Back to Main

January 2008

January 31, 2008

TiVo Tracks Another Network

CBS became the second network to sign up for TiVo's Stop||Watch service. The broadcaster will have access to second-by-second measurement of program and commercial ratings for live and time-shifted viewing. NBC partnered with TiVo in December around the time of the DVR provider's earnings call. Networks are looking for more measurability in both broadcast and online formats as capabilities arise. The online counterpart of tracking viewing behavior, VisibleSuite was discussed at DEMO this week.

Posted by Enid Burns at 5:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Agency Gives 'Heartbreak Leave" Benefits

Employees at Tokyo-based Hime & Company have a few new perks making the news. Reuters reports the marketing agency offers "heartbreak leave" so its staff can take time to get over a break-up. Staff under 24 are eligible for one day per year, two days for those between 25 and 29, and three for older workers. Agency employees also get two mornings per year off to go shopping.

Posted by Enid Burns at 4:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

1-800-FREE411 Sells Out National Ads for the Year

Free directory assistance service 1-800-FREE411 has sold out its 2008 "sponsorships," which are its national ad placements, a testament to both how targeted and limited inventory is for the Jingle-owned service.

Marketers, both national and regional, like the audio sponsor placements for a few reasons. First, they're completely intrusive (therefore more effective), yet users are by and large Ok with that since putting up with the inconvenience saves them two bucks or so per call. Second, available data for targeting include geography, business category or a combination of the two, qualifying consumers in a manner similar to a search or or Web directory buy. Three, metrics are simple. Ingenio struck a deal with Jingle last year to let advertisers place campaigns with 1-800-FREE411 on a pay-per-call basis.

New national advertisers placing audio ads with Jingle include Allstate, Days Inn, FordDirect and Miller Brewing Company. 2008 renewals include AMC Theaters, McDonald’s, Nationwide and ServiceMagic.

The influx of brands also speaks to the company's success in recruiting sales staffers over the past year or two, including former Atlas sales veep John Roswech.

The next hurdle for Jingle will be growing user awareness and adoption. It's a task made the more challenging as new competitors join the fray, including Google and AT&T. Carriers as a group, when they wholeheartedly embrace ad-supported DA, will have a considerable advantage when it comes to promoting the services to consumers.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 2:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

What Would Jeane Dixon Think About Google/DoubleClick in the EU?

The research arm of Missouri-based brokerage and investment banking firm Stifel Financial Corp. has reported that "the staff of DG Competition, the European Commission agency responsible for merger reviews, has prepared its draft 'Statement of Objection' (SO) in the planned Google (GOOG) takeover of DoubleClick."

Privacy advocates already are pouncing on this as a potential roadblock in the European Commission's approval of the deal.

Let's make one thing clear: This is a draft. The analyst firm has not reported that an SO has been sent.

I just spoke with Rebecca Arbogast, a principal analyst with Stifel who focuses on legal and regulatory issues. She was not able to tell me who she learned about the draft from, nor even what type of entities the people she's gathered this information from represent. In other words, even if this draft does indicate something, ClickZ News has no first-hand confirmation that it exists.

Arbogast told me, "If they were sure they were going to clear [the Google/DoubleClick deal], they wouldn't have done it [drafted the SO]."

She added it is common practice among government lawyers, both in the EU and the US to draft such statements in order to clarify thoughts about a particular case, whether it actually is submitted or not. Thus, there's no telling whether this alleged draft will ever see the light of day, at least from what I've gathered from her.

In the end, Stifel predicted the European Commission won't block the merger.

Just last week, observers of the acquisition jumped on a Reuters report that suggested the deal would "likely go ahead." It based this conclusion on a source's statement that the Commission had not sent Google an SO. The source said, "If they had serious doubts, we're at the point where ... if you don't send (such a statement), you don't have time to complete the case."

This information was attributed to "a lawyer acting for a client concerned about the deal."

Well, I'm concerned about the deal between the Mets and Johan Santana going through, but I don't expect anyone will be citing me or my lawyer as reliable anonymous sources on the matter anytime soon.

I've contacted the Commission's Directorate General for Competition in the hopes of confirming this information, or at least vetting it. As far as we understand, the time is close to a reasonable deadline for submitting an SO to the defense, but let's not jump to conclusions based on pure speculation.

Expect to see several stories today and tomorrow that do just that, though.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 1:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 30, 2008

SeenThis? It's NBCU, CNet and WSJ on Facebook.

Loomia managed an impressive trifecta of content providers that signed on with the launch of its SeenThis? application today. The Wall Street Journal Online, NBC Universal, and CNET Networks have all agreed to provide links to their content that will allow viewers to then share it with friends over "a leading social network" i.e. Facebook.

Using SeenThis?, Wall Street Journal online readers can opt-in to the application and let their friends know what they've been reading at the site. CNet is doing the same with its BNET, ZDNet, and TechRepublic sites, while NBC Universal will allow provide links to videos and shows.

Facebook ran into problems when it tried to launch a similar system for sharing ads called Beacon, which it then retreated from after a good deal of blowback about the lack of clear opt-out procedure and privacy concerns. SeenThis? will probably avoid such concerns considering it's stressing the opt-in component necessary to use the application, and lets face it, how often have you found yourself sending friends a link to an article or video with the caption "you've got to see this!" Loomia is apparently trying to save readers some extra steps.

