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June 2006

June 30, 2006

Chrysler Invites People to "Ask Dr. Z"

Not content to let competitor Ford steal all the online limelight, Chrysler will tomorrow launch a Web site, askDrZ.com, aimed at improving the company's image by giving it a human face. On the site, users will be able to pose questions to DaimlerChrysler Chairman Dieter Zetsche.

Ads across all media -- interactive advertising includes AOL, MSN and Yahoo -- will include the AskDrZ.com URL. It's unlikely you'll miss this campaign, as it'll appear on network and cable TV; in mass-market magazines like People; in national and local newspapers; and on radio in the top 50 markets.

The effort launches in conjunction with an employee pricing summer sales program.

Posted by Pamela Parker at 4:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Ads a Go on BBC Int'l Site

The BBC's international site is officially going commercial, despite a recent petition against it signed by 150 BBC writers, editors, designers and TV correspondents. So far reports seem a bit confusing in terms of what types of ads will actually run on the site.

A Guardian report notes "The advertisements would be 'low key' and limited to 'still ads' that appear in the middle of online articles. There were no plans for pop-up or banner ads, the most common advertising formats for online publications."

A Brand Republic story, however, says "A number of potential designs had been prepared by the broadcaster to demonstrate how advertising banners and boxes could be added to the top, bottom and side of the sites."

The story adds that the BBC's commercial arm will also explore opportunities to maximize paid content revenue.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 1:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

ClickZ Takes a Holiday

You may find ClickZ to be a bit quiet the next few days. We will be taking Monday and Tuesday off to observe the holiday, and back to reporting on Wednesday July 5. The ClickZ staff would like to wish our U.S. readers a happy and safe Fourth of July.

I won't be completely unheard over the long weekend, I will be speaking on The American Entrepreneur radio show. The show airs from Pittsburgh's AM station Newstalk 1360 from 9AM until noon (Eastern), and I expect to be on somewhere in the 11:00 hour. You can listen on the Web if you click the "Listen Live Online Here" button on the site. The topic is teens, now called everything from superconnectors to millennials.

Posted by Enid Burns at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

USA Today Airs Talking Tech

USA Today is taking its Personal Technology section to video. Tech columnists Ed Baig and Jefferson Graham will host "Talking Tech" with weekly segments becoming available on Thursdays. Video will be available at tech.usatoday.com or on iTunes.

The initial sponsor is AT&T with its branding campaign launched earlier this year. However preroll and synchronized banner units for Frontier Airlines, VisitFlorida and Microsoft's "The Greatest Asset" spot played before the video during repeated refreshes. Prior to running the preroll unit, the screen says, "Video is always free thanks to support from our sponsor." But at this point AT&T is not clearly visible as the advertiser.

Posted by Enid Burns at 11:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sheraton Make Room for CGM

Sheraton Hotels & Resorts is adding CGM to their Web site. The chain is patting themselves on the back for being "the first hotel industry website as to embrace social media and feature user generated content."

Not unlike sites like TripAdvisor, user posts will contain travel tips and user recommendations for local sightseeing, attractions, eateries, and the like. Stories and photos are accessible through an interface that's more than a little reminiscent of Google Maps.

Sheraton has launched a sweepstakes to encourage posting to the site.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 10:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 29, 2006

Praise for the Print Version

When does a complaint about non-user-initiated (or not-intentionally-user-initiated) audio get interesting enough to make the virtual pages of Gawker? When the ad in question is for a certain Pfizer product much in the news of late, and the first few seconds of audio describe the problem the drug solves.

Posted by Pamela Parker at 7:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sprint Promoting Exclusive Content, Which, In Turn, Promotes Movie

Sprint has wrangled comedian Will Ferrell, or at least the character he plays in an upcoming NASCAR-themed flick, to star in commercials promoting Sprint's exclusive mobile content from the movie. So Sprint is running commercials to promote exclusive content which is, sort of, promoting the new movie.

In the TV spots, Ricky Bobby, the main character in "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby," watches clips from the movie on a Sprint Phone. The commercials were produced by TBWA\Chiat\Day New York.

 

Posted by Pamela Parker at 7:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you're not sick of Google Checkout already...

A couple of sort-of noteable things that didn't make it into our story from earlier today.

• Neither a merchant's participation/non-participation or user ratings (enabled by the system) will impact the way their AdWords ads are ranked, Google told me. (But, as Chris Sherman notes, if users show a preference for clicking on ads with the little shopping cart icons, this may positively impact participating advertisers' rankings.)
  
• There are no plans, at this time, for integrating Checkout with AdWords in such a way to enable cost-per-action pricing for AdWords. This despite a much-buzzed-about CPA ad test. "We haven't been focused on CPA at this point in time," Benjamin Ling, Checkout's lead product manager, told me.
  

Posted by Pamela Parker at 5:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

"Cat" Hits Best Seller Lists

Congratulations to our own Bryan Eisenberg (and his brother Jeffrey).

Bryan just IM'd with the fantastic news that their new book, Waiting for Your Cat to Bark? hit the USA Today Top 150 best-sellers list for last week's sales. It's also #4 on the USA Today Money best-seller list.

But wait! There's more! Rumor has it "Cat" also made the top 5 Wall Street Journal Business best-seller list.

The Eisenbergs had similar success with their last title. This latest news means they've scored a best seller double header.

We're so proud of you guys!

(If you're attending Search Engine Strategies in San Jose, don't forget to attend their book signing.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 5:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A Bold Move from Ford

We haven't had time to weigh in on this earlier this week, but, wow, what Ford is doing with its FordBoldMoves.com site and video documentary is really bold. In the video, the company acknowledges losing touch with the consumer, being in mortal danger of "going down," and desperately needing to turn itself around. It's really energizing to see a company commit to opening the kimono (perhaps an unfortunate choice of language consider who Ford is competing with) and engaging in dialogue with its customers... or the customers it has lost.

They're doing a lot of things right. Comments are enabled. Though one has to register to comment, only an e-mail address and password are required. Users can paste Javascript code into their blogs (which I've done here) to distribute the video and comment upon it. There are feeds, both outgoing and incoming. The site has a feed from Yahoo News showing the latest news about Ford. At this writing it's about a credit downgrade and how the CEO is ruling out a bankruptcy filing. Someone's gotta be gritting their teeth.

That said, a number of details screw up the online execution:

1. You are supposed to register and confirm your e-mail address (by clicking on a link in an e-mail you've received) before you can access community features on the site. I tried it, and the confirmation e-mail just never came. Not good. I was able to log in anyway, though.
   
2. No autodiscovery of RSS feeds. I tried to use the "Subscribe with Bloglines" feature, but it told me the site had no feeds. (It worked the more manual way, though.)
   
3. I tried to watch the video full screen, after having watched a little bit, but it required that I start all over from the very beginning. Not a good user experience.
   
4. The comments feature is all screwed up. The interface tells me there are 75 comments on the video, but when I click on it, I can only get to three. In some cases, the comments are clearly cut off.
   

Will this be the online destination to watch Ford's spectacular flame-out, where you can see a 100-plus-year-old company die before your eyes? Could be, but the seeming candor and good intentions behind the site make me, at least, root for Ford.

(full disclosure: I own a Ford vehicle, but I swear it was my husband's decision.)

UPDATE: Forgot to say we first wrote about this documentary plan here.

UPDATE2: The e-mail confirmation finally arrived, and I've determined that inability to see comments is a Firefox issue, as it looks OK in IE.

Posted by Pamela Parker at 4:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

John Edwards to Sell Issues on Your Cell

One America, the anti-poverty group headed by Senator John Edwards, is going mobile. Supporters can sign up on the site to receive mobile updates, and they can also text the word HOPE to 56658 and get the following message from the ex-VP candidate himself:

"Thanks 4 joining our mobile team. Please text me your name and email. Visit us at http://oneamericacommittee.com/. I'll be in touch--John.

My contact over there says they'll be sending occasional messages, updates and calls-to-action.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 4:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Fox Expects $500M in Internet Revs in 2007

Reuters reports that News Corp. Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch is predicting Internet revenue at the company will rise to nearly $500 million in fiscal year 2007. The company, best known in the Internet space for last year's acquisition of MySpace for $580 million, is expected to bring in $350 million in Internet revenues in calendar year 2006. Not too shabby.

Posted by Pamela Parker at 4:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Spyware Is Getting Settled -- A Litigious List

The Center for Democracy and Technology has a thorough compendium of spyware lawsuits, both settled and pending. Here are some excerpts from the report and a quick list of that litigation below that. Note all the hefty fines, and yes, time in the slammer.

"[Since 2004]law enforcement officials have increasingly applied statutes - some long standing, some relatively new -- to spyware cases. Leading the charge has been the FTC, which to date has brought six cases under its unfair and deceptive practices authority. The Department of Justice has actively pursued spyware purveyors under the CFAA and the Wiretap Act, with 11 cases to date. And three attorneys general at the state level have filed spyware lawsuits under state fraud and consumer protection laws, with two more cases initiated under new state spyware statutes."

CDT encourages more states to join in by establishing consumer complaint sites about suspected spyware, establish or support computer forensic capabilities to investigate and verify spyware complaints, and train investigators and prosecutors to identify spyware attributes.

"Because spyware is a moving target, it requires attention from a multitude of sectors, from litigators to technologists and consumer advocates."

