So what will Volkswagen do this year, especially now that other brands will likely release their ads in advance? This week it released a commercial “teaser” on YouTube over two weeks before kickoff, and it already has 3 million views and counting. The clip features a chorus of dogs, barking the Star Wars theme song. “Keep an eye out for our 2012 Game Day commercial—it will all make sense,” teases the YouTube description, which also encourages users to follow Volkswagen’s social accounts to be notified on January 27th to craft their own “Intergalactic Invite” using a Star Wars-like video crawl.

In short, Volkswagen is trying to upstage other advertisers yet again, backing up its pre-Super Bowl hype well before the event. The teaser hypes the pre-release of the ads, which hypes the ads airing in the Super Bowl. When it airs, many people will explain to their friends that they’ve already seen it — a sort of “reverse recommendation” that carries its own social cache.

Lexus is trying a similar strategy, releasing its own Super Bowl ad teaser earlier this month. But it only has 17k views on YouTube.

These days, Super Bowl ads are social launching pads, and that’s why NBC sold out months in advance (it left a few spots open for a $3.5 million price tag.) And it looks like Volkswagen, which received millions of dollars of free advertising as a result, wants to repeat its social success.

“Over the past several years we have offered in-player, in-app, and now in-TV ad solutions,” said Jayant Kadambi, CEO of Yume. “Even as consumer attention fractures, we offer brands a way to seamlessly reach consumers at every stage of interaction with the TV, and across all platforms and devices.”

Toyota has signed up as the launch sponsor. “Toyota customers are watching video online, on their mobile phones and on TV, and we are excited to be able to reach this previously unreachable audience on smart TVs,” said Dionne Colvin, national marketing media manager, Toyota.

LG says they picked Yume to power the ads because its technology is flexible enough to “work across our diverse range of chip sets for various connected devices.”

The new home page module highlights the ION Television show, Flashpoint, and as you can see, it goes far beyond a standard display ad with an embedded promotional video, a native “like” button for ION Television’s Facebook page, a “add to Watchlist” button, a “I’ll Watch” button that triggers social sharing, a few news stories associated with the show and a call-out to use the #Flashpoint hashtag. Whew!

In fact, this is the most “social” of any online ad I’ve ever seen.

“Both users and advertisers have embraced social TV on our site, and we’re happy to share the milestone of our 50th social sponsorship this year with ION,” said Christy Tanner, Executive Vice President and General Manager, TV Guide Digital. “We found a growing curiosity in social ad integrations among customers last year, so we built our social ad innovations ahead of the curve to meet the demand we saw coming. Marketers want to extend the value of their advertising dollars by connecting and engaging with TVGuide.com’s audience of social influencers.”

While many companies are building social TV products like crazy, TVGuide is monetizing them at a surprising scale, attractors programmers and marketers who are eager to drive social buzz for their shows by engaging social influencers who love to talk about TV.

“We’re working on being the DoubleClick essentially of the second screen and TV companion space,” explains Seth Tapper, Founder and CEO of Second Screen Networks. “The secret sauce that we bring to the table is the ability to sync ads between what’s on TV and what’s on the second screen.”

Working in concert with publishers, Second Screen knows what TV show a user is watching. As a show airs, Second Screen “watches” the live stream, using its technology to recognize commercials inside the show as they air. “We are moment by moment fingerprinting the video streams,” Tapper explains. Live commercials are compared against Second Screen’s database. As advertisers sign up for the network, they’ll add their TV commercials into the growing database.

Second Screen is piloting their push ad network on the popular American Idol fan site AmericanIdolNet.com for the show’s finale this week. “We know everyone in there is watching American Idol,” Tapper tells Lost Remote. “When we see ads that we have matching digital creative for, we serve those ads” on the website.

For the Idol finale, Second Screen will be testing “poll style” rich media ads, but Tapper says his company is investing a lot of effort in evaluating what types of ads perform on second screen devices. “It’s pretty clear that just a straight banner ad isn’t the best idea,” he said. “It needs to be attractive and doesn’t throw people out of the experience they’re in.” Second Screen is able to push ads that sync not only with commercials, but also with the demographic profile of a given user.

For years, technology companies have worked to scale interactive advertising solutions on the TV screen, but a second screen approach may have the most potential to date. A study released last week discovered that 70% of iPad users and 68% of smart phone users watch TV while on their devices.

Tapper says Second Screen is talking with several publishers and advertisers and looking for more. Publishers with their own sales teams can sell into the network, as well. Tapper admits it’s going to take some time to reach scale, but advertisers “are pursuing us so it’s been a relatively easy pitch.”

“This is the first time where consumers can close the funnel between a brand experience on a TV commercial right down to a real world drink you can consume,” says Adam Cahan CEO and Founder of IntoNow. “That’s a really exciting first that opens the doors for advertising partners.”

