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May 2008

May 30, 2008

The Heat is on 50 Cent

Online video is a knife that cuts both ways for rapper 50 Cent.

While ClickZ today examined how 50 Cent uses online video to build brand loyalty, a video on celebrity gossip site TMZ is bringing attention to problems in his personal life.

A multi-million dollar home -- and the center of dispute between 50 Cent and an ex-girlfriend --- was destroyed in a suspicious fire. Six people, including 50 Cent's 10-year-old son, went sent to the hospital for smoke inhalation and were released, according to the Associated Press.

In a video interview on TMZ.com, 50 Cent's former girlfriend Shaniqua Tompkins said she and 50 Cent were fighting over the house. She also complained that 50 Cent "made no contact to see how his son is doing" after the fire.

Newsday.com reported that 50 Cent was in Louisiana at the time of the fire. According to reports, his spokesman said any suggestion that the rapper was involved in the incident is "outrageous."

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 9:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Musicians Back 'Net Neutrality

If there's one album you don't want to grab off of a P2P server, this would be it.

Rock the Net, the nationwide coalition of musicians and labels that support net neutrality (841 bands, 177 labels and counting), are releasing an album to benefit their very worthy cause on July 29.

Wilco, Bright Eyes, DJ Spooky, They Might Be Giants, Aimee Mann and more have dontated tracks to the compilation, which will be released by indie Thirsty Ear Recordings.

Kind of ironic that musicians, who have seen their industry gutted by the Web, would band together to support this critical cause. It would be nice to see interactive marketers and advertisers, whose bread and butter depend on a freely accessible Internet, make their own brand of noise about the issue.

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

Paper Tells Its Story Online

Miamisburg, Ohio-based paper supplier NewPage wants paper buyers to think locally, and has set up a simple Web site to get them to do so. The destination, at Paper Tells a Story, will use a blog, whitepapers and other tools to argue that paper produced in Asia carries environmental risks.

Rick Willett, president and COO of NewPage, put it this way in a statement:

…The goal of the 'Story' campaign is to get people thinking about the journey of a single sheet of paper, where the journey begins, and the sustainability and environmental practices of its manufacturer. We feel it's the responsibility of NewPage to dramatically raise awareness of the potential hidden risks associated with some Asian imports.

Posted by Enid Burns at 12:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

'Sex and the City' and Search

The opening today of "Sex and the City," the movie, got search engine marketers into action, using paid search on Google and Yahoo to promote everything from bling (GiltyCouture and Ziamond), to ringtones, to an online video site (MyHubTV).

What, no Manolo Blahniks?

Yahoo paid search results, below.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 8:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 29, 2008

E-Mail Hacked on Comcast

Comcast had an unfriendly wake-up call this morning. The site was apparently hacked, and the Comcast.net domain taken over. Earlier this morning Comcast e-mail subscribers were greeted with a message saying the site was under construction, coming soon, according to a report on Product-Reviews.

The Internet service provider has e-mail flowing again, but it stresses the importance of changing your password, and making it more complex than the name of your pet. Maybe now, I'll lighten up on the IT here when he nudges me to change my password.

Posted by Enid Burns at 2:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Yahoo's Shareholder Notice Slip-in

Corporate blogs aren't typically the place for investor-aimed details about proxy votes, but then again, corporate blogs aren't typically Yahoo's. The company, of course, postponed its annual meeting and is embroiled in a proxy battle with activist investor Carl Icahn.

Here's what Nicki Dugan at Yahoo tacked on to the end of a post about Jerry Yang's and Sue Decker's appearance at The Wall Street Journal's All Things D conference.

Yahoo! will be filing a definitive proxy statement and accompanying WHITE proxy card with the SEC in connection with the solicitation of proxies for its 2008 annual meeting of stockholders. Stockholders are strongly advised to read Yahoo!’s 2008 definitive proxy statement when it becomes available because it will contain important information. Stockholders will be able to obtain copies of Yahoo!’s 2008 definitive proxy statement and other documents filed by Yahoo! with the SEC in connection with its 2008 annual meeting of stockholders at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov or at the Investor Relations section of Yahoo!’s website at yhoo.client.shareholder.com. Yahoo!, its directors, and certain of its officers may be deemed participants in the solicitation of proxies from stockholders in connection with Yahoo!’s 2008 annual meeting of stockholders. Information concerning Yahoo!’s directors and officers is available in its preliminary proxy statement filed with the SEC on May 22, 2008.

This passage almost seems like a non sequitor. It's prefaced with a quip referring to Warren Buffett's cameo on "All My Children."

Posted by Kate Kaye at 9:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

May 28, 2008

Measuring Engagement: What Does It Mean?

Lots of people in digital marketing are promoting the concept of tracking engagement -- instead of giving credit to the last ad clicked on a Web site.

But what exactly does "engagement" mean? That question was posed to a panel at the American Association of Advertising Agencies' digital conference today in New York City.