Posted by MatthewNelson at 10:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The Measure of Online Video, Ads

The second day of AlwaysOn OnMedia in New York started with a panel about monetizing Internet video technology. CEOs and senior level executives from Move Networks, Brightcove, and ImageSpan talked about the role of video, geotargeting, and targeting to certain demographics. Though they touched on metrics, they didn't talk about the finite measurement of consumer behavior while watching video.

Meanwhile, at DEMO this week Visible Measures left stealth mode with VisibleSuite. A measurement product that looks at the interaction a user has with video. VideoSuite measures in-stream viewing behavior such as when a user abandons the stream as the first ad plays or rewinds to view a particular frame in the video.

Visible Measures founder and CEO Brian Shin's goal is to promote growth of video with better metrics. "Internet video is important, we all love it, we went to make it more monetizable, more effective for the advertiser and publisher, without hindering the user experience."

Publishers can use the data to find out what's effective in video and what segments make interesting clips from longer videos based on what parts are being rewatched. Advertisers can gain similar data by determining how much time was spent engaging with the brand, and tweaking creative.

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

The Digitally-Bred CMO

At an otherwise lackuster panel on CMO strategies at OnMedia NYC, former Reebok CMO Roger Wood just made an interesting point:

No major companies to date have had a CMO whose professional background is digital rather than traditional.

When's that going to change?

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 11:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 29, 2008

Can Digital Integration End the Agency Silo?

Earlier this week OMD became the next in a number of agencies to place digital as a central component of the agency's strategy. OMD made Scott Hagedorn managing director of the East Coast region. He previously held the title U.S. director of OMD Digital. The agency redefined the role with an emphasis on digital. An OMD statement said "the new structure was put into place to ensure that digital capabilities and insights are fully integrated within client teams." At the same time as the strategy change, OMD also promoted Mark Stewart to the global account and strategy director of the Visa global media business. He previously served as head of OMD East. He will now have oversight across all activity on the Visa brand including digital and other media.

All of the agency's employees will have access to ongoing employee training targeted a digital media and new technologies. OMD's aim is to make digital a core competency for all team members.

Posted by Enid Burns at 7:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

VC Firms' Idea on Next Big Thing

Start-up media companies are not lacking for funding these days. Over the past few days, Rubicon Project and Quantcast announced funding on the ad side of start-ups, and plenty of others are in line to receive venture capital investments.

At AlwaysOn's OnMedia in New York this morning a handful of venture capitalists got together to discuss what they look for when considering funding, and how they view brand advertisers in the picture.

Criteria for being selected for funding varies, with a few universal qualities resonating on the rader of the VC community. "You have to look in areas where there is a huge amount of disruption," said Eric Hippeau, managing director of Softbank Capital.

Jonathan Miller, co-founder of Velocity Investment Group said his firm looks for "multi-platform properties. Things that can start online and move to other media." An example of multi-platform property was only a few seats down on the panel. Tim Draper, founder and MD of Draper, Fisher, Jurvetson, is not only the VC behind the online and Nickelodeon series "The Naked Brothers Band" he plays the Principal Schmoke" on the show. The property originated and lives online, yet it's successful on cable.

There was a consensus that digital is still very much in development. "I don't think we've seen the real usage patterns emerge, we're starting to. It's still the very early days of seeing the true impact of stuff," said Drew Lipsher, partner at Greycroft Partners.

Emerging online models, according to Miller, follow the early days of television. "TV was no different than Internet today, TV shows started with sponsors. [The Internet} is in that interesting realm right now."

Digital media "Is something brand advertisers can get their hands on," said Miller. "There's $250 billion in brand advertising sitting in traditional media right now that over the next decade is going to have to find a place online."

To echo the point and realize what many digital folks have learned, "A dollar of analog money translates to pennies of digital money," said Hippeau.

Posted by Enid Burns at 4:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

AlwaysOn: Online Viewers vs. Online Ad Dollars

Is there a disconnect between the number of online viewers and the amount of advertising dollars spent online?

Advertising executives today weighed that question at AlwaysOn in New York City, a conference that examines technology's impact on marketing, advertising, and media.

Bruce Nelson, vice chairman, Omnicom, pointed out that cable television secured 3.5 percent of all ad dollars 10 years after the medium's debut. A decade after online media appeared, digital advertising accounted for 7.7 percent of all ad dollars in 2007, he said.
"Though we live in impatient times. We're moving very fast," Nelson said.

Penry Price, VP of advertising sales at Google, suggested that the online industry hasn't done a good job of managing expectations since its early days. "The online industry, 10 years ago, set itself up for failure," he said.

Elaborating, he said: "The challenge is [online] viewership is looked at differently than traditional media." While there's an emphasis on "engagement" over viewers, he said there's no one opinion on how to define engagement.

Bob Jeffrey, JWT Worldwide's chief executive, contended that his clients are investing in digital advertising. "There's not one client who's not obsessed with online," he said.

Michael Leo, chief executive of ad operations company Operative, said advertising dollars are not moving online as fast as they could because there's a talent shortage.
"We need more people who can help us scale this industry," he said.