Cases:
1. FTC v. Seismic Entertainment Productions, Inc., SmartBot, Inc., and Sanford Wallace
Result: SmartBot and Wallace barred from spyware-related activity, pay $4 million, in settlement, Lansky and OptinTrade ordered to pay $227,000, barred from spyware-related activity

2. FTC v. MaxTheater Inc, Thomas Delanoy
Result: barred from spyware-related activity, pay $76K

3. FTC v. TrustSoft, Inc., Swanksoft and SpyKiller, Danilo Ladendorf
Result: barred from spyware-related activity, pay $1.9 million

4. In the matter of Advertising.com, Teknosurf.com, John Ferber
Result: must clearly and conspicuously disclose that privacy applications are adware

5. FTC v. Odysseus Marketing Inc. and Walter Rines
Status: Preliminary injunction barring from related spyware activity

6. FTC v. Enternet Media, Inc. Conspy and Co, Inc. Lida Rohbani, Nima Hakimi, Baback Hakimi and Nicholas C. Albert
Status: Temporary restraining order, litigation pending

7. State of New York v. Intermix Media, Inc.
Result: Settlement reached, defendant to pay $7.5 million, banned from adware distribution, Intermix founder to pay $750,000 in penalties, affiliate Azez Software to pay $35,000

8. State of Texas v. Sony BMG Music Entertainment
Status: Litigation pending

9. State of Washington v. Secure Computer LLC, Paul E. Burke, Gary T. Preston, Manoj Kumar, Zhigan Chen, Seth T. Traub
Defendant Chen to consult with attorney before advertising ANYTHING and must pay $84,000, Preston to pay $7,200, Traub to pay $2,000

10. State of New York v. Direct Revenue, LLC and Joshua Abram, Alan Murray, Daniel Kaufman, Rodney Hook
Status: Litigation pending

11. State of Washington v. Software Online.com and David W. Plummer
Result: Settled, defendants to pay $440,000

12. United States v. Jerome T. Heckenkamp
Result: Dismissed

13. United States v. Van T. Dinh
Result: sentenced to 13 months in prison, must pay nearly $50,000

14. United States v. Juju Jiang
Result: sentenced to 27 months in prison, must pay $201,620

15. United States v. Carlos Enrique Perez-Melara
Result: Warrant issued for arrest

16. United States v. John J. Gannitto
Result: Sentence to 3 years supervised probation with 30 days in halfway house, 5 years supervised probation, related defendant sentenced to 3 years unsupervised probation, both to pay $500

17. United States v. Cheryl Ann Young
Status: awaiting sentencing of defendant

United States v. Christopher Maxwell
18. Result: Defendant pleaded guilty to all charges, awaiting sentencing

19. United States v. Jeanson James Ancheta
Result: Defendant sentenced to 57 months in prison, to pay $15,000

20. United States v. Kenneth Kwak
Result: Defendant sentenced to 5 months in prison, 5 months subsequent house arrest and must pay $40,000

Posted by Kate Kaye at 3:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Priceline Beams Shatner Down to YouTube

Priceline's come up with a new William Shatner TV spot. Before they dump zillions into air time, they're previewing the clip on YouTube "for a limited time."

So far, all the user comments are favorable. Who knows? If this thing goes viral enough, Priceline may heed its own money saving mantra and eschew the broadcast buys.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 3:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Comcast's Web Ambitions

The WSJ today has a big write-up (subscription) on Comcast and Time Warner's ambitions for Web video. The piece seemed sparked at least partly by Comcast's not-yet-announced (but confirmed by ClickZ) acquisition of thePlatform, a technology firm that helps media companies publish digital assets on multiple platforms. ThePlatform has already been running a channel, The Fan, for Comcast. That channel delivers nearly 2 million video streams a day to Comcast's customers. ThePlatform's system includes targeted advertising capabilities, according to the company. Details of the acquisition weren't disclosed.

It makes complete sense for cable players -- many of which have already invested big dollars into on-demand programming and technolgy -- to extend that model onto the Web. It's that media where ever and whenever philosophy that everyone's chasing (and trying to make profitable).

[via PaidContent.org]

Posted by Pamela Parker at 1:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Checkout: Check Out of Commercial E-Mail

"Control commercial spam" is a Google Checkout value proposition. "You can keep your email address confidential, and easily turn off unwanted emails from stores where you use Google Checkout," reads my account page.

Didn't work at Starbucks, where I couldn't even find a Google Checkout option. But check out the new Buy.com checkout page (left). Bypassing all that merchant registration tedium really will be advantageous for e-commerce players. I've seen this functionality on some, but only a very few, Yahoo Shopping merchants.

This is a concept we'll be seeing more of in the future. How will e-mail marketing programs adapt? Under CAN-SPAM, businesses can e-mail existing customers. What happens when businesses no longer have their customers' e-mail addresses? (Google is, after all, calling this "commercial spam").

Merchants are going to have to get very creative at developing incentives if they expect to build their e-mail lists in the future.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 9:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

June 28, 2006

Google's Appeal Fails in France

Google's effort to appeal Louis Vuitton's trademark case against it in France has failed, according to the luxury goods maker. The search engine's fine has been upped to 300,000 euros for "trademark counterfeiting, unfair competition and advertising". The court has forbidden Google "from using any of Louis Vuitton's trademarks in the scope of its advertising activity on all of its Web sites accessible from France."

An International Herald Tribune story from earlier this week says similar lawsuits against Google in France now number more than 40.

Posted by Pamela Parker at 5:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Digital Hires and Business Wins: Dizzying Activity

The bloat lately in our thrice-weekly Execs & Accounts column is perhaps a better indicator than any ad spend estimate or executive survey of the sheer volume of activity in this space. Today's edition chronicles no fewer than 21 customer wins and executive moves at About.com, Organic, YellowPages.com, Coremetrics and others.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 5:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Upfront Results: Network Gig is Up?

Stories in the Journal, Times and AdAge this morning all proclaim that the upfront is officially down this year, and online gets credit for the bite.

Reports variously describe ad commitments for the networks' fall lineups as being down in the range of $200 to $600 million. Fox and ABC will likely emerge as the only networks to experience increases over last year.

These pronouncements should be taken with a grain of salt, as I've said before. Advertisers reserve the right to increase their scatter buys later this year, and the overall TV spend for the year could still go up, as happened last year.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When Your Visual Field is Sixty Percent Ads

This isn't interactive advertising, but rather a uniquely interactive way of looking at advertising.

The "City Wipeout" project highlights the degree to which urban dwellers' visual fields are dominated by commercial messages of all kinds. Architect and researcher Pasi Kolhonen created the installation, which allows users to wipe a series of images clean of all visual material that is not an ad. The resulting images remain extremely cluttered. From the site:

"Kolhonen wants to reveal with his City Wipeout installation just how many images, texts and signs we find in our everyday environment. The installation consists of pictures which unveil an ordinary face of the city centre. The pictures are reflected one-by-one on the wall. The user interface allows the spectators to wipe the view clean of everything but the advertisements, signs or logos. All that remains is the blanket of advertising that covers the entire city. That blanket is not always noticed although it is constantly present in our daily life."

 

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 27, 2006

Afternoon of the YouTube "Killers"

Not to criticize the category, but video sites are a bit of a commodity these days. The popularity of YouTube is no small factor, and it's not shameful at all to pitch a company calling it a "YouTube Killer." But we didn't expect to ever have two companies show up at the same moment for meetings with two ClickZ editors. That happened this afternoon when Kate Kay and I each made appointments with two separate companies.

Let's just say both companies had a few minutes to introduce themselves and chat for a minute while we had a bit of a laugh at our desks and tried to figure out how best to greet the competitors waiting for us.

Posted by Enid Burns at 5:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Massive Heads East

Massive is heading east, way east. The in-game advertising network has joined forces with online entertainment and game tech company Webzen to provide in-game ads to two upcoming massively multiplayer online games, first-person shooter Huxley (out next year), and the urban action game All Points Bulletin, to be released in '08. This is the first time Massive will reach the Asian market.

MSN in Asia will act as the sales force for the games and clients in the region, a spokesperson told ClickZ News.

Massive was recently acquired by Microsoft.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 5:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Epic Promotes Jessica Simpson Record Via Handsets

Epic Records launched a mobile campaign for Jessica Simpson's fifth album, "A Public Affair." Ipsh! is behind the effort, which will see posters plastered up in multiple cities with copy inviting people to text "Jess" to the short code 33992. A reply SMS includes a phone number recipients can dial to hear the album's title track single, plus instructions for downloading the ringtone and getting Jessica Simpson alerts. (press release)

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 4:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 26, 2006

Comcast's CGM Nightmare

The newly-empowered consumer is, of course, taking every opportunity to cheer, and boo, the companies they deal with every day. The latest example: A Comcast Technician Sleeping on my Couch. The video posted on YouTube of, you guessed it -- a Comcast technician who fell asleep on a customer's couch during a service call -- has gotten 320,967 views as of this posting. Between footage of the sleeping technician, the customer interspersed text commentary complaining about Comcast's customer service. Reuters reports the technician has been fired.

Posted by Pamela Parker at 9:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

AdCenter Tool for Demographic Prediction

A marketer friend/source of mine just turned me on to a neat
tool on Microsoft's
adCenter that allows advertisers to predict consumer age and gender based on keywords and particular Web site URLs.

