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May 20, 2008

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

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