Jacqueline Corbelli, CEO, Brightline iTV marketing firm, said advertisers are confused about their options and aren't getting sufficient guidance on how to allocate their ad dollars. "Consumers are integrating, weaving digital media into their lives," she said, saying that's not occurring in business.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 4:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

For Real Networks, Low CPCs but Less Traffic with Sendori

Following a second round of funding in November, third party domain redirect marketplace Sendori recently enabled phrase and exact match options in its auction-based system. When advertisers win bids on generic domains, the system redirects users that have directly-navigated to that domain to advertiser sites. Direct navigation occurs when a user enters a URL into a browser window. For instance, a user who directly-navigates to CreditCardDeals.com might be redirected to a Visa offer landing page through the Sendori system.

With the new exact match capability, advertisers can restrict redirects to a specific set of domains rather than a broader collection including similar URLs. An auto insurance advertiser might choose only to have redirects take place when a user enters NewYorkCarInsurance.com, but not the more generic CarInsurance.com.

Sendori President and CEO Ofer Ronen believes the new matching option makes for "more ways to optimize campaigns."

According to Ronen, the company has worked with over 72,000 advertisers, most of which are lead gen or direct response oriented. "They're looking for ROI…. It's less for branding," he told me during a talk late last year.

Real has been using the system to promote its casual game destinations since late September. In this case, Real uses search advertising -- and now Sendori -- for performance-based campaigns, unlike big brands like Procter & Gamble or Coke that may be willing to pay relatively high rates for search ads to drive traffic to branded entertainment and game destinations for branding purposes.

For Real, the amount of traffic coming in through Sendori is much less than from Google, John Marini, online marketing manager at Real, told me recently. "It's incremental gain, but it's not a ton of traffic," he said, noting Google paid search ads drive around 40,000 users per day into Real games, while Sendori drives "more like in the hundreds."

Still, the low CPC rates make up for it. "[Sendori is] kind of a boon for us since we can drive traffic in at a lower CPC," he added.

Marini does wonder about the effect of the domain redirection service on users. For instance, if a generic game domain redirects to RealArcade.com one day and one of Coca-Cola's free games the next, "there's inconsistency," from the user's perspective, he said. "I think the user intent is slightly different than search," he continued.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 3:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 28, 2008

Ad Supported Music Player Qtrax Launches Amidst a Fervor of Deal Denials

Another free music download service officially opened its doors over the weekend, and already the hubbub over just how many songs will be available for download and from which record labels is threatening to overshadow any traction it might have seen as an advertising platform. Qtrax is the latest contender to join the likes of SpiralFrog and Napster in offering ad supported music downloads.

The beta version of the site promises over 25,000,000 songs and other material from artists like the Foo Fighters, Alicia Keys and Lenny Kravitz, but Qtrax may be making some legally questionable claims. Last April, Allan Klepfisz, CEO of Qtrax parent Brilliant Technologies, told ClickZ the company had signed on the music catalogs of three major labels. With the official launch however, Warner, EMI and Universal have all denied inking a deal. Sony-BMG was also referenced by Qtrax but it too denies approving a music sharing deal.

Qtrax is apparently still in talks with the labels, but it's clear that at least until the contracts are finally signed the advertising opportunities available via the service will remain in question.

Posted by MatthewNelson at 10:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Microsoft Live Search: Left, Right and Sony

Branded search terms are more effective than generic search terms, according to a survey conducted by Microsoft and comScore for Sony. Following a two month online panel conducted by comScore of Sony ads on Microsoft Live Search last summer, the survey found that search ads with branded terms were 15 percent more effective at driving brand lift than those with generic terms. They also increased the likelihood of viewers recommending Sony to others by 14.8 percent and that branded search ads yielded a 14.5 percent increase in purchase intent.

As the research was conducted of the Sony brand, the electronics company declined to give Microsoft permission to describe the base numbers associated with the survey and held them to only describing the proportional changes, Beth Uyenco, global research director for Microsoft digital advertising solutions told me. She also said it took several months for approvals to pass between the two companies before the results could now be released. Even so "we found that branded search works much more effectively at the bottom of the funnel, in terms of lifting things like purchase intent and likelihood to recommend. Generic search works well among consumers who are still in the very broad mindset."

Uyenco also said the survey found that aside from actually visiting a store to handle a product before purchasing it, "search is the second most useful tool in product research, and we kinda of knew that."

Separately, Microsoft Live Search is getting into the political swing of things in this election year, and has launched a "political satire" version of its Live Search site. Titled LeftvsRight, the site lets users not only search for whatever term they are interested in, but it also includes snarky comments from two commentators akin to a "Face the Nation" program. The two video hosts, Patrick O’Neil representing the liberal left and Britt Hayes the conservative right, trade barbs as search results are displayed between them. The site was created by McCann Worldgroup San Francisco.

Posted by MatthewNelson at 9:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The 24/7 Daypart

Starcom released data on mobile user habits last week and we've been mulling over what the agency is calling a daypart. With the mobile audience, it's 24/7. Is it fair to call all day, every day, a daypart? While the report says it's an "on the move," 24/7 daypart, the findings support the utility and entertainment value of mobile. The target here isn't time of day, but content paired with a particular activity.