A couple of my own query results:

URL searches:
ClickZ.com: 64 percent male, ages 35~49
Maxim.com: 60 percent male, ages 35~49 (just 60 percent male? Hmmm…)
BabyCenter.com: 98 percent female, ages 25~34
MySpace.com: 50/50 split, ages 18-24

Keyword searches:
Baby Phat: 76 percent female, ages 25~34
AARP: 59 percent female, ages 50+
Star Trek: 64 percent male, ages 35~49
Pashmina: 70 percent female, ages 25~34
world cup: 63 percent male, ages 25~34
online marketing: 60 percent male, ages 25~34

This URL search seems way off:
NYTimes.com: 51 percent female, aged under 18

Posted by Kate Kaye at 5:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Wrong Way to Grow An E-Mail List

After confirming a dinner reservation, the hostess requested my e-mail address "for our mailing list."

While complying would certainly qualify as an opt-in, telephone dictation is just too dangerous a tactic for building a list. Typos, misspellings and mis-hearing (was that 'b' as in "boy or 'v' as in "victory"?) will inevitably result in unhygenic lists. That, in turn, will negatively impact deliverability of the entire list.

They know I'm coming in for dinner anyway. Why not ask then, if they have to ask? Some restaurants are beginning to leave a card with the bill requesting an opt-in to e-newsletters. That has its risks, too (handwriting isn't always crystal clear). But it has to be better than a game of telephone.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 2:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Cannes Grand Prix Goes to Guinness

Excellent brand advertising equals excellent entertainment, regardless of the medium, and I always get a kick out of seeing the top-anointed TV spots.

This year's Grand Prix at Cannes went to BBDO's noitulovE ("Evolution," spelled backward) spot for Guinness. An incredible one-minute walk down natural selection memory lane.

Just for kicks, I searched around to see where I could most easily discover the ad online. YouTube was the fastest, with at least five crappy versions readily available. The official gateway for Guinness spots gave a much better video quality but made me jump through some hoops.

Agencies ought to strike more deals with YouTube and the other video aggregators to get their best spots hosted and perhaps featured.

Runner-up: Carlton Draught

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

MSN adCenter's Aggressive New Ad Campaign

The headline reads "She found your furniture ad on Google." The image is a little girl and her dollhouse.

MSN adCenter's full page color ad in today's New York Times business section promises a "+57% higher conversion rate than Google and 48% higher than Yahoo."

Here's the landing page (complete with a couple questionable security certificates): msftadcenter.com/nyt. Obviously, MSN is tracking conversions.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 7:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

June 24, 2006

Mind-Blowing/Expanding AdverGame

Boy, is this thing hyper-cute, not to mention insane.

The game takes forever to load, and the promotional links don't work, presumably because it's on the production company's site (London's unit9).

Note to self: when the weekend's over, find out what the Honda tie-in is.

Update: Of course! Zach reminds me it's based on Honda's award-winning Grrr! campaign, which ran on U.K. television last year.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 9:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 23, 2006

Product Recommendations: Free Beats Fee

David's right. This whole recomendation-engine thing is mind-boggling.

Amazon's telling me to buy Pink Floyd because I told them I own a lot of VU. Huh? They're convinced my predilection for Patti Smith makes "The Concert for Bangladesh" a must-own (the mind reels). Given the vintage of my tunes, I obviously didn't buy a lot of them on Amazon. But I have been putting their engine to the test by spending way too much time telling Amazon what I already have -- to little avail.

Over at GreenCine, it's much clearer why I get the recomendations I do. But they're still wrong, wrong, wrong.

Why? In a word, segmentation. On-the-fly tagging is much nimbler than baked-in metadata.

I overwhelmingly rent Asian films, primarily Japanse and Korean (OK, I have obscure tastes -- that's why I bailed from Netflix). GreenCine obviously takes this preference for "asian" into consideration as Asian films account for a preponderance of my personal recomendations. But (and this is a very big but), nearly all the recommendations are anime. This completely disregards the fact my rental history consists of zero anime.

I can click "not interested" on anime suggestions until I get calluses, but there's always more where that came from. The engine just doesn't get it. GreenCine segments their anime into no less than 11 subcategories (who knew?), all distinct from a completely separate Animation category. This means one broad and 11 subcategories I've never rented DVDs from constitute about 90 percent of my recommendations -- presumably because of metadata I'm not seeing; "japanese" and "asian" are likely guesses.

It's so much cheaper and so much easier for these e-commerce players to go the CGM route. I love Amazon's customer reviews, lists, and "people who looked at this product actually bought..." links. I've rented a ton of movies off Greencine's excellent, eccentric and often, arcane, user recommendation lists (like Roger Ebert is a Big, Fat, Idiot or Movies that make you want to take a shower).

Building an e-commerce site? Considering a recommendation engine? Save your money. Let your customers do that work for you.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 2:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Candidate Creates Special Video for E-Mail

The Internet enables political advertisers unprecedented abilities to get their messages out quickly and unencumbered by media interpretation. And while political candidates have begun to show an interest in employing Web video, most have simply repurposed TV spots
for their Web sites and video ads.

Massachusetts Democratic gubernatorial candidate Deval Patrick broke that mold recently with an attack e-mail linking to a video produced for that express purpose. In it, the candidate speaks from his campaign headquarters about his opponent Christopher Gabrieli's choice to not accept public funding in order to spend as much as he'd like on his campaign.

As a Boston Globe article described it, "The video shows Patrick sitting in his campaign office alongside busy campaign volunteers. He is slumped forward slightly, speaking directly, sometimes emphatically, to the camera. At the end, he asks the viewer to join the campaign's first canvassing effort this Saturday."

I spoke with Brian Reich, director of Boston Operations for political consulting firm Mindshare Interactive Campaigns about what he considered to be an innovative approach to video e-mail. "He could have put a TV commercial up, but instead he recorded something special for this e-mail."

There's very little cost for this type of effort in comparison to creating a TV ad, plus recipients have the ability to pass along an e-mail message to spread the word. It'll be interesting to see if other candidates this year take Patrick's lead here and use Web video in this compelling way.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 1:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Tests Ad-supported Video

Google is running another ad test this week, this time for Google Video. Under the Free Today program, selected clips from the Google Video Store will be available for free download, instead of the usual fee, which ranges from $0.30 to $14.99. The current free offerings were previously priced as high as $4.95.

The catch, of course, is the free videos include ads. There is a persistent text and image branding unit above the video content, which links to the advertiser's site. There is also a :15 to :30 post-roll video ad. Ads are from a single advertiser; the winning bidder in an auction, according to a Google spokesperson.

The ad-supported clips will not be able to be saved to a file, as the paid downloads are. The free videos are promoted on the Google Video home page

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 11:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 22, 2006

Jambo Tests Radio Pay-Per-Call Ads

Jambo is testing pay-per-call ads in the radio environment, buying up remnant spots from a newish reverse auction firm called Bid4Spots. Business categories covered under the tests include DIRECTV installers, mortgage lenders, and attorneys; and advertisers can specify such targeting factors as market, daypart, demographic and station format.

If this test and others like it go well, radio advertising may eventually migrate to a scenario where marketers, the lead-focused ones anyway, will pay only for pre-qualified calls. (link to press release)

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 4:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yahoo E-Mail - Send Verification

Although this has apparently been around for a few months, I hardly ever use my Yahoo e-mail account, so it was news to me.

When I hit 'send,' a verification page intercepted the process. While we're all familiar with services from companies such as SpamArrest and Vanquish that ask non-whitelisted senders to verify themselves before a message can be delivered, this is the first time I've had to verify myself as a sender on my own e-mail provider's site.

Naturally, to get this far in the process, I was already logged in to Yahoo e-mail as a registered user. And my Yahoo e-mail account dates all the way back to practically my earliest days on the Web -- the post-Mosaic era.

Hey, Yahoo. Don't I get any credit for over a decade of good behavior?

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 2:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Review This Shoe

Who's not getting into CGM?

Shoes.com is encouraging customers to review shoes with a weekly $250 gift certificate offer. Get ready for shopping sites in all sorts of categories to follow suit. Comparison engines, local search plays and, of course, Amazon, are all solidly on the bandwagon.

In the future, everyone will write at least 15MB of user reviews.

Right?

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 1:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Does the Web Give Good Branding?

There's seems to be an uptick in angst lately about the Net's promise as a branding medium, at least when it comes to straight advertising.

During remarks at the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival, Mediavest USA CEO Laura Desmond expressed frustration at the paucity of branding-oriented online media vehicles, as compared with search. The Financial Times has the story, and here is the money quote:

“Google is going to have to change its business model soon. Search alone isn’t where marketing is today. It is about search and branding and putting the two together.”

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 1:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

American Apparel in Second Life: Driving Gamers to the Web Site

I just spoke with Wes Keltner of The Ad Option, the firm that brokered American Apparrel's much blogged integration with Second Life. An interesting tidbit he shared, which I haven't seen discussed elsewhere, is that AA will eventually run two promos offering savings on real world orders from its Web site.

Here's how it'll work: virtual American Apparel clothing -- the shirts, lingerie, etc. bought in game space -- will come with note cards that have Web promo codes written on them. One will give in-game customers 15 percent off a shirt in real life. Another will give them free shipping from the company's Web site. Each of the campaigns will run for roughly one month inside Second Life to drive traffic to the site.

One interesting aspect to the promos is they'll let American Apparel track some of the bottom line impact of its new brand presence in the virtual world.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 1:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 21, 2006

Dispatch from Supernova

Oliver Luckett from Revver, which has been hosting the famous Diet Coke and Mentos video from EepyBird, says the video's creators have now netted $23,000 in revenues from their video over 13 days. In fact, Mentos has now come forward to sponsor EepyBird, Luckett said.