IntoNow is the first TV check-in app that listens your TV set, recognizes the audio signature and then tags whatever you’re watching — both live and on-demand programming. Your friends, by extension, see what you’re watching. And because it’s powered off audio recognition, it’s very difficult to “fake” that you’re watching something. That enables relationships like Pepsi Max, as users have to be playing the commercial to win.

IntoNow’s competition is Shazam, a music-recognition app that recently expanded into TV commercials. Viewers could tag an Old Navy commercial (above) — which was playing “an original song” — to unlock song downloads, style tips and other expanded content. This last weekend, we saw a Tide commercial with the same “Shazam now” icon on the screen.

For years, advertisers have envisioned a day when viewers could connect with commercials, offering valuable user data in exchange for coupons and prizes. But the complexities of the set-top box approach — too many of them — as well as the awkwardness of TV remotes have never brought that interactive TV dream to a mass audience. But “second screen” apps are showing real promise, especially if they offer tangible rewards for watching TV. Stay tuned…

Maybe we’ve been looking at this all wrong. Tons of virtual ink has been spilled on how the technology is disrupting us. But Christensen has a great point; people aren’t generally sitting around saying “the way we buy and consume products is too disruptive.”

As for corporate efficiency? Maybe that’s not enough, either. Robert Prather, CEO of Gray Television says he has a sign on his desk that reads “Even the most efficient dinosaurs are still extinct.”

The Borrell Local Online Advertising Conference panel on “What Top Media Executives Must Do Next” looked at how managers from different media disciplines are tackling innovation. For Prather, it’s about setting up a different sales team that reports directly to the general manager. “We found out early on that general sales managers guided web sales people away from key advertisers,” said Prather at the Friday afternoon session.

There is always lots of hope that digital initiatives will be grounded in lots of data about the successes it will have. Christensen says that’s an impossibility: “There is no data about the future, only the past.” In practice, Christensen admits, “What we’re doing is teaching how to take action when a thing is already over.”

The panelists agreed that there needs to be strategic buy-in from the very top. “What hinders companies from evolving?” asked Peter Smyth, Chairman and CEO of Greater Media Inc. “We need to have the right people in the right places to move forward – and we need to ask whether we have the resources to move ahead.”

None of this happens without some amount of worrying. We’ve heard a lot about how some traditional media staffers simply won’t adapt. There are changes that need to happen to become more digitally savvy, both in content and sales. Kirk Davis, President and COO of Gatehouse Media, expressed concern for his existing staff: “It’s a tremendous responsibility to take a legacy business and move it forward. You don’t want to disenfranchise the 6,000 people (who already work for Gatehouse).”

Christensen, in his second appearance of the morning, wrapped things up:

“We have a tendency in our society that just has a search for that one single thing that will solve the problem. It’s more than setting up a separate unit and thinking “I’ll go to heaven.” Think of how are people using (your product). I think the reality to solve customer problems is much greater than it ever was in the past.”

WBOC in Delmarva takes caution in its approach and find that works for them. Brooke Knight Warner, the general manager for WBOC Interactive, went against the stream here when it comes to mobile. “Mobile is coming up,” said Warner, “but let’s see how it all shakes out.” Warner says her team’s focus is on integrating existing resources, relying on vendors and having a sales-heavy structure. She suggests that more than half of personnel for any online venture should be sales people. Local news sites usually work in reverse – they’ll have a few staffers and maybe a fraction of a sales person, or one sales person at best.

Warner found that, when it comes to sales, relationships are everything. That’s a pretty old maxim, but for some reason local online media still struggles with it. “We brought in outside sales teams and it didn’t work,” said Warner. “We needed someone who knew how our local businesses thought. We hired from within.” WBOC goes for every local ad penny it can find: its average monthly contract is $750.

Deseret Media has long been hailed for its forward-thinking approach to digital media. The Salt Lake City-based company built its self-standing Deseret Digital Media business directly out of research with Borrell Associates. And when it came to hiring sales people, Deseret Digital Media deliberately looked outside the ranks of traditional TV and newspaper sales.

“Rather than tapping into the legacy sales market, we looked for people with digital DNA,” said Mike Petroff, Deseret Digital Media‘s VP of sales for ad products. Petroff’s more interested in people who understand the small web ad sales rather than the big TV or newspaper ad sales.

Deseret has jumped into mobile with very impressive results: mobile web traffic for KSL.com nets 13 million views per month. If that were the stats for a traditional TV website, Petroff pointed out, it would be the 25th largest TV website in the country. Again – that’s just mobile traffic. Traffic to its KSL.com site puts it second in the country for TV websites — and this is market 35. Deseret Digital Media spreads out its products as well, offering pureplays, daily deals (think Groupon), email marketing and wildly popular free classifieds.