"They're seeking certain types of content when they have opportunities," said Angela Steele, VP, activation director, and leader of the study at Starcom. "When walking the dog in the morning, they're checking local news, weather, and traffic." She said some employees retreat to the office bathroom to check sports scores. "Something they wouldn’t be doing at their desk."

What's important to note: marketers reach consumers "where and when it was once impossible to do so," a statement describing the research said.

It's been hard to target a particular time of day, even among segmented audiences. "When you look at the mobile Web, it's quite strange the time of day people use it. You get commuter patterns, mid-morning patterns, lunchtime… presumably when people are killing time," said Anil Malhotra, founder and SVP of alliances and marketing at Bango.

It's debatable whether the daypart carries over to a mobile execution. "Daypart has been a component of advertising we all understand," said Bob Walczak, CEO of MoPhap. "With the mobile user, they are a different advertising profile. They want on demand information. They want it when they want t and how they want it. [Accessing the mobile Web] in the bathroom or while walking the dog is accurate from a targeting standpoint."

Perhaps rather than define what time of day to reach a consumer, it's best to determine how to reach the consumer in a more personal manner. It's essential to "deliver personal ads to a subscriber because it's the most personal device," Walczak said.

Posted by Enid Burns at 5:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Funding the Rubicon Project

Just a few month's after entering beta the Rubicon Project, a publisher-side ad inventory automation system, received an additional $15 million in financing. This brings the company's total funding to $21 million.

A beta checkpoint includes over 1,000 Web sites signed up for the service, and over 10 billion ad impressions served. The funding will be used to build the infrastructure and staff to support demand. There's a need for global expansion even at the company's early stage. "We're actually dealing with a lot of international ad networks today," said Rubicon Project CEO and founder Frank Adante. He reports about 50 percent of impressions come from traffic outside the U.S. While the technology platform is self-service, and doesn't require a presence in the where the company does business, but a few overseas operations may be in order. "The first step is to analyze markets we want to enter on the publisher side," said Adante. The first targets will likely be Europe and Asia, especially since IDG Ventures Asia is among the investors in the round.

Adante said the ability to siphon international traffic to local ad networks and impressions is "helping publishers make more money with the ad space."

Acquisitions are another goal of the funding. "We've got a pretty big mission, to automate online advertising. Step one for us is to better facilitate relationships between publishers and ad networks," Adante said. Some of the mission may be filled in the acquisition of technology to run Rubicon Project functions.

Posted by Enid Burns at 12:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

iCrossing integrates British Search Brand 'Spannerworks'

British based search and social media specialist Spannerworks is to be re-branded iCrossing, almost a year after it was acquired by the U.S. digital agency.

Former Spannerworks CEO and founder Arjo Ghosh has been named CEO of iCrossing U.K. Ghosh will be based in Brighton, and will lead the company's development and operations within Europe.

Jeffrey Herzog, founder and global CEO of iCrossing stated in a press release, "For the past year, Spannerworks and iCrossing have been operating as one company, with a shared belief that search is the common pathway to all digital marketing. One brand, supported by this common belief, will fortify iCrossing’s position in the global marketplace and strengthen our ability to deliver global digital marketing programs to our clients."

Last week Ghosh was also appointed chair of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising's (IPA) search council.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 11:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The Googling of an Icon

Google doodles appear to denote holidays and other special days, artists and people of note, and sometimes things a little closer to the commercialized world. To mark the 50th birthday of the LEGO, Google bricked up its logo. What's missing from the Google doodle treatment is that the LEGO'd logo doesn't link to a page of related search results.

LEGO claims a history with the search giant. In the early days of Google's 10-year history it used LEGOs to create a casing around 10 4-GigaByte hard disks (image) supporting the development of the search engine. Google is also said to have the bricks around the campus offices to encourage creativity, and reportedly to test new recruits.

Posted by Enid Burns at 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 25, 2008

Did Clinton and Obama National Ad Drops Dis the Web?

So, all the news sites are covering the big semi-national ad drops by the Clinton and Obama campaigns. The irony, in this case, I suppose should have been expected: The news sites didn't get any of those ad dollars. From what I could tell in browsing and refreshing countless pages on big national news sites today, including CNN.com, NYTimes.com, WashingtonPost.com, FoxNews.com and Yahoo News, the campaigns have neglected Web ads when it comes to this big national advertising push.

This is purely unscientific, of course. I may not have been served the ads even if they're running, or they may not be targeted to New York City, or they may not be running on any of the sites chosen for the test. Still, I figure if these sites did have some big ad buys in, they wouldn't be running University of Phoenix and Lending Tree ads on homepages and politics sections. They also probably wouldn't serve up the same pre-roll Netflix and Microsoft ads over and over in news and politics video clips. (See the screen grab below of CNN.com's Election Center 2008 section displaying a University of Phoenix ad).

The campaigns most likely realized they'd get so much so-called "earned media" out of hyping up national ad launches, there'd be no point in actually paying for Web media, at least in more prominent placements on those sorts of sites. For instance, NYTimes.com coverage features a video companion piece including snippets of the TV ads.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 4:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Thompson's Web Guy Talks Strategy Post-Battle

So, the techno-politico sphere of the Web seems pretty interested today in a lengthy post on TechPresident from Mike Turk, the guy behind Fred Thompson's online campaign (now ended), and former e-campaign director for the Bush/Cheney '04 presidential campaign.