Posted by Pamela Parker at 7:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ClickZ Video Ad Forum - Speaker Podcasts

Our video advertising event last week was sensational -- great content, fantastic speakers, sold out crowd.

If you couldn't make it, you might want to click over to Ernie Landante's blog. He interviewed a number of speakers at the event and is posting a new podcast every day this week.

Enjoy!

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 2:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NAA Panelists Sound off on Newspaper Site Ad Spending

Panelists at yesterday's Newspaper Association of America Mid-Year Media Review panel, "Attracting Internet Ad Dollars: Solving the Value Equation," dealt with where the ad revenue is coming from, where it's not, and why.

Although there were a few discrepancies among panelists' viewpoints, most agreed on the big picture: newspaper site ad spending is up. Here are some of the finer points:

Local and Brand Ad Dollars Moving to Newspaper Sites
Jim Warner, EVP/East Region, Avenue A/Razorfish, agreed with the rest of the panelists that interactive newspaper advertising will continue to grow. However, he noted that this is a result not only of local advertiser dollars moving online, but of "current advertisers making a deeper commitment."

Panelists also pointed to a rise in brand advertising.

National Advertisers Still Ain't There
In addition to a dearth in national advertiser spending on newspaper sites, Chris Hendricks, VP, Interactive Media, The McClatchy Co., suggested that these publishers are ignoring "hyper local" advertisers. "We don't really service them well," he said.

Warner continued that national advertisers find it difficult to purchase media on newspaper sites. "They're generally not an appealing place for national advertisers," he commented, noting that publishers are still packaging Web ads with print as value-ads. (This certainly doesn't help establish the value of their online media offerings.)

Shawn Riegsecker, CEO/president, Centro, added some context, explaining that ten years ago newspaper publishers were so worried about spiting their print cash cow by pushing online, they ended up missing out on advertisers that eventually flocked to portals and search (for geo-targeted ads, for instance). Now that those relationships have been established, paper pubs are trying to catch up. "Unfortunately that set the industry back," he concluded, noting that the value proposition of these sites has not been established for national advertisers.

A Search Market Correction?
As an aside, Riegsecker also poked a hole in the search balloon, calling it "glorified yellow pages," and predicting that search advertising will taper off, especially as more brand advertisers come online. (He may have a point there considering the fact that search is still primarily used as a direct response medium.)

A Need for Comprehensive Measurement
"The holy grail" for advertisers is what Riegsecker referred to as a "media dashboard" where advertisers could track all buys across all media. "It's probably not that far away," he added, insinuating that Avenue A/Razorfish probably has something like this up its sleeve already in the works.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 11:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

BA: Wimbledon's Not For Yobs, Hooligans

BA wants you to win a trip to London -- provided you first undergo behavioral training.

A new campaign that launched today (created by Agency.com) "educates visitors that #1 foam fingers and air horns, while popular at American sporting events, are ‘just not done’ at Wimbledon... Visitors also learn that one of the best ways to attend a match is to ask a departing guest to pass along their ‘debenture’ tickets, and are gently reminded to refrain from partaking in popular American customs like ‘the wave.’"

The units don't just show you, then tell you in a crisp, Queen's English accent (via a link to user-initiated audio) how not to behave at the match.

Ads are running on sites including Yahoo! News, ESPN.com and CBS Sportsline through July 10.

Please -- lift your pinky when you click.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 20, 2006

Newly-Promoted Marketer Leaves Microsoft

Martin Taylor, who was promoted to corporate vice president of Windows Live and MSN marketing in March, has unexpectedly left the software giant. He'd been with the company for 13 years and was said to be an advisor to CEO Steve Ballmer.

AP and Bloomberg reports quote a Microsoft e-mail as saying "We've made the difficult decision to part ways with Martin Taylor but we don't comment on personnel matters." A biography on Microsoft's corporate site simply says Taylor "is no longer with Microsoft." As recently as Monday, Taylor was quoted in a press release.

What does this mean for Microsoft as it works to build new ad-supported products and market them to build an online audience? The wording of the Microsoft statement seems to imply the company, and not Taylor, made "the difficult decision to part ways."

UPDATE: Microsoft says former Ask.com CEO Steve Berkowitz, who joined the company in April, "has already stepped in to assume Martin's MSN and Windows Live marketing responsibilities for the short-term, and we hope to be able to announce a permanent successor in the near future."

Posted by Pamela Parker at 8:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ask a Ninja's Got Audience

According to Mark McCrey, founder and CEO of Podtrac.com, Ask A Ninja is the top podcast and has over 250 million unique viewers that download its content as it becomes available each week. Then there's a YouTube audience and other delivery not tracked by Podtrac.com. That's quite a brand, anyone brave enough to send him the question, "How does a ninja feel about taking preroll advertising?"

UPDATE Maybe because I was sitting in the nosebleed seats at the ARF conference yesterday, or possibly because the panel occurred right after lunch when I was given a plate of vegetables at lunch (everyone else had beef) and was a little dizzy from the lack of protein, but the 250 million figure is apparently overstated. According to a release Podtrack posted about Mark McCrey speaking at the conference, Ask A Ninja is the video "most watched on a portable device" though it also said that 82 percent of its viewers watch online. It's still a significant audience.

Posted by Enid Burns at 3:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Go Forward - and Do A Good Deed!

The Superman Tag Web site finally launched!

Its purpose is to raise awareness -- and money -- for a great cause: the Christopher Reeve Foundation, which is dedicated to curing spinal cord injuries.

The story behind the Web site is here. I was honored to be a part of the interactive marketing committee group that helped pull this effort together -- although the lion's share of kudos are due to Euro RSCG, which generously did the heavy lifting, i.e. site building, on a pro bono basis.

Could you please help us leverage the buzz around this summer's biggest movie blockbuster opening? (Superman Returns is dedicated to Reeve's memory.)

Please visit the Superman Tag Web site. Buy tags. And if you're at all able, please download one of the banners and post it on your own Web site.

It's for a very good cause.

Thanks.

And thanks to my fellow committee members, which includes such illustrious names as Dave Weinberger, Euro RSCG's Jane Barratt and Ryan Berger, Mark Hughes, Steve Rubel, scenarioDNA and a host of others.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 2:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

More Changes for Affiliate Marketing

The affiliate marketing space seems to be going through a lot of changes lately. On the heels of the introduction of Commission Junction's Link Management Initiative comes Performics's OrangeLinks program, just launched June 10.

According to the company's site, the new system delivers pre-generated, live links directly to affiliate publishers via email or FTP in an effort to save them time and improve productivity. They can choose to receive OrangeLinks for all of approved advertisers or only specific advertisers, and are asked to "customize your OrangeLinks settings by selecting text links, banners, ad sizes and promotion types."

"This is the Link Management Initiative all over again but done correctly," wrote affiliate marketing consultant Jeff Molander on his ThoughtShapers blog. "It provides affiliates with a candy-coated and legitimately useful solution allowing them to operate business-as-usual."

Posted by Kate Kaye at 2:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 19, 2006

Orbitz eBay's Original Ads

To celebrate its fifth anniversary, Orbitz is selling five prints from its original ad campaign on eBay in a charity auction. Proceeds from the "Visit Planet Earth" campaign will benefit Angel Flight America and Chicago Cares. Orbitz will donate air travel valued at $5,000 total to both charities.

The art deco-inspired prints are first-run edition travel posters from Orbitz's 2001 launch campaign. The five of the six posters created for the campaign were paintings commissioned by 1960s-era artists David Klein and Robert Swanson.

Posted by Enid Burns at 5:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Old vs. New Media at the World Cup

Baba Shetty of Hill, Holliday posts on Nike's online success in World Cup-related marketing, after being shut out from TV advertising by official WC sponsor Adidas. Though Shetty says Adidas is outspending Nike by 2 to 1, the latter is getting 2x the traffic to its Joga.com site, as compared with Adidas.com.

As Shetty puts it:Look, I know it’s early in the game, and business results are the only metrics that really matter – Adidas may yet be redeemed. But if this plays out that Nike outmaneuvered Adidas, the 2006 World Cup will be remembered as the cleanest "old marketing" vs. "new marketing" case study we've seen yet.

Posted by Pamela Parker at 3:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Search for Brand Marketers Breakfast

This Thursday, I'm participating in a panel on search for brand marketers sponsored by Hitwise. I'll be joining some great speakers: SEMPO's Dana Todd, Performic's Cam Balzer, Spafinders' Daniel Lizio-Katzen and Microsoft's James Colborn, with Bill Tancer moderating.

Stop by for breakfast if you're in sweltering New York this week. I'm sure the hotel will have air con!

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 2:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I Could See a Payday for Craigslist Users

This Saturday's Wall Street Journal featured an intriguing piece about Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster as told from the first person perspective of WSJ editorial board member Brian Carney (Zen and the Art of Classified Advertising, June 17). In it, Buckmaster comes off as a bit of an anomaly: a CEO who's not all that interested in turning a profit. The main objective of the company, says Buckmaster, is to serve its users.

The thing is, according to the article, "One industry analyst has estimated that Craigslist could generate 20 times [its 2005 revenue of $25 million] just by posting a couple of ads on each of its pages. If the estimate is to be believed, that's half a billion dollars a year being left on the table."

