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June 2009

June 30, 2009

Can This Online Ad Be Trusted?

If you want to convince someone to share her Social Security number, mother's maiden name, and a credit card number, will these smiley and frowny faces do the trick?

Experian, a reputable credit scoring service, apparently thinks so.

Experian's ConsumerInfo.com ad, as seen on AOL.com, before activating animation:

Experian's ConsumerInfo.com ad after activating animation:

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 4:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Mercedes to Run on NYTimes, WashPost Tomorrow

Mercedes is set to launch its oversized Online Publisher Association standard ads on NYTimes.com and WashingtonPost.com tomorrow. E-Class ads will run on the New York Times and Washington Post homepages for one day only. And, in addition to those placements, the OPA units will be seen September 15 on Reuters.com and September 22 on WSJ.com.

The OPA announced today that Brands from Frito-Lay to Mercedes-Benz will use the organization's new ad formats, devised in part to help publishers better monetize their content through premium ad placements. (Check out a recent ad for Garnier using a new OPA format.)

Bank of America, Frito-Lay, Mercedes-Benz, hospital Cleveland Clinic, and insurance provider CNA are among brands that have used or plan to use the formats. The units do things like expand briefly before collapsing back to a smaller size, or moving up and down as the user scrolls.

In promoting its Mercedes-Benz 2010 E-Class vehicles, the automaker has employed various rich media formats to exude the brand's high-tech features. "We're tying that association with our vehicle and expressing the latest technology as well," Mercedes-Benz USA Digital Media Specialist Beth Lange told me earlier today. Razorfish Seattle developed the digital campaign, which also includes 3-D units.

The question is how are the OPA ads any different from any other rich media ad unit? According to Lange, the standardization is a key factor. Publishers, she explained, "were very concerned about the user experience and not being intrusive, and they wanted a standardized format." Although other large rich media units have been available in the past, she continued, they "may not correlate to a good user experience."

Of course, premium ads in premium placements on premium sites cost money. "When you go for these more high profile placements," said Lange, "there always is a higher premium than a standard run-of-site. I think if you can obtain a good user experience and a stronger position its worth paying for."

Posted by Kate Kaye at 3:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 29, 2009

Twitter, YouTube Tributes Commemorate TV Pitchman Billy Mays

Fans of Billy Mays are rallying on Twitter and YouTube to pay tribute to the TV pitchman for OxiClean, Kaboom, and OrangeGlo.

Mays, 50, died unexpectedly this weekend.

Some are wearing blue and encouraging others to do. (#wearblue4billy)

Other tributes are popping up on YouTube, including this rap song and video and photo montage.

The pitchman's son, Billy Mays III, a.k.a., @YoungBillyMays, also reached out to supporters on Twitter, asking people to send in photos for a collage and thanking well wishers for their tweets. "Just want you all to know that I've read EVERY single reply and they've greatly helped me get through this day. Thank you," he wrote.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

June 25, 2009

Blagojevich not involved in Yahoo's new Pay Per Candidate Offering

Yahoo unveiled its new Pay Per Candidate offering. And, no, it's got nothing to do with Jersey or Illinois politics!

Pay Per Candidate is a new performance-based payment option for Yahoo HotJobs ads, allowing job recruiters to pay based on the number of people who respond to a job ad, rather than per job listing.

According to the company press release, the product lets employers and recruiters "cap the number of pre-screened candidates they receive per job posting when candidates apply on the HotJobs website." The advertiser pays only when a job seeker applies for the position or clicks-through to the recruiter's site.

The system also can automatically filter out inappropriate candidates based on the information they provide in customized online questionnaires.

By offering this payment option, Yahoo has indicated that there's a need to provide greater incentive to advertisers to use HotJobs. The economy could be a factor here since fewer companies are hiring. Or, perhaps Yahoo is letting advertisers pay for performance out of the goodness of their hearts....

Posted by Kate Kaye at 12:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Joanne Bradford Chills on the Beach (Cannes Pics)

On Thursday Yahoo hosted a beach luncheon across from the Carlton Hotel. In attendance were R/GA's Bob Greenberg, former Martha Stewart co-CEO Wenda Harris Millard, Yahoo head of sales Joanne Bradford, Sapient's Alan Wexler and Freddie Laker, among others. Click above for photo descriptions and additional pics from around the Cannes festival, or view the slideshow below.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 9:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Web Companies at Cannes: Wither AOL?

All the major Web companies have a presence, however reduced, at the Cannes Lions festival this year. All except one that is.

By far the most visible of the Internet giants is premier sponsor Microsoft. There's a Microsoft lounge, Microsoft-sponsored sessions, a Microsoft beach club, two Microsoft Surface tables, and a big flippin' Microsoft sign plastered onto the front of the Palais. As if that all weren't enough, Steve Ballmer won Media Person of the Year last night.

Google is here too. A YouTube cocktail bar on the lower level is giving away watermelon zingers and smoothies. There's also a YouTube booth of sorts, near much of the mounted work. Google's Eric Schmidt will be here Friday.