He writes about online campaign strategy, dealing with tight deadlines, flying by the seat of his elephant-embroidered pants, that sorta thing. Unfortunately, no mention of the paid ad side of the campaign's Web efforts (though from what I saw there wasn't a whole lot). Still, there's lots of food for thought.

If anything, what the post and subsequent comments evince is the fact that the relatively small group of people involved in developing digital campaigns and implementing interactive technology for them can be pretty open when it comes to sharing ideas and insights, even if it might help out the other side (within limits, of course).

A few highlights I think ClickZ's audience would be interested in:

"On Hannity and Colmes, Fred announced his website url and the flood came in…. We attracted over 100,000 unique visitors, raised over a quarter million dollars, and added nearly 30,000 names to our list in the first 24 hours."

Taking into consideration the web site team had about 10 days to build the site and make sure it could handle a mass visitor influx, that's pretty impressive.

Turk also talked of how he aimed to improve on the netroots component of the Bush-Cheney campaign:

The idea, from my perspective, was to harness the power of the Net to build a robust community that would become an integral part of the ground game. The Bush-Cheney campaign had begun the process of enabling volunteer action online…. The Bush campaign was innovative in allowing people to participate in the mechanics of the campaign, but it never developed the community that could interact, inspire, and spur each other into action…. The Thompson web operation would be different. With Jon Henke, Howard Mortman and William Beutler constantly opening new channels through local, state and national blogs, and the campaign site providing a vehicle for those attracted to participate in the campaign, we could reach the tipping point where engaged people are empowered to contribute in ways never attempted by the GOP.

…. As an example of the strength of Thompson's online effort, look at the Thompson campaign blog and you'll see something remarkable for GOP candidates - comments. And not just a few comments, but hundreds and even thousands of comments.… Almost nobody on the GOP side sees this as a way for their supporters to network, to share ideas, or to brainstorm ways to help the campaign.

Turk also acknowledges campaigns on both sides "need to trust and engage the people. Since the people are online, they need to engage people online. There are just as many Democtrats [sic] who need to learn this lesson (cough, cough, Hillary, cough, cough)."

As for Web ads, the former Tennessee Senator's campaign ran about 650,000 display ads solely on FoxNews.com in October (as per Nielsen Online AdRelevance), questioning the pro-life stance of fellow GOP candidate Mitt Romney and taking aim at Rudy Giuliani's pro-choice position. Ads culminated with Thompson's stern visage placed beside the phrase, "Support the real conservative." The campaign employed the same anti-Romney/Giuliani tactic in ads on right-wing blogs launched in October.

Also, I'm quite sure I came across paid search ads from the campaign leading up to the primaries.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Political Attack Ads Seen on Google Despite Rules

Yesterday Google's online political ad manager Peter Greenberger posted its rules on political ads. There are some interesting regulations involving personal attacks, donation landing pages and misleading ad copy.

On fairness: "We permit political advertisements regardless of the political views they represent, and apply our policies equally."

On donations: "Your ad's landing page must clearly state that the donations are non-tax-deductible."

On misleading ads: They ain't allowed. "Ad text must be clear, easy to read, and descriptive of a candidate or cause." They also can't dupe the user into thinking they're for one candidate or group when they really lead to an opponent's page.

This might be the most interesting of all:

On personal attacks: "Political ads must not include accusations or attacks relating to an individual's personal life, nor can they advocate against a protected group."

What's particularly interesting, is I've seen what looks to me like an attack ad aimed at Mitt Romney's Mormonism throughout the primary season. (Not only is this kinda personal, Mormonism would fall within the "protected" group category.) "Truth About Mitt Romney," read the ad I've spotted. "The Secret Mormon Plan Revealed. What Every American Must Know!" The ad, targeted to keyword "Mitt Romney," appeared to be placed by an anti-Mormon (who used to be one) pushing his book.

But I didn't see it today. Perhaps Google finally caught wind of it and disabled it.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 9:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 24, 2008

Google's Demo Targeting for Social Sites

Google "unveiled" demographic targeting today in its AdSense program. Sort of. The firm already had been offering demo-targeting to AdSense publisher sites based on ComScore audience data on those sites. That was called "demographic site selection" and it's still available.

What's new is the use of registration data from selected publisher sites, mainly social networking sites, supposedly including MySpace, that have collected reg information on users. A Google spokesperson wouldn't say which sites or how many sites are involved.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 4:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Wall Street Journal to Stick with Subs for "Really Special" Content

In the months since News Corp. agreed to acquire Dow Jones, media punditry has tended to assume the Wall Street Journal's Web site will eventually go free and ad-supported. Not so.

Covering remarks Rupert Murdoch made in Davos today, WSJ brings us news that its pay wall won't crumble... yet. Rather, Murdoch said the site's free content will be greatly beefed up while a "significant portion" of its "really special" content will be preserved for subscribers' eyes only.

Here are his exact remarks, made in response to a question posed at the World Economic Forum, according to the Journal:

"We are going to greatly expand and improve the free part of the Wall Street Journal online, but there will still be a strong offering" for subscribers, Mr. Murdoch said. "The really special things will still be a subscription service, and, sorry to tell you, probably more expensive."

