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March 15, 2009 - March 21, 2009

March 20, 2009

OPA's Ad Program: Extra Large Units Not Yet in Circulation

Did you spot that enormous swath of blue and green on the New York Times homepage today? Did you wonder for a minute if it might be part of the new test of XXL formats unveiled by the Online Publishers Association. You're not alone. Silicon Alley Insider was among those to speculate that the ad for Lowe's (displayed below) is one of the new units offered through the recent program to create more impactful display advertising.

Turns out the ad has nothing to do with the program. A spokesperson for the Times just told me the Lowe's unit is one NYTimes.com has used before. She said the site has pledged to offer at least one of the OPA units by July 1st.

An OPA rep confirmed the new ad units had not begun to appear. She said if the ad unit were part of the program, the ad would move down the page as a user scrolled down.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 2:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Spiral Frog Croaks, Burdened by Debt and Unproven Ad Model

Spiral Frog, one of the early entrees in the ad-supported music area, has ceased operations. The company's Web site went dark yesterday evening and its assets forked over to creditors, according to CNET. During its fleeting three years in business, the company endured many problems, including unwilling labels, management in-fighting, and DRM problems. The killing blow may have been a $10 million debt burden it just couldn't keep up with, details of which were reported by Digital Music News last month.

After making a splash in mid-2006 with a deal to distribute free, ad-supported music from Universal Music Group and EMI, Spiral Frog struggled to pick up additionally studio partners. It launched officially in September 2007, but faced wide skepticism in light of its incompatibility with Apple devices.

Did advertiser interest, or lack thereof, play a part in Spiral Frog's failure? It's likely. In an era where digital marketers are cutting their experimental ad buys, it's arguably tough for any audio-based ad service to make the cut. Additionally, Spiral Frog is the second ad-supported music service to shut down recently. CNET noted a similar service, Ruckus, called it quits last month. Remaining in the market is QTrax, a peer-to-peer download service that's still in beta. In light of the struggles faced by its competitors, one wonders when -- or if -- version 1.0 will come along.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 10:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

March 19, 2009

A Modest Proposal for the Online Ad Industry

Like most people clued into the security and privacy issues surrounding digital advertising, I understand why people are concerned about them, and why some have called for better disclosure of what data is gathered and how it's employed and stored.

But that doesn't mean I wasn't surprised to read about what marketing professor Joseph Turow of the Annenberg School for Communication of the University of Pennsylvania thinks is a good solution.

According to Saul Hansell's NYTimes.com Bits blog post, Turow wants online ads to feature "an icon on each ad that signifies that the ad collects or uses information about users. If you click the icon, you will go to what he calls a 'privacy dashboard' that will let you understand exactly what information was used to choose that ad for you. And you'll have the opportunity to edit the information or opt out of having any targeting done at all."

Here's some more insight into Turow's grand scheme: "You will see what part of [the ad] was customized -- the product, the price, the image and so on. You will also see the data used -- your surfing habits, outside data vendors, inferences from your I.P. address, etc. You can click to learn more specifics about exactly where the data came from and to delete or modify the information used about you."

Imagine the logistics. That would mean not only immediately presenting data from multiple players -- advertisers, publishers, and who knows how many third party tech firms -- but translating it in a way that would be comprehensible to your average Joe. If it were possible -- and I imagine it's not IMpossible -- could the user be confident that the data displayed indeed represents the entirety of the data employed to serve that particular ad?

There are so many variables a play in targeting, optimizing and customizing online ads, if something like this were to gain momentum as a good solution, the online ad industry would go into a tailspin.

Again, I totally understand the privacy and security concerns, many of which are very legit. But I have to wonder, why just online ads? Why aren't other media held to these standards? Consumers would turn pale if they knew what kind of data direct mail marketers know about them.

I'm not saying the online advertising industry couldn't use some cleaning up, more disclosure, etc. But this is still an incredibly young and quickly evolving industry involving technologies that change everyday. Could such a proposed method actually keep up with the rapid pace of transformation?