Yahoo's approach is perhaps most unique, if scaled back from previous years. The company is giving away branded flip-flops from a Yahoo Loves Creatives" truck that's been puttering up and down La Croisette all week, and it hosted a beach luncheon this afternoon.

AOL is the one Web media heavy-hitter that appears not to be in Cannes at all. No one ClickZ spoke with had seen hide nor hair of the company or its execs. That's perhaps understandable in light of the upheaval at the soon to be spun-off Time Warner unit. Yet at a time when AOL is eager to revamp its image with the ad community, skipping this party seems like a missed opportunity.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 9:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

June 24, 2009

Specific Media: Moving Up

With so many ad networks on the scene, it takes work for any single one to get noticed.

Specific Media made a splash with a 10th anniversary party at its new Manhattan outpost on 745 Fifth Avenue overlooking Central Park and the landmark Plaza Hotel. (Sorry, forgot the camera.)

At the party last week, I got a chance to meet Chief Operating Officer Chris Vanderhook, one of the three brothers who founded and manage the business that has a headquarters in Irvine, CA. CEO Tim Vanderhook and Russell Vanderhook, SVP were both there, too.

The sleek offices are on the 20th floor in an Art Deco structure built in 1930. It's worlds away from its old home in the Empire State Building in the dull midtown south neighborhood.

For the party, Specific Media brought in Nikki Cassone and Camille Becerra, contestants from Bravo's "Top Chef" reality show to off their cooking skills. Plus, chef Scott Fagan from Tip of the Tongue catering and his team prepared sushi, dim sum, sliders, and calories-for-the-road dessert bags.

For the record, Specific Media has 13 employees in its NYC office and it's hiring, according to a spokeswoman. Based on unique visitors, Specific Media is the fifth largest ad network, according to comScore.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 5:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Another Day, Another Agency Research Project:
WPP and Microsoft Partner to Study Search for Branding

Search for branding campaigns? It's been done, but search is certainly not the go-to method for brand building. Indeed, the majority of advertisers still question whether search marketing can be effective for branding efforts at all.

WPP and Microsoft aim to figure that out. And, surely, the lately very Bing-centric Microsoft has an agenda to prove search is a fantastic brand building medium. According to a WPP statement, the firms are partnering to determine "The correlation between brand awareness and search efficacy; How search engines are changing consumer behavior; How social marketing impacts the search for brands; [and] The connections between paid search and brand development."

Three WPP agencies, branding-focused Brand Asset Consulting, direct response agency Wunderman, and Web strategy and SEO firm ZAAZ, will guide the research project.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 12:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Photos in and Around Cannes, Wednesday

Some shots from in and around the Cannes Lions festival yesterday and today. Click for larger images and descriptions, or browse all Cannes photos on Flickr.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 9:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 23, 2009

Big Industry Players Join IAB Europe

The IAB Europe has added a number of major players to its corporate membership roster, including Google, Microsoft, Orange, and Alcatel-Lucent. Representatives from comScore, Google, Microsoft advertising, News Corporation and Orange will also take up positions on the board of the pan-European trade body.

Speaking with me at the IAB Europe's Interact Congress in Brussels earlier this month, IAB president Alain Heureux stressed the importance of involvement from respected industry players in order to help promote self-regulation of the industry within Europe. The addition of these major firms as members is a sizeable step towards that. According to Heureux, AOL's Platform A, and Yahoo should both be on board as members by September.

IAB Europe currently represents 20 national IAB's across the continent.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 12:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Faces at Cannes: Bruno Bertani

I snapped this shot of Cannes attendee Bruno Bertani as we both enjoyed a brief escape from the tomb-like Palais des Festivals. Bruno is up for a Design Lion this week for work he did for Brazilian gay rights group Arco-Iris. He and fellow creative director Ricardo Saint-Clair created posters, a logo, and Web elements for the "No Homophobia" project. The project was handled by Rio de Janeiro-based Dialogo Design.

Bruni's a regular traveler to New York, and a first time traveler to Cannes.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

BK's Whopper Sacrifice Favored to Win at Cannes. Should It?

If it wins a Cyber Grand Prix, as everyone here appears to expect, Burger King's Whopper Sacrifice campaign by Crispin Porter + Bogusky will have made history. Not because it would be the first Facebook app to win, nor because the recognition will go to a campaign that was squashed. (Facebook put the kibosh on it in January.) Rather, the win would be remarkable because the campaign reached so few consumers. According to CPB, less than a quarter million friends were deleted on Facebook using the app, and far fewer than that voluntarily interacted with it. So while the campaign may have been wonderfully innovative and subversive, its total reach was a drop in the bucket of Internet users -- or even Facebook users.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 6:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hyatt Launches Verizon Mobile Campaign through Microsoft

Global Hyatt Corp has partnered with Microsoft and Verizon to launch a mobile ad campaign, which it hopes will drive registrations to the hotel chain's Gold Passport frequent guest reward program, in addition to driving traffic to its newly launched mobile site.

