Entries Tagged 'It's Official' ↓

For those of you who have been checking this blog patiently (or not so patiently) wondering when I was going to stop sharing theories and start sharing solutions…the time in now. A few friends of mine and I have been trying to tackle this problem/opportunity. Frankly, it’s taken a bit longer than I had hoped, and we still have a ways to go, but today we are announcing the invite-only beta launch of Gomper.

The Gomper Companion is a simple little application that enables you to rent a small portion of your computer screen. You get paid for your time, not your actions. When the Companion is open and you are using your computer, you get paid. You can close the Companion in one click at any time and everything returns to full size. The consumer is in complete control.

Gomper is completely free to join. This is not about charging consumers, it’s about paying consumers. And this isn’t a trick to stick you with Spyware or other garbage. Just the opposite…the goal of Gomper is to be a consumer advocate. To give consumers a voice and a seat at the table. If it’s not good for you, it’s not good for Gomper.

The advertisements you’ll see in the Gomper Companion are very similar to ads you’ll see when you are surfing the Internet. Both are from advertisers paying money to reach you. Only with Gomper, the money flows to you, not to the companies that collect you. And as the money starts flowing from advertiser to consumer, I’m confident Gomper members will have a very different opinion of advertisers than most people. When advertisers see better results with ads to Gomper members then the ads they buy from media middlemen, they’ll spend more with Gomper and all our members will get a raise.

In other words, as more and more people join Facebook, the more money Facebook executives make. As more and more people join Gomper, the more money you make. Since the money is being spent buying your time and attention, this just makes more sense.

Please check out www.gomper.com. As mentioned above, we are in an invite-only period, so the information on the website is still pretty vague. But I encourage you to request an invite as we already have ~50 people using it and will be expanding the invite list very soon.

I’ll be posting more details more frequently now. Please post or email me with questions, comments, feedback, skepticism, support….whatever. If a year from now, Gomper has 1 million members, we will change the world. I hope you will choose to take part.

Some of the folks I speak with think the advertising industry is simply in a normal recession induced funk. That is not the case. The ad industry was in turmoil prior to the economy turning and the downturn will only serve as the timber that broke the camel’s back.

To demonstrate this point in humor and in song, I present Mad Avenue Blues. The latest parody video on YouTube, expertly put together to the tune of American Pie. It’s a bit lengthy (as was the original song) and certainly aimed at people associated with the ad industry. But when I watch this and think about all that is broken and crumbling, it makes me even more certain that change is a comin’!!

In all this turmoil, there is one point that is often forgotten. Marketers still want to spend lots and lots of money getting their message in front of us. The people spending the money are still on board. They love us more than ever. It’s just the middleman part that is broken.