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July 1, 2008

July 1, 2008

McCain Taking Cue from Clinton Camp?

John McCain wants you to "Invest in Victory." According to information gathered by Media Trust, the McCain camp is running ads with a call-to-action reminiscent of the ones Clinton relied on during her run for the presidency. Ads spotted on sites based in swing states including New Hampshire and North Carolina, among other sites, urge supporters to "Invest in Victory, Donate $25."

Display ads from Hillary Clinton's shuttered campaign were almost entirely fundraising-based, suggesting people "Donate $5" or "Donate $50."

Until recently, John McCain for President hasn't taken a blatant fundraising approach in online display ads; rather, the campaign has pushed for people to sign petitions against pork-barrel spending, or sign up to join the campaign. (Using those sign-ups, he then hits up those registrants for donations. Barack Obama's campaign has taken a similar tack.

Check out our Campaign '08 display ad galleries:
Clinton ad gallery
McCain ad gallery
Obama ad gallery

Posted by Kate Kaye at 5:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

AOL, Microsoft, WPP: Top Wheeler Dealers

Marketing executives working with digital media vendors might need a scorecard handy to track who owns who these days.

AOL, Microsoft, and WPP each acquired five marketing, advertising, or digital media companies during the first six months of 2008, according to a report on mergers and acquisitions released today by investment bankers Petsky Prunier.

According to Petsky Prunier's research, the companies making the most acquisitions -- and some of their purchases -- include:

AOL: Bebo, a social networking site; Goowy Media, a widget development platform, and Perfiliate Technologies, an affiliate network.

Microsoft: Farecast.com, an online travel search engine, and Rapt, advertisement management software.

WPP Group: Integrated Media Measurement, which has a media measurement system that links media exposure to consumer action, and Yankelovich, a consumer research company.

Aegis Group: AdWatch, a Russian Internet advertising agency, and Globlet, a Thailand search marketing agency.

Havas Advertising: Kadium, a San Francisco digital ad agency, and Shake, a promotion marketing agency based in Chatham, NJ.

A look at the marketing, advertising, and digital media sectors shows the most money was exchanged for digital media companies. There were 78 transactions involving digital media companies totaling $6.3 billion, the firm reported.

Of those deals involving digital media companies, more than one-half involved user-generated or social media businesses. Those deals included AOL's acquisition of Bebo and Goowy Media, and Buzznet's purchase of Idolator.

In all, the Wall Street firm identified 398 deals valued at $19.7 billion involved marketing, advertising, and digital media companies for the first half of this year. Compared to the same period in 2007, the number of deals was up this year by 21 percent but the total transaction dollar volume was down by 26 percent. It said the drop in the value of transactions was due to two factors: this year's soft economy and two large deals last year with Microsoft's acquisition of aQuantive and Google's purchase of DoubleClick for $3.1 billion. (The Google-DoubleClick deal closed earlier this year, but was included by Petsky Prunier in the 2007 tally.)

As expected, no mention of the deal that didn't happen: Microsoft-Yahoo.

Or who's next.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 4:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Google and Seth MacFarlane: YouTube-Plus, Banner Ad Band-Aid or What?

Google's deal to distribute a new series from "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane on its AdSense network is nothing new. The company has pushed YouTube videos with text and overlay ads to AdSense publisher partners since at least last October, and as far back as a year ago had a specific deal with MTV networks to distribute MTVN video clips and in-stream video ads to some sites.

The MacFarlane link-up is the same. The videos live on a YouTube brand channel, not inside the ad units. But it's still noteworthy for three specific reasons.

First is the big name talent involved. Seth MacFarlane is super bankable and his “Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy" is a good get for YouTube.

Second, the sponsorships Google and its partner Media Rights Council are trying to sell alongside the clips will be a cut above what it's tried before. Whereas last Fall Google was focused on text, pre-roll and display units, it's now moving into closer pairings of advertiser and content. Google has stated very clearly that it plans to treat advertising in "Cavalcade" as branded entertainment. (Those are Google's own words, though I would argue they shouldn't apply in situations where advertiser content is hitched up to pure unbranded content. When the two are connected, that's traditional advertising, even if the ads happen to be really good. Branded entertainment is standalone.)

Lastly, Google may be trying -- in its oblique way -- to apply a salve to the world's chronic and worsening case of banner blindness. Industry-reported click-through rates, brand impact research from Dynamic Logic, and eye tracking studies from Pew and others have all found the effectiveness of display advertising is in decline. Some are speculating that by moving to distribute quality video content in ad space, Google could help re-sensitize Internet users to banner ads.

I agree with that up to a point. Yet there's only so much Google can do given its low ranking on the display ad totem pole. While ComScore pinpoints it as the third largest ad network in terms of reach, behind Yahoo and Platform A, the vast majority of Google's inventory is text ads. Even so, it's nice to see an ad network operator do something -- anything! -- to aid the humble banner, which continues to be favored by marginal advertisers and neglected by blue chips.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 1:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Redrum Returns!

Y'all have been asking for it, but it just didn't seem right to throw another Redrum Tuesday with co-foundress Dana Todd in Left Coast exile.

Problem solved. Dana's back in New York (it's her Newsforce roadshow), so we're doing it again. Our next Redrum is on Tuesday, July 8, 5:30 – 8:00 pm ET at the usual place, Nolita House ( 47 E. Houston, between Mulberry & Mott).

Newbie? Here are the rules:

You show up.
You buy your own drinks.
You talk with other people who work in interactive marketing.

Here are the other rules:

No schwag.
No speeches.
Yes, you can bring a friend.
Please don't RSVP.
No, there isn't a guest or mailing list you can get on.

We're busy. You are, too. This is our hyper-informal, non-structured, friendly way of getting together with our colleagues and meeting new friends at a safe remove from the world of trade shows in hotel ballrooms.

Hope you can make it if you're in NYC next Tuesday!

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 10:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

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