertising/marketing industries with the growing role of interactive. Digital is a whole new ball game, and we need to recognize that we can't just simply take what worked in other mediums and assume it will have the same success digitally. If I may build upon the idea Ed brings up in this quote, I'd like to share a few additional guidelines: 

• Static web ads shouldn't just be print ads put online. Work with the medium, take advantage of the placement, the shape, the size.
• Similarly, rich media shouldn't just be your commercial on a digital platform. No one likes to open a web page and be bombarded by a 30-second commercial. We are social beings--we want to interact! Engage us. 
• If you ARE putting up a commercial say before a video clip online, know the appropriate length. When we watch a 60 minute TV show, only 14 minutes of it is allowed to be commercials. If you're attaching your :30 commercial to a 1:30 video, you're pushing your luck.
• When folks come to watch a television program online, its much more of a conscious activity. There's no channel flipping, no waiting around for your program to begin. Recognize this different level of engagement and leverage it. And please please please, don't show us the same ad over and over at every commercial break. On a TV we can just change channels...online we're stuck with it, and I believe the potential benefits of repetition will be outweighed by the feelings of ill will.

There's gotta be other applicable scenarios. Any others weighing on your minds??