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December 2007

December 31, 2007

NJ Senator Already Running Search Ads

I’m doing some research on search ads targeted to issue-based keywords by political campaigns. Lo and behold, a Google search on “Iraq War” turned up an ad for none other than my octogenarian New Jersey Senator, Frank Lautenberg.

Protecting America
Read About Senator Lautenberg
& His Plan to End the War in Iraq
www.LautenbergForNJ.com

A search for "end iraq war" results in a similar ad:
It's Time to End the War
Read About Senator Lautenberg
& His Plan to End the War in Iraq
www.LautenbergForNJ.com

The ads link to an Iraq-centric page on Lautenberg’s reelection site, which states, “Senator Lautenberg strongly disapproves of President Bush's handling of the Iraq War and, just as strongly, supports our troops.”

It doesn’t come right out and say the soon-to-be 84-year-old will run for another term, but the site's navigation button to “Contribute. Help Frank Stand Strong for New Jersey” is a pretty good indication. And the fact his campaign is running search ads makes it pretty obvious.

Who says old dogs can’t learn new tricks?

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December 29, 2007

Coupon Giant Heads Online at RedPlum.com

Major offline advertising firm Valassis is "going where the consumers are" and repositioning itself to rely heavily on an online portal site called RedPlum.com. Valassis has been known primarily for coupons, direct mail messages and for putting ads directly on the polybags protecting newspapers, but starting this January it will retire its ShopWise brand name and shift gears, according to Suzie Brown, chief marketing officer for Valassis.

"Consumer media habits have changed dramatically over the past five years, and we've primarily been an offline medium," she said of her company's move to an online portal. "Our whole goal is to deliver value to consumers how, where and when they want."

To drive consumers to the site, however, the company is still relying on its offline advertising expertise, as all of its products will now include references to the RedPlum Web site. The site will contain product information, coupons and ads for local and nationwide businesses, many of which will be updated by widgets built into the site. Unlike other widgets, the RedPlum versions will have a limited ability to be grabbed and replicated on a consumers Web page or social network page.

"There will be some features and functionality that allows people to share content from our site with others. If I want to take a coupon and send it to my mom, because it's something that I think she will use, I can do that," Brown said.

Brown declined to specifically name any of the company's partners for the RedPlum rebranding and launch, but did say there will be a "Fair amount of travel content on the site."

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December 28, 2007

InfoSpace Completes $135M Sale of Mobile Business to Motricity

Motricity, a company that builds and runs mobile storefronts for carriers, said today it completed the $135 million acquisition of InfoSpace's mobile services business.

InfoSpace's mobile services unit provides the portal and search functions for AT&T and Verizon in the United States; Motricity offers a storefront, catalog, and other applications that enables its customers to offer ringtones, games, and other content on mobile devices.

InfoSpace, moving forward, will focus on growing its online search business, according to a statement from Jim Voelker, InfoSpace chief executive. InfoSpace's metasearch technology is used by other Web sites such as Dogpile and WebFetch.

Ryan Wuerch remains as Motricity's chairman and chief executive, while Steve Elfman, former executive vice president of InfoSpace's mobile services business unit, becomes Motricity's president and chief operating officer.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 6:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Gnomes for Ron Paul

Political rallies and marches are nothing new, and online campaigning is a well known trend, but when the two come together with a bunch of gnomes, it's hard not to take notice.

Grassroots supporters of Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul have invited supporters that play online game "World of Warcraft" to join them in a rally and march on New Years Day. Organizers of the virtual event have scheduled the event to start in the snowbound city of Ironforge, so it's sure to involve lots of gnomes and dwarves, before they march to Stormwind.

No word at this point if "Horde for Hillary" or "Orcs for Obama" counter events have also been scheduled.

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December 27, 2007

Trends to Watch in 2008: Facebook Suicide to Mobulimia

What trends should be watched in the coming year?

Advertising agency JWT today released its list of 80 things to watch in 2008. Among those that could affect digital advertising and marketing professionals in the year ahead: Facebook suicide (the decision to drop out of a social network) and e-clutter and e-clutter consultants.

Trends involving mobile devices got four mentions on the list, including: mobulimia (addiction to mobile devices), the mobile technology explosion, and the "third screen (as in mobile) rivaling the first screen (as in TV).

While Apple's iPhone made the list in 2007, JWT figures the Gphone will be the mobile technology development to watch in the coming year.

On the social network front, JWT points to social network branded communities established by marketers. "You'll see brands trying to appeal to their target consumers by starting these groups. For instance, a sleep drug brand starting an anti-insomniac community. What's in it for the members? They can talk about their commonalities and offer each other advice and get answers to their questions from trusted brands," explains Ann Mack, JWT director of trendspotting, in an e-mail interview with ClickZ.

While green weddings may bring gold, blue could become the new green in the environmental movement's color scheme. Look out, too, for the possibility of "eco-fatigue" setting in.

How does JWT identifies these trends?

"In our daily work, we're constantly mining and analyzing information out in the public domain and talking to influencers, experts and consumers. That's where the list begins," says JWT's Mack. From there, her team asks a worldwide network of 100 people to react to the preliminary list, and then a small New York-based group hammers out the rest.

Perhaps 2008 will usher in a kinder, gentler world online. E-mail etiquette and virtual gifting are among the top trends to watch.

