Shedwa's Six: Steve Hall of Adrants

Name: Steve Hall
Title: Publisher
Blog: Adrants

SHEDWA: When and why did you start Adrants?
STEVE HALL: Adrants was born in March 2002 during a period of unemployment and in the early days of blogging. In seeking employment, I thought it would be a good idea to look at and comment on the current state of the industry as a way to stay in touch while not working. I did, ultimately, find work and kept Adrants going on the side until March 2004 when I was laid off once again. I looked for a job for about a week but soon realized Adrants had grown to the point where it could become an actual business.

So I put all my energy into Adrants. I had been selling ads by myself up until this point but that took time and skill that I didn't have so I signed with Watershed Publishing (publishers of MarketingVOX and MediaBuyerPlanner) for ad sales. To continue to grow revenue, over the years, I signed affiliate/partnership marketing deals with Portfolios.com, TalentZoo, iMediaConnection and, in addition to direct ad sales, put slotted in Google AdWords and BlogAds. As one would correctly assume, the lion's share of revenue comes from direct sales but all streams contribute significantly.

I never actively promoted Adrants over the years. It grew organically and I guess I had the advantage of first mover. Aside from Adland, there really weren't any other ad blogs out there at the time.

S: What do you find most interesting about the blogosphere?
SH: It's communal nature. The sharing. The notion that old media's "exclusivity" and hesitance to acknowledge sources was a thing of the past and this new style of journalism provided a more complete picture to the reader. It's humble. It's friendly aside from the occasional high school-like squabble.

S: What impact, if any, do you think blogs serve in the ad community?
SH: We have a huge impact. Ad Age reads us (by us, I mean all ad blogs) because they don't want to miss anything. In one sense, we do a lot of early reporting for them. Uncover new trends, stories, scoops which then sometimes find their way onto the pages of Ad Age. I'm not saying we're a replacement but a welcome addition that fleshes out what's going on in the industry.

In terms of the industry, we help paint a more expansive and complete picture of what's going on. We do it in a concise, quick, easy to read fashion that offers up thought provoking ideas for those who work in the industry. We uncover things that would normally remain unknown. We add insightful commentary from people who've worked in the industry. It's a different take than a professional journalist who may or may not have worked in advertising would offer.

We also have radically shifted the way marketers and their PR people communicate. Since we are so good at calling bullshit and have gained respectable mass within the industry, the approach marketers and PR types take is now more humble, less fluffy, more meaty and more straightforward. There's less mindless pontification...or at least we filter it out before it gets to readers.

Look what blogging did for AdWeek. It's blog, AdFreak, is now, it seems, more popular than its own website and magazine. Ad Age has also dabbled, although less successfully, in the blog space but it's changed their tone and their outlook on the industry. Even Bob Garfield blogs although not very often.

S: Adrants is currently moving towards Technorati's top 500. What do you attribute that success to?
SH: This is funny. We're actually sliding down. We had a high of about 212 about a year or so ago but since Technorati includes so many sources now and perhaps has changed the way it ranks, we're more like 400 (573...just checked). Technorati is all about links in, links out, links up, links down, links sideways. It can be gamed. Adrants has a far larger readership than many of the top 100 blogs on Technorati. Though some would argue the linkfest and the socially communal nature of blogs (and all media, for that matter) is what's important, readership, demographics, unique visits, page views and scale are still what advertisers buy, and, it's no secret, Adrants is ad-supported.

This may be old-school thinking but what's more important to the reader? How many links in and out a publication has or the quality of the information delivered. And, what's more important to a publisher looking for ad dollars? An incestuous, self-congratulatory link-fest or saleable unique visitors and page views? Sadly, it's still about the eyeballs.

S: If you couldn't blog about advertising, what would you blog about?
SH: In the early days I did blog about other things such as writing and general life observations. Perhaps, those were my purest blogging days but then Adrants happened. From time to time, I think about other topics but I keep coming back to advertising. I love it. I appreciate it. I love to both admonish it and praise it. I like to observe its changes and its idiosyncrasies. It's just fun.

I'm not sure what I'd blog about if I couldn't blog about advertising. Knowing me, I'd probably launch something like Fleshbot (NSFW).

S: What are your 5 favorite blogs, advertising focused or not?
SH: Hmm. Tough. There are so many good ones and my list changes all the time but:

Micropersuasion for Steve Rubel's insightful pulse on just about everything.

AdFreak for it's clear and concise coverage of advertising.

Adscam for George Parker's hilarious and incredibly snarky take on an industry he's been in for decades.

Shake Well Before Use for Ariel's cute but brash outlook on life, advertising and sex.

CoolzOr for his international view of things and his ability to both work and blog at length at the same time.

Check back each Wednesday for a new Shedwa's Six interview.

technorati: steve hall adrants