And, if David Smith, chief executive of MediaSmith, had his way, he'd head back to the drawing board -- or Webster's.

Keep in mind, it's been three years since Advertising Research Foundation first promoted the concept of measuring "engagement." And Microsoft backs it in a big way, calling its approach, "engagement mapping."

Trouble is, Smith said: "Engagement is more of a concept. It's such a common word. We use it everyday to describe what a campaign is doing -- when we are not talking about a metric at all."

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 7:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

New York Times' TimesCenter, a Gem But No Juice

The auditorium in the new TimesCenter, part of The New York Times headquarters, left some laptop toting visitors attending the AAAA digital conference hungering for a little power.

Turns out the auditorium has no place for visitors to plug in their laptops and recharge their batteries.

While that's common in older venues, it's surprising for a site built for the 21st century.

On the plus side, there's wireless Internet service.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 3:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Will Microsoft Acquire a Directories Giant?

[UPDATED: Some disagreement in the comments over my use of a Compete chart below, so I've added data from ComScore].

Shares of U.K.-based Yell Group are up on rumors Microsoft has approached the directories publisher about a possible sale. The acquisition, if it came to fruition, would be Microsoft's first merger in the local business and residential look-up arena, and could be interpreted as a play for search share. For instance, Yell's online properties -- including Yell.com in the U.K., YellowBook.com in the U.S., and PaginasAmarillas.es in Spain -- could carry Microsoft Maps and local listings, along with geo-targeted advertising. And Yell's sales force could upsell local marketers on Microsoft's other channels.

Even so, YellowBook.com is hardly the leader in the space, particularly in the U.S.

According to ComScore, YellowBook.com's April traffic pales next to category leaders YellowPages.com (AT&T) and SuperPages.com (Idearc). SuperPages.com is the dominant online yellow pages player with over 30 million unique. However YellowBook.com boasts the highest growth rate, having bean-stalked 156 percent since April 2007 to over 14 million U.S. uniques.

And here's Compete's traffic comparison, which mainly goes to show how utterly hopeless an endeavor independent traffic verification still is.

What a sale to Microsoft would mean for Yell's working environment may be a point of some nervousness for the company's staff. The firm was just awarded a ninth place ranking on the Financial Times' list of the U.K.'s best workplaces.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 1:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack

Ikea's Mobile/Web/Game Ad Hybrid

Ikea is pulling out all the interactive marketing channel stops to promote the opening of its new Brooklyn store. The campaign -- aimed at getting New Yorkers to the new big box retail location in a seldom-visited area -- utilizes e-mail directing recipients to play a game played both online and via mobile device.

The Ikea Brooklyn Get There Giveaway asks viewers to locate boxes hidden on the pathways leading to the store on a map interface built in Ajax. Find and click on boxes containing designated Ikea products and players are given a code they can send via SMS. Each text message is an additional entry into a shopping giveaway.

The game is clever and somewhat engaging -- but it's not really apparent why mobile would come into play here. There's no apparent rhyme or reason in jumping across channels to actually enter the contest. That said, it doesn't unduly burden users, either, given mobile devices are usually within arms' reach.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 1:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 27, 2008

Quote of the Day: Tim O'Reilly

"So let's assume that Google has won at search, or close enough to make no difference. Is Microsoft better off trying to reimplement cat and ls [old UNIX utilities], or trying to figure out what's still missing from the Internet Operating System? While they are locked in penis envy, all the really cute girls are going out with startups."

-Tim O'Reilly, arguing Microsoft's search obsession has distracted it from important work it could be doing in service of Web users.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Making Sense of Gen Y Media Consumption

Forrester Research put out a report on media consumption among Gen-Yers (18-27 year-olds). The big takeaways aren't surprising. This group spends more time online than watching TV (Indeed, according to the report, they "Spend less time watching television today than they did in 2004."). They spend more time playing video games, watching DVDs and checking out Web and mobile video content than the general population.

To make sense of it all, Forrester offers a few tips for marketers:

Find consumers in their preferred media channels. Are your consumers online or offline? How are they spending their time online? What channels do they prefer? This media profile will answer those questions with a view of today and a trend line showing how behavior has changed in the past four years.

....Prioritize media channels and brands for advertising....One simple way to start is to compare your advertising spend against the time that your target customers spend with each channel and brand. For example, Gen Yers generally are more likely to be found on MySpace than Facebook, but perhaps your target market is more likely to use Facebook. Or it may be that your multichannel sports fanatic customer actually spends more time online than watching television!

Posted by Kate Kaye at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 23, 2008

Agencies Cut Ad Production Costs With Offshoring

Creative agencies are increasingly opting to outsource their production work to overseas firms, in order to minimize costs and maximize profits, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Companies from territories such as Eastern Europe, South America, and Asia, have adopted effective and lucrative business models, carrying out behind the scenes ad production work for major agencies at substantially lower prices.