Ann and JWT, Thank you.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 4:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Isobar Extends in Europe with Extenseo Acquisition

Already one of the largest digital advertising services firms, Aegis Group is expanding its European presence with the acquisition of Extenseo, a search marketing agency in Belgium. The 10-year-old marketing agency will be added to the Isobar search network and renamed iProspect. The original iProspect was acquired by Aegis Group in 2004, and the brand has been expanded to 12 countries, according to the company. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Posted by MatthewNelson at 2:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Benazir Bhutto, A Voice Silenced

Three days before her assassination, Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto made an online appeal for donations. "The Pakistan People's Party is ready to lead our beloved country into a brighter future of prosperity, peace, and security," she wrote.

Bhutto showed a knack for using the Internet to get attention. Most notable, Pakistan's former prime minister explained in a Huffington Post blog back in September why she was returning to Pakistan after eight years of self-imposed exile in London and Dubai. "My husband and children accept and understand that my political responsibilities to the people of Pakistan come first," she explained at the time.

And, her Pakistan People's Party Web site provided a mechanism for supporters to make an online campaign contribution before Pakistan's election on January 8. The Web site, she wrote, "makes it possible for friends of Pakistan to participate in the democratic process, even from a distance."

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 11:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 21, 2007

Congressman Barton's Squeaky Wheel Gets Google Grease

Mere days after Congressman Joe Barton sent a letter to Google CEO Eric Schmidt, complaining that Google was giving him the cold shoulder, relations have warmed between the two. According to Adam Kovacevich, Google's Sr. Manager, Global Communications and Public Affairs, the firm met with Barton's staffers all day Wednesday at the famed Mountain View headquarters for a talk on Google products and privacy policies.

As for the extensive set of detailed questions Barton submitted to "Dr. Schmidt" regarding Google's collection, storage and usage of data, Kovacevich told me the Congressman has given the firm some leeway beyond the original December 18 deadline.

Stay tuned!

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

December 20, 2007

Possible Remedies in Europe's Decision on Google/DoubleClick

The FTC may have OK'd the Google/DoubleClick deal, but just hold your horses. The European Commission has yet to rule on it. The EU regulators have moved their review of the acquisition into stage 2. (That's the blue, or "Guarded" level if you're going by the Homeland Security threat level gauge).

What could it mean for the two firms? Well, for starters, we can expect the European Commission to hear out competitors of Google and DoubleClick, as well as privacy groups. And chances are, they'll consider consumer privacy-related concerns in making their decision; the FTC could base its ruling only on antitrust-related grounds.

OK, so, let's fast-forward a few months and assume, hypothetically, the folks across the Atlantic have approved the acquisition. I spoke with Douglas Lahnborg, antitrust partner at Heller Ehrman last week in preparation for the FTC decision. He told me, even if the deal is green-lighted in Europe, approval could be contingent on the two firms altering their business operations to assuage competition and/or privacy concerns.

That might not be so easy, especially for Internet outfits that are by their very nature global in scope and typically without physical entities or parts they can readily sell off (as, for instance, an auto manufacturer might).

"It can be difficult for companies to put in place remedies aimed at specific jurisdictions if they have global businesses," said Lahnborg. "From a commercial point of view, they may have to roll remedies out on a global level."

Of course, operational changes, known as "behavioral" changes, would require monitoring by the regulatory body, something they may be reluctant to do.

"From the European Commission's perspective, the most attractive remedy is a structural remedy, when you get rid of part of a business," he continued.

Structural components of DoubleClick could be sold, though. Many have raised the Performics SEM business as one that could be shed to remove the inevitable conflicts of interest stemming from the world's largest search ad seller owning a major buyer of search ads.

Performics already has a potential buyer with his hand up. Earlier this month Valueclick Chief Administrative Officer Sam Paisley told the crowd at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference in NYC the independent ad management firm would be interested in snapping up Performics. "We would want to be on the short list of people" considered for the deal, he said.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 4:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Internet Leads Ad Spend Growth

In the first three quarters of 2007, the overall ad spend in the U.S. dropped -0.1 percent, according to the Nielsen Company. The data are in line with figures released by TNS, and less optimistic than the global outlook from ZenithOptimedia. The Internet saw 15.9 percent change, compared to the first three quarters of 2006. In the same period, spot TV, network radio, spot radio, local Sunday supplements, network TV, B2B magazines, local magazines, national newspapers, and local newspapers dragged the ad spend into a marginally negative stage of growth.

Posted by Enid Burns at 4:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Dove's Going for an Oscar

Unilever's Dove has gotten traction from YouTube with its Evolution and Onslaught. It also aired a consumer-generated ad during last year's Oscars. Dove plans to repeat last year's success with another consumer-generated commercial contest being hyped on the YouTube homepage, which then directs Internet users to dovecreamoil.com (hosted by MSN) where the contest objective: to create and ad that captures the feeling of everyday luxury when you shower with the rich cream and lush softening oil in Dove's supreme Cream Oil Body Wash.

Viewers of the Oscars can text to vote on their picks during the Oscar broadcast. Dove plans to air the winning commercial later that evening. No word on whether the orchestra will start to play if the commercial exceeds its :30 runtime.