As folks who follow the online classifieds space are probably aware, and as Carney notes, "The money that does come in comes from businesses posting in just two categories of classifieds in three cities -- job listings in San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles and, this week for the first time, brokered apartment rentals in New York."

Craigslist just added 100 new cities to its roster, too.

The article touches on the effect that free listings sites like Craigslist have had on newspaper publishers' bottom lines, but doesn't get in too deep.

Though facetious, Carney's conclusion is an interesting one:
"If Craigslist does what its users ask of it, and Craigslist doesn't need or seem to want all the ad revenue it declines to collect, maybe we, as end-users, should ask them to post some banner ads and give us the money instead. There's something wrong, I suppose, in that reasoning. But I like the idea."

Gather.com, another site with an altruistic bent, already gives its users a cut of its ad revenue. To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if Craigslist were, in the future, to offer up a share of revenue to the very users who enable its existence.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

New Gmail Ad Position?

Up where Gmail usually feeds headlines over the inbox, I'm suddenly seeing a new ad position.

Most people around the office are still getting the usual news headline feeds, but a few minutes ago I was served an ad for a cat product (there's cat sitting related e-mail in my inbox, so I'm guessing this is contextual). When I hit 'refresh', an ad for Forbes popped up.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 9:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 16, 2006

Online Video Still Just Repurposing?

Moderator Pete Blackshaw just asked audience members whether they agreed with panelist Julian Zilberbrand, associate director of digital operations at MediaVest Worldwide, when he characterized the current state of affairs as largely the repurposing of TV commercials. The majority of the audience raised their hands. Thankfully, it seems like the panels, and the audience members, are interested in moving things beyond the current state of affairs.

Posted by Pamela Parker at 2:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Do You Consider 'Engagement' a Dirty Word?

At ClickZ's Online Video Advertising Forum, the word "engagement" hasn't been mentioned without something along the lines of "forgive me for using the term…" immediately proceeding. Is using the term a little too "teacher's pet" or is there true dissention in the phrase attached to the objective of every brand messaging?

Posted by Enid Burns at 1:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Big Day

If we're a bit quiet today it's because we're wrapped up in the inaugural ClickZ Online Video Advertising Forum, taking place today at the Puck Building in NYC. We'll be weighing in later about the conference, but until then, we've set up a Flickr account to share some pics of speakers and attendees. (Just cameraphone quality, sadly, but of-the-moment.)

Posted by Pamela Parker at 1:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 15, 2006

What Vertical Commands the Highest CPMs and CPCs?

Well... who makes the biggest purchases? Think stealth aircraft and mobile homes for hurricane victims. Yes, I'll wager one of the biggest spending sectors, and therefore a target for B2B marketers (including Google), is the U.S. Government. That may be one reason (as well as the desire to suck up to folks in Washington D.C. for political purposes) behind Google's re-launch of U.S. Government search, a service Danny says has been offered since at least 1999. The vertical engine crawls a variety of .gov and other sites including the White House, Department of Defense, The Washington Post, and Google News. Google is trying to sell its enterprise products to government agencies and has recently hired a head of federal sales, Mike Bradshaw.

Posted by Pamela Parker at 4:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google's Schmidt at Conde Nast Lunch Today

Microsoft is not as much a threat to Google as Yahoo is. That's one tidbit Google CEO Eric Schmidt shared during a luncheon interview for Conde Nast's new business magazine Portfolio this afternoon at the Four Seasons here in NYC. One reason he said Yahoo makes for more direct competition is its "strong advertising network." Commented Schmidt, "We always worry about Microsoft because of its history," but "a lot depends on how each company executes."

More on Microsoft

Speaking of history, Schmidt was asked by Portfolio Editor in Chief Joanne Lipman about an article he penned in '96 for US News and World Report that apparently argued that Microsoft was "too big and too powerful." Of course, the same fightin' words have been flung at Google in recent years. Schmidt shifted in his seat a little at, but ultimately defended Google, saying that his firm is different from Microsoft in its efforts to push partnerships and share revenues with other companies.

On the Up-and-Coming GBuy Online Payment Product

Schmidt lamented the fact that the press has made this out to be a quest to conquer PayPal. "It's not like PayPal at all," he explained, noting that their new system will not be aimed at consumers, but at advertisers. Although it appears as though the new system will benefit advertisers by displaying a GBuy symbol in search results (thus designating them as trusted merchants), consumers will still be using GBuy as a payment system. Of course, PayPal hasn't made major inroads when it comes to getting online merchants to accept PayPal in lieu of credit card payments.

Later, Schmidt added in reference to PayPal, "It makes no sense for us to go into businesses that are occupied by an existing leader….Let's solve a new problem."

On the Print Ad Network

Schmidt said the firm has recently begun a new test, mainly of magazine placements, commenting that it's easier to work with magazines than newspapers because they have a longer, more manageable planning cycle.

On GoogleBase

Schmidt said GoogleBase will "ultimately become part of Google.com." The discussion of the Craigslist-esque offering came up after Dorian Benkoil, editorial director of mediabistro.com, asked how Google jibes its objective to "do no evil" with the fact that a product like GoogleBase "could end up destroying your industry" if you work for a publication that sells classified ads. Schmidt's response: "Our primary focus is on benefiting the end user."

On the Online Ad Industry

Schmidt predicted that the online ad industry could grow a lot more quickly than it has been, particularly because new advertiser categories entering the market will boost growth.

On Google's Future

"The way to think about the future is to imagine much larger indices, a lot more information and a lot more personal[ization]."

Posted by Kate Kaye at 4:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Everything That Can Be Bloggable Will Be Bloggable

And another we-launched-a-blog release crosses the wires....

Scoial media site imeem has hooked up with Virgin Records to create "the first ever concert tour video blog for viewing on the Internet." The blog follows We Are Scientists' summer concert tour.

"The unblogged life is scarcely worth living -- a blunted, petty little thing, that much we know," Chris Cain, the band's bass player, said in a statement, "Let us live life to the hilt, I say! Let us blog this tour, and blog it daily!"

Amen to that.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 4:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google News Gets Personal

Google News is getting personal. I visited the page for the umpteenth time today and suddenly, there's a highlighted ribbon proclaiming, "New! Search History now includes Google News."

Subsequent visits/page refreshes failed to resummon the message, by the way.

The "learn more" links to the What's Personalized Search? page.

And this in the wake of AOL's new Digg-like Netscape feature.

Just think of the targeting potential when you (or your search behemouth) know which users are searching for what news.....

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 3:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's Not TV, It's Podcast

HBO began airing new shows this week, with the return of "Deadwood" and "Entourage," and two new series "Lucky Louie" and "Dane Cooke's Tourgasm." Each show will get a series of podcasts to add to an existing library produced for HBO series, films and documentaries.

The video podcasts are available for free at HBO's Podcast page or Apple's iTunes Music Store. Even if you download from the HBO site, you still need to have iTunes on you computer.

Each show has different programming, but highlights include recaps of previous seasons, location and behind-the-scenes content, and interviews with the cast and producers of each show. HBO already has podcasts for some of its other shows like "The Sopranos," "Big Love," "Rome," "Six Feet Under" and reports hitting the one million download milestone for "Real Time with Bill Maher" podcasts.

The venue provides a way to hype new and existing shows airing on HBO, as well as keep attention on shows in production. Because of the existing catalog, I would say it also helps to extend the life of a few classics that have been put to rest like "Six Feet Under"

Posted by Enid Burns at 12:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

WPP's GroupM Buys WOM Firm

Word of mouth firm M80, based in L.A., has been snatched up by WPP's GroupM. The eight-year-old agency "activates word-of-mouth among online influencers and opinion leaders." Clients have included Microsoft, SegaAmerica, Universal Music Group, Twentieth Century Fox and the NBA.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 10:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Net Neutrality Event Tomorrow

If you're in D.C. tomorrow, you may want to stop by an event held by The Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet (a.k.a. IPDI) called "Net Neutrality: What's at Stake - for the Internet, Politics and Consumers." Mike McCurry, co-chair of Hands off the Internet and Amazon VP for Global Public Policy Paul Misener are among those set to speak.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 10:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 14, 2006

Volvo On the Online Hunt With New Contest

In partnership with Disney's upcoming "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," Volvo Cars is unveiling an online treasure hunt for an actual real buried XC60. I came across it in a TV ad that pointed to the contest site.

The premise is that players use an online treasure map, unlocked with a secret code they pick up from their nearest Volvo dealership, to puzzle through a series of riddles. Once they've entered the code, entrants will be sent e-mails with riddles and clues, which will be mirrored on the Web site. Once a person solves a puzzle, they move on to the next level. The first three players to solve all 15 puzzles will progress to the finals, where they'll compete against finalists from Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom and Austria. These seven will take part in an undisclosed "Event," which, if I were Volvo, I'd film and incorporate into later marketing efforts.

Needless to say, the effort is initially aimed at driving traffic into Volvo dealerships (dealers should love it), and also creating interest in the Volvo brand. Are online puzzle-solvers in Volvo's demographic? The look and feel of the site, as well as its premise, is uncannily similar to the Da Vinci Code Quest on Google.

Posted by Pamela Parker at 11:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEMPO, Fair Isaac to Study Click Fraud

The Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) and credit fraud specialists Fair Isaac have teamed up for a research study on click fraud and click quality in pay-per-click advertising.