Search and display ads will point users to Hyatt's mobile destination, which now allows users to find and book hotel rooms, check-in and -out remotely, and receive tailored promotions on their handset.

Microsoft penned a deal with Verizon in January through which it now sells display and search inventory across all of the carrier's mobile properties. The software giant says mobile is now a "critical component" in its ad offerings, and that it has made "significant investments" in the area.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 6:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

June 22, 2009

Cannes Lions, Monday photos

Some shots from in and around the Palais des Festivals today. (click for larger photos and descriptions)

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 4:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Cannes by the Numbers: Cyber Entries Fall Below '06 Levels

The number of Cyber Lions entries dropped this year for the first time since 2003, when the Web economy bottomed out. However the drop this time was considerably steeper than it ever was during those lean years. The number of submissions fell by 506, or almost 20 percent, to 2,205. Here are the exact number of entries for each of the 11 years since the category was introduced:

1998: 401
1999: 592
2000: 1,048
2001: 1,471
2002: 1,343
2003: 1,244
2004: 1,561
2005: 1,897
2006: 2,502
2006: 2,711
2007: 2,205

Entries in other categories were similarly down -- all except the Promo Lyons and the PR Lions. The former climbed incrementally, and the latter are new this year.

It's also interesting to note the number of Cyber Lion entries by nation. The top 5 are as follows, followed in parenthesis by the number they produced last year:

USA: 453 (600)
UK: 202 (289)
Germany: 191 (209)
Brazil: 181 (396)
Japan: 149 (182)
Canada: 104 (81)
Sweden: 103 (92)
Spain: 87 (137)
Australia: 76 (66)
France: 73 (83)

It's interesting to note Canada and Sweden were the only two in the top ten to grow their number of entries. Maybe the northern lands are better able to stand the wintery economic climate.

Photo courtesy of flickr user Cenz.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 7:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Faces at Cannes: Elijah Torn

I made my first Cannes buddy before I even got to France.

After missing my connection in Rome and settling in for an eight-hour layover, I started talking with the guy at right -- the awesomely-named Elijah B Torn. He was marooned like me, and he held forth on Cannes while slouched at gate B-4 of Rome International Airport. I didn't take notes, but here's the gist of his story and his take on the festival:

Who does he work for? Massive Music, a music and sound producer for various motion picture projects. Massive throws a party here each year at Cannes, and Elijah handles the list, among other things. In 2009 Massive's done a lot more soundtracks and music for viral videos and other Internet projects -- a lot less for television.

What's different about Cannes in 2009? This is Elijah's third year at Cannes. He said it's usually the one time each year Massive Music gets its employees together in one place. This year the company's scaled back, sending only Elijah from New York, plus some people from the Netherlands and L.A. offices.

What's his advice for Cannes virgins? Don't get in a confrontation with the French police, and don't show up at a party nude. Last year a guy swam up to one of the beachfront parties in the buff and tried to blend in. He was arrested, obviously.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 5:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 19, 2009

GOP Memo Reveals Privacy Law Sausage-Making Ingredients

Several introductory statements given by Republican members two House Energy and Commerce Subcommittees yesterday stressed the need to ensure that any potential federal privacy legislation is not "overreaching," or doesn't create online ad industry winners and losers. Not surprising for typically pro-business Republicans leery of government infringement that can detriment market fairness.

For instance, as I noted in today's story about the hearing on behavioral advertising, Louisiana's Steve Scalise suggested "self-regulation is sufficient," and added, "Congress should not pick winners or losers."

I thought about his and similar statements when perusing an intriguing memo evidently delivered to GOP Members of those subcommittees from "Republican Committee Staff." The memo suggests Republicans push for a "consumer-centric" regulatory approach rather than a technology-centric one.

"Rather than taking approaches that focus on particular technologies or particular corporate relationships, we should consider a regime that focuses on consumers. A consumer-centric approach is competitively- and technologically-neutral, because it would apply the same standards to everyone participating in the tailored Internet advertising market, regardless of the technology they use or how they happen to have structured their company. It also places the decision about what information can be collected and/or shared in the consumer's hands based on his or her preference," states the memo.

A tech-centric approach would, for instance, outlaw things like deep-packet inspection - the much-maligned ISP-based tracking and targeting method used by companies like NebuAd and Phorm. From the memo: "Focusing on deep packet inspection would also achieve little improvement in consumer privacy because it is barely being used, if at all, in the United States to tailor and deliver online advertising. A deep packet inspection-focused approach would instead only keep phone and cable companies out of the Internet advertising business while online companies continue to expand the market."

A "consumer-centric" approach would give Web users the ability to decide what information companies can use. How? Uh, that might be just as daunting a task as legislating based on always-evolving technologies.

As the memo states, "Each consumer therefore decides how he or she feels about the information being collected, the parties doing the collecting, and the purpose for which the information will be used.... Additionally, this approach takes the government out of the equation: government does not have to define what information is sensitive and personally identifiable, what uses of the information are allowable, and what technologies are acceptable."