The campaign is well optimized. In addition to running a spot on YouTube, Unilever bought the search term "dove cream oil" on Google. Organically, however, the site was way down the list. It came up after YouTube video spoofs and the Australian site for Dove Cream Oil Body Wash.

Posted by Enid Burns at 3:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

What European Consumer Advocates Are Saying About Google/DoubleClick

As the FTC finally gives the green light to Google's proposed acquisition of DoubleClick, all eyes are now on Europe's investigation of the deal.

Following its initial warnings issued in late June, consumer group BEUC has once again written to the European competition commissioner Neelie Kroes to express concerns over Google's proposed $3.1 billion acquisition of Doubleclick.

The BEUC (The European Consumers' Organisation), which represents 41 pro-consumer groups from across Europe, is arguing that the deal is "not in the interest of European consumers." The letter cited three main areas of concern: pricing and competition, harm to consumers, and matters of privacy.

Firstly the correspondence suggests that the deal would have a significant negative impact on pricing, and could ultimately impede on publishers' revenue. It states that Google would be free to raise prices and prevent rival networks from using Doubleclick's technology, resulting in Web publishers seeing "a reduction in the revenue they receive from Google" and passing these costs on to the consumer.

On competition grounds it argues that the deal would place the entire online advertising market in jeopardy, as the company would "dominate both major pipelines for online advertising." It goes on to state that "there will be no real alternative to the combined entity for advertisers and web publishers," which will apparently result in the "significant harm" of European consumers.

Finally the letter expresses concerns over consumer privacy and welfare, stating that the merger would create a structure that would "almost certainly be less respectful of user privacy." It argues that privacy protection is a competitive differentiator in the ad serving market, and that the merger would eradicate incentives for Google to innovate in the area since competition will have been diminished.

The European Commission is now carrying out a second-phase investigation into competition concerns surrounding the deal. As previously reported by ClickZ news, disapproval from the European Commission is likely to result in a collapse of the entire deal irrespective of the FTC's decision, since both companies generate significant revenue from within Europe.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 1:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Nielsen Bets on Addressable TV Ads

You've heard TV ads are getting measurable, right? And addressable? Yeah, so have we, though the major cable operators have embraced those new adjectives with all the enthusiasm of a six-year-old staring down the bath tub.

Yet every now and then little developments bubble up (like a six-year-old's fart in aforementioned bath tub) that suggest change is happening. One such bubble wobbled to the surface yesterday, as Nielsen announced a pairing with TV ad management firm Invidi (think Atlas or DoubleClick for television) to provide data that will improve the latter's TV measurement system for addressable ads.

Invidi owns a piece of software that sits at the so-called head end, a facility at your local cable office where content and ads are stitched together and served to your TV. The head end, and how it regulates the joining of programming with marketing content, will define the future of television, smart people say.

With the Nielsen relationship, Invidi will be able to provide better analytics on ads targeted based on the individual characteristics of a household or community. And Nielsen aims to position itself as a necessary partner in the age of addressable TV. To that end, it recently launched a unit, DigitalPlus, to work with set top box data from cable and satellite providers.

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Changes Abound at Roo

Lots of executive changes at online video network Roo. The company announced today that KIT Capital and Roo have signed an Executive Management Agreement and JumpTV president and chief operating officer Kaleil Isaza Tuzman will take over as chairman and chief executive officer. Roo founder Robert Petty will keep his vice-chairman post on the company's board of directors.

Roo's board of directors also had some significant changes, as Simon Bax, Stephen Palley, Scott Ackerman and Doug Chertok have all resigned. Tuzman will have the option of naming four new members at a later date and subject to shareholder approval. Finally, ROO also announced it had let go of 21 percent of staff to be more "efficient."

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December 18, 2007

Anti-Mormon Advertiser Running Romney Ads on Google

Does Mitt Romney want to be our nation's high priest? Ex-Mormon Ed Decker and author of "My Kingdom Come, The Mormon Quest for Godhood," thinks so. And he's pushing his book and beliefs using AdWords ads that show up in Google results for searches on Mormon presidential hopeful, "Mitt Romney."

Decker is founder of Saints Alive, a "Christian nonprofit corporation founded upon the call of God to witness Jesus to those lost in Mormonism and other cults," according to the group's Web site.

From the book's promo site:

The very ethos of the Mormon faith is built around the anticipated return of Jesus to Independence, Missouri, for his thousand-year millennial reign. It is here that he will assign godhood to the worthy.

However, it cannot take place until the U.S. Constitution falters and is saved by the LDS church. The nation will become a Mormon theocracy. Mitt Romney has raised Mormon speculation that this may be the time and that he may be the one to lead the way as both U.S. President and LDS high priest.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 12:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 17, 2007

Closed Brand Community Firm Passenger Calls Amex, JC Penney, MySpace Clients

When I last wrote about brand community platform Passenger in February, the firm was squarely focused on the consumer-aimed uses of its system. Clients like Nestle, Coca-Cola, ABC Television and Sara Lee were using Passenger to enable private brand communities to conduct product or ad research with brand fans.

Passenger has shifted its client base to include companies using its system for internal purposes. Think Intranet meets work wiki meets social network. Apple and BP are among clients using the platform to share ideas, innovate, improve efficiencies, etc. "It's a lot easier for [clients] to embrace that," said Passenger Marketing Officer Justin Cooper of the new internal business use of the platform.