The study will use Fair Isaac's artificial intelligence methods to determine the extent of click fraud and to develop a solution for the search marketing industry. Fair Isaac scientists intend to apply some of the same anti-fraud technology they use for credit cards to differentiate between clicks that are genuine expressions of human interest and those that are not.

"Click fraud is probably the single biggest deterrent to the continued growth of search engine marketing today. As search expands into new markets, including local advertisers, marketers have to feel confident that they're getting full value for every click," said Gord Hotchkiss, SEMPO chairman.

SEMPO members and non-member advertisers are being asked to contribute anonymous click stream data to the study, in exchange for analysis of their search engine advertising and potential click fraud.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 5:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Digital Branding is on Acid

Ornament and psychedelia are major themes in contemporary digital animation. The following are all relatively new creations, two of them from apparel brands. (Descriptions are my own, not official vid names.)

Diesel: skulls and squid (thx psfk)

Adidas: pink body crust (thx superhero journal)

MSN Messenger: Bruegel meets Sgt. Peppers. (clickz covered this when it launched)

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 3:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

MSN to Stream Dixie Chicks Concert

This one was announced last month, but Microsoft just issued a news release about it with some new information…

MSN will stream a June 15 London performance by the Dixie Chicks, the most alienated country act since Graham Parsons. The deal is part of an existing two-year relationship with the band.

MSN has gone hard after a variety of live concert events, and I have it on good information this has been high on the priority list for well over a year. Looks like it's paying off. The portal has streamed live events including the New Orleans Jazz Fest and New Years Festivities in Times Square.

Lightningcast handles ad insertion for this content.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 12:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 13, 2006

Fortune 500 Execs Unsteady with Online Advertising

Ad spending forecasts tell of a shift of budgets to the online channel pumping up growth in online expenditures. So it's established that online is experiencing growth from organic spending and from dollars that used to be spent elsewhere. A survey released by the American Advertising Federation finds that while marketing and advertising commitments are increasingly being carried out on the Internet, execs at some of the larger companies are having trouble wrapping their head around how to best utilize the channel.

The Internet ad spend is expected to increase from 15 percent of the total media spend last year, to 20 percent this year, and 32 percent by 2010. The chunk taken up by search settles near or above the 50 percent mark for last year (9 percent); this year (11 percent); and 2010 (23 percent), TNS's Steven Fredericks discussed when I spoke to him about the full-year forecast the company put out this morning.

The takeaway from the findings in the AAF survey is that 63 percent of respondents feel that Fortune 500 companies are "behind the curve" when it comes to an online ad strategy. Ninety-one percent of respondents feel the online media environment is a growth area for advertisers, and grants freedom to develop the medium, 29 percent are overwhelmed by the uncertainty of the medium. Further, those respondents are "hesitant to move ad dollars there," the report said.

While the channel is developing, 58 percent are struggling to keep up with existing online efforts and not able to take action on what else online has to offer.

The larger corporations and brands that have succeeded with digital media campaigns include Burger King, Apple, Verizon, Volkswagen and Axe.

Posted by Enid Burns at 4:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

LowerMyBills.com: Stop Stealing Our Ad Creative!

When you're one of the Web's top advertisers, people want to follow in your footsteps. So much so that they don't hesitate to copy your creative executions, says LowerMyBills.com (an Experian company).

For the second time this year, the company has claimed victory in a copyright infringment suit involving its banner ad creative. This time, LowerMyBills has obtained a court judgment against One Technologies LP, which was doing business as SPENDonLIFE.com. In a suit filed n U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, LowerMyBills contended SPENDonLIFE.com had copied multiple online banner ads.

In January, LowerMyBills.com won a $200,000 judgement in a similar case against NexTag. The company says it's also pursuing others for alleged infringements.

Posted by Pamela Parker at 3:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Click-Fraud Bot Network Shut Down

A network of 50,000 remote-controlled zombie computers, which were programmed to automatically click ads, has been shut down, brag Panda Software and RSA Security. Panda says the central server sending instructions to the zombies, which were infected with the Clickbot.A virus, has been taken offline as a result of the two companies' work.

The companies' story reflects an example of what's going on in a lot of dark little corners of the Web. Fraudsters set up a number of Web sites, sign up to be affilates of legit contextual ad networks (Panda didn't name names), and then set the bots to work clicking away while they pocket the revenue-share proceeds.

Luis Corrons, head of PandaLabs, says: "Botnets are part of the cyber-crime business model, as they are normally hired or sold to third parties to carry out malicious actions such as sending spam, stealing confidential data or installing other types of malware. This particular case represents a variant of that model, as it seems that bot authors are obtaining financial benefits directly, swindling companies that pay for each click. The fact that companies pay a certain amount of money for each click on their ads, combined with the number of bots involved in the swindle, gives an idea of the huge proportions of this fraud."

Posted by Pamela Parker at 3:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ben Edelman Calls Out "Banner Farms," Pins Hula Direct to the Mat

Ben Edelman's latest report is yet another valuable analysis of how spyware applications defraud both Internet users and advertisers. This time he pins Hula Direct to the mat. Hula operates a load of crappy Web sites whose traffic comes primarily from spyware apps. These sites consist of almost nothing but ads, ads that are served through low quality – and, one must assume, blind -- ad networks. Not only that, but the ads automatically reload, racking up fees but not value for the advertiser.

The list of blue-chip advertisers who should be embarrassed to appear in Hula's network includes Vonage, Verizon Wireless, Universal Studios, the Weather Channel and Circuit City.

I could explain further, but it's best if you just go and read it.

Remember, as much as we'd like to eviscerate companies like Hula Direct and the spyware players that feed them traffic, this is all about advertiser laziness and indifference.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Green Screening the Web: Snickers and Travelers

Looking at a few new video experiences this morning. One is Snickers' attempt to assimilate Hip Hop into the brand through a series of short films at InstantDef.com, starring The Black-Eyed Peas. It's very well done creative, complete with green screen action sequences and some good B- and C-list cameos. My only complaint is the UI – at least for Mac -- is not too smooth. And if you're sinking a few hundred thou into an elaborate online video experience, you don't want that.

Another sent to me today is an interactive experience Fallon created for Travelers Insurance. The In-synch Challenge uses a quiz format and 3D representations of homes and businesses to test the user's knowledge of various risk factors that could result in the potential maiming of your grandmother, and oh-ho-ho-wait-a-minute, shouldn't you be insured for that? In seriousness, it's pretty good stuff and not too pushy. A bit stiff, but hey, we're talking about insurance here.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 12, 2006

CBS Digital Launches ShowBuzz

The internet today gave birth to a new celebrity and gossip site, courtesy of CBS Digital Media. ShowBuzz will offer a combination of original content and material produced by CBS properties, including CBSNews.com, CBS.com and 60 Minutes. Other media partners include The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, The Book Standard, MovieTickets.com and Broadway.com.

The site launch was pre-sold to two sponsors, CBS said. Judging from the banner units now on the site, those sponsors are Noxzema and the Season 1 DVD of Dharma & Greg.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 1:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Blog-ebrity Endorsement?

I just got off the phone with Joel Cheesman, the guy who scored big by auctioning a unique sponsorship on eBay. Today he announced the high bidder, JobCentral, a National Employment Network affiliated with nonprofits DirectEmployers Association and National Association of Colleges and Employers.

I asked Cheesman about his experiment. He told me he would have been ecstatic garnering anything over $1,000. (Of course, he ended up with more than $7,000.) "It really says a lot about blogging as a whole," he suggested, adding, "Could it become someone endorsing a product? Are we the celebrities of our niches?"

According to plans in the works at at least one blog ad network that I know of, I don't think he's too far off on the endorsement potential of blogs. However, it will be tricky to balance the renegade spirit that's made blogging so powerful with forming what could be perceived as more integrated relationships with advertisers.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 12:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

New Column: Online Lead-Gen

It's not every day we launch a new ClickZ Experts column. Today's one of those exceptional days.

So please check out Online Lead-Gen, which will deal with any and all things lead-generation related. Author Dan Felter runs Opt-Intelligence and also head the newly-formed Online Lead Generation Assn. (OLGA).

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 9, 2006

NHL Stanley Cup: Online Highlights and Sponsorship

Just called the National Hockey League to check on their digital plans for The Stanley Cup. I was told it would put video highlights of the games on its Web site and on iTunes, staggered a day after the NBC broadcasts. The iTunes footage costs $1.99 for 15 to 20 minutes of action from the previous night's game, and the stuff on NHL.com is sponsored by Sprint.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 3:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Blogger Scores 7K for Unique Sponsorship

Who says blogging isn’t profitable? Joel Cheesman, author of Cheezhead, a blog focusing on SEO, HR and job recruitment issues, has just scored over $7,000 through an eBay auction for an exclusive sponsorship of his attendance of an upcoming industry event. Bids started at just 99 cents. The winning bidder will be announced Monday.

Here’s the deal: The consultant will attend the annual Society for Human Resource Management conference later this month where he’ll don a T-shirt promoting the sponsor. The sponsor will also get the following stuff:

Company mention on every podcast

125 X 125 banner ad that will rotate on Cheezhead for a total of 15,000 impressions ($500 value alone)

Recognition in every SHRM-related blog post

Blog entry dedicated to sponsorship

Highlight in e-mails to supporters, over 500, leading up to the conference

SEO-friendly text link on the lefthand side of my blog for an entire year

Permanent, SEO-friendly text link on lexiqon

A copy of his e-book

Using Alexa charts on the auction page, Cheesman demonstrates how his site compares to other popular sites in the recruiting industry (including Recruiting.com, which just got snapped up by Jobster). He's definitely garnering some decent traffic.