Those interested in inspecting how our government makes its kielbasa (including sage from the WH garden?) also may have noticed that one of yesterday's hearing witnesses, Scott Cleland, also concluded in his written testimony, "If Congress decides to legislate on Internet privacy, a consumer-driven, technology/competition neutral privacy framework would be superior to a technology-driven privacy framework."

Coincidence? Maybe. The similar use of language is of interest, though.

Also interesting is why Cleland was asked to testify at the hearing. He shows up from time to time at these things - usually at hearings related to antitrust issues though. Cleland has long been a thorn in Google's side. (The company has been known to send the Internet tech industry/government press corps background details on the guy. He's the president of tech industry research and consulting firm Precursor and has been an outspoken critic of Google. He testified before congress against the firm's acquisition of DoubleClick. He has also worked as a consultant for Google's nemesis, Microsoft. He's gained a reputation as a shill for telcos. I'm not saying he is, but he's gained that reputation. Remember what the memo said about a deep packet inspection-focused approach keeping phone and cable cos. out of the Internet ad biz? Hmmm....

OK, so, that leads me to wonder whether Google - which wants federal privacy legislation, mainly so there's only one tangle of red tape to deal with rather than several state-based tangles - is in favor of a tech-based solution. And of course, I want to know if Microsoft is. Unfortunately, the hearing was cut short yesterday and didn't resume until evening, by which time I was already onto my second or third $7 PBR + whiskey shot at Rodeo Bar. I'll be listening once the files are posted to the House Energy and Commerce committee site.

Also interesting: Google and Yahoo had reps witnessing at the hearing. MSFT did not. Or did it? Hmmm....

Posted by Kate Kaye at 12:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

June 18, 2009

NBC Universal to Use Microsoft's Navic Platform to Sell TV Ads

A Microsoft source recently told me the company has begun trumpeting its TV ad management capabilities to networks and cable companies in earnest. This source said a deal with a major broadcast network was imminent.

It now appears that deal has dropped. In an agreement reported this morning by the Journal, Microsoft will provide automated TV ad selling tools to NBC Universal. NBC will use the system to broker ads on its broadcast and cable networks.

Microsoft acquired those capabilities a year ago this week with the acquisition of Navic Networks. Navic's platform offers services for both buyers and sellers. Advertiser-facing features include addressable ads, automated media buying, and Web-like campaign reporting tools. The company can also help TV media buyers customize their branded TV applications and other on-demand interfaces; these can be accessed through telescoping within interactive TV ads.

The fact that Microsoft's first big deal for Navic is with NBC Universal comes as no surprise. The two companies have long had a very cozy relationship, especially on advertising matters. Internally, their MSNBC.com joint venture is held up as the gold standard for digital ad effectiveness -- within the Microsoft stable, anyway.

NBC Universal's president of sales and marketing, Mike Pilot, told WSJ the broadcaster wants to streamline the ad sales process in part to free up time to create more custom ad packages.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 8:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

June 17, 2009

Bing Continues to Gain Share in Week Two

Microsoft's relaunched search experience continued to pile on new users in its second week, according to a new comScore estimate.

After gaining market share of almost 2 percent during the the first week of its launch (June 1 to 5), Microsoft racked up another 1 percent of share last week (June 8 to 12), the researcher said. That put Microsoft's average daily reach among U.S. searchers at 16.7 percent, up 3 percentage points from pre-Bing levels. Its share of search result pages grew by the same amount, increasing to 12.1 percent last week.

The finding by ComScore suggests the extensive advertising and PR around Bing are doing what they're supposed to. However the real test will come in future weeks and months, when the early trial users either stick with Bing or go back to their previous search engine of choice.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Finally, a Digital Agency Buys a Traditional One

What we're reading this morning:

-Sapient to Acquire Nitro Group (Wall Street Journal) I've been waiting years for this to happen. Not sure this is really the first, but I do believe it's the first of any size. Deal is worth approximately $50 million.

-Recession Could Leave Digital Ads in Stronger Position (New York Post) Category will claim nearly 20 percent of ad spend as others permanently decline, PwC finds.

-More MySpace Layoffs to Come... Overseas (TechCrunch) More than a hundred staffers will be cut at the company's international offices, according to unnamed sources in this report.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 7:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 16, 2009

Microsoft Sues Three for Click-Fraud

A sampling of what ClickZ's editors are reading this morning:

-Microsoft Sues Three in Click-Fraud Scheme (NYT) Filing follows year-long investigation.

-P&G Viral Video Attempt Replaces 'Guy Parts' with 'Girl Parts (AdAge) Risque effort for Tampax is a surprise coming from CPG giant.

-Facebook dethrones MySpace in the U.S. (LA Times) Comscore's latest numbers show News Corp.'s dominant social media reach has been usurped.