And what could it do to the only advertising sector that's actually growing in these gloomy economic times?

Posted by Kate Kaye at 3:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

March 18, 2009

Short Term Memory Loss re:Google/WPP OCTOBER Deal?

Anybody else trying to figure out what's new about the Google research deal with WPP that's been making headlines today? According to Wall Street Journal coverage, "The ad holding company and the Internet giant have teamed up to fund research on how ads in traditional and digital media work together with consumer choices."

The firms are committing a combined $4.6 million to the project.

Funny thing, the two firms said back in October they're committing the same amount of money to pretty much the same thing. According to our October coverage, the companies would be engaging in a "joint research program to look into how online media influences consumer behavior, attitudes, and decision making."

It seems that, 5 months later, the companies were willing to talk in more detail about the actual types of research studies they'll be commissioning. The Journal story -- titled, "WPP, Google to Fund Web-Ad Research, Duo Will Spend $4.6 Million on Business Analyses, Psychological Studies" -- mentions study topics to "determine the best ways to allocate ad spending between traditional and digital media, as well as how online ads affect a company's sales and brand image. Another will use psychology and neuroscience to analyze how the brain determines whether Web ads are relevant."

As my colleague Enid Burns noted in October, here's yet another example of Google trying to buddy up with agencies in the hopes of scoring brand ad dollars. (Ok, Enid put it a lot more eloquently).

I look forward to next week's headlines about Google's new partnership with Publicis. (They announced one of those early last year.)

Posted by Kate Kaye at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Free Webinar Today: Post-Click Marketing

Bryan Eisenberg, FutureNow cofounder, will discuss, "Post-Click Marketing: Maximizing Conversions Once Visitors Arrive," at a free ClickZ-Search Engine Watch Webcast today at 1 p.m. EDT / 10 a.m. PDT.

Bryan, a ClickZ Experts columnist, will explain how to transform your visitor's journey from first click through the completion of Web site's forms (both retail and lead gen) to maximize conversions.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 9:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

March 16, 2009

U.K. Online Ad Spend Up 17% in Q4, but Growth Slowing

U.K. ad spend declined across all mediums besides online during the fourth quarter of 2008, according to numbers released today by the World Advertising Research Center on behalf of the Advertising Association.

Despite advertiser cutbacks, the report states that online achieved a 17.3 percent year-on-year increase in spend during Q4 - substantial growth when compared with newspaper spend which suffered a 12 percent fall, and TV which accrued a 4.9 percent decrease. Online growth did slow dramatically, however, falling from a 39.5 percent increase between Q4 '06 and Q4 '07.

Overall, total U.K. ad spend fell by 3.9 percent in 2008, while spending in Q4 recorded a decline of 9.6 percent year-on-year.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 12:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Did Tim Armstrong Unfound Associated Content?

Associated Content has been criticized for helping to fuel poor-quality Web content, but is it rewriting history, too?

Since Tim Armstrong, once touted as co-founder of AC, has been making headlines for ditching Google to take the CEO role at AOL, I figured I'd poke around the AC site and see what his affiliation with the firm is currently. Well, lo and behold, Armstrong's name seems to have been scrubbed from the corporate info on the site. Once more than willing to broadcast that Armstrong was a co-founder of AC, the company's site currently states, "Associated Content was founded by Luke Beatty in Denver, Colorado, in 2005."

I guess Armstrong went back in time and disassociated himself.

AC has been the subject of criticism over the years for serving to contribute to the clutter of spammy sites loaded with invaluable content used solely for link building to boost search rankings. I was one of if not its first public critic, and the likes of Gawker and WebProNews followed.

UPDATE I asked AC when Armstrong left the company's board - he was also a board member. According to a spokesperson, he left the board in March 2008, but "He's still an active investor."

Posted by Kate Kaye at 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

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