There are some interesting new clients utilizing Passenger to harness insights of consumers, though. MySpace, for instance, is a customer; although Cooper wouldn't share a lot about how his firm works with the social site, he did hint. In Q1, the two companies expect to make some sort of announcement. There's a chance it could involve the ability for brand community members to add widgets to their profile pages to gather comments about brands and products from their MySpace networks of friends.

Among the latest consumer-aimed clients are JC Penney, American Express and Fidelity. JC Penney has recently created an online community for its Ambrielle lingerie brand.

According to Cooper, companies can qualify audiences participating in private brand communities, making sure they're diversified appropriately. Also, community members can be invited to participate in certain discussions according to age and geography, for instance.

Passenger also weighs the value of a member's comments and opinions according to its "Influence Predictability Rating" algorithm and uses filters to surface certain issues discussed among brand community members.

Cooper agreed with me that brand aficionados often are the harshest critics. In light of that, he noted use of the platform allows companies to learn about a brand community's concerns behind closed doors, rather than throwing an idea to the public Web wolves. "It's an opportunity to treat those people as a new conquest," he said.

UPDATE: To be clear, Passenger is still working with Nestle, Coca-Cola, ABC Television and Sara Lee.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 12:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 14, 2007

Google Zeitgeist: Who is God? Who is Satan?

What's on the minds -- and fingertips -- of Google searchers in 2007? In its year-end Zeitgeist, Google identifies trends that show search queries range from the simple to complex, from commercial to spiritual.

Fastest rising search term in the U.S. in 2007: iPhone, followed by Webkinz, TMZ, Transformers, and YouTube. (Keep in mind: type in any of these terms in a Web browser, and one can bypass Google to reach these brands.)

American Idol was the most popular global search query on Google News; last year it was Paris Hilton.

Information seekers sought out "Who is God" (No. 1) more often than "Who is Satan" (No. 10).

"What is love" led searches for "what is," followed by "what is autism" and "what is RSS."

Which leaves one to ponder: what is up with that?

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 2:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Well Recuuuse Me…Or Not: FTC Says No to Recusal Request

Who says the Federal Trade Commish doesn't move fast enough? Two days after privacy groups the Electronic Privacy Information Center and Center for Digital Democracy filed a complaint requesting the Chairman recuse herself because of alleged conflict of interest, the FTC has come back with a big fat, "N-O."

The organizations contended Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras should remove herself from the review process, since, they claim, her husband's law firm Jones Day has advised DoubleClick on the antitrust components of the deal in the U.S. and overseas. The FTC stands by what DoubleClick has said: that Jones Day is not representing the company in the U.S.

In a statement just published by the FTC, Majoras wrote, "I have determined not to recuse myself from this matter because the relevant laws and rules… neither require nor support recusal."

She also noted, "The FTC’s Ethics Official determined that… no impartiality conflict exists. Further, he determined that, even if my participation in this matter could reasonably raise an appearance issue, the Standards of Conduct did not dictate my recusal."

Another interesting tidbit:

The Commission was unaware of Jones Day’s representation in Europe. But even if we had been aware sooner, assuming that the conflict analysis resulted in the same recommendation to continue participating – and I have no reason to believe it would not – the fact that I had reviewed with the FTC’s Ethics Official a potential conflict and determined not to recuse myself would not have been announced. Under applicable ethics rules, there is no requirement or, as I understand it, even expectation, that Commissioners publicly reveal that they are not recusing themselves on matters; indeed, that has not been the practice.

Also, it appears Commissioner William Kovacic's wife also works for Jones Day. He, too, has decided not to recuse himself. Both his wife and Majoras's husband have converted to nonequity status at Jones Day, according to the FTC.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 12:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Save the Date! "Meatball Sundae" Webcast with Seth Godin

We know you guys love Seth Godin (who doesn't?). You nominate his blog for ClickZ's annual Marketing Excellence Award every year -- and it's won. Twice.

As a marketer, Seth's brilliance borders on the uncanny. He's an unparalleled public speaker and a prolific author. And we're delighted to announced that on Wednesday, January 23, 2008 at 2:00 PM EST we'll be presenting a Webcast featuring Seth on the topic How Do You Avoid the Meatball Sundae? in conjunction with the release of his latest book, Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing out of Sync?

You owe it to yourself to catch this Webcast, so sign up now while you're thinking about it -- before you take off for the holidays.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 9:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 13, 2007

Cellware Socializes Mobile

There's been talk about the mobile platform being perfect for social networking. Among the newer mobile social communities out there is Cellware, which launched earlier this week. Through Web and mobile, users can upload and modify audio, video, photos, and other content and applications, then share it with others. The media can then be used to personalize a handset with ringtones, wallpapers. And of course, discovery is a big part of the experience, as well as having access to videos and a social network when you have time to spare.

The site boasts "We're putting the free back in free!" And Cellware means it. There is no cost for use of the site, it's ad supported. And active users who generate hits, recommend new friends, and create content, will get a piece if the revenues. Cellware has banners on the Web and mobile WAP site, and plans to insert ads in SMS messages in the future. The company's CEO John Ferber was a founding member of Advertising.com, and brought in a handful of his previous company's alums to key positions including Jason Ellin, CFO, and Jason Strauss, CRO.