-Multilayered Cadbury Campaign Takes Off (Mashable)

-Startup AdMob Talks With Possible Buyers (Bloomberg)

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

An Indication of Yahoo Paper Consortium Impact

Exactly how much ad revenue has been derived through Yahoo's relationships with its growing newspaper consortium is unknown. But, the partnerships seem to be getting more solidified as Yahoo reveals a few results, and new members join the gang.

Yahoo added two Freedom Communications papers and two North Jersey Media Group papers to its list. It also finally signed up The San Diego Union-Tribune - that's SignOnSanDiego.com. Last July, the company told me it was considering linking with Yahoo. The partnership includes 814 papers now, up from 176 at launch in November 2006.

A few numbers from Yahoo, according to today's press release:
- Over 160 newspapers are live on Yahoo's APT ad management platform. The system launched in September '08 with Hearst's San Francisco Chronicle and MediaNews Group's San Jose Mercury News.

- Yahoo also said 288 paper sites have launched its search products - contextual ads, paid search, and Web search; in addition, 592 of the partners use Yahoo's HotJobs exclusively for job ads.

- Yahoo also provided an anecdotal example of ad selling success in the release, noting that Indiana's Evansville Courier "recently sold $1.1 million of Yahoo! targeted ads during a one-week sales blitz."

Again, it's tough to know exactly how well the consortium project is going, at least in terms of its positive impact on the publisher partners' bottom lines. Still, the fact that it's expanded so much through more than 2 years of turmoil at Yahoo says something.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Why Pharma Giants Fear Online Media

Quip of the Day:

"The only way you could use the term 'flock' in connection with pharmaceutical firms and social media is to say that companies are a scared flock of geese... How many minutes in a video or Webcast before you have to mention the risk information associated with a drug? If you mention a benefit, how much time do you have to mention the risk? Know the answer? No, no one does."

-Eye on FDA blogger Mark Senak, rebutting a Washington Post claim that drug makers are "flocking" to social media.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 15, 2009

Why Web Video Ventures Are Failing

Some links to stories ClickZ's editors are reading today:

Original Video Ventures Going Dark (LA Times) Stage 9 Digital, 60Frames, and others are throwing in the towel on made-for-Web video entertainment as economics prove too tough a nut to crack.

Twitter Helps Dell Rake in Sales (Reuters) PC giant claims $3 million in sales over the course of two years on Twitter click-throughs.

Amazon to Run First TV Ads in Seven Years (AdWeek) Kicks off user-generated media contest to develop concepts and creative. No agency is attached.

AdEx Media Closes $2.3 Million Financing. Performance-based ad network will use the cash to build out products.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 1:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Conquering Eastern Europe a Challenge for Western Firms

I've written a couple of pieces regarding the booming Eastern European online ad market recently, but entering those markets as a Western firm isn't as easy as it may seem. That was the message from the "winning business in emerging markets" panel at last week's Interactive Advertising Bureau Europe Interact conference in Brussels.

Comscore VP Europe Mike Read kicked things off with some encouraging Eastern European growth figures. However, the panelists suggested the realities of actually doing business in and generating revenue from those markets remained a challenge.

"If we take Russia as an example, the 'I come and I conquer' attitude doesn't fly," said Andrey Sveshnikov, who is in the process of setting up an IAB in that country. "Russia is a historically and culturally complex place. Setting up business there will take patience, and may require you to alter your business model," he added.

Filip Pieczynski, VP of Poland-based online research firm Gemius, warned against underestimating local online brands, and indeed the governments of places such as Russia. He cited Google's relative obscurity in the search market there, for instance, alluding to its proposed deal to acquire ZAO Begun which was blocked by Russian regulators.

That said, the panel -- which also included Martin Radelfinger, chief business development, M&A officer of prominent Eastern European media firm, Goldbach Media -- acknowledged that if the time was spent to understand the local cultures and markets, margins could be achieved, through the discounted cost of human resources, if nothing else.

Ultimately, the key takeaway, and something I found extensively during my reporting on the region, was summed up nicely by Pieczynski: "Each individual market is completely different. There's no golden rule to conquer all."

Posted by Jack Marshall at 6:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 12, 2009

Facebook Vanity URLs: The Countdown Begins

Facebook's move to allow its members to sign up for vanity URLs just after midnight tonight is stirring up a frenzy.

And it's potentially fueling a cottage industry for buying and selling accounts on social networks.

A Google search for "Facebook vanity URLs" earlier today turned up a sponsored link for Assetize.com, a company that currently lists Twitter accounts for sale such as @amazonsavers (listed for $1,250) and @24hourfitness (best offer).

See you at midnight!

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 6:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Digital TV: A Day of Reckoning

As television broadcasters move from analog to digital signals today, there's no shortage of businesses selling consumers services and products not prepared for the transition.

A Google search this morning for "digital tv" turned up these sponsored links.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 11, 2009

Vodafone Tracks Real-Life Cabbies to Tout Location Capabilities

This post was written by Jack Marshall

Vodafone has launched an inventive online campaign, dubbed "Taxi Grand Prix," to tie-in with its sponsorship of the 2009 McClaren F1 team.