So what about those local Groupon competitors? Is it worth it even to try to enter that already-crowded marketplace. From the experience of the folks at Houston’s KHOU, the answer is in the affirmative. Christine DiStadio Director of Digital Media at KHOU gave examples of Yollar, its Groupon alternative. Yollar is available in 16 Belo markets. DiStadio told the audience of some interesting success stories:

• A $66 deal on Yollar led to an immediate revenue bump of $13,000
• A $12 Yollar deal turned into $8,064 revenue

“Having a digitally trained company is more important than just focusing on the sellers themselves,” said Jeffrey Ulrich, the Director of Digital Sales Strategy and Training for the Cox Media Group. His team undertook a confidential survey of 1,200 of its employees to determine each person’s digital savvy.

The key to getting good, honest results? Keep things confidential. As a result, Cox Media Group was able to establish a baseline from which it could begin its training. Will the training be worth the money? Ulrich says figuring that out is pretty easy: “If we achieve just a two percent lift in sales, the training will have paid for itself.”

TV 1.0, said Kozsuch, was TV station to TV set. It was all about the transmitter and the antenna.

TV 2.0, he added, incorporated cable and satellite.

TV 3.0 has so much more. There are the old methods, plus Mobile DTV, platforms like Apple TV and Google TV and online video. And whatever else will come up in the next year that we haven’t even considered. Kozsuch says “This represents a big change, it’s a big difference in the way people consume television.”

It also represents a big difference in the way TV finds the money. And finding the money is where Mobile DTV stands right now. There are no proven methods. There is a lot of testing going on. There aren’t quick and easy answers.

Sound familiar?

Anne Schelle, the executive director of the Open Mobile Video Coalition, has looked into the numbers. Her group has more than 30 broadcasters and has some insights into how people will consume mobile video. The OMVC did a test in Washington DC, and found that people are more open to mobile DTV than you may think. Local news was highly valued among users. People were watching from work (because their employers were blocking web video),

People were even watching Mobile DTV in the bathroom. Don’t pretend you haven’t done that with your smartphone…

Schelle says the result of the DC testing showed something we’ve known about web video for a long time: daytime is primetime. The biggest audience was watching from noon until five p.m.

And then there’s this: Mobile DTV viewing appears to be additive to traditional TV viewing. 38% of those in the pilot said they were watching more TV.

Fisher Communications Senior Vice President Randa Minkarah added that her company’s testing is already lending insight into what people are willing to spend for Mobile DTV. Minkarah says, while there’s no consensus number yet, it appears people will spend about a dollar per month. Still, she points out, “We have to have a sustaining business model.”

The good news for stations is that getting onboard Mobile DTV isn’t all that hard nor expensive. The stations are essentially repurposing their signal. Unlike with the web, the development is incremental. Will it pay off? The experts on the panel are optimistic but admit it’s a work in progress.

All of which means the man knows his stuff. And he’s a bomb thrower, too, something we like at Lost Remote. Here’s a good one:

“There is no such thing as hyperlocal; it should be hyperpersonal.”

Here’s another:

“Does local media have a right to exist in the 21st century?”

Palmer shared his insights Thursday morning at the Borrell Associates Local Online Advertising Conference in New York City. He did more than give the 50,000 foot view; Palmer gave the keys to the kingdom for those who want to listen. And it turns out the keys (well, one key) are all about innovation. Specifically, how local media should be dedicating its efforts like crazy to innovating.

Still, we all know this. So what’s the problem? Why aren’t local media companies innovating? Simple: money.

“I don’t know anybody in this room who is going to be governed on innovation. We’re governed by making our (sales) number. And nobody is going (to tell their bosses or shareholders) they are going to miss their number so they can focus on innovation.”

Palmer strongly believes in the innovate-or-die school of thought. And he says media companies should ask themselves one question: “Am I cued up for death or innovation?” If it’s the former, Palmer says, it’s time to sunset your business.

“Don’t try to solve a 21st century problem with a 20th century solution,” said Palmer.

Greg Stuart, author of “What Sticks” and CEO of the Mobile Marketing Association hopes you understand one message: “Mobile is the missing link for marketers.” Stuart spoke Thursday morning at the Borrell Associates Local Online Advertising Conference in New York City. He believes, strongly, that “mobile is the modern media channel.”

Stuart points out some provocative numbers: There are 1.5 billion computers right now, along with 1.8 billion smartphones and 5.5 billion cellphones. That pretty much covers everyone. Local, national, international – it’s all online.

Still, media sites present non-targeted ads just as they have since the ’90s. And that doesn’t cut it anymore. “We continuously teach consumers to ignore marketing messages,” said Stuart, “by having non-targeted messages.” Which brings us to the nice quote up above from the SVP of Integrated Marketing at Coca Cola, which Stuart drew our attention to. Online plans are nothing without mobile integration.

The theme of Stuart’s presentation was “We hired a guy,” as in “What’s our mobile strategy? We hired a guy.” And that, Stuart said, is simply not enough. “Mobile is different than traditional online marketing. It’s far more personal. Don’t let advertisers run crappy ads on your site. It just teaches your audience to ignore your ads.”

The biggest obstacle for media companies who aren’t going after the mobile audience? Fear. “National online spending would be twice what it is today if there were rational decision making.”