It’s very often that I will browse off a site if it is cluttered with advertising.

Great piece in addressing problems of publisher mindset, especially the idea of reducing advertising pollution! But why don’t you go one step further and suggest putting consumer and audience value BEFORE advertiser and publisher self-interest? That’s the fundamental problem — a lack of purpose and integrity. Limiting the discussion to the idea of clutter is a huge step in the right direction, but incomplete on its own. Google’s most important innovation was to put its consumer users first, and advertisers second. Veering from that idea is what kills companies.

And sure, measuring time in addition to impressions is better than measuring impressions alone. But that’s still a mindset of “input proxy” versus “outcome and result”. Why not reach further and move media valuation and planning to “propensity to convert”? That’s what true effectiveness is. The idea of goal-based advertising shouldn’t be limited to direct response lead-generation and point-of-sale situations (i.e., Google); it should expand to propensity to hit certain goals, like the ability to prompt consideration or invite prospects in. I know, that’s extremely hard to measure, perhaps fuzzy. But driving science, attribution and accountability to goals further upstream in the sales funnel should be the vision to advance day-to-day pragmatism.

Lastly, agree with you completely on the bad economy — it’s not an excuse for failure. I look at our economy as a period of cleansing, where extraneous and unsustainable advertising models face their due scrutiny. In fact, it’s bigger than that: the bad economy is driving scrutiny over what BUSINESSES are truly of good experience and value to society. That is the true root of brand health. More than ever, your brand is who and what you are and do — less so a facade you try to create and manage. The laws of physics and the golden rule are catching up with us — finally. The true leaders will survive and grow stronger.

To conclude, following are 10 trends in advertising to consider as we build for the future. (These are among my re-occurring talking points.)

1. Media are commodities: Media are commodities, but media companies often fail to acknowledge that. The fact is that media units are more likely to be sold through open-floor trading, in transparent marketplaces at fair prices. The notion of media sales organizations actively promoting and managing artificial scarcity is eroding.

2. Premium is over: Defenders of “premium” inventory are losing because, still, nobody can define what it really means. Indeed, this is not an absolute rule. The idea of premium is something that probably will hold far more gravity, but in far fewer circumstances. Publishers no longer have a universal right to premium.

3. Remnant is the new premium: “Inventory may be so-called remnant, but there’s no such thing as a remnant customer,” one high-ranking exec at a huge CPG company told me recently. Value matters, and value is result minus price. The fact is that remnant can work very well — and be valuable — if it is managed and optimized to performance. Several ad networks are poised to benefit.

4. CPMs plummet: O.K, this really is a cold, hard fact. CPMs are plummeting and they will continue to drop amidst exploding inventory and marketers’ migration to performance. Nobody knows how far this will go, but it’s reality for the foreseeable future.

5. Demand dictates: “Media supply used to lead demand, but now demand leads supply,” former AOL Media President Michael Kelly recently told me on a panel at Web 2.0. It’s a simple statement, but it describes well the role-reversal of inventory and demand. The relevance of that principle expands everyday.

6. Buyer resurgence: When demand leads supply, it means that advertisers are garnering the power to dial up or down according to their business goals — for no other reason.

7. From clicks to profit: It’s shocking how many marketers still manage advertising based on efficiency of output (i.e,. cost per click) versus goal-based business outcomes (i.e., profitability). However, it appears that advertisers are moving in the latter direction, through best-practice enlightenment and tools that allow tighter management and optimization. Marketers are placing faith in analytics.

8. Instant gratification: For better or worse, tolerance for discovery and latent ROI decline in deteriorating economies. Marketers will be more inclined to experiment, because it’s a best practice that leads to greater profitability. But they want impact that can be tested and optimized with immediate outcome.

9. Economic decisiveness: In case you haven’t noticed, we’re now officially in a recession — and have been for a year. Everything I posed above is already happening fast, but continuing economic downfall will accelerate it.

10. Optimism wins: Despite personal concerns around the economy, I believe we’re entering an important period of business cleansing and rebalancing. There’s too much clutter, waste and distrust. Now, more than ever, it’s important to focus on fundamentals, especially deeper purpose. It is a return to purpose and customer value that will separate advertising companies and models that win versus those that die.

Thanks for sparking thought! Disagreements and debate are welcomed from this reader, should you be listening.

Warm regards,

Max Kalehoff

(Btw, we met at Pete’s book part at Karen’s house. And I was an early BuzzMetrics guy, now at another start-up, Clickable. The reason we exist is to make online advertising simple and profitable for small and midsize businesses. Businesses are getting killed by online advertising complexity.)