Call it foolhardy (on the part of the sponsor). Or call it the natural maturation of the blogosphere from inconsequential geek haven to genuinely significant media space. Either way, I’m sure we’ll see more of this sort of thing. The question is, will Cheesman manage such a feat in the future, or is this a one-shot novelty?

Posted by Kate Kaye at 3:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

World Cup Roundup #1

There's much digital excitement afoot today, the first day of the World Cup soccer tournament. A few tidbits to accompany my earlier story.

• Google is honoring the occasion with one of its signature front page "doodles." It's also using its front page to offer users the chance to add a World Cup module (by SI.com) on their Google personalized home pages. SEW blog covers what the search world is doing.
  
• After the earlier news story, someone from Univision.com pinged me to chide me for the "gaping hole" in our coverage. Yes, I'd focused on English-language offerings, but Univision.com claims it'll be home to the largest World Cup Spanish online audience. It'll stream near-live highlights and is working with Verizon VCAST to stream highlights to subscribers' mobile phones. Other mobile offerings will be distributed via T-Mobile.
  
• Lycos is taking a very different tack, offering "all of the craziness and none of the scores" -- basically focusing on the cultural aspect of the event, rather than the games -- on a video channel.

Posted by Pamela Parker at 1:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

CGM: Where's the Money?

Still at the Innovative Marketing Conference, three leaders in the space were asked where the money is in consumer-generated media.

Here's how they responded:

Chris Tolles, Topix.net: "In the past year, all the new sites that have broken the top 20 site list have been user generated content. I think it costs a million dollars now to be on the home page of MySpace, which nobody looks at."

Craig Newmark, Craigslist: "There's spinvertising and the occasional scam. In New York we're going to charge the apartment brokers because they asked us to. The more ethical ones think it will discourage the less ethical ones. You give people who are advertising the chance to be more right and more ethical, the chance is they're going to take it. In the future, marketing might be more branding, then participating in public discussions to get the message to the consumer. And countering disinformation on discussion boards. Just make it discrete, please, otherwise I'll have to go ahead and delete all your comments."

John Hiler, Xanga: "We're managing communities of people who live on our sites. It's a lot easier to be a CEO than to be mayor. You have to manage your approval ratings or you're not going to be reelected. How can I make my site, my brand a better community? How can I build trust and all those things? I think less about the corporate things than about serving my community. And the money will take care of itself."

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 11:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Craig Newmark on Net Neutrality

Craig Newmark just made an earnest and quite impassioned plea for net neutrality at the Innovative Marketing Conference.

"The Internet neutrality issue is a big one right now," said Craigslist's founder, looking rather beleaguered. "It looks like Congress might give your compitors the right to put your sites at a great disadvange.

"This is a period like what the early bloggers went through; Martin Luther, Thomas Paine, John Locke."

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 8, 2006

BBC Staff Bemoan Ad Plans

Get this: 150 BBC writers, editors, designers and TV correspondents have signed a petition protesting the company's plans to run ads on the international version its news site. According to a MediaGuardian article, "The letter, which has been sent to the BBC director general, Mark Thompson, says any move to include ads would damage the corporation's global reputation for impartiality and distinctiveness."

Evidently the site has been funded primarily by the British Foreign Office but now it's being "transferred to the BBC's commercial offshoot, BBC Worldwide, which is charged with maximising revenues."

Some argue that "government money would dry up if advertising was included" and others (with no clue) think "commercial rivals would also complain about the BBC further encroaching on their businesses." Don't get me wrong, I understand that they think the beeb may have an unfair advantage since it's government supported, but why would BBC staffers worry about the competition complaining? It seems like they'd want the competition to have a rougher time of it, but I suppose maybe there's more to it than meets the eye.

The BBC conducted a user survey about this very topic recently. I wonder how that turned out. Anyway, it looks like the BBC journalism board was to decide on this today.

My take: Hey, life would be grand if nothing required ad support (sorry marketers!). But the fact is that those ad dollars might help ensure that those petitioners have jobs. All the well-respected papers on this side of the pond carry advertising, and some lots of it, both in their print and online editions. Rarely has it caused controversy.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 5:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

That Ice Rocket Acquisition? Never Mind

According to Andy Beal, Think Partnership is calling off its acquisition of blog search engine IceRocket.com. The deal got lots of play when it was first announced, given Mark Cuban's backing of the search engine.

Not a dramatic surprise, I suppose, given Think's history of backing out of deals. In one instance, the company agreed to acquire Crystal Reference Systems but backed out. Crystal was later acquired by Ad Pepper Media. Think also intended to buy Proceed Interactive only to call off that deal.

I tried to confirm the Ice Rocket call-off by contacting corporate communications guy Xavier Hermosillo, but got no response.

Think recently shed its chairman and its CEO, moved from Chicago to Florida and said they would focus on operations rather than acting like a holding company. Another board member left earlier this week.

Posted by Pamela Parker at 12:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Survey: Agency Perspective on Online Video Advertising

Hollis Thomases, who many of you know as one of our Agency Media Strategies columnists, is running a survey on ad agency perspective on the state of online video advertising.

She hopes to learn about agency adoption, concerns and future intentions. The survey asks about things like unique video content, tracking, publisher availability and adoption timeframes.

If you could take five minutes to complete the questionnaire, Hollis would be much obliged. And she promises to share results in her next column.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ads in AOL Email Messages

Newspapers and magazines have been doin' it forever, but it always seems to catch us off guard when a paid service decides to run ads. Evidently, though, paying AOL e-mail users don't mind the presence of banner ads in their messages. This is something the company has done for the past few weeks, according to a PCWorld.com story. "Before taking this step," notes the article, "AOL surveyed its subscribers and ran a test and found that the inclusion of banner ads with AOL Mail messages generally wouldn't bother them…."

Could it be that AOL is looking for new revenue streams, perhaps to replace dwindling subscriber dollars? I'm no business analyst, so I wouldn't know, but it's a thought.

If anything, this is another way advertisers can target ads based on some pretty robust data.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

June 7, 2006

House to Talk Net Neutrality Today

Well, the House is supposed to move on one of the many net-neutrality-related telecom bills today. An amendment from Massachusetts Democrat Ed Markey prohibiting broadband providers from offering a two-tier system was meant to be among the topics of discussion during The House Rules Committee meeting at 3:30.

They may be discussing the Web's fate as we speak. Remember: these are the same guys who still respond to constituents using snail mail.

Whether or not they actually talk net neutrality, at least we can take solace in the fact that Members voted today to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the ascension to the throne of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 4:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Web Video Comes to TiVo: Ad Opportunities

I just spoke with TiVo's SVP of Programming, Tara Maitra, about the company's new TiVoCast broadband-to-TV offering and what sorts of ad opportunities will come with it.

There's not much to tell. The basic story is it works the same as with any program you pipe in from the airwaves. As you watch the show, you get the advertising that comes with it. Maitro told me TiVo will consider additional marketing opportunities where appropriate, but she declined to go into details.

One of the participating publishers, The New York Times, comes to TiVoCast through the company's new relationship with video distribution platform Brightcove. In a separate Q&A I did with Brightcove CEO Jeremy Allaire this week, Allaire told me he's thinking of syndicating content to TV as a long-range opportunity and doesn't expect its relationship with the DVR company to benefit its business for many many moons.

TiVoCast will initially include content from the NBA, WNBA, Heavy.com, iVillage, NYT and others.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 4:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Family-Friendly In-Game Ads

Can cutting-edge advertising and Christian values coexist? They do in a new deal between Left Behind Games, which creates PC games based on the popular "Left Behind" book series, and in-game ad firm Double Fusion. The deal has Double Fusion serving and selling ads which will appear on billboards in the game's New York City location. Product placements are also a part of the agreement. The "Left Behind" books and games take place in a post-Apocalyptic world.

"We love the idea of the video screens in Times Square displaying current advertising, actually contributing to the realism that gamers expect to see in a pseudo-futuristic New York City," said Troy Lyndon, CEO and co-founder of Left Behind Games, in the press release. "We selected Double Fusion because of their relationships with ad agencies worldwide, advertising industry knowledge and because of their willingness to make a commitment to support our family-friendly views when choosing advertisers."

So if your product doesn't philosophically fit into car-stealing shoot-em-up games, here's an alternative.

Press release is here

Posted by Pamela Parker at 2:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mobile Marketing as a Means to Migrate Bodies

When you consider the untapped potential of mobile marketing, do you think about how you can use the medium to physically move people to a location in response to messaging? I know it's been done a few times; during the RNC a few summers ago political groups mobilized crowds to -- and from -- targeted locations via text messaging. But at the Mobile Marketing Forum hosted by the MMA one example discussed involved visitors to an amusement park.

Visitors opted in to an SMS program upon entry to the park, and were notified about events like bands that were playing throughout the day, and tips on which eating establishments weren't busy. The park provided a value-added experience by keeping attendees aware of events and even bottlenecks in the park. The program was referred to as "migrating bodies."

Posted by Enid Burns at 1:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 6, 2006

WSJ: Web Industry Gossip or Real Deals?

The Wall Street Journal reported today that "NBC and YouTube are close to finalizing an agreement in which NBC will buy ads on YouTube while the site will post clips of coming NBC shows provided by the network."

