President Obama's First 100 Days as Experienced from Norway

On the 100th day anniversary of Barack Obama39s presidency last week I was speaking to 1000 media agency and marketing executives at quotGulltaggenquot the Nordic Countries Interactive Advertising Bureau annual conference in Oslo Norway Unlike here in the US where rabid Republican partisanship borders on antiAmericanism and often seems to cross that border among Norwegians the enthusiasm and support for President Obama is unrestricted and seemingly universal My previous visit to Europe was before the November election and Europeans truly didn39t believe Obama could be elected They logically thought the same America that had foisted George W Bush Dick Cheney Condoleezza Rice and Donald Rumsfeld on the world could not embrace Barack Hussein Obama as its presidentThe change in attitude toward Americans among Europeans at least among Scandinavians is palpable Once again an American accent is met with enthusiasm rather than sullen rejection and even anger Whatever your politics or your perceptions of President Obama39s first hundred days it is gratifying that we can now travel to many countries without the need to constantly be on the defensive There are those here who resent the Obama apologies during the G20 Conference I for one am grateful that I no longer feel the needThe Gulltaggen Golden Tag Conference is among Norway39s largest and most important media events Other speakers included Wired editor Chris Anderson who previewed his soontobereleased book quotFREE The Past and Future of a Radical Pricequot author and pundit Seth Godin Jonathan Kish of McCann Erickson Israel Mike Walsh author of quotFuturetainment The New Media Revolutionquot and the engaging Dr Kjell A Nordstrom who spoke on quotFunky Business Foreverquot Norway39s media business continues to be dominated by newspapers and leading newspaper companies They entered the online business early are capturing the online classified advertising business and while struggling with a declining ad economy they appear in much better shape than their US counterpartsWhile there is extensive competition from satellite television channels that cover Europe local TV is dominated by three channels led by government funded NRK and independent TV2 There is no advertising on NRK and the independents are limited by regulations to airing commercials between programs Ad restrictions in Norway have slowed DVR penetrationBecause so little TV advertising is available the global advertising recession is having less impact in Norway and other regulated countries than in the US While the US advertising business is expected to lose 25 of its revenues between 2007 and 2011 Norway39s ad economy will decline by less than 10 And advertisers have embraced online advertising with enthusiasm and creativity albeit with minimal comparative impact from video social networking or even mobile applicationsThe US interactive business community is influenced heavily by executives from the traditional media players but is dominated by companies that have emerged since the mid and late 1990s VC funded companies proliferate Vertical ad sales networks are ubiquitous In the Scandinavian companies traditional media companies have either not yet felt the impact of the new media or they have been more aggressive participants in the emergence of online business opportunitiesIn my conversations with leaders of the interactive business community in Norway I searched for parallels and comparisons to the challenges and difficulties as well as the opportunities here in the US Overall I experienced far less distress more sense of opportunity and less economic fear There is less dependence on VC funded business models and more creativity There is not a great deal to be learned from the Scandinavian experiences as best I can tell and even less those in Scandinavia can learn from their US counterpartsJack Myers advises global and domestic US companies on business growth opportunities He can be contacted at jmjackmyerscom

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President Obama's First 100 Days as Experienced from Norway

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