The campaign, created by digital agency Dare, makes use of Vodafone's GPS and location-based services to track 10 U.K. taxi drivers (or "cabbies") in real time, as they race to cover the same number of miles an F1 car would in a single race.

Entrants pick a team of two Vodafone-sponsored cabbies from a pool of ten spread across five major U.K. cities. Whichever team completes the race distance first over the course of their working week wins, and users can track their teams using live GPS via the Taxi Grand Prix site.

Vodafone has upped its efforts in the location-based space, and recently announced it would be extensively testing a number of location-aware ad products this summer. This campaign strikes me not only as a nice integration with their current F1 involvement, but also a great way to introduce consumers to their location-based technologies in a creative manner.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Phorm Raises Capital to Keep things Ticking

This post was written by Jack Marshall

ISP-level behavioral targeting company Phorm is raising more capital, selling 19.4 percent of the firm for a figure of £15 million through a new share offering to keep it fueled until it finds some customers.

Despite announcing a content recommendation product last week designed to encourage users to opt-in to its ad targeting platform, none of the firm's ISP partners have actually implemented the technology yet, meaning the company currently has no active revenue streams.

The company said in a statement today that it intends to use the cash to "continue the implementation of its service in the U.K. and Korean markets, and for general working capital purposes, as it continues its discussions with other ISPs both in the U.K. and internationally." CEO Kent Ertugrul said he was "pleased that the financial community has demonstrated its support for Phorm, with a substantially over-subscribed offering."

Last week, the company's managing director, U.K., Nick Barnet, told me that U.K. agencies were impressed by the product, and eager to know when it was fully deployed. At present, neither Phorm nor its ISP partners - BT, Virgin Media, and Talk Talk -- can say when that is likely to be.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 9:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

June 10, 2009

What's Driving Government's Gripes with Google?

If it seems like the government has a beef with Google - make that multiple beefs - it's a logical conclusion. The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice have either formally or informally investigated a variety of its business practices and projects. The Wall Street Journal today has a good round up of the government intervention, particularly the DOJ's request that Google and its book publishing partners provide "information about a deal both struck last year to allow the search giant to make millions of books available online."

The article refers to "probes" into "4 Fronts:" the book search deals, the hiring practices of Google and other tech firms, overlap on the boards of Google and Apple, and - of most importance to us here at ClickZ - consumer protection issues related to online advertising (think DOJ's inspection and subsequent squelching of the Google/Yahoo search deal and FTC's ongoing work on behavioral ad targeting).

Ever since the news reports surfaced that the DOJ is also inspecting the hiring practices of Google and others (Yahoo and Apple have been named), I've been thinking a lot about this investigation pile up, too.

A few questions leap to mind:
1. Is this simply the result a more regulation-prone Democratic administration at work?
2. Is Google being picked on or singled out?
3. How much do lobbying efforts influence these sorts of inspections?
4. Could these investigations be fishing expeditions?

I don't know the answer to any of these, of course. But I did have a talk about some of these subjects yesterday with Eric Goldman, assistant professor at Santa Clara University School of Law and prolific Internet law blogger.

Specifically, we discussed the reported DOJ inspection of tech firms and their hiring practices. The concern, Goldman and others believe, is that tech firms could be in effect suppressing their labor market. If - as has been standard practice for years - they include "non-solicitation" clauses in their agreements with employees or business partners, they may have placed restrictions on the ability of other businesses to hire their employees, or of employees to freely move to a competitor's firm.

Such agreements among companies ("Sure, we'll hire you on a consulting basis, but you have to agree not to poach any of our staff.") could amount to a cartel-like situation in the eyes of the law. Apparently, said Goldman, trade associations deal with this sort of thing all the time. If, for instance, members of a trade group set standards for doing business, could they freeze out other methods or technologies in the process? That would be an antitrust issue.

The thing is, at least at the higher levels, online ad sector firms seem to be hiring left-and-right, and often grabbing execs from competitors. Very recently, for instance, ad execs have moved from Google to AOL and Facebook. Indeed, Goldman told me he was "surprised that this issue has even been surfaced because there is [indication] that this is a pretty healthy labor market."

He also indicated that at least some of the investigations involving Google are mere tentacles of a larger animal. "Could the DOJ be sniffing around tech cos. and their hiring practices to see what they can dig up?" I asked him. They may be on a "fishing expedition," responded Goldman. Either way, he told me, it's not difficult for the DOJ to obtain the information it seeks. "They can do a lot without formal activity," he said.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 5:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Cisco: The Future is Video, on Mobile and Everywhere Else

If you had any doubt video is the future of digital activity, consider the results of Cisco's annual visual networking index, released yesterday.