With online advertising becoming increasingly global and targeted, hundreds of ad variations may be needed for any one campaign. Agencies still dictate creative for ads, specifying images, copy and animation, but then outsource the labor-intensive and time-consuming process of actually putting the ads together or building ad elements.

According to the WSJ, agency execs pay 20 percent to 50 percent less using overseas firms for this production, compared to what they would pay in the U.S.

Publicis Groupe's Digitas has even created a dedicated digital-production company, Prodigious Worldwide, responsible for overseeing offshore production. The unit's providers include avVenta, with offices in South America and Eastern Europe, and Kiev-based DDM among others.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 11:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Brightcove Launches Japanese Operation

Online video platform Brightcove has launched a majority-owned Japanese subsidiary, branded Brightcove KK, to grant it instant access to the Japanese market.

Headquartered in Tokyo, the Asian offshoot will operate a localized version of Brightcove's on-demand video platform, offering video distribution and advertising services.

The operation is backed by a $4.9 million investment from four leading Japanese digital media players, including ad network and technology company Cyber Communications Inc. (CCI), content delivery network J-Stream, prominent Japanese agency Dentsu, and information outsourcing company transcosomos.

Publicis also announced this week that it too was branching out further into the Asian market, acquiring Chinese digital agency EmporioAsia, to add to the Yong Yang marketing firm it snapped up last year.

Following its purchase of Digitas in 2006, Publicis also acquired Chinese independent interactive marketing network Communication Central Group (CCG) last year, which it re-branded Digitas Greater China.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 22, 2008

Publishers Want More Video Ad Creative from Agencies

Tired of seeing the same in-stream video ads over and over? The people selling them are getting sick of it, too. According to ad execs speaking at yesterday's Streaming Media East conference in New York, one reason for the lack of variety is a lack of creative.

"We don't get multiple creatives," said SVP Digital Sales at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Christine Cook, alluding to the time the same pre-roll ad for a particular advertiser kept popping up before video clips of Martha demonstrating recipes for pasta or brownies.

Cook (what a great name for a Martha Stewart ad seller!) had the crowd audience cracking up. As it turned out, the ads were for a laxative brand.

Noting the promise of hyper online ad targeting, Cook said she would like to see agencies develop more creative elements to enable customized variation of Web video ads. "We're not getting as much creative…so you lose that opportunity of having that one-to-one [targeting]," she said.

Not only are advertisers and agencies overwhelmed by the options, they might not have the ability or budgets to produce a lot of varying creative or Web video elements, said Peter Naylor, SVP Digital Media Sales at NBC Universal. "They're as resource constrained as anybody."

From Cook's experience Web video advertisers are also are reluctant to provide shorter spots. Part of the problem is a lack of standards, she believes. Different publishers ask for different ad lengths, or offer different video formats, for example.

Speaking of ad burnout, Cook said Martha Stewart even tried reducing ad rates for 5-10 second spots to spur use of shorter ad slots. Referring to longer spots, she said, "We knew it was burnout for the consumer."

Posted by Kate Kaye at 5:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

FM Green Lights a Green Network

Federated Media has set up a new mini-network in the green publishing category. Its new Green Federation launches with four sites (Inhabitat.com, Giga Omni Media earth2tech.com, Next New Media's ViroPOP.com and GM-VOLT.com), with subjects ranging from design to green tech to video. Ads on those properties today are mostly generic display executions for consumer and telco brands. FM's mission will be to bring environmentally-themed advertisers and products into the fold.

The below chart from Compete shouldn't be considered highly accurate, but it may give a rough indication of audience size at FM's top three green sites. Below that is a chart showing FM's top Green Federation site, Inhabitat.com, compared to category leader TreeHugger.com, which is owned by Discovery Communications.

Other FM Federations include Technology, Business & Marketing, Media & Entertainment, Video Gaming. Recently it entered a partnership with BabyCenter to co-sell inventory on a Parenting network.

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

Quote of the Day: Michael Eisner on YouTube

"The salacious and the stupid have been traditionally the avant garde and the advance guard of the more high-minded and definitely more profitable fare. The Internet will be no different. YouTube is celebrated as a completely revolutionary concept -- and it is. The ability for anyone, anywhere to create and distribute short-form entertainment that can be seen by anyone else, anywhere else is an extraordinary development. But in many ways, YouTube is very old news. It is to the Internet what the nickelodeon was to the movies -- a very preliminary installment of what is to come."

-Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner, speaking at Microsoft's advance08 event yesterday.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Countrywide CEO's E-mail Faux Pas

Disgusting.

That one single word made Countrywide Financial CEO Angelo Mozilo look like an ogre this week.

It all started when Daniel Bailey Jr. used language from a form letter to ask the lender to revise the terms of his adjustable-rate mortgage so he wouldn't lose his home. Bailey's note went out to about 20 Countrywide addresses, including Mozilo's, according to the latimes.com.

Mozilo took to the keyboard:

"This is unbelievable…Most of these letters now have the same wording. Obviously they are being counseled by some other person or by the Internet. Disgusting," wrote Mozilo, who apparently hit the "reply" button instead of "forward."

Bailey posted Mozilo's note on Loan Safe, bringing widespread attention to the "disgusting" reply.

Countrywide issued a statement to the latimes.com saying the company and Mozilo "regret any misunderstanding caused by his inadvertent response to an e-mail by Mr. Bailey. Countrywide is actively working to help borrowers like Mr. Bailey keep their homes."

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 11:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Disney Resorts Going 3-D on Google Earth

From the folks who brought the Hannah Montana concert tour to the movie screen in 3-D, next up: Disney Resorts in 3-D on Google Earth.

Walt Disney Parks and Resorts has been working with Google to develop a virtual tour of the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and other properties, USA Today reports. Visitors will be able to see rides like Splash Mountain, hotels, and other attractions in 3-D.

While the interactive map was to go live May 20, it's apparently not ready yet. "Mickey and friends are working away to make it great, but it's currently still in development," reads a note from the Magic Kingdom.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 7:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

May 20, 2008

Need to Roll Your Own Content? Digitas Brings the Zig Zag Papers

When you think about it, isn't the phrase "branded content" longer than it needs to be? What's the suffix "-ed" contribute, really? And "video," while pleasingly brief, doesn't really cover animation, does it?

The folks at Digitas have solved both linguistic failings with the launch of The Third Act, a new agency described as a "brand content platform" geared toward helping clients produce "motion media" content.

Whatever the verbiage used to describe it, the strategy behind this latest move from Digitas is clear. As clients are compelled to produce ever more original content, especially video content, it behooves the larger agency networks to mobilize their creative resources to serve that purpose.

To that end, The Third Act aims to offer a soup to nuts video services menu, beginning with idea development and extending to production and distribution on various platforms. The Third Act will tap talent from the agency's Boston and Chicago offices, as well as global production resources.

Based in New York, the entity will be helmed by SVP and MD Stephanie Sarofian and report up to global chief creative officer Marc Beeching. Digitas plans to showcase its new baby at a June 5 event in New York called Digital Content NewFront.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 7:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Ads See Light of Day on Google Image Search

When a Google exec mentions in an interview the search giant is thinking about a new ad product, it's hard to say whether it will become available to advertisers tomorrow, next quarter, or be swept under the virtual rug. In early May Marissa Mayer said in a Bloomberg Radio interview that monetization of its Image Search was something Google was considering. It was hard to read from the interview, though many interpreted her response as a done deal, when we might see image ads with our image results. Depending on your search queries, that day may be today.

At Google's factory tour it was discussed that the ad format was being tested. A Google spokesperson provided further information for ClickZ. "As part of our ongoing commitment to innovation and to help users find new and better ways of getting the information they're looking for, we are currently conducting a small test to show ads on the results page for Google Image Search. The experiment is restricted to a limited number of U.S. advertisers."

A few random searches turned up no ads so far.

Posted by Enid Burns at 4:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

SEC's New Fraud Charges Against Ex-AOLers: It Could Happen Again

Former CFO Mike Kelly is among eight former AOL Time Warner executives ensnared by a new set of Securities and Exchange Commission charges. The suits allege Kelly, AOL unit CFO Joseph Ripp and others fraudulently inflated ad revenues during the 2000 to 2002 bust cycle -- to the tune of about $1 billion. Kelly, Ripp and two others are contesting the charges, while four execs including David Cobourn have decided to settle for a combined $8.1 million.

The lawsuits are part of the agency's five-year-old investigations into how the company cooked its ad revenue books. The ad inflation scheme worked like so, per WSJ: "AOL made so-called round-trip transactions to inflate revenue, by giving vendors money to buy online advertising they didn't want or need."

The new charges come at a fairly poignant moment, given display ad CPMs are in decline by some measures, and Web ad companies are feeling pressure to perform in ways they haven't in several years. Granted I'm no financial expert, but it's not a stretch to speculate online ad inflation could happen again -- and probably will, as the nose-diving ad industry creates more downward pressure on display CPMs.

What form might those obfuscations take? Many factors can affect an online media company's ad volume or revenues, making both appear larger than they are. Those include false ad contracts like the one described above, older ad contracts made during boom years and extending into bust ones, the reporting of donated or pro bono ad inventory, the reporting of theoretical ad inventory -- for instance the number of total impressions available through an ad network versus actual ads served (We at ClickZ hear this one all the time), and the opaque ways many Web companies' traffic acquisition costs are set up and reported.

As an aside to all of the above, it's interesting to note that Lynda Clarizio, current president of Platform A, was at the time of the alleged transgressions a member of the company's business affairs unit -- which was also home to three of those targeted by SEC lawsuits. However, as SVP of business affairs and development between 1999 and 2002, her role was to lead the company's merger & acquisition activities -- not to calculate and report ad revenue to investors.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 3:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Quote of the Day: Jupiter's Emily Riley on Ad Networks

"Advertisers will move their budgets around and around the web, forever. Ad Networks serve a huge percentage of all of the display ads shown online, so even if advertisers test smaller sites, or different sites, they could not possibly make enough spot buys to equal the sheer volume they can get from one or two network buys. In addition, networks represent the most measurable portion of display advertising: therefore it is the most immune to economic downturn."

-Jupiter Research analyst Emily Riley, writing on display advertising during a recession.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 8:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Microsoft, Post-Gates

Stopped by to hear tech journalist Mary Jo Foley discuss her new book, "Microsoft 2.0, How Microsoft Plans to Stay Relevant in the Post-Gates Era."

On July 1, Bill Gates will give up his day-to-day responsibilities at Microsoft. As part of the transition, Lotus Notes inventor Ray Ozzie was named chief software architect in 2006, put in charge of product oversight.

However, Foley sees Ozzie as a behind-the-scenes player rather than Microsoft's public face. "Everyone says he's a brilliant guy, but he cannot deal with people," Foley said, speaking at a New York Software Industry Association meeting last night.

Foley said Microsoft has become more closely guarded about projects underway, behaving more like secretive Apple.

All the while, Microsoft is working on innovations typically unknown to the larger tech community. "Data portability -- Microsoft is actually doing stuff in that space. A lot of times it [Microsoft] gets dinged for being complacent, but it's in the pipeline. They are just not ready to announce it," she said.

What about Microsoft's proposal to acquire Yahoo's search-ad business? "It would make a lot more sense for Microsoft to sell its online ad business to Yahoo and have a joint venture," she said. "Yahoo would be crazy to sell its search business."

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 8:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 19, 2008

RecycleBank's Ad Model: What's Not to Love?

RecycleBank may not only be the greenest advertising model out there -- and everyone's jumping onto that band wagon these day -- but one of the most common sense new plays to come down the pike in years.

The program encourages and rewards consumer recycling, saves municipalities money, and creates value for advertisers in the process. Here's how founder and CEO Ron Gonen explains it.

Families are given a free curbside recycling bin equipped with an ID tag. When the bin is picked up by a truck retrofitted with a device to read the tag, the family is allocated points based on the amount they recycle. They can log in online to check the level of their points, then redeem them for coupons from participating advertisers -- Coke was first to sign on. Other local merchants such as Kraft, Petco, Staples and Dunkin' Donuts are also participating in the company's Wilmington, DE pilot program. Basically, these advertisers are rewarding highly loyal consumers who are doing good, and who are feeling pretty good about themselves in the bargain.

Coupons are snail-mailed to consumers, providing advertisers with yet another messaging opportunity. Yes, the company's fully aware a paper-based reward might not be the greenest thing on earth, but in order to get city government on board, they're compelled to offer that option.

RecycleBank makes its money not only from ad revenues, but also from the municipalities that sign onto its program and see significant savings as a result. Disposing of waste costs more than recycling, apparently.

How can you not love a program that's equal measures of smart, green, and win-win?

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 8:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Media Buyers Take Aim

Intergi created "Media Buyer's Revenge, a first-person shooter that understands why your heart pounds every time the phone rings, and every time Outlook alerts you to new e-mail.

Of course, while the game is played from the perspective of a media buyer, and has sales people in the crosshairs, Intergi itself wants you media buyers to advertise on game sites on its network. But happy shooting!

Posted by Enid Burns at 6:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Digital Vet to Helm WPP's In Vitro Agency for Dell

WPP poached the president of Digitas Boston to head up the new integrated global agency it's launching for Dell. Torrence Boone takes over the holding company's so-called Project Da Vinci, a made-from-scratch agency confection that will consolidate Dell's worldwide creative and marketing strategy account.

The 38-year-old CEO will be based in the new firm's New York headquarters and report directly to WPP Chief Martin Sorrell.

Sorrell said in a statement that Boone's seven-year background creating integrated ad programs at Digitas, and before that at Avenue A, made him the perfect candidate for the job. "His deep experience across multiple marketing disciplines and his reputation as a developer of innovative marketing programs make him uniquely qualified to lead Project Da Vinci as we focus on reinventing the approach for integrated marketing services," Sorrell said.

The agency will go after non-Dell accounts as well, of course. Sorrell: "We believe that Project Da Vinci will provide a template for other clients with similar desires."

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 5:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

24/7 Real Media, 368 Days Later

What's life for David Moore, chief executive of 24/7 Real Media, one year
and two years to the day after WPP agreed to acquire the company? (If you're
counting days, 2008 was a Leap Year.)

When 24/7 was a stand alone publicly-held company -- before the WPP
acquisition -- Moore estimates he spent about 35 to 40 percent of his time
on activities related to investor relations.

Now, he says he devotes the extra time collaborating with his WPP
colleagues and meeting with clients. When I met with him today in NYC,
he had just returned from a quick trip to Korea where had played golf with a
client. (OK, so he's suffers from a little jet lag today, but nothing that caffeine can't fix.)

Last year at this time, Real Media generated 50 percent of its quarterly
revenue from its search solution, 36 percent from its media operations, and
8 percent from its technology solutions.

Since the acquisition, 24/7's search consultancy was moved to WPP's GroupM
subsidiary, while the 24/7 unit licenses its search technology to GroupM and
Dentsu.

While Moore said he cannot divulge specific revenue projections, he
anticipates 24/7's media operations business will see healthy growth. While
it currently has clients in the U.K. and France, Moore has his eye on
expanding to at least five to 10 other European markets in the next three to
five years. It also sees opportunities for growth in Asia and Australia.

What does he think of the latest reports that Microsoft wants to acquire a
part of Yahoo's business? Microsoft, he points out, is one of WPP's top 10
clients. Plus, Nicolle Pangis, 24/7's VP, product manager, pointed out
that WPP last week announced plans to develop a trading platform that will
link to Yahoo's ad exchange, and integrate targeting technology from 24/7
Real Media.

And has any of DoubleClick's customers defected to 24/7 after the Google
acquisition? Moore said he hasn't seen anyone jump ship -- but isn't
surprised because technology contracts typically last three years unless
they include a change of ownership clause.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 3:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Jennewein Looks Forward to Post-Union-Trib Opportunities

I just got off the phone with Chris Jennewein, until recently VP of Internet operations at Union-Tribune Publishing Co., where he led Web projects like its SignOn San Diego-associated radio site. Chris and two close colleagues at the paper's Internet operation, Ron James and Jim Drummond, were laid off around a week ago.

Jennewein stressed he left "amicably" and "appreciates the opportunities I've had to develop innovative online products" for the newspaper firm. He said the company is "consolidating print and Internet operations."

He said he sees the change as "a chance to explore opportunities in online news and Internet media," noting his next gig could be at a more established company or a startup. Or, he may start something on his own. "It's only been a week," he reminded me.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 3:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Microsoft Memo: We'll Win in Display

Most analysts and investors still believe Microsoft's bid for Yahoo was strictly a search play. Display ads -- if they figured into the strategy at all -- were mere garnish to the main dish. Microsoft needs to compete harder with Google, and Google's power is contingent on its search market share. End of story, right?

Not exactly. In a memo to staff, Microsoft Platforms & Services President Kevin Johnson, identified the company's top ad-related priorities ahead of its Advance08 advertising conference this week. Among those priorities: "Win in display advertising."

"We have an advantage in tools, agency assets/relationships and a team laser-focused on capturing the display ad platform opportunity. As we build from a position of strength, we will increase engineering resources to drive even more innovation," Kevin wrote.

It's an area where Microsoft needs to show it means business. After all, the company has no fewer than five display platforms, including the MSN Network, DrivePM (courtesy of aQuantive), MSN Direct Response, AdECN, and high-profile individual relationships with sites like Digg, Facebook and WSJ Digital. Yet it has not yet consolidated those offerings into a unified platform offering, the way Yahoo, through AMP, and AOL, through Platform A, have both begun to do with their sprawling display ad holdings.

ClickZ will be on the floor at Microsoft's Advance08 event tomorrow and Wednesday, so check back with us for insights on how Microsoft plans to position its ad platforms and services in the wake of the Yahoo deal implosion.

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

Scripps Interactive Prez: "Customers Are On YouTube" (Quote of the Day)

“We want to be where the customers are, and they are on YouTube. More specifically, it’s a way for customers to snack on your brand in between full episodes... We will use that ability to snack as a brand builder and marketing play for our linear and nonlinear products.”

-Deanna Brown, president of the interactive group at Scripps Networks, commenting on the company's new distribution deal with YouTube. Bush’s Baked Beans is the current advertiser on 200 videos from Scripps’ HGTV, Food Network, DIY Network and Fine Living networks that are running on YouTube.

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May 18, 2008

Microsoft-Yahoo: A New Spin

Two weeks after withdrawing its bid for Yahoo, Microsoft has returned with another proposal: acquire only a portion of Yahoo.

Microsoft, in a statement, said it continues to "explore and pursue its alternatives to improve and expand its online services and advertising business."

The Wall Street Journal, quoting unnamed sources, reports Microsoft's proposal would involve Yahoo display ads sold by Microsoft next to Yahoo research results. That proposal appears to be in response to Yahoo's decision to test Google ads on its own search results pages.

Yahoo, in a carefully worded news release titled, "Yahoo! Remains Open to Value Maximizing Transactions," said it "confirmed with Microsoft that it is not interested in pursuing an acquisition of all of Yahoo at this time." (Note the use of the word, "all" here.)

Yahoo said it intends to evaluate alternatives, including any proposal from Microsoft, that would be in the best interest of stockholders.

This latest development comes days after Yahoo investor Carl Icahn made noise to launch a battle and replace Yahoo board members with an alternate board unless talks are renewed with Microsoft.

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May 16, 2008

State Governments Not Letting Up on Online Ad Players

State governments are becoming thorns in the side of the digital ad industry, and Texas is the latest state to wrangle an online ad player. Indeed, Texas is the reason World Ave is Out $800K. The lead gen services firm World Avenue will cough up the cash to the state as part of a deal to settle the case against it. According to the Texas Attorney General's Office, the state took legal action because the firm didn’t disclose that users would need to weed through a chain of sponsor offers (and register for them) before getting through to a promised iPod or other so-called "free" gift.

World Ave. works with clients including Blockbuster, Netflix, credit card companies, and others, offering products in exchange for customer data.

"World Avenue USA has agreed to develop and implement standards and best practices to ensure that proper disclosures are included in the future," according to the AG's press release. The company also has to abide by rules about using the word "free" that are becoming commonplace in such settlements. For instance, "when a purchase is actually required, that disclosure must be in close proximity to the word 'free' so that customers are adequately informed about costs associated with acquiring the 'free' item."

Like Florida's AG Office, which settled with World Ave in January (they agreed to pay $1 million), Texas seems active in investigating online ad companies. Back in November 2007, the Federal Trade Commission held a forum on behavioral targeting that featured a panel with Brad Schuelke, chief, Internet Enforcement Unit Office of the Texas Attorney General. He indicated state governments would be involved in inspecting that sector.

"I think in general right now the states are looking at a couple of things," he said. Yeah, it's vague, but the guy was on a panel at an FTC conference (I believe a representative of NY's AG Office was also present). That's indication in itself.

It's unclear whether Texas is investigating other firms for alleged fraudulent online ad practices. An AG Office spokesperson told me they don't reveal that information. "I will have to tell you that this office does not acknowledge investigations of any kind, but we welcome complaints from consumers at any time, particularly if they believe they are being defrauded or misled, as was the case with the World Avenue USA matter," he wrote in a later e-mail.

We know Florida is going after the big fish – companies that enable payments for alleged fraudulent mobile content offers. In February, AT&T Mobility agreed to pay $2.5 million to the AG's office in addition to refunding customer payments for ringtones and other cellphone content advertised as free.

It's my understanding that Attorney General's Offices often collaborate. When I spoke with Office of Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum in February, he told me state operations do talk from time to time because they're dealing with the same problems.

"There's communication," he continued, "but in reality, they have their own cases and we have our own efforts."

State approaches vary as much as the practices of the online ad industry firms they seek to regulate. Still, it's interesting to note Internet ad firms also work together to stave off unwanted government intervention. For instance, just last month, a once-loose collective of companies including Google, Yahoo, AOL and eBay finally incorporated officially after four years of collaborating to influence state policy.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 11:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 15, 2008

Curley to Leave WPNI

Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive's VP Product Development Rob Curley is leaving the firm. I've confirmed this with a source close to Curley, but no more info is available.

Classified Intelligence reported that Curley is taking on a gig with the Las Vegas Sun. Here's what they had earlier this afternoon:

Curley is attending the Editor&Publisher and MediaWeek Interactive Media Conference in Las Vegas, wearing his Post polo. But folks here are saying he's soon to join the Las Vegas Sun and its online properties. The Sun is owned by the Greenspun Media Group and has always been known for racy and edgy publications.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 3:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Yahoo Taking It From All Sides

Yahoo's having a rough go of it today, with the official emergence of a threat to its board led by investor Carl Icahn, and the usurpation (according to comScore) of its U.S. Web traffic leadership by Google.

In a letter to Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock, Icahn alleged the board "acted irrationally and lost the faith of shareholders and Microsoft," and proposed an alternate board that includes Marc Cuban, Adam Dell and himself. "It is unconscionable that you have not allowed your shareholders to choose to accept an offer that represented a 72 percent premium over Yahoo’s closing price of $19.18 on the day before the initial Microsoft offer." Wall Street Journal has more coverage. TechCrunch has the letter to Bostock.

The goal of a proxy fight would be to consummate a deal with Microsoft, but for that to happen Microsoft would have to go along. That it will is far from certain. Some of the post-collapse speculation and rumor has held that Ballmer & his cohorts had become unsure about the deal were secretly relieved to see it die. However many in the investment community continue to maintain a deal is still possible, if only because Icahn would not have undertaken this move without some indication Microsoft would still be receptive.

Update: Yahoo fired back late yesterday, accusing Icahn of misunderstanding the facts about Microsoft's proposal and how it imploded. Its letter restated Yahoo's position that its board was always open to negotiating a deal and that Microsoft has stated clearly it's "moving on."

Meanwhile the traffic report from comScore is largely symbolic but still painful to Yahoo, which for years has enjoyed the right to call itself the leader of the pack in terms of U.S. reach. According to the measurement firm, both companies possessed about 141 million visitors on their owned and operated sites during the month of April. However it claims Google has an edge, for the first time, of about 466,000 users. Of course comScore's numbers are notoriously shaky and for that reason the finding means very little. For all purposes the companies are locked in close combat for rights to say they have the biggest audience.