Though the story offered no further detail, I did check in with Julie Supan, YouTube's senior director of marketing, who told me "we do not have a relationship (formal or informal) with NBC. While we have been 'in discussions' with them since February, there is no deal. We are in discussions with all the major networks, movie studios and record labels. But, there is no relationship without signed contracts."

Of course responses like this are standard until all the papers have been signed and both sides are cool with disclosure, however, The Journal seems to be making a habit of making news out of what may be non-deals (competing as a traditional pub in the immediate new media world is tough). Last month the paper reported that mobile marketing firm Third Screen Media was to be acquired by Microsoft. I spoke with more than one exec at Third Screen who told me they were in talks with several companies regarding acquisition and/or other opportunities and it really isn't as big as the Journal made it out to be.

But I guess you never know until the big announcement....

Posted by Kate Kaye at 5:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Knot, WeddingChannel.com to Marry

Reaching those brides- and grooms-to-be might be about to get more convenient (and possibly more expensive). The Knot and WeddingChannel.com have declared their intention to merge in a deal valued at about $78.5 million. The Knot Chairman and CEO David Liu says it expects to merger to help it "become a more effective mareting resource for our advertisers."

PaidContent.org notes that the two have been engaged in a patent battle over gift registriesfor several years. Presumably, this deal puts an end to that litigation.

Posted by Pamela Parker at 2:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Amazon's "Devil Wears Prada" Boutique

Looking for the perfect accessory for sneaking your own bottle of designer water past the ticket taker at the movies?

Amazon.com launched a "The Devil Wears Prada" boutique today in its Apparel & Accessories section to promote the Twentieth Century Fox movie of the same name. The section features exclusive video clips from the upcoming film as well as the bag carried by the protagonist (designed by Pat Fields, not Prada -- no wonder it's distressed). Other merch includes make-up, tees and perfume, all with rather tenuous tie-ins to the film.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 5, 2006

Merchant Movie Star

If you caught my story last week about the official launch of local travel video producer and distributor TurnHere, you'll recall jeweler and sculptor Daniel Macchiarini. He's pretty much given up on local radio and newspaper ads. Now, he's taking a chance on a sponsoring a two and a half-minute film from TurnHere to promote his family's design and metalworks business. It's up on the site now.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 4:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Our Video Conference Looks Like A Winner

ClickZ's Online Video Advertising Forum takes place in New York next week on Friday, June 16th. I must say there's been a little unease around here after being out of the event business for so long, but we've heaved a sigh of relief. It looks like we've got ourselves a winner.

This event is the first in a series we're planning over the coming year under the rubric "ClickZ Specifics." The intention is to drill down on the issues marketers face, and to provide real insight on both strategy and practice. Video was the natural place to start. Looking over our News archives, we've been up to roughly 8 out of 10 breaking stories dealing with new online video ad deals, media products and technology announcements.

We've got an impressive list of sessions and speakers lined up for the event, and delegates are coming from agencies and publishers including Dentsu, R/GA, Conde Nast, Microsoft, Google, Oxygen Media, Scripps, Atmosphere BBDO, ESPN, Benjamin Moore, Pitney Bowes, Fildelity Investments...the list goes on.

It would be great to see you there, too. If you can manage to attend, please don't forget to come up and introduce yourself!

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 2:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 2, 2006

French Used "Email" Term All Along

Does anybody remember when the French government decided to ban use of the word "e-mail," hoping to cleanse the language of English impurities? Well, it turns out it was a French word all along (sorta).

Here's how I discovered this: There's a calendar in my kitchen featuring 19th century French ad posters. Today I flipped it to June (not bad for me -- usually I wait till mid month) and noticed the word "email" in an ad for a paint brand called L'astrolin. The full text: "L'astrolin peinture email donne brilliant parfait inalterable." I won't do a parfait translation, but it means something like L'astrolin paint gives you brilliant, perfect color that doesn't fade, or change, something along those lines.

And that pesky "email" term? I've gathered from looking at a couple translation sites that it's like a stain or the kind or thing that's applied to ceramics before they're baked. Maybe like enamel? (I'm sure I'm off on this and my above translation, so if anyone wants to clarify, please comment!)

Of course, our "e-mail" isn't derived from theirs, but I thought this was kind of an ironic tidbit anyway.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 3:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 1, 2006

More Industry Reaction to Commish Junction Link Change

Jeff Molander over at ThoughtShapers conducted an interesting roundtable-type discussion among affiliate marketing insiders the other day in reaction to Commission Junction's Link Management Initiative announcement.

In a nutshell, CJ sent an announcement to publisher clients last Wednesday notifying them that they'd be switching from using HTML links to advertiser sites to using JavaScript links. This really rattled some affiliate cages, since this could mean a lot of tedious link switching for affiliate site publishers.

The talk is worth listening to or reading in full, but here are a couple of interesting comments:

Jeff Nienaber of Allstar Directories had a couple points that I thought stood out:

I think if anything, CJ wants to quantify to Google, and to Yahoo, and MSN, how big of a player they are in the space. They have an ad budget aggregated number that they can throw around.

….[They] recognize the threat of Google and the Yahoo Partner Network….absolutely ValueClick is a media company [CJ is a ValueClick-owned company]. Google is a media company. This is one on one competition; it’s on the front lines. One of their arrows in their quiver was CJ, but this is definitely a response to Google’s position within the media market. Yes, they have to move. They have to do something. Google’s killing them.

Affiliate marketer Nate Griffin looked at it from the seller's P.O.V.:

I think that really is a question; who really has control, who benefits from this control, do I really benefit from this control, do I want this control? Or, am I more comfortable letting the affiliates innovate ways of selling the products, or getting people to click through to links? I think there’s a lot of strength in letting affiliates be creative with the link format. I think that’s where you get things like the Product Showcase Creator, GoldenCan, and things like that, it seems that the platform is somewhat open to innovation, and there’s a question in my mind whether or not this makes it closed to that kind of innovation, now that CJ wants to control that innovation.

On Nate's point: The way I understand it, CJ is concerned with the fact that large retail sites (the ones relying on affiliates to drive traffic to their sites) have to answer to the brand advertisers. The brand advertisers are quite concerned with shoddy, data-driven "link farm" type sites are connected to their brands through retailer sites. It dilutes their brand, makes them look cheap. (Think of designers that don't like their stuff being sold at bargain-bin places like TJ Maxx or Filene's Basement because it devalues their brands.)

This space is so complicated, though, I've only begun to understand it.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 4:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Further Adventures of Pud

Philip "Pud" Kaplan, former steward of FuckedCompany.com, is stepping down as CEO of blog ad marketplace AdBrite to make room for a "hardcore business guy."

CNET had a story on it today painting Kaplan as a partying bungler sneered out of the room by the company's board. That's off-base he says, and I'd have to agree given that he remains chairman and will continue with the company in a product management role.

He told me in an email today, "I’m not going anywhere. AdBrite had huge growth over the past six months and I wanted a hardcore business guy with experience & success to work here."

Taking over as CEO is Iggy Fanlo, former president of Shopping.com.

I wrote a feature last year comparing Kaplan with John Battelle, who runs a very different blog ad network. The two men have oddly parallel histories with digital media. They're like inverted reflections of one another.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 3:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

AOL Experiencing System-wide Outages

AOL is right now in the midst of a massive, system-wide e-mail outage, ClickZ has learned. Word of the problem, complete with tales of AOL asking ESPs to stop sending mail to its users, is flying all around the INBOX event in San Jose, where our own Pamela Parker is speaking on a panel today.

It was confirmed by AOL spokesperson Nicholas Graham:

"Late this morning, an e-mail software issue started to cause delays in the sending and receiving of AOL e-mails for our members and AOL.com users. We are in the process of implementing a resolution and investigating its cause," Graham said. "All e-mails sent by AOL members and individual Internet users during this temporary hiatus will be delivered to email inboxes. During this time, some e-mails will be able to be sent and received intermittently."

Graham was unable to say whether the outages were caused by any kind of malevolent attacks, but AOL has certainly not been making friends lately with its CertifiedEmail program.

UPDATE: According to Graham, the outage lasted from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., when millions of messages were stuck in a queue. All the affected messages were successfully delivered, and this "rare and isolated incident" will not impact users again, Graham said in a statement.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 3:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Highlights from Google's Q&A with Investors

In a bid to better communicate with the investor community, Google held a Q&A session for investors and analysts yesterday. It was pretty much what you'd expect from an investor call, but from a marketing perspective, there were a few interesting tidbits to emerge.

* CEO Eric Schmidt, when asked to point to a recent initiative that disappointed him, picked the print advertising test. No surprise there, since results were reportedly disappointing.

But Google's not giving up on print yet. Schmidt insisted that the plan could still work, if Google can work with magazine publishers to more closely integrate the ads with the content. He also said Google would try to get better ads from advertisers, which were more suited to the print presentation.

* An example Schmidt gave of something that has exceeded expectations was Google's acquisition of Keyhole, which formed the backbone of Google Maps, and will enable advertising opportunities on that platform.

* Schmidt said Google has no plans for building its own Web browser to compete with Microsoft, but would continue working closely with Firefox and other browsers.

* The company plans to grow its customer base via partnerships, not mergers & acquisitions, according to Schmidt. Recently, the company has teamed up with AOL for ads, Dell for toolbar distribution, and Japan's KDDI for getting Google search on mobile phones.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 8:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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