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 1:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Last.fm and Yahoo Ad-Funded Music Could Signal Things to Come

Yesterday, Last.fm revealed a new direction for its online music service – a free, ad-funded on-demand streaming platform. The new site will enable users to simply enter artist or track details, and stream full-length, high-quality music of their choice directly to their computers.

What's the catch? Well, at present you can only listen to each track three times, although this could be extended according to Last.fm execs.

The platform will be funded solely through advertising, which will appear alongside every song. Apparently even without a user login, ads will be targeted using data that the site has accumulated in the years it has already been live.

Labels and artists will receive royalties per listen, so the more popular a track, the more revenue it will generate. The system is also open to unsigned artists that can upload their music to the site, potentially removing the labels from the loop entirely.

News reports today suggest that Yahoo is also in early discussions with labels, perhaps with a view to offering MP3s for download as part of an ad-supported model. Meanwhile various other companies are experimenting with similar formats. For example, British company We7 currently offers full length MP3 downloads with "pre-roll' audio ads before each track.

Perhaps the most interesting side of all this is the acceptance of the model from the music industry. All four major record labels have signed up to the Last.fm service, as well as 150,000 independents.

As labels dig desperately to find new revenue models, therefore, it appears that ad-funded digital downloads could represent the future of the industry. The biggest worry for the labels however, is that they may eventually find themselves out in the cold entirely, as the opportunities grow for artists to generate profit directly from ad-funded sites.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 23, 2008

Virtual Wrestling and Cheetah Girls Face Off

It's interesting enough when major brands decide to try out advertising on a virtual world platform to reach a younger audience, but when this combo comes along I had to chuckle. Over at teen-oriented virtual world Habbo, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is running a campaign for its "Royal Rumble" pay per view event later this month. The campaign was created by virtual world agency Millions of Us as a "Habbo Royal Rumble" that lets kids vote on who they think will win the event on January 27. Meanwhile over at Stardoll, the virtual world for teen girls, Cheetah Girls star and Dancing With The Stars alum Sabrina Bryan has launched her own virtual presence. Bryan will offer fashion advice and her “Team Sabrina” virtual T-shirts for avatars to wear.

No word yet if the two virtual world campaigns will go head to head in a battle royale, but I'm betting on Bryan.

Posted by MatthewNelson at 9:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Publicis and Google: All About the Pitching?

So Publicis and Google have a relationship. Call it an understanding. They're going to exchange knowledge. And people. And it's going to be... unprecedented.

Here's the official statement from Publicis:

This collaboration, underway for over one year, is based on a shared vision of how new technologies can be used to improve advertising.

Riveting stuff, eh? Yet the lack of detail didn't prevent news outlets from writing several dozen stories about the supposed pair-up. Here's what we know based on existing reports, along with a few guesses about what the Googlicis arrangement might (or might not) mean:

The gist of the tango, according to Reuters: "Google would exchange its technological know-how for Publicis's analytical and media planning expertise." A nice idea, but Google works alone, see? Sort of like the Terminator, or maybe Harvey Keitel's character in Pulp Fiction. Joint ventures and partnerships aren't really its bag. Google has, however, shown a great interest in getting large brand marketers to spend more of their money with it. Not coincidentally, Publicis also would like to see those clients increase their digital spends -- just as long as they do so through Publicis.

Google and Publicis will have dedicated staff on-site at each others' offices "for a few months or a year." Agencies do this with their clients all the time. For the sake of argument, consider this new deal an analogous scenario in which Google is the agency (though it swears it's not), consulting with its client (Publicis and its various units, as well as their brands) on various methods by which the latter could spend more money. The Google staffers sit in on pitches and develop media plans across the company's network. As for the other end of the exchange program, I'm somewhat baffled. All I can say is my heart goes out to any Publicis staffers with the dubious luck to be stationed at Google "for several months or a year." The line here between pitch and collaboration is very murky, and who could stand being pitched for that length of time? I couldn't.

Google will launch a global account team for Publicis, "the first of its kind with a Global Advertising Group." This is the key piece of the relationship, if you ask me. And it's something Google has pursued aggressively with the entire agency community for well over a year. Believe me, the company would leap at the chance to do the same thing with any of the major holding companies. As an aside: It seems to me there's a slight risk for Google in appearing to align itself with one major ad network to the exclusion of the others.

Anyway, now you have my two cents. Maybe it's worth less than that. In the end, what's more interesting to me than the nature of the collaboration is how much Publicis committed to spend with Google to get this feather in its bizdev cap.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 5:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Roost's Bullish on Real Estate Search

A San Francisco startup today has jumped into the online real estate advertising and marketing fray, joining Realtor.com, Zillow, Trulia, Yahoo Real Estate, ZipRealty, RealtyTrac, Cyberhomes, HouseFront, and others.

"What are you drinking?" ClickZ asked Roost CEO Alex Chang. "Lots of coffee," Chang replied, laughing.

With the housing market in turmoil, why another real estate site now? Turning serious, Chang says Roost's a search engine for homes, similar to a meta search engine for a vertical such as travel. No coincidence, then, travel site Kayak.com directors Greg Slyngstad and Joel Cutler sit on Roost's board.