According to the forecast, global IP traffic will quintuple by 2013 as measured in data volume. Cisco estimates the sum of all forms of video -- including TV, video on demand, Internet video, and P2P -- will exceed 90 percent of global consumer IP traffic. While estimating data flow is not too meaningful as a gauge of media consumption (census and panel data are surely better), the anticipated five-fold increase in Web traffic demonstrates pretty well how moving pictures will continue to define the interactive media experience -- and the culture at large.

Other findings from the index:

• -The Middle East and Africa will grow faster than other regions, with a compound annual growth rate of 51 percent.


• -More than 60 percent of mobile data traffic will be video in four years. Mobile traffic will approximately double each year until 2013.


• -Cisco believes multi-tasking and time-shifting behaviors have turbocharged data traffic. Activities such as streaming music while viewing photos, recording shows while working, and instant messaging while on the phone are adding many additional hours of networked data traffic per day.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 8:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 9, 2009

Morning Reads: Search Queries Mirror Economy, Can MySpace be a Comeback Kid?

Google Searches Mirror the Economy (Fortune)
Google queries for terms like "investments" closely match the stock market's performance, according to a study the search giant commissioned from Compete. The study also identifies the search traits of high-value credit card shoppers -- mainly that they search a whole lot.

Can MySpace Pull Off a Comeback? (CNN)
Few sites have ever come back from a decline in popularity. MySpace is clearly determined to beat the odds, but what will be its secret sauce? No answers in this story, but a few good questions.

Adobe Strives to Crack the Smart-Phone Market (WSJ)
In a strategy with implications for mobile rich media, Adobe is striking alliances to bring Flash to a variety of handsets where it's not been available.

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

Quote of the Day: Carol Bartz on AOL Deal

Just two weeks after she criticized Twitter's founders for apparently ruling out a sale ("Never is a long time," she said), you wouldn't expect Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz to rule out any given deal for all eternity, would you? Well, you'd be wrong.

"Yahoo-AOL would not happen anytime in the forever future," she said in an interview with Fox Business News yesterday. "Yahoo is a much stronger property in a different direction and there's no sense confusing all of that."

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 9:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 8, 2009

Bing Advertised: T-minus Two Hours to Microsoft's Live Infomercial on Hulu

Judging by the reactions of many, Microsoft has come off as trying a bit too hard to transform its new search brand into an overnight success. But while the flashy TV spots, homepage takeovers, and product placement deals do come off as strenuous, you have to give the company credit for playing around with creative formats that haven't been tried yet -- at least on behalf of a search engine.

Case in point: tonight's Bing-a-thon, a Microsoft sponsored "live party" on Hulu, which starts at 8pm. Hosted by SNL cast member Jason Sudeikis and G4's Olivia Munn, the hour-long show was developed by the Creative Artists Agency in L.A. How many will tune in? In all likelihood, only Hulu and Microsoft will ever know. But we'll follow the event and post reactions here tomorrow.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 5:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Tweet of the Day: "Inventory, inventory..."

"'Inventory, inventory, remnant, remnant.' I feel like I'm in a wholesaler's mtng on 7th ave."

--Helen Klein Ross a.k.a. @adbroad
at the DigiDay:Networks conference on ad networks

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 11:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 4, 2009

ClickZ Talks with FTC, Google, and NAI: Listen to the Audio!

Last month I had the pleasure of interviewing representatives of the FTC, Google's Public Policy division, and the Network Advertising Initiative about government intervention into the online ad industry and what it means for digital marketers. Now, I've finally gotten around to posting the audio.

At the Online Marketing Summit in Washington, D.C., I spoke with Pablo Chavez, Senior Policy Counsel at Google; Chuck Curran, Executive Director and General Counsel at Network Advertising Initiative; and Richard Quaresima, Bureau of Consumer Protections division of Advertising at the Federal Trade Commission.

I wrote about it here, noting that, for one thing, the fact that online advertisers, publishers and third party tech firms only store and apply non-personally identifiable data in ad targeting may not matter much in the eyes of government regulators.

During the talk, the FTC's Quaresima said the industry needs to devise creative ways to prominently disclose behavioral ad practices and protect consumer privacy. "Otherwise, there could be a lot more draconian measures imposed."

There's much more! Check out the audio here.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 8:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

MySpace Grabs AOL Ad Man for Music

According to MySpace, the firm hired ex-Platform A exec Sam Wick as Senior Vice President of Strategy for MySpace Music. His task: "developing monetization strategies and streamlining existing sales operations, as well as driving innovation and maximizing value for MySpace Music," according to a statement sent by MySpace.

Apparently, Wick has roots in the music industry, with previous stints at MP3.com and Sony Music.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 12:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 3, 2009

Al Gore Chimes in on the 'Sustainability' of Ad Agencies

Al Gore came to New York on Wednesday to do some saber rattling at traditional ad agencies -- and to talk up his media company.

Current, a cable and satellite television network and Internet site, streams news and other content created by viewers and professionals. It also promotes development of consumer-generated video ads on behalf of businesses such as Toyota, Sony, and Hewlett-Packard.