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December 12, 2007

Ford Explores Widget Advertising

Ford is getting into the widget advertising game, as starting next week the company is planning to run "grab-able" ads on AOL promoting the Sync voice interface system in its Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles. The automaker tapped Interpolls to create the widgets, which include rich media features like video advertisements and a link to download songs from Ford's Web site. The widget is part of a larger advertising campaign Ford is running with AOL for the Sync feature, along with television, radio and print ads.

The widget is being distributed like a rich media ad via an ad server, but it can also be copied and embedded in an individual's Web page or social network page like Facebook or MySpace. As Sync is a Microsoft powered voice activation system, the idea of sharing widgets should actually appeal to the more tech minded consumers using AOL, said Peter Kim, president of Interpolls.

"They are probably more likely the types that will know how to grab a widget for their page," he said. "If you happen to own a Sync product in your car, and you like it, you grab this and put it on your MySpace page."

Posted by MatthewNelson at 9:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Romney Ran on Other Gay Sites: Story Prompts Major Nielsen Data Revision

Last month, The New York Times reported the campaign for Republican presidential primary contender Mitt Romney ran thousands of ad impressions on Gay.com in August. It turns out, apparently a result of ad network targeting or lack thereof, the campaign also ran about 5,000 display ads on other gay-centric sites Advocate.com and PlanetOut. That's according to Nielsen Online AdRelevance.

When I first read the Times piece, I was puzzled. After all, I'd sifted through AdRelevance data for the same period as part of ClickZ's ongoing Campaign '08 coverage back in September. Had I overlooked this juicy detail about Romney's ads when AdRelevance sent me the August data?

Nope. After contacting Nielsen Online, I learned that the August information on political advertisers they'd originally sent me, which did not list Romney as an advertiser, had since been revised to include the Romney ads. Those updates were prompted by inquiries for The New York Times story, they said.

But it didn't end there. Incomplete data from AdRelevance had found its way into six stories published by ClickZ between April and September of this year. What follows is a detailed description of how I became aware of the data discrepancies.

Obama Ads Uncovered Along with Other Discrepancies

According to the original data, the only presidential campaign in the "political advertisers" category in August was John McCain 2008. However, the new data showed in addition to the uncovered Romney ads, Democratic Senator Barack Obama's campaign also ran display ads that month.

These revelations were disconcerting for me as a reporter. Not only have I received AdRelevance data on political campaigns for years now, I've developed a new ClickZ Campaign '08 News sub-section devoted to covering digital ad and marketing efforts by the 2008 presidential campaigns.

At ClickZ News, we pride ourselves on getting our reporting right, but when it comes to tracking online ads in any cohesive manner, we're only as good as the data we're provided. Political campaigns, particularly national ones, typically are very reluctant to share any information about their tactics, including their online ad buys. And Nielsen Online is the only measurement firm out there that tracks online display ads run by political advertisers in any regular, quantifiable manner that will supply this information to ClickZ.

Keep in mind, I realize information provided by Nielsen and others is not always 100 percent accurate, and when I've been aware of data gaps, I've made note of it. For instance, when covering July presidential campaign ads, I wrote that although AdRelevance did not report them, "PointRoll expandable video banners for Senator Barack Obama have been spotted around the Web this month, including on UnionLeader.com, where early primary voters in New Hampshire reading the Manchester-based newspaper site would be sure to catch them."

The Flood Gates Open

And what about previous months? I'd been reporting on AdRelevance data on the presidential campaigns since April. It didn't take long to learn the research firm had revised its data on political advertisers for previous months, too, but ClickZ had never been notified. It seems as though the errors would have lived in perpetuity on ClickZ had I not investigated the August Romney data discrepancies.

ClickZ recently was provided with updates of all revised data we originally reported between April and September; changes in the process for compiling and reporting on political ads were reflected in data provided to ClickZ for October. After receiving updates, I found the original information was off by a little or a lot each month, in some cases missing millions of ad impressions or skipping campaigns for presidential candidates entirely, such as Barack Obama, John Edwards, and Romney.

"These are the types of feedback that we value… to continually evolve our service," said Jason Lee, senior project manager for AdRelevance in reference to a discussion I had with him a few weeks ago about the situation.

Lee and his colleague, Jon Gibs, VP of media analytics for Nielsen Online, helped me understand what went wrong and why. "I think it has to do with the protocols we have set up for categorizing advertisers in general," said Lee. "In the case of political advertisers, those protocols and rules may not have been flexible enough."

In a nutshell, the AdRelevance system determines the sites it will monitor based on weekly traffic numbers. After intercepting ads running on those sites, the ads are categorized by a classification team. These are the folks who decide an ad run by John McCain 2008 or Obama for America goes in the "political advertisers" category as opposed to the auto or CPG category.

In the case of the Obama campaign ads missed in initial reports for August and other months, Lee explained, "A human did likely see the ad…. For some reason or another it slipped through the cracks."

In the cases of ads that were ignored the first time around, most likely what happened is they simply weren't classified, said Gibs. "We set up what we think is a very good system to track major advertisers," he stressed, noting AdRelevance was originally designed to track big commercial advertisers -- the Fords and AT&Ts of the world. "Because political flighting was very small in the beginning, it wasn't fully on our radar screen," he added.

"During this particular campaign season there's a lot more scrutiny, and a lot more attention being paid to what the campaigns are doing online," said Lee. Note, I've been receiving and reporting on political campaign ad data from AdRelevance for years now.