Under its business model, Roost charges on a cost per click (CPC) basis for traffic sent to brokers' and agents' sites. He declines to disclose the company's rates, but says rates will vary by market based on demand.

"Roost is totally focused on search. The actual search experience is cleaner and faster [than other sites]. We're not trying to create content. We're great at search and delivering high quality traffic to our partners on a CPC basis," he says.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 5:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

TurnHere Turns to Another IYP for Small Business Clients

Following deals with Idearc Media's SuperPages.com and IAC/InterActiveCorp's Citysearch, TurnHere (so far they're still indie!) signed with AT&T subsidiary YellowPages.com. Like those other relationships, the agreement pairs YellowPages.com local advertisers with TurnHere's network of videographers. In the case of this recent deal, TurnHere will produce videos about local and small businesses for the YP firm's Video Profile product.

Yellow Book USA also began testing video products for advertisers last year. Many believe it will take middlemen like yellow pages publishers or other online local service providers to guide local business owners toward Web video and educate them about it.

Indeed, partnerships like the ones with TurnHere introduce the video production firm to small and local advertisers they may not be able to easily attract otherwise.

The local online video thing seems to be pretty happenin'. Local online video and TV ad firm SpotRunner just snapped up GlobeShooter, another firm offering access to a network of indie filmmakers, videographers, photographers and producers.

Considering how many directories firms and others serving small and local advertisers are banking on video ads and profiles, it'll be interesting to see if this stuff really takes hold this year.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 5:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Amobee to Outsource Ad Sales Up North

Following the decision to turn select advertising inventory over to Winstar Interactive Media's Interep unit, mobile advertising solutions firm Amobee said today Target Broadcast Sales would handle select mobile ad inventory for Canada. "Amobee has continued its strategy of partnering with trusted names in ad-selling. This approach enables us to focus on our core expertise -- developing the best ad-serving solutions available," said Amobee's CEO Zohar Levkovitz, in a statement.

Target Broadcast, which claims to be Canada's only independently owned national media sales organization, has five sales offices throughout Canada.

Amobee said about the Interep deal that sales would be specific to Amobee inventory, and not package deals, the same is likely true here. In the future, it would be something to tap into other media of Interep and Target Broadcast to create multi-channel buys down the line.

Posted by Enid Burns at 12:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Electronic Arts Experiments with Ad-Supported PC Gaming

Electronic Arts has announced that it is to release a new instalment of its popular PC game series 'Battlefield' entirely free of charge. Instead of being sold retail, 'Battlefield Heroes' will be distributed digitally and will seek to generate revenue through in-game advertising and small in-game transactions.

Unfortunately EA declined to comment on what exactly 'in game advertising' would entail. However, Ben Cousins, senior producer at EA Dice, told BBC News that no ads would be appear in the game itself, but that they would instead appear on the Web site and the 'front-end' of the game.

Although this release will represent EA's first foray into ad-funded gaming in Western markets, a free version of its Fifa Soccer series has been available in South Korea since 2006. Users can spend small amounts on extra kits or skill-sets for their players.

The in-game transactions in Battlefield Heroes are likely to work similarly, with users purchasing new virtual outfits or attributes for their characters. However, Cousins told the BBC that E.A. expected 95 percent of people who played the game never to spend any money, suggesting that the ad revenue should be sufficient to finance the entire game.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Agency Action Heats Up in Asia, Dentsu and WPP Make Inroads

Recent days have brought a flurry of activity around digital agencies in Asia, where multi-national holding companies are duking it out for market dominance.

Making inroads this week are Japanese conglomerate Dentsu and WPP. The former has reportedly created a joint venture with China-based Focus Media on a new Internet marketing venture in that country. According to the reports, Dentsu will consolidate its existing Chinese operations, including those in Beijing and Shanghai, within the new venture.

WPP's Wunderman meanwhile has acquired Asian interactive agency network Agenda. Agenda has offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Taiwan, and Kuala Lumpur, and its services include Web site development, analytics and strategy. Wunderman is on a bit of a tear, having recently acquired Blast Radius.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 9:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 22, 2008

Disney to Japanese Women: Moshi Moshi!

The WSJ is reporting that Disney, in local partnership with Softbank Mobile, is launching a mobile phone service in Japan aimed not at kids, but at women in the 20-39 year old demo.

In the country of kawaii (define), Disney enjoys a particularly strong adult female base of consumers. According to the Journal, Tokyo Disney is a popular dating destination (26 million visitors in the fiscal year ending in March, 2007). The Mouse already offers close to 90 mobile Web sites in Japan boasting over 3.5 million subscribers, 75 percent of whom are women 20+.

Disney shuttered its U.S. mobile service, aimed at kids and parents in a partnership with Sprint last year after only one year of operation.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 4:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Ad Sales and Ops Jobs Could Figure Into Yahoo Layoffs

Reports that Yahoo will shortly lay off several hundred staffers should come as no surprise to those of us who have tracked the company over the past year (See ClickZ's recent coverage linked below). CEO Jerry Yang foreshadowed this moment during his very first earnings call in July when he promised change at the company. And he more recently reinforced that promise with his October declaration that Yahoo would narrow its focus to become a "starting point" for consumers and a powerful Web-wide inventory source for advertisers.