"Instead of spending $350,000 and up to produce an ad...we put a creative brief on the [Current] Web site," said Gore, chairman of Current, while speaking at the Digital Content NewFront hosted by Digitas and its brand content business, The Third Act.

Typically, 200 or more people create and submit videos in response to a Current creative brief or assignment to produce a so-called viewer-created advertisement or VCAM.

For one assignment, Current is seeking a video to promote Axe Hair products. "Guys don't want to hear that they have bad hair," the assignment reads. "We're hoping you can help us show guys the truth about what real girls think about their hair. Tell it like it is!"

A person who creates an ad is paid as little as $1,000 if an advertiser decides to evaluate the ad. If an ad is aired on Current, the creator gets $2,500 and if the advertiser decides to air the ad elsewhere, the creator can get up to $60,000, according to Current's Web site.

Gore, former U.S. vice president, pointed out that the Internet is known for the "disintermediation of some long-established functions and entities" and that ad agencies are among those businesses affected by change. "Some agencies are fighting against this trend," he said. "But I'm not sure how long that will be sustainable."

Ad agencies that succeed will be the ones that redefine their roles, focusing instead on helping businesses shepherd brands. "They will make sure there's a consistent protection of brand DNA as it moves from one platform to another. That's one of the new roles for successful agencies," he said.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 10:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Primer: How to Use Facebook for Business

What's the best way for a business to participate on Facebook?

Ellie Mirman, inbound marketing manager at software vendor HubSpot, offers some tips for marketers that can be viewed in a Webinar here later this week. (Registration required)

Or you can check out the PowerPoint now -- without the audio -- here on Slideshare.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 4:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 2, 2009

And the ClickZ Marketing Excellence Award Winners Are...

Congrats to the winners of ClickZ's Marketing Excellence Awards.

They are:

Ad Management: VideoEgg's AdFrames platform
Analytics Platform: Omniture Online Marketing Suite
E-mail Marketing Tool: ExactTarget Reseller Edition
Mobile Marketing Tool: Eyeblaster Channel Connect for Mobile
Search Ad Management: Kenshoo Search
Social Media Marketing Platform or Tool: Pluck's SiteLife Platform

This year, we received close to 100 entries for six categories. ClickZ and Search Engine Watch editors selected three to four finalists in each category, and then handed off final judging to ClickZ Experts columnists and other trusted marketing professionals.

To learn what judges had to say about the winners, go here.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 4:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Could Court Decision on Method Patents Matter to Online Ad Industry?

The online ad industry has grown and thrived, in part, some would argue, with the help of business method patents. All sorts of ad tech firms have filed for or received patents on methods for doing all sorts of media and ad-related stuff. But business method patents are controversial and sometimes disputed.

Now, the Supreme Court is considering expansion of patent protections for business methods (think Amazon's one-click purchase system, or ad serving and targeting technologies). According to a Wall Street Journal story, "The high court said it would hear an appeal by two inventors who were seeking to patent a method for hedging weather-based risk in commodities trading. A federal appellate court ruled last year that the method was too abstract to be patented."

The Court was meant to hear the appeal today.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 4:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Twitter Tips From the Comcast Cable Guy

One question I had for Frank Eliason, director of Comcast's digital care:

Has he ever been tempted to throw up his hands and say, I don't care!

He insists that thought never crosses his mind.

I caught up with Eliason after he spoke at Federated Media's Conversational Marketing Summit on Monday and shared his experiences providing customer service as @comcastcares on Twitter along with his team of 10.

At the summit, he offered these tips for online customer service in a Twitter era:

--Don't forget the personal touch. Each Comcast digital care team members has his and her own Twitter account (e.g., @ComcastBonnie) accompanied by a photo. "You'll see my picture. You do not see a company logo. My picture is my ID," Eliason said.

--Don't avoid blending your personal and professional lives online. For instance, Eliason's @comcastcare account on Twitter includes links to the Comcast blog and his family Web site.

--Don't judge a person by the number of followers he has on Twitter. Because he pumps out so many notes to customers, Eliason understands if some followers tire of his tweets. "I wouldn't follow me, either," he said.

--Follow the stream of tweets related to your business. "We respond to almost every single one of them and say, 'Hey, can I help you?' " he said. The team doesn't provide an answer to a customer the first time around. "We throw the ball into their court (and ask) if they want help. They will let us know."

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 12:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 1, 2009

The Year the Media Died

When investment banker Terence Kawaja, managing director, GCA Savvian Advisors, decides to leave his day job, he'll have something to fall back on: creating spoof music videos.

At Federated Media's Conversational Marketing Summit (#cmsummit) Monday in NYC, Kawaja showed off his music video, "The Day the Media Died," written to the tune of the 1971 hit, "American Pie."

So far, his video has not popped up on YouTube. When it does, we'll post the link here.

The remake goes something like this:

So bye, bye, those big upfront buys.
Pitched my client who was pliant
But the pitch didn't fly.
And the old ad boys were drinking martinis dry.
Technology has taken us for a ride.
Algorithms got me crossed eye...

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 10:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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