A couple of weeks ago I met with Bernard Hickey from Interest.co.nz to discuss his recent creation – a daily video blog on the financial marketplace.

His “90 seconds at 9am” and “Daily briefing” are ingenious ways of communicating to anyone looking for up-to-the-minute information from the guys who hold the data. (The way they’re being produced is rather clever too.)

For quite a few years now interest.co.nz has maintained an underground presence that’s been largely restricted to the financial services sector. Now, with Bernard’s articulate interpretation of what’s happening with the data he’s providing middle New Zealand with an understanding of what it all means.

Already the comments from their blogposts and videos are getting mentioned regularly in the NZ Herald which is great for their brand positioning – even if the NZ Herald refuses to provide links back to the source!

Last night I was kept awake by an incessant drip from the cistern in our bathroom. Now this drip has been happening for quite some time but over the last week or two it’s getting particularly bad.

It’s something we should have repaired ages ago but I know nothing about plumbing and I’m loath to roll up my sleeves and dig into the back-end of our toilet. But more to the point I can’t really justify calling a plumber either. The job is just so small that it feels kind of pointless getting someone to come all the way over to fix it.

All this got me thinking about the little things in online advertising and the importance of paying attention to them.

Do you use “home loan” calculator or “mortgage” calculator as the link? Do you underline the links? Does having “Click here” in the ad make difference to the results? What parts of the ads should you track?

Fortunately with online advertising the answers to all these questions are found with measurement – you just have to have the right attitude to testing and improving your ideas over time.

This week we’ve got a flight running for Sorted.org.nz on Trade me that has a range of ads in which we’re testing a range of subtle variations in ad design. At the end of the flight we’ll break down the results and build on the learnings for next time.

If only solutions to my plumbing were so simple!

This afternoon I got a pointer to a new email search tool called Xobni. I had a look at their demo and I’ve got to say it looks like a perfect Web 2.0 product. This application on top of my Outlook desktop would be enormously useful.

The other thing that’s got me interested in this product is their clever online marketing strategy. To actually get Xobni on my system I’ve got to be invited in. I can do this by emailing their URL to at least two friends. However the more friends I email, the quicker I’ll get the service.

Added to that, if I include their button on my blog, my chances of getting the service even faster improves. So, I’m adding the button below, and I’ve emailed a few friends. Let’s see what happens.

This week Trade me and the NZ Herald are running ads for Monteiths Brewery. I noticed the Trade me ad earlier as I did my usual Monday morning screen refresh and checked out all the ads running (BTW tidy creative from Real Groovy appearing this week). After that I checked out the NZ Herald and noticed Monteiths appearing there too (with an expandable billboard banner that doesn’t have a fully mapped click through)!

Anyway, I was surprised to see alcohol being promoted through online display ads. A few years ago Tiger beer ran some ads on Trade me but I thought Trade me had dispensed of peddling such products on their run of site inventory. It appears not.

On TV you can only advertise alcohol related products late at night. What’s the deal with advertising alcohol online in New Zealand? This is perhaps something for the Interactive Advertising Bureau to consider as they establish industry representation and standards here.