Reading between the lines, one spin on those comments goes like this: Content operations jobs are going away, and by the way, we'll be eliminating the walls (and redundancies) between our ad network holdings.

If that interpretation has any merit, many ad sales and operations folks at BlueLithium, Right Media and its in-house network sales group might be getting pink slips for Valentine's Day. If I were a betting man I'd put money on it. After all, back in September Jupiter analyst Emily Riley told ClickZ Yahoo was "considering merging and retraining sales teams" and "centralizing sales efforts" across all its acquired properties.

Related:

Yahoo Shows Signs of Display Ad Growth in Q3, Builds Publisher Network
Yahoo's Exec Departures: Brain Drain or Natural Exodus?
Yahoo Buys BlueLithium, Dreaming of Network Dominance
Yahoo's Yang Promises Changes Following Q2 Earnings Talk

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 12:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Knowing Better Than Butter

Unilever brand I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! has launched a trivia game show entitled Now You Know Better $1,000,000 Game Show to promote the benefits of fake butter. The "show," developed in partnership with MSN and featured in the portal's game section, is hosted by "celebrity" John O'Hurley.

Sign into the site as a contestant and you can answer trivia questions about topics such as board games and movies stars, and compete for actual prizes. A "lobby chat" window features a not-very-convincing discussion about the merits of real butter vs. ICBINB. The Web site is one aspect of the Now You Know Better campaign, which kicked off with :30 TV spots on January 14th.

Unilever will continue the interactive portion of the promotion with celebrities including Gary Coleman, Jose Canseco, and Dustin Diamond appearing in spots highlighting moments in their careers they should have known better about (e.g. taking steroids). In mid-February, consumers will be able to play the online trivia game and chat live with these wised-up celebs.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 12:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

BBC Could Cash in On Ads through Overseas Audience

ComScore released figures today suggesting that almost 60 percent of traffic to BBC sites now comes from outside of the U.K. It appears that the BBC's decision to begin serving ads to their international users in October last year will be paying dividends as a result.

Some calculations using ComScore data reveal that the BBC served ads to a potential audience of around 270 million unique users in November 2007.

The data suggest that online visitors from outside the U.K. also outnumbered the domestic audience for U.K. papers The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Times, and The Daily Mail.

The Daily Mail had the highest proportion of international visitors, with 69 percent of its 7.6 million visitors originating from outside the U.K. The BBC attracted 59 percent of its audience internationally, while the Telegraph (57 percent) and the Guardian Media Group (56 percent) also drew more than half their respective audiences from outside the U.K. Only two of the ten sites (or groups of sites) studied, British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) and ITV sites had less than a quarter of their traffic originate internationally.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 11:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 18, 2008

Bud Goes Mobile with Super Bowl Voting

Budweiser commercials are often picked as favorites from the crop of Super Bowl ads, but this year Anheuser-Busch is inviting its consumers to vote on their favorites while the game is still being played. As part of its annual Bud Bowl campaign, the brewer is signing up consumers to vote on their favorite Budweiser commercial during next month's Super Bowl using their mobile phones.

Users that provide their number will get a preview of one of the commercials, and after the game they'll also be provided with a code to unlock an "exclusive" unaired game spot. With seven Bud ads set to run during the event, it's anybody's guess which one the winner will be.

Posted by MatthewNelson at 5:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Sign of the Times: Avoid Foreclosure

Low.com, a Los Angeles-based company that includes a lead generation service, is running this ad.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 2:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

T-Mobile and Nokia Deals Could Signal Mobile Market Maturity

Announced yesterday they would partner with Yahoo to deliver display advertising on their Web'n'walk mobile Internet service. The ads will roll out across the network in the first half of 2008, and will be sold and served exclusively by Yahoo.

The deal, together with Yahoo's current mobile advertising partnership with Vodafone, now gives them access to 2 of the most lucrative mobile operators in the UK, and cements Yahoo's dominance in the UK mobile ad arena.

Similarly Nokia Ad Business (Nokia's mobile advertising arm) announced this week they would sell and serve ads for Reuters' UK mobile site, representing the largest mobile ad related contract for Nokia since their acquisition of Enpocket in October last year. In addition to display ads, Nokia will offer solutions such as branded mobile sites for Reuters' advertisers.

Could this mean that 2008 is taking shape as the infamous "year of mobile"? It all depends on whether advertisers start seeing significant ROI from the medium, and begin to view mobile as an effective tool in its own right rather than an afterthought to more traditional Web campaigns.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 12:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Interesting Quote from Blip.TV: Is Apple.TV Ad-Ready?

Most MacWorld coverage of the Apple TV refresh has focused on iTunes movie rentals. But Steve Jobs and his busy elves are also working hard to make the platform friendly to Internet videocasters reliant on advertising. Or so one Blip.TV executive told The Times' Saul Hansell. From the Bits blog:

Apple has no restrictions on distributing podcasts that have advertising in them. Indeed, Dina Kaplan, the chief operating officer of Blip.TV, which distributes advertising-supported video programming, says Apple has gone out of its way to help support its advertising technology.

“They know for independent content creators to work, the ads have to travel to, and work on iTunes,” Ms. Kaplan said.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack