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May 4, 2008 - May 10, 2008

May 9, 2008

Google's Mayer Talks Image Ads in Search

On Bloomberg Radio this week, Google Search exec Marissa Mayer was asked how Google justifies blowing off the $200 million per year the company claims it could make from text ads on its image search results. Her response, "Ads should match the results." She said if Google were to run ads in Image Search, they would likely be image ads. She also said attention would be paid to the relevance, user experience, and types of interaction with image search.

Based on those remarks, Bloomberg posted a follow-up story, "Google May Run Display Advertisements With Image-Search Results," that makes such advertising appear imminent. Then came the blogged headlines: "Google Will Put Display Ads Into Image Searches on Tom's Guide and the speculative "Will Image Ads Bring Google More Money?. Are these publications, and plenty others, jumping to conclusions? Yes.

Listen to the radio interview (I recommend using Explorer, it crashes Firefox) for yourself. Mayer is answering questions rather than offering information about upcoming advertising products.

That said, selling ads on image search results pages would contribute significant revenues to Google. There's interest from advertisers, too. "For advertisers to have a very visual product… could certainly be a great opportunity," said Kevin Lange, director of operations at SMG Search, a division of Starcom MediaVest.

The caveat for image search versus text search: "What is the mindset that goes to image search and searches for 'car,' as opposed to Google.com and searches for 'car.'"

Lange also said Image search is a relatively small user base. ComScore data reports 707 million searches in image search, compared to 8.3 billion searches on all Google sites combined in March. Google received 149.6 billion unique searchers in March, and Google Image Search received 43.7 million uniques.

Posted by Enid Burns at 4:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

AdMission Sells Some Assets to Cobalt

Post written by Fred Aun.

AdMission, a developer of dynamic display ads for small and local advertisers, has sold "certain assets" to The Cobalt Group. The companies did not confirm a report that the assets in question are its Spotlight Ads division, and would only say the deal was needed to keep up with the times.

"Online advertising is an extremely exciting and rapidly evolving market and display advertising is the fastest growing segment of the category," said a statement posted to AdMission's site. "AdMission has pioneered the concept of highly effective dynamic ad formats that will shape the industry in the years to come. To fully achieve the potential of the AdMission ad platform we believe it needs to be part of a larger entity with considerable sales and marketing resources behind it."

The company re-assured its customers it will continue working with and supporting them. In fact, it said they can look forward to "a major enhancement release" of the platform in this quarter.

Cobalt provides digital marketing services to more than 10,000 companies in North America including a big chunk of the automotive industry.

"Support for the AdMission platform, partners and customer base will be retained in San Ramon, CA as a division of Cobalt," noted AdMission, adding that most of its current customer support, development, IT and integration staffers "are remaining on the team."

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 3:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 8, 2008

EyeWonder Wants You to Learn a New Language

You may have seen an announcement from EyeWonder out on the wires earlier this week. When we here in the newsroom at ClickZ saw it, our response was a universal "huh?"

It said EyeWonder has "unveiled a new category for the advertising industry, 'Interactive Digital Advertising.' The new category was created to address the challenges today's leading interactive agencies face in clearly defining and communicating rich media."

Interactive Digital Advertising? Yeah, it's been around for quite some time now. It's called rich media.

Right?

So, why would EyeWonder, a longtime player in the rich media ad space, want to float this new moniker? I had a long talk with CEO John Vincent this afternoon. He explained the reasoning behind the decision, and overall said a lot of really interesting stuff. Alas, my computer decided it didn't feel like saving my notes from our conversation. So, I'll do my best to boil our talk down to its essence.

Essentially, since EyeWonder has become more and more involved in exploring new ways to serve advertisers on emerging platforms outside the Web, it's run into some language barriers. It seems people developing campaigns for mobile or iTV equate rich media with the Web. They think of video-enabled display ad units.

While the term "rich media" really encompasses a lot more than that, many working on these emerging platforms don't see it that way. Mention "rich media" when discussing campaign possibilities and their heads start to spin, or their faces curl up in confusion, or something like that. (OK, Vincent didn't actually describe it like that, but I'm using creative license here.)

Also, according to Vincent, the fact that "rich media" encompasses just about any multimedia experience requiring relatively large files is part of the problem. It's not specific enough either.

Because campaign development is becoming less silo-ed in terms of agency processes -- the mobile folks need to work with the Web folks, etc. -- it helps if they speak the same tongue.

Hence, the new term. Whether it actually makes it into the industry lexicon is another thing....

Posted by Kate Kaye at 5:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

IAB: When Is Rich Media Really Rich?

The Interactive Advertising Bureau today released guidelines that would update the definition of rich media as well as revise guidelines for other ad formats. The IAB has asked for comment within the next 30 days before locking down them down.

When asked about the highlights, Marla Nitke, IAB spokeswoman, pointed to the three bullet points in the IAB news release. The highlights are:

*Redefine rich media. It would refer to "advertisements with which users can interact (as opposed to solely animation and excluding click-through functionality) in a web page format," the proposed change reads. Rich media, under the proposal, also includes in-page and in-text digital video ads where the associated content isn't streaming in a player.

*Offer guidance on file weights and animation lengths for both rich and non-rich media online ads.

*Address ad formats such as banners and buttons as well as transitional and various over-the-page units such as floating ads, page take-overs and tear-backs. New units would include a 720x300 pop-under and a 300x100 or 3:1 rectangle.

"These standards aren't bad for creatives. They seem to be an efficiency
for media traffickers. A "one size fits all" standard is great but we
could loose the dynamism that online adverting used to enjoy," Dorian Sweet, creative director/digital strategist, wrote to ClickZ, when asked for his thoughts on the proposed standards.

And this from Deep Focus CEO Ian Schafer: "The only thing that jumps out at me as significant is this: 'Redefine rich media so that ads must be interactive aside from the
ability to click-through in order to be categorized as rich media.'

"I like that. Another reason to talk about ‘engagement’ and its relative metrics, and another reason for all ads to be rich media."

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 4:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Enliven to Merge with Offline Ad Management Player

One of the more storied vendors in the digital marketing arena, Enliven, has agreed to merge with DG FastChannel, an ad production and creative asset management firm. The combined entity hopes to offer advertisers a single place to create and manage ad assets, especially video.

Enliven offers rich media, mobile and in-game ad products and services. It was originally acquired by Unicast in 2002 and then absorbed into Viewpoint (known for its 3D and hologram digital imaging technology) two years after that. Some time later Viewpoint was rebranded Enliven, after which it promptly dropped out of sight. Or at least out of ClickZ's sight. For the past few years the company has either failed to return our calls or declined to speak with us about its operations.

In any case, Eniliven's capabilities will be added to DG FastChannel's traditional media management suite, which supports national and local broadcast and cable TV, radio, and print. The combined entity will also offer post-production services, a searchable database of TV ads, and Web site development, courtesy of the SpringBox agency brand. Not sure how much "agency" there is behind that "brand," but there you go.

The all-stock transaction values Enliven at approximately $98 million. DG FastChannel previously owned 12 percent of the company.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 2:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Myanmar: Relief Fundraising Kicks In

A Google search for "Myanmar," devastated by a cyclone, shows that nonprofits are turning to paid search to help raise funds to assist victims. Here's a partial list of the results:

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 12:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 7, 2008

Disaster Planning for Online Ad Inventory

Talk about forethought -- or in this case, is it afterthought?

Nola.com, the online presence of New Orleans' Times-Picayune, has -- as the very first paragraph of its online media kit -- the following call-to-action:

ATTENTION Current NOLA.com Advertisers ONLY. Hurricane Advertising Information. Please fill out instructions for your campaign in case of emergency/evacuation. CLICK HERE.

The form on the landing page requests complete contact information, the name of the advertiser's sales rep, and the following menu button choices:

How would you like us to handle your campaign?
- take down
- leave up
- leave up with new creative

Clearly, New Orleans is a city that knows a thing or two about disaster, and Nola.com's on-the-ground coverage of Hurricane Katrina was nothing short of heroic. While Katrina was the worst, it was hardly the first, and sadly will probably not be the last hurricane to wreak havoc on the Crescent City.

New Orleans media isn't the first to face difficulties with advertising in the wake of catastrophe. The New York Times was compelled to publish a special, stand-alone, ad-free print section for a full year of post-9/11 coverage to cope with adjacency issues.

There's a lesson in this for any publisher, namely that disasters happen. And that disaster planning is best undertaken in advance of the actual disaster.

So here's the homework assignment: implement a plan for your ad inventory before a worst-case scenario occurs where you live, work, or publish.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 9:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Aegis Acquires Brazilian Agency Age

Aegis Group has acquired Brazilian communications agency Age, which offers trade and sports marketing, online planning and buying, and offline creative services.

Having already acquired Brazil's largest independent digital agency AgenciaClick in 2007, Aegis plans for the two to "work closely together, sharing resources and creating a fully integrated marketing offer in Brazil," according to a press release.

Aegis' internal numbers show the Brazilian market commands almost 40 percent of Latin America's total ad spend, and has grown at an average annual rate of 18 percent since 2002.

Founded in 2000, Age currently has clients including Adidas and PriceWaterhouseCoopers, and assets of $2 million, according to the agency.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Google Dominates Europe, but Eastern EU Sites Gain Share

Today, ComScore released its March data on European search engine market share. Unsurprisingly Google sites came out on top, commanding 79 percent of searches across the continent. Yahoo and Microsoft came in fourth and fifth place, each with about 2 percent of search market share, respectively.

Worth noting however, is the increasing share for engines in the Eastern European markets, which are dominated by non-English language search technology.

Two Polish properties, Nasza-Klaska.pl and QCL Ricardo have shown considerable relative growth in comparison to ComScore's February figures. Nasza-Klaska.pl clocked up 1.3 percent of European searches in March, up from 1.1 percent in February. QCL Ricardo also increased to 1.2 percent in March.

In addition, Yandex, Russia's premier search facility trumped both Microsoft and Yahoo with its 2.2 percent share, slightly below the 2.3 percent it managed in February.

"With Russia's online population now the fastest growing in Europe, it is likely that some of these local search engines will continue to gain traction and market share," Jack Flanagan, EVP of comScore said in a statement.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 11:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Quote of the Day: Jeff Lanctot

"The most effective agencies must live squarely at the intersection of marketing and technology. They should be sprinting to that intersection. Not just digital agencies, but all agencies. As all media becomes digital, any agency that doesn’t view itself as a technology company should commence reflecting fondly on the good ol’ days. The road ahead is likely to be significantly less fulfilling."

-Jeff Lanctot, SVP of Avenue A | Razorfish Media, writing in his blog.

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

Google Joins Venture for High-Speed Mobile Net Access

Google has signed onto a venture, led by Sprint, to develop and deliver high-speed wireless Internet access for mobile devices, according to a published report.

Comcast, Time Warner, Intel, Clearwire, and others are set to announce they will invest $3.2 billion for the technology called WiMax, the WSJ.com reports.

The New York Times, quoting an unidentified source, said Google could provide the search engine for the wireless platform, enabling it to sell advertising there. Google is said to be contributing $500 million to the initiative.

Plans call for the wireless data-and-voice network to have the download speeds of cable broadband and the reach of a cellphone network.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 6:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 6, 2008

Cisco Sponsors Forbes Q&A Tool for Biz Pros

Forbes.com has paired with Cisco in the launch of a social network geared towards business professionals. The AnswerNetwork, launched in beta, is "Forbes.com’s first online social network designed for the person-to-person exchange of knowledge and expertise among business executives, friends and relatives seeking to share and obtain specific knowledge," according to a press release. Also, users will get credits for responding to questions.

A spokesperson told me Cisco, in addition to sponsoring, is providing the networking technology for the customer service and peer to peer features for the new service. Banners for Cisco's video technologies can be seen alongside the AnswerNetwork interface.

Users can pose and answer questions, and check out previously answered questions organized into browse-able categories including Markets, Entrepreneurs, Leadership, and Technology. Still, unless I'm doing something wrong (definitely bound to happen), there are no questions or answers stored in that section yet.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 6:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

E-Mail Marketers Haven't Forgotten Mom

With Mother's Day coming up, a search for "mother" in my personal e-mail inbox turned up these marketing pitches. Some come from the usual suspects, while others aren't so ususal.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 4:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Calculate the Value of a Widget -- in a Widget

Thank DoubleClick for this nifty tool: a widget that calculates the value of a widget.

Google's Ari Paparo, previously DoubleClick's VP, advertiser products, brought it to marketers' attention yesterday at IAB's digital video leadership forum. He participated on the panel, "Format Wars No More."

When asked if brands will start tracking mentions on Twitter, Ning, and other social applications, Paparo pointed out that tracking is fairly easy to do.

But assigning value to that chatter is tough. Paparo likened it to attending a party, picking up business cards, and then trying to attach a dollar value to that experience.

Sounds like a good candidate for another widget calculator.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 7:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

May 5, 2008

Online Video Ads: High Price, High Value?

How long will online video ads, on a CPM basis, cost more than television ads?
"It's driven by a dearth of quality produced video online," said Nick Johnson, NBC's VP, national sales, Internet and broadband.

"It's a marketplace supply and demand story," said Johnson, speaking at the IAB's Digital Video conference today in NYC. He said the costs will likely remain higher, for now, as long as consumers respond better to online video ads than television ads. "There's a lot of opportunities to be interactive, to be a very immersive experience," he said.

From Endemol USA, the producers of reality television series such as "Big Brother," look for brand-sponsored content online, said Jon Vlassopulos, SVP, digital media and branded entertainment. (Last month, NBC Universal said it is working with Omnicom Media Group Digital to pair brands with content.)

Two years ago, Endemol Mobile created an interactive mobile video for Nokia, called "Get Close To…Sugababes." It featured clips of the pop group. And the video was shot on -- you guessed it -- Nokia phones.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 3:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Web Analytics Board Elections

The Web Analytics Association (WAA) elected its 2008/2009 board of directors. Those with board positions are listed here. Last year there was an effort to enact a changeover of directors, and it looks like it happened again without much of a push. About half of the board is new, and several of the incumbents are sophomore directors. The new and fresh members in power is a good thing as it means new and fresh ideas for the WAA.

Posted by Enid Burns at 3:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Is the Stage Set for an AOL Sale?

With the dust settling around Microsoft's abortive bid for Yahoo, one thing's quickly becoming clear: The self-destruction of this particular takeover attempt is not the end of Yahoo's odyssey but merely a mid-way point. Analyst and blogger speculation this morning has anticipated a variety of outcomes for Yahoo, including a deal with News Corp (though talks have reportedly "cooled"), an acquisition of ValueClick, and even a late third act consummation with Microsoft.

The next big Web company to sell may not be Yahoo, however. Last month we learned Yahoo was closing in on a deal to imbibe AOL. Presumably those talks are still underway, and word this morning is Microsoft has already entered the fray. Google may also be interested in AOL, which would give it the reach in display that has so far eluded it.

Microsoft seems the best bet to triumph in any competitive bidding process, given it's already flashed its money roll to investors and the business community. Plus it really does crave search market share. And while AOL's 5 percent wedge of the U.S. search pie is modest by comparison to Yahoo's 21 percent, Microsoft could nearly match Yahoo by buying both AOL and Ask. Sweetening the deal for Microsoft, buying those two entities would would end Google's ad distribution deals with them, cutting into its profits.

Additionally, any company to combine with AOL will command the display ad market. A combined AOL-Yahoo would be a true powerhouse, as the companies are #1 and #2 in display. A combined Google-AOL would create huge inroads into display for a company that's so far still just barely out of lip-service territory in the category.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 2:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Kelsey Local Media Conference: Random Notes

I had a blast at the Kelsey conference in Seattle last week. In addition to news coverage from the event on FIM, Yahoo and The LA Times, here are a few tidbits I found interesting:

SubPrime Auto Loan Lead Gen Potential
Cars.com founder and CEO Mitch Golub suggested there's room for a new vertical in the local auto lead generation space: subprime auto loans. Because, according to Golub, 50 percent of car buyers don't qualify for prime loans, "I guess that's another vertical to be developed."

On Buy-in from Sales Partners
Ad product and service providers looking to attract small businesses and local advertisers need a way to connect with those clients. So, they forge relationships with yellow pages companies or newspaper publishers – companies with entrenched local sales forces that can go out and sell their Web video product or SEM services along with a YP or newspaper site ad.

Lots of deals along these lines have been made recently between vendors and publishers, but feelings are mixed as to the potential success of such partnerships. Golub told the Kelsey conference audience, vendors that think newspaper salespeople will readily go out and sell their products, are "smoking something funny." He was one of a couple execs at the conference who didn't shy away from tellin' it like it is.

But in a panel focused on local resellers, Carey Ransom, VP of business development for WebVisible indicated he's seen success in such partnerships, particularly when salespeople go beyond their regular pool of advertisers. "The ones that are stretching a little bit are the ones that are seeing the most success," he said.

On Selling to Small Businesspeople
During that "Local Resellers" session, SpotRunner GM of Local Marketing Services Kurt Weinsheimer reminded the audience that folks running small businesses have unique needs. "We're dealing with the head of sales, CMO, COO all in one person," he said. "They have very different questions and very different needs."

For instance, when selling TV, information about reach and frequency or points may be important to traditional media buyers at agencies, but it often goes over the heads of small business advertisers. "It's deer in the headlights when it comes to a small business," said Weinsheimer, adding that SpotRunner alters the type of data it reports to such advertisers.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 1:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

IAB Launches Video Ad Compliance Seal

In conjunction with finalizing its Digital Video In-Stream Ad Format Guidelines, the Interactive Advertising Bureau has unveiled a compliance program à la TRUSTe. The new guidelines were proposed a month ago, and nothing in those original guidelines has changed following a comment period.

According to the IAB press release, "The IAB suggests that compliant member sites post the compliance seal in their online media kit as well as in their print versions. Media buyers will be educated about the benefits of Digital Video Ad Format Guidelines and be encouraged to look for the seal."

Posted by Kate Kaye at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

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