One of the biggest problems with TV station web site advertising these days is “banner blindness.”  After being assaulted with banner ads that jiggle, flash and gyrate, readers are learning to simply block them from their consciousness.  To avoid slipping into seizures from overstimulation, all of us are getting better at simply pushing aside the advertising barrage we endure throughout the day.

If you want to see a newsroom running at its best or its worst, just throw a little breaking news into the mix. Through sheer force of will, the entire news team re-tools the show on the fly, and quite regularly pulls off miracles. Typically, one of the components left on the cutting room floor is the top-of-show tease.

Barack Obama is a social networking idol.  819,000 people follow him on Facebook.  He also has a huge presence on MySpace.  29,400 people follow his every move during the day using the mobile social networking platform Twitter.  Obama has used social networking to bond with young people and get his message out to a generation that is watching less traditional media.

Every day 10,000 people use the web to track every move that John Dvorak makes.  From where he goes, to the web sites he finds, to the kinds of wine he enjoys, thousands of people religiously follow the daily events of his life. John's fans are in constant contact.   Whether they are out at the store, driving, or working, they receive both web and handheld updates.

There are times when I really pity the women of the world.  Because they will never get to live one of the most exhilarating experiences of raw power to be found on the planet.  It is that most quintessential of male experiences - one that every man looks back on as a rite of passage.  It is a carefully managed and choreographed ritual that rivals the theatrics of a Broadway play.  All the players have carefully scripted roles and the feelings of emotion run high.  It is the experience of buying a man's business suit.

On-air talent is the face of your newscast and one of its most important components.  In years past, we saw a lot of promos that specifically featured on-air talent.  The promos would profile everything from personal hobbies to professional ethics.  These days content is king.  When faced with the choice between promoting specific content in the show or the anchors, most stations choose the former.

In last week's column I talked about how national cable brands have transitioned their TV marketing to a more customer focused priority, and the things broadcasting managers can learn from these brand trailblazers. Today I want to write about how products transition their marketing from feature brands to customer connection brands. I also want to share ways to get started on your own transition to core emotional driver marketing, even if you have no research budget.

How will local TV branding change in the coming years?  If you want to get a good look at where we're headed, the national cable business can teach us a few things.  National cable channels like Discovery, TBS, Lifetime and CNN have been through major marketing changes that broadcasting has yet to face.  In the late 90s cable TV went through a series of hard-fought battles that left scores of channels dead by the road.  Cable marketers struggled to deal with two major marketing roadblocks that would reshape the business: withering competition and the challenges of brand expansion.

When we see a commercial, most of us can spot a phony claim from a mile off.  We've all see the airline web site ads that promise "lower fares 'may' be available at our site."  Right, I "might" be a millionaire in the future too.   We've seen the weight loss products that claim "you could lose 'up to' 30 pounds."  Those two little words clue into the fact that the product is probably a fake.  You invite a friend to your party.  She tells you "I just might be there."  You know she is not coming.  All of us have learned to sniff out conditional words in advertising.  Most of us assume these hedging words hide some sleazy Madison Avenue tactics, trying to weasel out of committing to a product attribute.

Take a look at this ad for United Airlines.  In the ad, the benevolent gate agents coyly whisk the starry-eyed customer to the gate where he whimsically boards his flight and gazes longingly at an enchanted rose perched fondly in the window.   While it is a charming fantasy, this little hallucination is absurdly disconnected from the punishing cattle-car reality of modern-day air travel.  The authentic experience would include the flight attendant requiring you to dump out the water, secure the glass vase in the overhead bin, and put the rose under the seat in front of you.  Sit down, shut up and eat your peanuts.