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YouTube Adds Demographics Tab to Analytics Tools

YouTube has added a demographics tab to its Insight analytics platform for video uploaders. The feature makes it easy for creators to break down viewer patterns by age, gender or a combination of the two. The data come from birthday and gender data people are asked to share when they set up YouTube accounts.

The feature addition was announced in a blog post today from product manager Nick Jakobi. That post also notes many creators are altering their upload schedules based on learnings from the analytics tools, including insights about exactly when users are tuning in. In previous conversations with marketers, ClickZ learned that many agencies have used the platform to glean some new insights from old videos.

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

May 14, 2008

IBM Predicts Decline in CPM-Based Ad Sales

In a report titled "The End of Advertising as We Know It", IBM has predicted significant changes for online advertising, forecasting "greater disruption for the advertising industry in the next five years than occurred in the previous 50."

Of the 80 "advertising experts" surveyed, more than half expect open advertising exchanges to take 30 percent of current revenues commanded by traditional media in the next five years.

In addition, two thirds expect 20 percent of ad revenue to move away from impression-based sales, in favor of action-based within three years, says the report.

The report goes on to imply that the balance of power in the ad market may move away from the provider, and towards the consumer, with individuals gaining increased control of how and where they view advertising.

As the report states, "Traditional advertising players - broadcasters, distributors and advertising agencies - may get squeezed unless they can successfully implement consumer, business model and business design innovation."

"Consumers are forcing marketers to experiment and make advertising more compelling, or risk being ignored."

IBM also surveyed more than 2,400 consumers, with results suggesting that the public now spend more time at their PCs than they do in front of their TV sets. More than 70 percent of respondents claimed to use the Internet for more than two hours a day, compared with just 48 percent spending the equivalent time watching TV.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Euro Agency Mergers: iProspect Enters Germany, MRM Grabs Starsky in Stockholm

There were a couple noteworthy overseas agency acquisitions yesterday. Aegis has acquired Germany-based rmsarcar.com and will merge it with its iProspect search marketing unit. The firm's clients include Scout24, Skyeurope and TUI.com. It'll be rebranded iProspect Germany.

Meanwhile McCann Worldgroup-owned MRM Worldwide swallowed Sweden-based Starsky, merging the smaller firm with its operation in Stockholm. The new entity will be called MRM Starsky Worldwide and have clients including Scandinavian Airlines, Vattenfall, SEB, TeliaSonera and Scania. Starsky founder Anders Nyström becomes deputy managing director of MRM Starsky. Starsky's 18 employees brings the MRM Stockholm staff total to 65.

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Quote of the Day: Ian Schafer on YouTube Buzz Targeting

"Isn’t advertising on the most pre-viral videos on YouTube (and using that as your inventory pool) sucking all of the demographic and contextual targeting out of it? It just feels to me like such a blatant attempt to lure advertisers into the ‘flavor of the minute’ [is] setting the effort up for failure in terms of ad performance.

Here’s the question I’m left asking: Is this going to be an effort that can command and justify higher CPMs? Or is this just another shortcut to associating ads with ‘cool’ content? We all know the ‘coolest’ videos on YouTube are created by non-professionals…"

-Ian Schafer, writing in his blog about YouTub'es new Buzz Targeting feature.

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May 13, 2008

Entrepreneurs: Random Musings on Web's Past and Future

A group of top tech entrepreneurs paneled in New York tonight. Talk was lively, if not deep, given the audience ofINSEAD alums hailed mainly from the relatively distant shores of Wall Street.

Discussion encompassed online media and marketing. Some highlights:

Start-up vet Kevin Ryan was anything but bullish on mobile. "Not one single company in mobile is valued at $1 billion. The carriers are blocking all the innovation."

Moderator Henry Blodgett asked the panel how to fix newspapers. Bain Capital Group's Daniel Allen thinks they ought to capitalize on their relationships with local advertisers and teach them the ropes of online marketing.

What's hot that should be not? The Ladders co-founder Alexandre Douzet thinks Ning's value lies primarily in co-founder Marc Andressen's name. Indeed's Paul Forster votes for Twitter's lack of a business model.

And while there was general agreement things are about to get a little grim, none of these entrepreneurs believe online is on the verge of a recession that even approaches the severity of the last bubble, or dot-bomb. Ryan laughingly reminisced about a week in 2000 when he went skiing and DoubleClick's market cap soared $1 billion while his out-of-the-office e-mail auto-responder was, essentially, running the company.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 9:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

FTC Clarifies Single Sender CAN-SPAM Rule

The Federal Trade Commission amended four CAN-SPAM Act provisions. The new rules stipulate that companies don't charge users to opt-out of receiving e-mails. They also alter the definition of the term "person," according to the FTC press