"Going forward we're confident the data should be where it is now if not at a higher point" in terms of quality, Lee told me.

The Politics of Data

Political advertising is a beast unto itself. Understanding the difference, for instance, between Congressman Ron Paul's campaign running ads and the Americans United for Freedom PAC running ads on his behalf will come about "by process of experience" for AdRelevance's classification team, Lee said.

The reality is, in politics as in just about anything else, polling and other forms of measurement are prone to error. In the end, the best ClickZ can do is update our own reporting with the correct information, as well as do everything possible to vet that information. Because we can't go back in time and see whether an ad ran on a particular site, nor can we here in NYC be served ads targeted to people living in Des Moines or people with different demographic characteristics or browsing histories, we are limited in our ability to ensure data are flawless.

Still, as online political marketing becomes more widespread, it's important for its evolution to be chronicled. That's my goal with previous political ad coverage in ClickZ News and our Campaign '08 coverage. So, even when there are bumps along the campaign reporting trail, we believe it makes more sense to continue reporting these data even if sometimes they're not perfect.

We also look forward to working with Nielsen Online and other measurement firms to continue improving the information available on online political campaigns. It's a learning process for everyone, most of all the political campaigns themselves.

Lee affirmed this, noting, "Online advertising is obviously constantly evolving. It's our goal is to consistently evolve our product to keep in step with that."

For details on revised AdRelevance data for the months of April through September, check out the original stories, which have all been updated:
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007

Posted by Kate Kaye at 1:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

WSJ's Discordant Holiday Promotion

Actually, it probably is too late.

With Murdoch dropping hint after hint that his newly-acquired "Wall Street Journal" is likely to become free, why is the marketing department sending these e-mail promotions? This is the second one I've received this week.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 9:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 11, 2007

Happy Little Elves

Apparently it's a good time to be an elf. According the folks over at OfficeMax, EVB and Toy, their Elf Yourself microsite has been getting a lot of use. In the past three weeks since the site was launched, 41 million people have created elves. That's compared to the 11 million elves created over the entire five week run of the site last holiday season. This year they've clocked the elf creation at a rate of 35 elves per second. Busy, busy elves.

Posted by MatthewNelson at 8:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Verizon Gets Evil-er

Net neutrality opponent Verizon is busy on other fronts in its efforts to break the Internet -- and to profit in the process.

Last June, the broadband provider announced a plan to "help" users who mistype domain names into their browsers by redirecting to an "Advanced Web Search" page bearing Yahoo search results -- and Yahoo Publisher Network's ads on Verizon's own pages. This DNS redirect service allows the ISP to profit off of its users' errors (but they aren't always errors, as I'll illustrate below), while at the same time overriding other search pages and, as Verizon acknowledges, causing other potential technical problems.

Recently, many of Verizon's high-speed FiOS customers in varying pockets of the country have fallen victim to the hijacking, which seems to be spreading. My Brooklyn-based friend (and Verizon DSL customer) Steve shot me an enraged e-mail the other day full of examples of how Verizon is hijacking not mistyped URLs, but rather the "naked domains" (to coin a phrase) virtually all experienced users have been trained to type in the address fields of their browsers.

The examples he provided include typing "google" (rather than painstakingly typing "http://www.google.com"), "gmail," "apple" and "gawker." As Steve put it, "It goes to a Verizon page with a bunch of clickly links and the URLs in eensy-teensy type below...I can type other things and it behaves normally...but this thing is a freakin' ROADBLOCK."

And it happened out of the blue. My friend is no Web savant, but he's reasonably Web savvy. Verizon is quite obviously overriding his Firefox browser.

Verizon's DNS redirects are not, as the company claims, helping customers who make typos. They're leveraging -- and hijacking -- established Internet user behavior. Overwhelmingly, users type naked brand names directly into their browsers' address fields, confident they'll get to their intended destination. Unless, of course, they're Verizon customers. The redirects can strike anywhere, anytime.

Oh, but Verizon is playing the opt-out card. Only way too subtly, and making opting out of these redirects way too difficult for the average user. See any opt-out instructions on this Advanced Web Search page? Hint: click the "About This Page" button in the upper right hand corner. The link takes you to an about page with yet more links for opting out (depending on the type of service you subscribe to. You're then presented with a long list hardware options, each with its own set of opt-out configuration instructions.

But wait -- it gets even worse. For kicks, I clicked on the Westell Ethernet Modem Verizon provided me with for my DSL service, only to find the message "to change the DNS server settings in this modem to opt out of the DNS Assistance, you must change your DNS settings in your operating system."

Another click to find those instructions reveals a dead end. Verizon only provides information for changing DNS settings for various Windows platforms. Mac owners (like Steve and I) have just followed six links to nowheresville. As he put it, "somewhere {there's an opt-out option, but then it seems unduly complicated."

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 10:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Pop-Up Ads in E-Mail? Eeek!

An e-mail confirmation of a booking made on Orbitz just generated a moment of cognitive dissonance.

The first line of the message (and hence the "preview" visible in my online Gmail account) reads:

"Your pop-up blocker is preventing you from viewing this content. Override the program by holding the Control key while clicking the link."

OK, so it's not actually as bad as pop-up ads in e-mail. The message is very obviously generated directly from the purchase confirmation page, which does bear that header because (duh!) pop-ups are pretty much blocked by default in every contemporary browser version.

So why doesn't Orbitz cut out the practice on its site, and thus improve the quality of its e-mail program?

Curiously, while the pop-up message is very prominent in my Web-based Gmail account, it doesn't appear at all in the version that landed in my e-mail client. Strange.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 10, 2007

IHT and Reuters Partner on New IHT Biz Section, Will Sell Ads Jointly

The International Herald Tribune has entered a deal with Reuters to create an "enhanced financial news offering" on its print and Web properties. Under the collaboration, Reuters and IHT will jointly offer print and online sponsorship and ad opportunities.

The fruits of the Web collaboration will appear at www.iht.com/business and will include multimedia and regular content from Reuters and IHT. With the new daily business report, IHT plans to cease publication of two Bloomberg-created editorial products: Marketplace by Bloomberg and Business Asia by Bloomberg.

One thing that's ambiguous in the news release is whether IHT and Reuters will be able to cross-sell inventory on one another's Web platforms. Certainly there's an opportunity to create value for both parties without competing... sort of a two-way ad network. I'm trying to learn more and will post again as I hear back.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 4:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

NY Transit Authority's Webinar Falls Flat

The New York Metropolitan Transit Authority's “Public Engagement Webinar” turned out to be the road to nowhere.

The MTA's proposed fare hikes have been strongly opposed by riders. Following several months of public hearings, the body decided to at least not to commuters by offering them an opportunity to weigh in on the fare hikes, and to ask questions of officials.

According to reports, their efforts fell flat -- together with the technology. Participants failed to get their questions answered, or to see questions posted by others as promised.

The MTA has apologized for the disconnect and is promising to answer questions on its site.

It's doubtful New York's bus and subway riders are feeling any more empowered -- obviously the point of the Webinar -- nor any happier about looming fare hikes. Blog posts and comments on MTA-related news stories are dominated by enraged riders venting their collective spleen.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 3:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Stumbling Upon Gaptidings in Action

Last week walking around Soho during lunch someone on a street corner asked, "Do you want to send a video holiday greeting?" I had a loose agenda of holiday shopping, so my immediate reaction: "No." But then I turned around to see a truck skinned in the Gap's "crazy stripe" pattern and realized it was a Gap promotion with work from yahoo for the Gaptidings campaign we published today.

Click the present to see my greeting to ClickZ readers. Of course the truck's generator competed with me and won, I think.

Posted by Enid Burns at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

NYTimes.com Still Running Pop-ups

Pop-ups don't get anywhere near the attention from the trade media or industry pundits and research firms the way they used to a few years ago. But that doesn't mean they're not still around, and on big name sites, too. I just clicked through from The NY Times Advertising section RSS feed to a story about how ads are glorifying revolutionary images from the 60s. When the page loaded, this ad for a Starwood Hotels credit card appeared.

Sure, this wasn't the homepage or a section main page, but it was an article published today, not archival content that would be considered remnant inventory.

Are pop-ups still considered valuable to advertisers and publishers? Of course, and if they're frequency-capped, and publishers don't get greedy in terms of serving up too many of them, I suppose they can be of value to some consumers, as well...maybe.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 9:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 5, 2007

Nielsen Tracks TV Content on the Web through Digital Watermarks

Though a partnership with Digimarc, Nielsen will use digital watermarking and fingerprinting in online content to provide reporting, and tracking on copyrighted materials. The digital watermarking service is called Nielsen Digital Media Manager.

In addition to tracking for copyright security and compliance, the watermark allows clients to realize the value of their digital content, promote the expansion of Internet-distirbuted media, and facilitate a number of revenue streams. Those include ad-pairing, e-commerce, royalty reporting. Nielsen plans to start by tracking TV content online, but expects to expand to other online content categories and media types.

"We started with TV because we already do the necessary encoding - or watermarking - when we measure TV ratings. The last thing a video stream sees before it leaves a TV station is a Nielsen encoder that puts a digital code on the programming that our home meters can read. That same code can be used to measure TV programming when it is posted on the Internet," said Nielsen company spokesperson Gary Holmes.

News of the Digital Media Manager offering was broken earlier today by The Wall Street Journal (link, subscription required). However the article focused more on piracy prevention than content measurement. The article accuses Nielsen of being late to the game and "in some ways at a disadvantage to its rivals." Though digital watermarks are widely used for copyright protection on digital media, the tracking and ad-pairing components are not a standard feature.

"There are a lot of smaller companies that would like to deliver tracking services but none of them have the system in place to encode all TV programming," said Holmes. "That is why Nielsen is so well-positioned to break the logjam between the content providers and the distributors. Content providers have been reluctant to allow their content to appear on Web sites because they would lose control over it. This new service would give them control and make them more likely to agree to posting on the Web."

On Nielsen's radar for the Digital Media Manager product are media companies, social networks, peer-to-peer services, and user-generated content sites.

Posted by Enid Burns at 5:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Valueclick Still Touts Lead Gen , Would Love to Own DoubleClick's Performics

Valueclick spent a lot of time talking up its lead gen business during yesterday's talk at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference in NYC, despite the investigation of that very portion of their operation by the Federal Trade Commission.

Valuecleck is a "significant leader in lead generation," said the company's Chief Administrative Officer Sam Paisley.

While he spent most of his time describing various facets of the firm's services, including affiliate marketing management and ad management, Paisley did hint at what may be a result of its discussions with the FTC. In alluding to its FreeGroceryCard.com site, which offers consumers $100 gift cards in exchange for divulging personal information, he said, "It's clear to the consumer that this offer is not unconditional, but it's conditioned on their participation in advertiser programs."

According to the terms and conditions on FreeGroceryCard.com, "To receive the incentive gift you must: 1) Register with valid information; 2) Complete the user survey; and 3) Complete at least one (1) Silver offer, one (1) Gold offer, and one (1) Platinum offer. Purchase may be required. Please read Terms & Conditions for details. Upon completion of all requirements, we will ship the incentive gift to you with free shipping."

I don't know when this notification was added to the site, but if anything, it gives us a glimpse into the type of information that lead gen advertisers might be expected to present (prominently) alongside offers, as a result of the FTC's ongoing investigation. The commission announced its settlement with Adteractive last week, and the culmination of the Valueclick inspection is anticipated, too.

No one's sure when though. "We haven't really talked about any time frame because the Federal government hasn't been kind enough to share that with us," said Paisley of the FTC investigation. Still, he added, "We do feel that once we're clear with the FTC, that [lead gen] business will continue to be a part of our offering." The company expects a fine that won't be large enough to affect its balance sheet.

Paisley stressed Valueclick's lone position as the last independent major ad management platform if Google's acquisition of DoubleClick goes through (an FTC decision is expected soon). If it is eventually approved here and in Europe, it's likely that DoubleClick would shed its Performics SEM business, which would create conflicts of interest with its new parent company. In that case, said Paisley in response to a question from the audience, Valueclick would be interested in snapping up Performics.

"We would want to be on the short list of people" considered for the deal, he said.

And more acquisitions could follow. The company wants to "own and control more traffic," said Paisley, noting it may set its sights on comparison shopping sites. The goal, potentially, would be to use data gathered on such sites for behavioral targeting throughout the Valueclick network.

The firm also expects to continue its expansion into Asia.

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

Zuckerberg Offers Apology, Global Opt-Out for Beacon

Facebook users now have the ability to opt out of its controversial data sharing and behavior tracking initiative completely.

Mark Zuckerberg announced the new control, which can be found here, as part of a lengthy post on the Facebook blog in which he apologizes for the way the Beacon program was conceived and rolled out to users. Salient quotes:

We've made a lot of mistakes building this feature, but we've made even more with how we've handled them. We simply did a bad job with this release, and I apologize for it...

The problem with our initial approach of making it an opt-out system instead of opt-in was that if someone forgot to decline to share something, Beacon still went ahead and shared it with their friends. It took us too long after people started contacting us to change the product so that users had to explicitly approve what they wanted to share.

The whole Beacon episode -- from radical product launch to privacy outcry to sober apology -- has been remarkably similar to the progression of events that accompanied Facebook's introduction of the News Feed last year. Indeed, the combination of reckless product launch and considered response appears to be a Facebook trademark. And that's not necessarily a bad thing.

As Deep Focus CEO Ian Schafer put it to me last week, "What they learned was that if you put something out there, people complain about it, you fix it and then people embrace it," he said. "You listen to your audience. If you solve or address their issues, people will know you're listening."

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 3:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Net Neutrality: What Can We Do?

Reformed telco executive David S. Isenberg, author of the influential essay
The Rise of the Stupid Network: Why the Intelligent Network was a Good Idea Once but isn't Anymore, delivered the morning keynote today at SES Chicago. His talk was entitled "Five Reasons Why Search Engine Marketers Need a Neutral Net."

One hopes, and assumes, he was preaching to the choir. Net neutrality may be the single most important issue facing anyone who uses the Web, for anything and in any capacity. This includes businesses, consumers, and not in the least, marketers.
As Isenberg put it in his talk, the telcos are "declaring war against Google, and Vonage, and ClickZ, and everyone in this room."

They are. The burning questions is what to do about it. Having written to congress, educated ourselves (and to an extent, our customers and users), how else can proactively we battle the telcos' efforts to kill the Web?

Companies like Google can afford to hire lobbyists. But what about the rest of us? In this industry, why aren't the major trade organizations such as the IAB, DMA, AAAA and ARF taking a solid stand, and rallying their members around this critical cause?

As consumers, what can we do beyond letter-writing and petition-signing? I've vowed to replace my home provider, Verizon, by the end of the year. It kills me to pay a monthly fee for Web access to a company trying to break the Internet.

That option, however, is largely limited to residents of major urban areas. Most ISP subscribers have no alternate providers in their areas, nor can they afford the often higher fees they charge.

How are you fighting for net neutrality, on both a personal and professional level? Please share your ideas with me, and I'll share the best of them in a future post.

This issue is too important to ignore, folks.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 11:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 4, 2007

Paying For Play at SayHeyHey

Online dating sites are nothing new, but the latest site to go live has me amused not just because of its wacky kids looking for love, but for its adoption of some interactive advertising tricks, namely pay-for-placement and ad supported video.

SayHeyHey officially launched this week as the brainchild of Alex Gurevich and Soudy Khan. The site lets singles record and share videos of